Covid-19: Europe goes the booster way, prepares for the Christmas battle ahead
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Czech Republic President Milos Zeman returned to the hospital on Thursday after testing Covid-19 positively, once again. They will release briefly him on Saturday to name Petr Fiala as the new Prime Minister, to enable him to take an oath on Sunday.
Zeman, 77, who had been vaccinated thrice even after remaining asymptomatic, was hospitalized for over six weeks. Fiala’s new government will face an immediate challenge of handling another potentially explosive surge in the coronavirus pandemic, with daily infections reaching new highs and hospitals coming under strain.
This shows the situation Europe may head into soon, amid increasing restrictions and new coronavirus strains’ challenge, as it hurtles to a shopping-free Christmas holiday season in December. Europe has already seen the death of 1.5 million people because of the pandemic since January 2020. And the WHO has just warned of another 700,000 deaths by March 2022 if the current infection rate across the Continent continued.
With Austria leading the European Union by re-imposing nationwide lockdown on Monday, and Germany likely to follow it, Europe on Thursday scrambled to regain control over the pandemic as governments urged adult boosters and jabs for young children in a sign of growing unease over the scourge.
European capitals like Berlin, Paris, and Lisbon weighed the re-imposition of tighter Covid restrictions and broader vaccination drives as increasing cases and the ensuing winter threatens to undo their hard-won gains against the pandemic over the last summer. Several countries are trying to get more people vaccinated amid vaccine-protesters’ “My body, my decision” claims, and massive demonstrations.
With governments struggling to cope with the more infectious Delta variant, the discovery of a deadlier strain in South Africa reminded many that the battle against Covid-19 is far from over, the media reported on Friday.
The US has advised American citizens to keep off the Netherlands and Germany while Britain has banned travel from six southern African countries: South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, and Botswana, where a new variant has surfaced. British Health Secretary Sajid Javid said scientists were “deeply concerned” about it as it “may be more transmissible” than Delta and current vaccines are less effective against it.
In Germany, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel urged more stringent controls. France stepped up booster shots, and the European Union’s drug agency allowed the vaccination of five-year-olds. Even countries with relatively high rates of vaccination are now tightening Covid-19 measures relaxed only recently.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, recorded 351 fresh Covid fatalities in the past 24 hours, taking the official death count since the start of the pandemic past 100,000.
Last week, Germany began requiring people to prove they are vaccinated, have recovered from Covid-19, or recently tested negative before they can travel on public transport or enter workplaces.
Several of the worst-hit areas have canceled Christmas markets and barred the unvaccinated from bars, gyms, and leisure facilities.
Germany’s Covid-19 crisis has in part been blamed on its relatively low vaccination rate of about 69 percent, compared to other Western European countries such as France, where it is 75 percent — even though new cases hit a seven-month high on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, supply and logistics snags have also marred a German campaign for booster shots.
