Britain, Germany and Italy have drastically increased or extended their restrictions on Tuesday in the face of a non-yielding pandemic that is leading to a total re-confinement in several European countries, where authorities are also criticized for slowing down vaccination campaigns.
“As of today (Tuesday), he must stay at home, with few exceptions,” the British government announced on Twitter, hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the reconfiguration of England’s 56 million inhabitants.
The goal, according to the head of government, is to regain control of the “new strain” of coronavirus that has worsened the situation since the end of the year and caused about 50,000 infections a day these days. Unlike the second blockade, Johnson also chose to close all schools.
In Scotland, the semi-autonomous government imposed a total closure on Tuesday, and Northern Ireland and Wales have already imposed significant restrictions before Christmas.
According to the British Minister Michael Gove, in charge of coordinating government actions, the closure will be in force until March.
The United Kingdom, which is already mourning more than 75,000 deaths caused by covid-19, is the second country in Europe to suffer the most from the pandemic after Italy.
In this urgent context and unlike what is happening in other European countries, the immunization campaign is running at full speed in the United Kingdom, where the distribution of the vaccine from the British laboratory AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford began on Monday.
Authorities have ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine, which is less expensive and easier to store than Pfizer-BioNTech, which has already been administered to more than one million Britons since early December.
No sages because of the pandemic
The situation in the United Kingdom today is not unique. Other countries in Europe, 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 dead, decided on Tuesday to extend its restrictions and delay the reopening of secondary schools.
In Germany, the government intends to announce in the next few hours the maintenance of the restrictions, probably until January 31, and their extension with the closure of schools.
On December 30, the country exceeded 1,000 deaths per day due to covid-19 for the first time and there have been about 1,775 million infections since the beginning of the pandemic.
Unlike spring, the management of the second wave is now attracting criticism in Germany. Bild, the country’s most widely read newspaper, accuses the government of relying “too much” on the European Union (EU) to supply vaccines and of privileging only Pfizer / BioNTech, whose first dose has already been injected into fish. 264,000 people.
In France, where only 516 people had received the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine since January 1, the government, cornered by critics, promised on Tuesday that it would speed up the vaccination campaign.
In turn, 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 slowdown in vaccination, the pandemic will deprive the youngest of the traditional cavalcades of magicians, the popular parades that pass through the cities every January 5 surrounded by children.
Observe the vaccination deadlines
Globally, the new coronavirus pandemic has caused more than 1.85 million deaths and 85.6 million infections since entering China in December 2019.
Vaccination is the great hope of stopping these sinister balances, but some countries, given the limited number of doses available, have suggested that it would allow a longer period of time than recommended between the two injections needed to immunize more. of people.
A strategy that led the German laboratory BioNTech, the manufacturer of the first authorized vaccine in Europe, which it sells together with the American giant Pfizer, reminded on Tuesday that the deadlines must be met to guarantee its maximum effectiveness, ie 21 days between the first and second. injection.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Mexico became the fourth country in the world to authorize the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine on Monday, after the United Kingdom, Argentina and India.
The country with 128 million inhabitants is the fourth most affected by this pandemic in terms of number of deaths, with over 127,700 deaths, behind the United States, Brazil and India. On December 24, Mexico already launched the vaccination of its medical staff with the drug manufactured by Pfizer / BioNTech.
In total, Latin America and the Caribbean added more than 513,500 deaths and 15.8 million cases of covid-19 on Tuesday, according to an AFP number.
In Brazil, the northern state of Amazonas decreed a new closure of 15 days on Monday, before the virus returned. The regional capital, Manaus, was one of the cities most affected in the first months of the pandemic.
The first doses of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine will arrive in Panama in two weeks, the government announced on Monday, the same day the country broke the daily record of deaths due to covid-19.