In the United Kingdom, July 4 is being hailed as its own sort of British Independence Day, a Super Saturday when many of the countrys remaining coronavirus lockdown restrictions are being lifted or relaxed. The end of the countrys long national hibernation, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last week, will be marked by the reopening of pubs, restaurants, hair salons, hotels, museums, theaters and other venues . Social distancing measures are being softened, and individuals will be allowed to spend time in the company of more people.

Frankly I cant wait to go to a pub or a restaurant, Johnson said at a news conference last week. I think people need to go out, and I think they need to enjoy themselves, and rediscover things that they havent been able to do for a long time.

Even as Johnson and other world leaders declare victory, however, the virus has delivered a series of unsettling reality checks. There have been increases in cases recently in Germany, South Korea, Italy, China and New Zealand. In the United States, the number of coronavirus cases has been surging in many states. And in the U.K. the government on Monday evening introduced its first local lockdown, isolating 330,000 people in the city of Leicester from the rest of the country after the number of cases there spiked.

We all want this to be over. We all want to get on with our lives. But the hard reality is this is not even close to being over, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, said on Monday.

Although many countries have made some progress, globally the pandemic is actually speeding up, he said.

Its tempting to blame irresponsible individuals for the spiking infection rates. Since the beginning of the pandemic and the ensuing national lockdowns, social media has been filled with posts shaming people for congregating in parks and other public spaces, milling about in front of bars and restaurants without regard for social distancing, or failing to wear face masks.

Certainly, after so much time spent in confinement, the warm summer weather has brought with it a sense of release. In the U.K., thousands descended on the beaches of Bournemouth last week, on the hottest day thus far of the year, forcing officials to declare a major incident.

In the U.K. and across Europe, thousands of young people have gathered for raves and other illicit parties .

The easing of lockdown restrictions, combined with rising summer temperatures that lure more people outside, creates a perfect storm that can easily overwhelm popular tourist destinations and contribute to the spread of the coronavirus, U.K. officials say a situation that played out in the United States when young people attended spring break festivities in Florida and Mexico despite growing public health warnings .

Now, as countries in Europe reopen their borders to tourism, foreign visitors may spark a rise in infections. In Greece, for example, more than one-third of new coronavirus cases over the past week have been from foreign tourists. In Spain, Fernando Simn, director of the Center for Coordination of Alerts and Emergencies, warned this week that cases were likely to rise in the country as travelers are encouraged to return to the country to help its economic recovery.