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Record-breaking cases as Europe’s latest wave takes hold

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On November 16, 2021, medical personnel worked in the intensive care unit for Covid-19 patients at a Freising hospital near Munich.

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LONDON — The latest wave of Covid-19 cases is hitting Europe with a vengeance with a number of countries seeing record numbers of daily infections, imposing partial lockdowns and placing more restrictions on unvaccinated people.

Germany broke a record Thursday reporting more than 65,000 new casesAccording to health officials, the real number could easily be twice or even three times.

The Netherlands is a neighboring country. more than 20,000 new cases were reported WednesdayA new record was set for the third straight day. It also stands in France, where there is currently a fifth wave. the number of new cases topped 20,000 on WednesdayReuters reported that the level was at an all-time high of.

The Netherlands and Austria both have implemented partial lockdowns. However, many countries want to avoid full- or medium-scale lockdowns similar to 2020 due to the economic damage they could cause. Instead, they are opting to implement more Covid rules, and Covid passports.

New Covid regulations in Belgium requiring indoor mask usage and working at home have been introduced. This is amid the sharpest increase of infections in Europe.

Alexander de Croo, the Belgian Prime Minister, is determined to avoid another lockdown. However, he told Silvia Amaro on Wednesday that there had been an increase in cases but it wasn’t as severe as before because of widespread vaccination.

“Pressure is building in our hospitals,” he stated. However, prudent steps should be taken to ensure that we don’t have to shut down any part of the economy or society.

Continue reading: Belgium announces new Covid restrictions, but prime minister vows to avoid lockdown

Covid passports or passes are increasingly common in Europe. They indicate an individual’s Covid status, which is whether or not they have been vaccinated. They are not without controversy, however, and such passes are leading to an increasing number of public spaces — from bars and movie theaters to Christmas markets — becoming segregated, with access granted to vaccinated people but restricted for the unvaccinated.

Merkel’s meeting

Angela Merkel is the Germany’s outgoing Chancellor and will be meeting with 16 of its state premiers Thursday to discuss how her country responds to what she called yesterday a “dramatic”.

Germany’s States have been relatively free to choose their Covid Responses and Public Health measures. This has resulted in different pandemic-state actions. The government, however, sought to use temporary power to impose lockdowns on high infections rates.

Germany’s current state of emergency which allowed the government tighter control on public health is due to expire Nov. 25,

Some state health ministers have requested officials to increase the state emergency. This allows states to put in place measures like school lockdowns. However, the three sides currently in negotiations to form a government have agreed that the state emergency will expire next Wednesday.

Continue reading: Merkel warns fourth Covid wave is hitting Germany with ‘full force’

Thursday’s new Covid case count, of 65,371 new cases, is the first time since the pandemic began that the number has been upward of 60,000 in a single day, Deutsche Welle noted. The report also stated that Lothar Wieler (head of the Robert Koch Institute’s infectious disease agency) said the real number could be higher.

Wieler, who was speaking online with Michael Kretschmer, Michael Kretschmer’s state premier for Saxony (which has the highest Covid incidence rate in Germany), stated: “The under-reporting and increasing of the true numbers.”

Wieler stated that he believed there were at least twice as many cases per day reported than actually were being reported. We are currently in an emergency. He said Wednesday that anyone who refuses to recognize this is making a huge mistake.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestifies while she is seated at her weekly cabinet meeting, April 13th 2021 at Berlin’s Chancellery.

AFP | AFP | Getty Images

It is concerning that Germany is experiencing such an alarming rise in the number of cases, especially considering that Germany was widely praised for its initial strategy to combat the Covid epidemic.

The country’s deaths have been kept low by widespread testing, tracing and modern healthcare networks. However, this gap is now smaller. Johns Hopkins University has compiled data that shows the nation has had over 5.1million cases of the virus, and close to 100,000 deaths. France, on the other hand, has had just under 118,000 deaths and more than 7.3 million cases.

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