#Europes covid lockdowns drag on police full

Roughly two-thirds of those eligible in Austria are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, one of the lowest rates in western Europe. Party leader Herbert Kickl posted a picture on Facebook with the inscription: 'As of today Austria is a dictatorship.' The party is planning a protest on Saturday, but Kickl cannot attend because he has tested positive for COVID-19. Both decisions infuriated many in a country where scepticism about state mandates affecting individual freedoms runs high, encouraged by the far-right Freedom Party, the third biggest in parliament. A fourth wave of infections has plunged Germany, Europe's largest economy, into a national emergency, Health Minister Jens Spahn said, warning that vaccinations alone will not cut case numbers.Īustria said it in addition to lockdown it would require the whole population to be vaccinated from Feb.

#Europes covid lockdowns drag on police full

China reported 50 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Saturday compared with 43 on Friday, according to the country’s health authority.VIENNA/BERLIN, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Austria will become the first country in western Europe to reimpose a full COVID-19 lockdown, it said on Friday as neighbouring Germany warned it may follow suit, sending shivers through financial markets worried about the economic fallout.Įurope has again become the epicentre of the pandemic, accounting for half of global cases and deaths.Melbourne, Australia’s second-biggest city, began its first weekend out of the world’s longest string of Covid lockdowns with spontaneous street parties, live music and packed pubs, bars and restaurants.Sri Lanka has announced plans to offer booster shots to frontline workers followed by the elderly as it prepares to further ease Covid restrictions.The decision comes days after the drugs regulator in neighbouring South Africa raised concerns about its safety for people at risk of HIV. Namibia will suspend the use of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid vaccine, its health ministry said on Saturday.New Zealand reported 104 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, including the first community case of the virus in the country’s South Island in nearly a year, health officials said.The senior official credited with the early success of the Covid vaccine rollout in England is returning to the NHS to resume her role overseeing the programme, months after leaving to become the head of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street delivery unit.The Romanian government is to re-introduce a night curfew and make health passes mandatory for entry to most public venues from Monday.Romania has reported record numbers of daily coronavirus deaths and infections this month and the hospital system is stretched to breaking point.

Six Romanian Covid-19 patients have been transported to the central Polish city of Lodz for treatment, Polish authorities said.

Health officials should have known about major failings at a private UK Covid testing lab within days of the problem arising, rather than taking weeks to shut down operations at the site, senior scientists say.

Unvaccinated people in Austria could face new lockdown restrictions if coronavirus case numbers continue to rise, the country’s chancellor, Alexander Schallenberg, has said.

Local public health chiefs in England have broken from the government’s official guidance to recommend plan B measures to combat a surge in coronavirus cases.

The whole world must be vaccinated to stop new Covid variants from developing, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.Russia reported a further 1,075 Covid deaths on Saturday, its fifth straight daily record, as authorities prepare to shut workplaces across the country and lock down Moscow.In a wide-ranging interview with The Times newspaper, the UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has said shops, pubs and restaurants must not shut again as the vaccine rollout meant there could be “no more lockdowns”.A prominent Covid adviser to the UK government has said he is “very fearful” there will be another Christmas lockdown as he urged the public to do everything possible to reduce transmission of the virus.The total number of cases is now 8,734,934 and the death toll is 139,461. The UK has recorded 44,985 new coronavirus cases and a further 135 deaths in the last 24-hour period, government figures show.23.58 BST A summary of today's developments