European countries are trying to contain the spread of COVID-19, intensifying restrictions on their citizens or tightening rules on entry into their territories, amid fears of a sharp rise in cases in the coming weeks.
On the tourist island of Mykonos, the capital of night parties in Greece, parties will end after a night-time curfew between 1:00am and 6:00pm, similar to the day before in Barcelona, Spain. .
France requires, from this Saturday, a negative COVID test in the last 24 hours The United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Greece and the Netherlands are all on the “red” list of pandemic risk countries, including Cuba, Indonesia, Mozambique and Tunisia, along with all non-vaccinated people.
More than 110,000 people demonstrated this Saturday in various cities in France, according to the interior ministry, against mandatory vaccination for some professionals and the requirement to present health certificates to access most public places since August.
The delta version hampered the plans of several European countries, which eased anti-Covid measures and were confident in a summer of progressive normalcy due to the rapid progress of vaccination across much of the continent. However, infections are rising again and a new risk scenario is expected for this pandemic, which has already killed more than 4 million people in the world.
Spain is experiencing a rapid increase in the number of cases, especially among young people who have not yet been vaccinated, and about 8 million citizens are under curfew. However, deaths remain low due to the high vaccination rates observed today by the head of government. “Next week, one in two Spaniards will be completely immunized,” said Pedro Sánchez during an act of the Socialist Party.
The European Agency for Disease Control (ECDC) has predicted a sharp increase in the epidemic to five times the number of new cases by 1 August. However, he believes that the number of hospitalizations and deaths will not increase as much.
pilgrimage to Mecca
In Brazil, one of the most bereaved countries with more than half a million deaths, vaccination campaign incentives have improved the situation, with an average of 1,252 deaths this week, compared to nearly 3,000 in early April. On the other hand, in the Pacific, Australian authorities have been unable to contain the outbreak, found in Sydney after weeks of confinement, and ordered the closure of business.
In the United States, a slowdown in the vaccination campaign, feared by the most reluctant, resulted in conflict between the White House and Facebookwho is the president Joe Biden Accused the platform of “killing people” for not fighting misinformation about the virus.
Another factor intensifying the pandemic could be large gatherings for sporting events, such as the upcoming Olympic Games, or the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, which began on Saturday.
In Tokyo, the organizers of the Games announced the detection of the first case of COVID-19 in the Olympic Village.
In Mecca, capacity was limited to 60,000 participants, with only Saudis or resident foreigners properly vaccinated, a far cry from 2.5 million in 2019. In addition, robots distributed bottles of holy water and pilgrims were not allowed to touch the Kaaba.
