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.
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
A judge in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for the British member of parliament and former British economic secretary to the treasury Tulip Siddiq, who is a niece of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August last year in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule. The Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating allegations against Siddiq that she and her family members, including Hasina, illegally received land in a state-owned township project near Dhaka, the capital. Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Zakir Hossain passed the order on Sunday, after considering charges in three separate cases filed
RSS