Stubborn Covid-19 wave rips through Europe

Members of ‘NoVax’ take part in a demonstration against the introduction of a mandatory “green pass”, with which authorities aim to limit the spread of the Coronavirus, at Circo Massimo in Rome on Saturday. Pic/AFP

At the main hospital in Romania's capital, the morgue ran out of space for the dead in recent days, and doctors in Bulgaria have suspended routine surgeries so they can tend to a surge in COVID-19 patients. In the Serbian capital, the graveyard now operates an extra day during the week in order to bury all the bodies arriving.

For two months now, a stubborn wave of virus infections has ripped mercilessly through several countries in Central and Eastern Europe, where vaccination rates are much lower than elsewhere on the continent. While medical workers pleaded for tough restrictions or even lockdowns, leaders let the virus rage unimpeded for weeks. "I don't believe in measures. I don't believe in the same measures that existed before the vaccines," Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said last month as the Balkan nation sustained some of its worst daily death tolls of the pandemic. "Why do we have vaccines then?"

A World Health Organization (WHO) official declared earlier this month that Europe is again at the epicentre of the Coronavirus pandemic. While several Western European countries are seeing spikes in infections, it is nations to the East that are driving fatalities. Romania, Bulgaria and the Balkan states recorded some of the highest per-capita death rates in the world in the first week of November, according to the WHO.

Experts say fumbled vaccination campaigns and underfunded and mismanaged health systems set the stage for the latest outbreaks, which gathered pace as leaders dithered. Some are acting now, but many doctors say it took too long and is still not enough. Many governments in the region are facing elections soon, and that no doubt made them reluctant to force people to get vaccinated or impose unpopular lockdowns even in former Communist nations that once carried out mandatory inoculations without hesitation or where leaders were quick to introduce closures earlier in the pandemic. But politicians' failure to quickly heed the calls of the medical community has likely undermined an already weak trust in institutions in countries where corruption is widespread.

Virus resurgence spreads to 21 Chinese provinces

The latest COVID-19 resurgence in China has spread to 21 provincial-level regions, where new locally transmitted cases or asymptomatic carriers were reported in the past few days, a health official said. The country is facing greater challenges of preventing inbound cases.

Cases in Africa cross 8.55 million

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa has reached 8,553,696, according to health authorities. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the death toll from the pandemic across the continent stands at 220,546, reports Xinhua news agency. Some 7,975,484 patients across the continent have recovered from the disease so far.

Morocco to make entry control measures stricter

Morocco has announced to strengthen the control measures for access to its territory, as part of efforts to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. A mandatory health pass and negative PCR test will be required for international travellers, as well as a double-check by thermal cameras.

51,48,19
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

25,31,45,709
Total no. of cases worldwide

50,99,081
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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