With Christmas a week away, governments around Europe are weighing what the consequences might be for the spread of the Covid virus if families and friends choose to celebrate together, while Germany recorded its highest number of new cases since the pandemic began.
In the U.K., Northern Ireland and Wales have outlined plans for a post-Christmas lockdown to mitigate an expected surge of cases after the holiday, while Scotland’s government has urged people to restrict visits to family and friends. Large areas of England are entering its highest, Tier-3 alert level in the run-up to Christmas, with Schools Minister Nick Gibb telling Sky News that the government hadn’t ruled out a postholiday lockdown for England, too.
In Austria, national news agency APA reported that the country will likely go into lockdown after Christmas while other countries across Europe are tightening restrictions. Ireland, which has curbed the spread of the virus better than most, risks seeing a sharp rise in the number of cases, Health Minister Stephen Donelly told the country’s parliament on Thursday, while Prime Minister Micheal Martin said he was considering a recommendation from public-health officials to bring in tighter curbs against the spread of the Covid-19 virus before the end of the year.
Some countries have already extended or tightened restrictions, including France, which reported over 18,000 new cases on Thursday, the highest since mid-November. French immunologist Jean-François Delfraissy, a scientific adviser to France’s government, told the BFM television network that the country shouldn't expect a return to normal life until next fall.
Germany, one of the worst-affected countries at the moment, recorded nearly 34,000 new cases on Thursday, according to the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases—the first time it has registered more than 30,000 new infections. It also recorded over 800 new Covid-19-related deaths.
The growing anxiety over how the festive period may accelerate infection rates comes as Europe is expected to approve and distribute its first Covid vaccines. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is already being rolled out in the U.K., but officials and scientists across Europe warn that it will take months to inoculate a sufficiently large portion of the population to effectively slow the virus’s spread.
The German government released its vaccination plan on Friday. Starting Dec. 27 and pending European approval for the vaccine, doctors would start vaccinating people over 80, residents of nursing and care homes and medical personnel facing a high risk of exposure.
After one or two months, people 75 and older, those suffering from dementia and Down syndrome, doctors, relatives of nursing patients, asylum seekers and the homeless would be next. The last priority group would include those aged 60 and older, people with serious health conditions, members of the government, police, justice as well as teachers and seasonal workers.
Health Minister Jens Spahn warned however that the limited supply of vaccine doses meant that authorities may initially have to set priorities, even within members of the highest-priority group.
The Link LonkDecember 18, 2020 at 10:43PM
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/covid-2020-12-18
Covid-19 Live Updates: U.S. Hospitalizations Set Fresh Record - The Wall Street Journal
https://news.google.com/search?q=fresh&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
No comments:
Post a Comment