UK lockdown as COVID-19 spreads throughout Europe.  (Photo: Reuters)

London, November 7 (RHC)-- A second coronavirus wave ploughed on relentlessly through Europe which reported more than 12 million cases and 300,000 deaths as swathes of Italy returned to lockdown and the British city of Liverpool trialed city-wide testing on Friday.

The continent has become the new epicenter of the pandemic and a total of 300,688 deaths have been reported in Europe since the COVID-19 virus first hit, according to an AFP tally of health authorities figures.

Two-thirds of these fatalities have been registered in the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain and Russia.  As countries raced to try and curb their spiking cases, they imposed new lockdowns despite signs of growing unrest, with several Italian regions shutting down and Greeks facing fresh stay-at-home orders from Saturday.

In Italy, a lockdown was ordered for prosperous Lombardy, fellow northern regions Piedmont and Val d'Aosta, as well as one southern region, Calabria.  Giorgio Gori, the mayor of the northern city of Bergamo—the epicenter of Italy's coronavirus crisis earlier this year—said "there is more tiredness and more distrust around" than during the first lockdown, after people protested outside his home.

The WHO has warned that Europe has a tough time ahead as there is an explosion of COVID-19 cases in the region.  The head of the infectious diseases department at Milan's renowned Luigi Sacco hospital, Massimo Galli, told reporters he was "alarmed" by the situation and had been ever since the end of Italy's first lockdown in May.  "I've always confirmed that you have to keep on high alert to avoid the return of problems," Galli said.  "I'm sick of saying the same things, like the voice screaming in the desert without any acknowledgement."