The Belgian government announced the first known case in Europe of Covid caused by the new variant B.1.1.529, which could be more contagious.
According to the Ministry of Health, the mutant coronavirus was identified in an unvaccinated young woman who developed flu-like symptoms 11 days after passing through Egypt and Turkey.
According to researchers in the city of Leuven, where the virus was sequenced, the patient had a high viral load when she was diagnosed.
While closing their airports to prevent the arrival of the variant, European governments also tightened once again this Friday (26) restrictions against the already worrying winter wave of Covid on the continent.
In Germany, the number of ICU beds occupied by coronavirus patients has doubled in a week, from 2,000 to 4,000, prompting the country to discuss new restrictions to curb the spread of the disease.
The Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s federal disease control agency, has asked the country’s governors to consider passing a national lockdown to more quickly contain the number of new Covid-19 cases.
“We immediately need a massive reduction in people-to-people contacts,” said IRK Director Lothar Wieler in announcing that the country’s contagion rate jumped 44% in one week.
Even if there were no new infections, the German government had already predicted a growth of 1,000 occupants in the ICUs, raising the occupation of the country to around 25%. Non-urgent surgeries were canceled to free up beds and staff.
A meeting between state and federal governments is scheduled for Dec. 9, but Health Minister Jens Spahn has asked that it be brought forward. “Waiting 10 days at this point is a foolhardy thing.”
Concern about Covid’s new winter wave is not restricted to Europe’s largest economy, which this week had already tightened restrictions on non-vaccinated people. In Belgium, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo described the picture as “much worse than the worst-case scenario” in justifying more restrictions than announced last week.
After seeing the number of occupied ICU beds double in a week, the Belgian government restricted meetings, expanded the requirement for masks and announced an acceleration of the vaccination boost, with priority given to teachers, as well as the elderly and patients with compromised immune systems.
Nightclubs and bars will be closed for four weeks, starting this Saturday, and there will be a curfew at 11 pm for restaurants, where each table can only have a maximum of six customers. The obligation to work from home four days a week was extended from December 12th to December 19th.
In Spain, Catalonia joined other regions and made digital certificates mandatory for going to bars, restaurants, nursing homes and other public places.
The Dutch government, which has already imposed a curfew at 8 pm for bars and restaurants and has made wearing masks mandatory, was preparing to announce new restrictions this Friday, local time, after the number of new cases had risen by 40 % in one week, putting pressure on the public health system.
Among the possible measures is to bring the curfew time to 17:00, which would also affect non-essential commerce.
Switzerland is studying this Sunday to hold a referendum for voters to decide what autonomy the national government can have to act against the pandemic — for example, whether it can require a digital certificate to attend public places across the country.
In Portugal, one of the countries that most advanced its vaccination campaigns, with more than 80% of the inhabitants immunized, masks are once again mandatory in closed spaces, vaccine certificate will be required to enter restaurants and negative tests for Sars-Cov-2 will be mandatory to enter nursing homes and hospitals.
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