New variants of coronavirus put Europe at a crossroads: to lift restrictions or not?

02/18/2021 7:58 PM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 02/18/2021 7:58 PM

The gradual decline in covid-19 cases, reduced to a quarter in two months, encourages European countries

to lift restrictions

against the pandemic

as soon as possible

.

However,

the threat of the British and South African variants raises doubts

about the openness of public life and even raises new controls at the borders, which places the continent at a crossroads.

The first week of March is the deadline that a large part of the States have given themselves

to start loosening the closures

or at least to review them, without rushing to lift confinements that have managed to reduce infections, something that, according to experts, does not have nothing to do with the incipient vaccination.

In addition, they warn that

the new variants could become more communicable and deadly

, and threaten the effectiveness of vaccines, so that the rush in Europe to get out of the economic crisis and return to normality can be counterproductive.

The European Central Bank (ECB) considers that the new variants of the coronavirus, which are more infectious,

pose a risk to the recovery of the

euro area

economy

.

AFP

The ECB's chief economist, Philip Lane, told a meeting Thursday that "the launch of vaccination campaigns in the euro area was an important milestone."

However, he concluded that the short-term prospects are challenging on account of the new increase in infections, the appearance of mutations of the virus and

more restrictive containment measures

imposed in many countries of the euro zone in recent months.

The ECB kept interest rates and the volume of debt purchases on January 21, so its monetary policy has been on automatic pilot since December, when it decided to increase monetary stimulus.

Caution

The decline in new infections

has slowed

in Germany, where health authorities registered 10,207 new positives in the last 24 hours and 534 fatalities, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for virology.

On Thursday of last week, new infections

totaled 10,237 and deaths totaled 666.

The cumulative incidence in seven days rose even slightly in the whole of Germany to 57.1 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 57 yesterday, while a week ago it was 64.2.

In addition, the British variant of Covid-19, more infectious, has spread and now accounts

for more than 22%

of infections, compared to just under 6% two weeks ago.

For this reason, the German Government is carefully studying the steps to gradually come out of the stoppage of public life in force until next March 7,

while maintaining border controls

with the Czech Republic and the Austrian Tyrol.

The French Executive indicated that as of Monday the isolation of people who test positive for coronavirus

rises from seven to ten days,

although that of contact cases remains at seven.

The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, explained that the measure is taken after some scientific studies indicate that the duration of the contagiousness of the variants is longer than that of the classic covid.

People with masks in Milan, Italy.

Photo DPA

The government representative added that his decision

is made "without waiting for confirmation

" of these investigations, but at a time when the percentage of infections caused by these other strains has become high.

According to their data, 36% of the positive cases analyzed correspond to the British variant, and 5% to the Brazilian or South African.

In total, France registered 22,501 cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours and 271 deaths in hospitals this Thursday, which made the Government emphasize that the time has not yet come to relax the restrictions.

The hospitals

The number of patients admitted with covid-19 in Portugal, where the third wave

put hospitals to the limit,

fell below 4,000 today for the first time in more than a month, in a day with 105 deaths and 1,944 infections.

According to Portuguese health authorities, there are 3,819 people hospitalized with the virus, 318 fewer than yesterday and the lowest number since January 10.

Of that total, 688 are in intensive care units (31 less than the figure on Wednesday).

This Thursday there were 1,944 infections and 105 deaths,

below yesterday's data

.

The number of active cases also fell and dropped below the 90,000 mark, which had not happened since the beginning of January.

Since March, the country, with 10 million inhabitants, has

added 792,829 cases and 15,754 deaths.

On the other hand, the Portuguese Government has opened its recovery plan for public consultation to access community support funds after the pandemic, in which outstanding projects are taking place.

Cortina D'Ampezzo, in Italy, without ski season.

AP Photo

The new government of Mario Draghi will have to face the first decisions about the possible new restrictions in Italy and will have to decide

which regions go to the red or orange zones

, the ones with the greatest limitations.

In addition, on February 25 the extension of the prohibition to travel between regions provided for by the latest decree signed by the former prime minister, Giuspeppe Conte, will expire.

In recent days, several virologists and experts have shown their

concern about the advance of the variants of the virus

and have asked the Government to apply more severe measures to reduce social contacts, including total confinement.

Italy has registered 13,762 new cases of coronavirus and 347 deaths in the last 24 hours, while the good data that is recorded in the Aosta Valley (north) could make that area the first to cancel most restrictions.

In total, 2,765,412 people have been infected in the country since the health emergency began a year ago, while the last deaths, 22 less than yesterday,

raise the death toll in the country due to the pandemic to 94,887.

Curfew

The acting Dutch Government achieved the support of a parliamentary majority to

maintain the curfew

with a rule drawn up against the clock within the framework of the coronavirus emergency law that, if it gets support from the Senate tomorrow, provides an alternative legal basis to a restriction that was overturned by Justice.

The figures show a rise in daily infections in the Netherlands, where a total of 89 deaths from covid-19 and 4,618 new infections were detected in the last 24 hours, some 1,222 more than yesterday, and more than the average registered last week , which was 3,649 per day.

Since March of last year,

1.03 million infections and 14,929 deaths have been reported.

The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, will announce on the 22nd the roadmap to lift the confinement in England, after the decrease in the transmission of the disease and the advance of the vaccination plan for the population.

According to the latest official data, the United Kingdom

yesterday registered another 738 deaths and 12,718 infections.

A report from Imperial College London ensures that there has been

a "sharp decline"

in the number of virus transmissions in England since the beginning of last January and the largest drop was observed in the British capital.

This academic institution released its study "React", in which it states that infections fell by two thirds in England, but the fall in London, the southeast and central English reached 80%.

Vaccines

The Irish Government announced that it expects to receive at least one million doses of vaccines per month during April, May and June, which will significantly speed up the immunization process.

Since the beginning of vaccination, health authorities have

administered 271,942 doses,

mostly to residents of nursing homes, their caregivers and health

workers

.

In principle, the Dublin Executive plans to lift the restrictions from March 5, but has indicated that the reopening of the economy will be slow and gradual.

The latest figures indicated that

57 new deaths

were registered

,

which left the number of deaths at 4,036, while 650 new infections were detected, for a total of 211,751.

The Spanish health authorities have reported 388 deaths in the last 24 hours, compared to 513 last Thursday, and have also reported a new decrease in pressure on the ucis, which stands at 35.4% (almost one point less than yesterday), while the plant fell to 13.5%.

The communities have notified the Government of 14,515 new positives, bringing the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic to 3,121,687 and the number of deaths to 66,704.

Source: EFE

PB