AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The main Dutch pandemic expert advisory panel recommended on Thursday imposing Western Europe’s first partial lockdown since the summer, putting pressure on the government to take drastic and unpopular action to fight a COVID-19 surge. Caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government is expected to take a decision on Friday on new measures following the recommendation of the Outbreak Management Team, a panel of experts, broadcaster NOS reported. Among measures under consideration were the cancellation of events, closing theatres and cinemas, and earlier closing times for cafes and restaurants, the NOS report said. Schools would remain open. The government often, but not always, follows the panel’s recommendations. Lockdown has been considered unthinkable in many developed countries since vaccines were widely rolled out, even as infections have spiked to records. Countries such as Britain are relying on vaccine booster shots to increase immunity and avoid overwhelming their healthcare systems over the winter. The Netherlands has so far provided booster shots only to a small group of people with weak immune systems. Despite an adult vaccinate rate nearing 85%, hospitals in parts of the Netherlands have been forced to scale back regular care to treat coronavirus patients. Last week, the Netherlands re-introduced masks and expanded the list of venues that require a so-called “corona pass”, which demonstrates vaccination or a negative test result, to gain access. The Netherlands’ Institute for Health (RIVM) on Tuesday reported weekly cases were up 45% to 76,790, or more than 400 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Germany sees more than 50,000 daily new cases for first time; some hospitals in Slovakia limit non-urgent care
Germany recorded a record number of new Covid-19 infections on Thursday with 50,196 additional cases in 24 hours, a sign of the violence of the epidemic wave that is hitting the country, according to the Robert Koch health watch institute. This is the first time that the threshold of 50,000 new daily cases has been crossed since the start of the pandemic while Germany has chained record numbers of infections in recent days. The number of deaths in 24 hours rose to 235 on Thursday. Pressure is also increasing on hospital care units. This outbreak is attributed in particular to the relatively low vaccination rate of the population in Germany, just over 67%. Several particularly affected states, such as Saxony, Bavaria, and most recently Berlin, have introduced new restrictions targeting unvaccinated people who are the first affected by this rebound in the pandemic. Thus, as of Monday, Berlin will prohibit unvaccinated people from accessing, in particular, restaurants without a terrace, bars, sports halls and hairdressing salons. A negative test will no longer allow access to these public places if users are not vaccinated or cannot prove that they are cured of the disease.
Russia reports 40,759 new COVID cases, 1,237 deaths
The number of coronavirus infections in Russia jumped by 40,759 in the past 24 hours to reach a total of 8,952,472, the country’s health officials unveiled on Thursday. The death toll from COVID-19 in Russia climbed by 1,237 to 251,691, while the number of recovered patients reached 7,687,317. The numbers of both, daily confirmed infections and fatalities, are near record highs from earlier this month.
France entering fifth coronavirus wave
French Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Wednesday that the country has entered the fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, registering more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases for the second day in a row. “Several neighboring countries are already in a fifth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, what we are experiencing in France clearly looks like the beginning of a fifth wave,” Veran told TF1 television channel. Veran’s remarks come after data showed France recorded 11,883 positive cases over the past day, slightly lower compared to yesterday but still close to figures seen two months ago.