Cases of contagion from the new variant multiply, flights from South Africa are blocked, containment measures are also strengthened in Belgium, mask obligation in the United Kingdom
Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, even Italy, even more the Netherlands. Covid in its new Omicron variant has started circulating for Europe, which now looks to the immediate future with renewed concern.
The European Union is once again closing in on the rest of the world, with the intention of not intervening, for now, on internal free movement. But in the meantime, curfews are returning in the Member States, and the EU begins to cancel appointments from the agenda. The risk factors for the recovery are starting to materialize, and there is also the nightmare of a new recession as well as a new lockdown.
In Belgium, where the first case of new Coronavirus was registered, a curfew was decreed from 11pm to 5am, but Christmas fairs and markets have not yet been canceled. In the Netherlands, starting tomorrow, all non-essential shops and services will be closed from 5 to 5, supermarkets open until 8 pm. The 61 positive people arriving in Amsterdam from two flights from South Africa are added to the worsening of the situation. It is feared that they may have contracted the new variant, considered more contagious, and have been placed in solitary confinement. Maximum alert, as in Germany, where there are two confirmed cases of Coronavirus positive people with mutations typical of the new variant, both in isolation, with a third suspected case. A suspected contagion also in the Czech Republic, and two full-blown ones in the only former EU member, the United Kingdom, which is returning to the restrictive regime.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces the reintroduction of the obligation of a mask on public transport and in shops, but above all mandatory tampons upon arrival and self-isolation until the time of the negative response of the test. Precautionary measures. “We don’t know how dangerous” this mutation is. There is now a risk of a domino effect. London actually uses what in the EU is the “emergency brake”, the device that allows governments to reintroduce quarantines and tampons even to vaccinated people. The regulation on the green pass provides that in case of need they can also be applied to EU citizens. Austria does not prohibit entry to Europeans, but has suspended tourist travel until December 13, effectively implementing a restriction on entry into the country.
The Europe of the States has so far decided to ban and restrict flights to and from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe. From now on, only EU citizens and EU residents, as well as some very few categories of essential travelers such as healthcare workers, will be able to enter if they come from these southern African countries. They are, at the moment, the only measures taken on a shared level. Everything is left to the decision of the individual governments, and now it is feared that we can proceed in no particular order.
At the moment the doors are closed to the states of origin of the mutated virus, with South Africa accusing the partners of having been punished for its honesty, but in the face of the risk of circulation and spread of the virus, the next move could be to intervene in the area Schengen.
To save it, Brussels relaunches Immuni. “The contact tracing of people from the region concerned must be increased,” emphasizes the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The college, having returned to meet at a distance and after reducing the number of visitors to the institution, is asking for “coordination” among the twenty-seven who, due to Covid, have canceled the meeting of foreign trade ministers scheduled for Monday. It was supposed to be held in Geneva, together with the WTO meeting, but the renewed health crisis has forced it to be postponed to better days.
Unlimited access to all site content
€ 1 / month for 3 months, then € 3.99 / month for 3 months
Unlock unlimited access to all content on the site
#Curfew #suspended #travel #Europe #raises #guard #Covid #nightmare #lockdown #returns