The United Kingdom, Germany and Italy have drastically increased or extended since Tuesday their restrictions in the face of a non-yielding pandemic that raises fears of a total overcrowding in several European countries, where authorities are also criticized by the slowness in vaccination campaigns.
“As of today (Tuesday), they must stay home, with few exceptions,” the British government said on Twitter, hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the reconfirmation of England’s 56 million people. .
The aim is, according to the head of government, to regain “control of the new strain” of the coronavirus that has aggravated the situation since the end of the year and has caused about 50,000 daily infections. Unlike the second confinement, Johnson also chose to close all schools.
In Scotland, the semi-autonomous government imposed total confinement as of this Tuesday and Northern Ireland and Wales had already introduced significant restrictions before Christmas.
According to British Minister Michael Gove, who is in charge of coordinating government action, the confinement will be in place until March.
The United Kingdom, which already mourns more than 75,000 deaths from covid-19, is the second most grieving country in Europe after the pandemic after Italy.
In this context of urgency and unlike what is happening in other European countries, the immunization campaign is going at full speed in the UK, where on Monday the distribution of the British laboratory vaccine AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford began.
Authorities ordered 100 million doses of this vaccine, which is less expensive and easier to store than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which has already been administered to more than a million Britons since early December.
Without Magi for the pandemic
The situation in the United Kingdom today is not unique. Other European countries, the area of the world most affected by this pandemic with more than 589,000 deaths and 27.3 million cases, fear that the outbreaks will force measures to be tightened.
Italy, which has more than 75,600 deaths, decided on Tuesday to extend its restrictions and delay the reopening of high schools.
In Germany, the government plans to announce in the next few hours the maintenance of the restrictions, probably until January 31, and extend them with the closure of schools.
On December 30, the country exceeded 1,000 daily deaths from covid-19 for the first time and some 1,775,000 infections have been recorded since the start of the pandemic.
On the contrary, in the spring, the management of the second wave now provokes criticism in Germany. Bild, the country’s most widely read newspaper, accuses the government of having explained “too much” to the European Union (EU) for the supply of vaccines and of having privileged only the drug Pfizer / BioNTech, the first dose is already be injected into more than 264,000 people.
In France, where as of Jan. 1 only 516 people had received the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, the government, cornered by criticism, vowed on Tuesday to speed up the vaccination campaign.
For its part, the Kremlin announced on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken with German Chancellor Angela Merkel about a possible “joint production of vaccines” against the virus.
In Spain, where the population is also exasperated by the slow pace of vaccination, the pandemic will deprive children of the traditional cavalcades of the Magi, the popular parades that tour the cities every January 5 surrounded by children.
Respect vaccine terms
Worldwide, the new coronavirus pandemic has caused more than 1.85 million deaths and 85.6 million infections since it broke out in China in December 2019.
Vaccination is the great hope of curbing these sinister balances, but some countries, given the limited number of existing doses, hinted that they would allow a longer period of time than recommended between the two injections needed to immunize a vaccine. greater number of people.
A strategy that has led the German laboratory BioNTech, producer of the first vaccine authorized in Europe, which sells alongside the American giant Pfizer, recalled on Tuesday that the deadlines must be met to ensure maximum effectiveness. , that is, 21 days between the first and second injection.
Across the Atlantic, Mexico on Monday became the fourth country in the world to authorize the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine, after the United Kingdom, Argentina and India.
The country of 128 million people is the fourth most affected by this pandemic in terms of deaths, with more than 127,700 deaths, behind the United States, Brazil and India. On December 24, Mexico had already launched the vaccination of its health personnel with the drug manufactured by Pfizer / BioNTech.
In total, Latin America and the Caribbean totaled more than 513,500 deaths and 15.8 million cases of covid-19 on Tuesday, according to an AFP count.
In Brazil, the state of Amazonas (north) decreed a new confinement of 15 days from Monday, in the face of a rise in viruses. The regional capital, Manaus, was one of the hardest hit cities during the first months of the pandemic.
The first doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine will arrive in Panama in two weeks, the government announced on Monday, the same day the country broke its daily record of deaths from covid-19.