COVID-19 is again surging in Western Europe due to a “perfect storm” of governments lifting restrictions, waning immunity and the more contagious BA.2 Omicron subvariant of SARS-CoV-2, experts said on Monday.
After more than a month of falling cases across much of the continent, nations such as France, Germany and Italy have all seen a dramatic resurgence of infections.
In France, cases have risen by more than one-third in the week since the government ended most restrictions on Monday last week.
Photo: EPA-EFE
In Germany, despite a new daily record of nearly 300,000 infections on Friday, the government let national legislation enabling disease prevention measures expire over the weekend.
However, most German states, which have considerable leeway on applying measures, have maintained their restrictions.
In Italy, the government announced on Thursday that it would phase out almost all restrictions by May 1 despite rising cases.
In the UK, where one in 20 people are infected, the government removed the last of its international travel restrictions on Friday.
Faced with its own surging cases, Austria announced on the weekend that it would reimpose rules requiring people to wear masks — just weeks after lifting the measure.
While some have blamed governments for relaxing restrictions too quickly, epidemiologists also pointed the finger at the BA.2 Omicron subvariant, which has become dominant in many nations.
Sometimes called “stealth Omicron” because it is more difficult to detect, BA.2 is estimated to be about 30 percent more contagious than its predecessor BA.1.
Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick in England, said that rising cases in Europe were due to a combination — “a perfect storm” — of three factors: the lifting of restrictions, waning immunity after vaccination and BA.2.
“Removing restrictions has fueled the spread of BA.2 and could also lead to the generation of other variants,” Young said.
University of Geneva Institute of Global Health director Antoine Flahault said there were “a couple of hypotheses on the table, which are not mutually exclusive.”
He said that BA.2 was “clearly a relevant suspect in explaining the current rebound,” also mentioning waning immunity and the easing of disease prevention measures.
He also pointed to air pollution in western Europe during the infection resurgence, referring to research that showed “strong correlation” between COVID-19 outbreaks and high levels of fine particulate matter in the air.
Simon Clarke, cellular microbiology professor at the University of Reading in England, said that despite soaring cases in the UK, “concern about the virus among the public seems to be at an all-time low since the start of the pandemic.”
“The BA.2 version of Omicron seems to be behind this uptick in infections, which again shows how quickly the situation can change as the virus evolves into new forms,” Clarke told the Science Media Centre.
STEPPING UP: Diminished US polar science presence mean opportunities for the UK and other countries, although China or Russia might also fill that gap, a researcher said The UK’s flagship polar research vessel is to head to Antarctica next week to help advance dozens of climate change-linked science projects, as Western nations spearhead studies there while the US withdraws. The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a state-of-the-art ship named after the renowned British naturalist, would aid research on everything from “hunting underwater tsunamis” to tracking glacier melt and whale populations. Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the country’s polar research institute, the 15,000-tonne icebreaker — boasting a helipad, and various laboratories and gadgetry — is pivotal to the UK’s efforts to assess climate change’s impact there. “The saying goes
Floods on Sunday trapped people in vehicles and homes in Spain as torrential rain drenched the northeastern Catalonia region, a day after downpours unleashed travel chaos on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza. Local media shared videos of roaring torrents of brown water tearing through streets and submerging vehicles. National weather agency AEMET decreed the highest red alert in the province of Tarragona, warning of 180mm of rain in 12 hours in the Ebro River delta. Catalan fire service spokesman Oriol Corbella told reporters people had been caught by surprise, with people trapped “inside vehicles, in buildings, on ground floors.” Santa Barbara Mayor Josep Lluis
Police in China detained dozens of pastors of one of its largest underground churches over the weekend, a church spokesperson and relatives said, in the biggest crackdown on Christians since 2018. The detentions, which come amid renewed China-US tensions after Beijing dramatically expanded rare earth export controls last week, drew condemnation from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who on Sunday called for the immediate release of the pastors. Pastor Jin Mingri (金明日), founder of Zion Church, an unofficial “house church” not sanctioned by the Chinese government, was detained at his home in the southern city of Beihai on Friday evening, said
TICKING CLOCK: A path to a budget agreement was still possible, the president’s office said, as a debate on reversing an increase of the pension age carries on French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday was racing to find a new prime minister within a two-day deadline after the resignation of outgoing French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu tipped the country deeper into political crisis. The presidency late on Wednesday said that Macron would name a new prime minister within 48 hours, indicating that the appointment would come by this evening at the latest. Lecornu told French television in an interview that he expected a new prime minister to be named — rather than early legislative elections or Macron’s resignation — to resolve the crisis. The developments were the latest twists in three tumultuous
RSS