Third wave: coronavirus infections grow in Europe, amid protests against new restrictions

03/21/2021 3:20 PM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 03/21/2021 3:20 PM

The third wave of covid-19 continues its advance in Europe,

with protests against growing restrictions

as a backdrop, and in the world, with the beaches of Rio de Janeiro closed and Miami Beach under a curfew.

This week, there were 465,300 new infections every day in the world.

Except for Africa and the Middle East, all regions registered progress: + 34% in Asia, + 18% in Europe, + 15% in the United States / Canada and + 5% in Latin America and the Caribbean.

"

Following the increase in covid-19 cases

in the Member States", the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, decided that the leaders of the European Union (EU) will meet on Thursday and Friday remotely, and not in Brussels, a spokesperson said.

Given the increase in infections, some states in Germany

advocate extending the restrictions

imposed to curb the virus to the month of April, according to a document consulted by AFP, despite the fatigue of citizens with these measures.

On Saturday,

thousands of people protested in various European countries

(Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Serbia, Poland, France and the United Kingdom), as well as in Canada, against the "dictatorship" of health restrictions.

In Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a protest in the streets.

AP Photo

At least 36 people were arrested and several policemen were injured in London during one of the protests.

In Cassel, in central Germany,

there were clashes with the forces of order

, who used pepper spray, batons and water cannons.

"The covid is a hoax"

, could be read in some banners of the protesters, from Montreal to Belgrade.

The confinements

This wave of discontent coincided with the entry into force of

a third lockdown for 21 million French people

, including Parisians, although less strict than the previous ones, and a partial lockdown in Poland.

The Polish government had eased the pressure in February, authorizing the reopening of hotels, museums, cinemas, theaters and swimming pools with limited capacity, and

has now had to backtrack.

On the other side of the Atlantic, in Florida (United States), the island of Miami Beach was forced to

impose a curfew due

to the arrival of tourists determined to party, despite the pandemic.

"The volume of people is clearly higher than in previous years," said Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber.

"I think it is partly due to the fact that there are

few open places in the rest of the country

, or they are very cold, or they are closed and they are also very cold."

In Asia, the Philippines also announced new restrictions, such as the closure of churches in Manila, when infections reached

a record number of more than 7,000 new cases a day.

Brazil added a new day of alarming figures, with 2,438 deaths in one day, for a total of 292,752 since the beginning of the pandemic, while accumulating

more than 11.9 million infections.

To stop the contagions, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro decided to

close the beaches

starting this weekend.

Just over 5% of the population received a first dose of the vaccine and less than 2% the second.

In neighboring Paraguay, once one of the exemplary countries in the region,

intensive care beds were sold out on Saturday.

Peru, which also has saturated hospitals, exceeded the threshold of 50,000 deaths from covid.

And Chile registered 7,000 infections for the first time in a single day, a situation that led the government to confine 28 municipalities.

Vaccination

To combat the pandemic, Colombia

received 245,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine

through the Covax mechanism, as well as 770,000 doses of Sinovac offered by China, whose president Xi Jinping said he expected "strengthened cooperation" between the two countries.

Governments

are also making an effort to intensify vaccination

, when the epidemic has already killed at least 2,710,382 people in the world, according to a balance established by AFP this Sunday at 1100 GMT.

After facing fears over alleged adverse effects in recent weeks, AstraZenenca's vaccine,

which several European countries have been administering again since Friday

, is now facing an EU offensive over delayed deliveries.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, threatened on Saturday to

block exports of the vaccine,

if the EU does not receive the agreed doses first.

British Defense Minister Ben Wallace warned on SkyNews Sunday that the blockade would be "counterproductive" for "a trade bloc that boasts of [abiding] the law."

Despite these immunization efforts, the organizers of the Tokyo Olympics decided not to welcome spectators from abroad, considering it highly unlikely that they would be able to travel to Japan for the competition scheduled for July 23 to August 8.

Last summer, the organizers wanted, however, to make these games a celebration of

"Humanity's victory against the virus."

Source: AFP

PB

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