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- On Saturday, most countries around the world tightened restrictions on their populations to combat the rise in coronavirus cases.
- The European Union offered to help drug companies expand vaccine production to improve distribution congestion.
- Experts also fear the worst is yet to come, predicting a sharp rise in infections and deaths after weeks of Christmas gatherings.
Countries around the world tightened restrictions on their populations on Saturday to fight the coronavirus resurgence, as the European Union offered to help drug companies expand vaccine production to improve distribution “bottlenecks.” .
From local curfews to alcohol bans and outright closures, governments are trying to address an increase in cases.
The coronavirus has killed more than 1.8 million people worldwide since it emerged in China in December 2019, according to a count from official sources compiled by AFP.
But experts fear the worst is yet to come, predicting a sharp rise in infections and deaths after weeks of festive gatherings.
French police detained hundreds of New Years revelers on Saturday for disobeying anti-Covid measures at an illegal rave.
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In Bangkok, the city’s nightlife closed following a ban on the sale of alcohol in bars, nightclubs and restaurants, amid a series of restrictions aimed at curbing the rise in the number of viruses in the kingdom.
Public schools in the Thai capital will close for two weeks.
An outbreak last month at a seafood market sparked a resurgence of the virus in Thailand, with infections detected in 53 of the kingdom’s 77 provinces.
In Tokyo, the city governor on Saturday called on Japan’s government to declare a new state of emergency as the country battles a third wave, with a record number of new cases.
And South Korea extended its antivirus restrictions until January 17 in the Seoul metropolitan area, including a ban on gatherings of more than four people, which will be extended to cover the entire country.
Vaccine race
The growing number of infections around the world means that the race for vaccination will dominate next year.
The delays in obtaining vaccines in Europe were not the fault of the European Union, said the bloc’s health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides.
“The bottleneck at the moment is not the volume of orders, but the global shortage of production capacity,” he said.
The bloc would help pharmaceutical companies in their efforts to expand production, he added.
“The situation will improve step by step.”
India held drills across the country on Saturday to kick off one of the world’s largest coronavirus vaccination programs as its drug regulator prepared to approve the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine.
In the United States, the vaccination program has been beset by logistical problems, while the worst affected country in the world surpassed 20 million cases on Friday.
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The United States has seen a worrying rise in coronavirus infections in recent months and Saturday saw its highest number on record so far in a day, at more than 277,000.
In Russia, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that more than 800,000 people had received the domestically produced Sputnik V vaccine and that 1.5 million doses of around 147 million had been distributed across the country.
The Kremlin has refrained from imposing virus restrictions across the country, instead pinning its hopes on the mass vaccination campaign to end the pandemic and save its struggling economy.
The French government, facing the threat of a new wave of Covid-19 infections, extended the night curfew by two hours in some parts of the country to help fight the virus.
The curfew will begin at 6:00 p.m., instead of 8:00 p.m. in parts of France, mainly in the east of the country. Paris, for now, has gotten rid of the additional restriction.
‘We had to party’
The new French restrictions came as police searched more than 1,200 revelers on Saturday when an illegal rave in northwestern France finally ended after more than two days of partying that saw clashes with police.
Around 800 of them were booked for failing to comply with anti-virus measures, and Britain’s regional health authority noted a “high risk of spreading Covid-19” at the event.
“We knew what we were risking … we had to celebrate, for a year everything has stalled,” said a 20-year-old waitress.
Spanish police broke up another meeting on Saturday near Barcelona, where 300 people had been partying for more than 40 hours.
And footballers were also among those caught breaking the rules, with Tottenham’s Erik Lamela, Sergio Reguilon and Giovani Lo Celso being disciplined after an image emerged of them attending a big party.
SEE | Hundreds booked for Covid-19 violations as NYE’s massive French rave ends
Norway, which has one of the lowest infection rates in Europe, began on Saturday to require tests for Covid-19 upon arrival in the country, after finding five cases of a new variant of the coronavirus that first emerged in Britain. .
Denmark discovered 86 cases of the new variant, which is believed to be more contagious, while Vietnam also detected the strain.
The small British enclave of Gibraltar, facing Spain, entered a 14-day blockade on Saturday. Chief Minister Fabián Picardo said the virus was spreading “faster than we can control it.”
Greece has extended its strict two-month lockdown measures until January 10, ending a relaxation of restrictions during the holiday period.
In Lebanon, doctors warned that hospitals are being overwhelmed by coronavirus cases, in the wake of the year-end holidays.
But in Australia, the finishing touches were being put on a swanky show at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday, as the venue prepared to host an opera crowd for the first time since March following a hiatus from the virus.
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