Unvaccinated in focus as nations try to curb cases
BERLIN: Germany’s daily coronavirus deaths jumped the most in more than five months as lawmakers debate how to rein in the fourth wave of the pandemic.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz - the Social Democrat aiming to be sworn in to succeed her next month - will hold a video conference with state leaders on Thursday to discuss the next steps.
The new coalition, which includes the Greens and the probusiness Free Democrats, is planning to introduce legislation later this week that would impose tougher curbs on people who haven’t gotten Covid shots, including requiring tests to go to work and take public transportation.
“That is in reality a lockdown for the unvaccinated that’s on the way,” Dirk Wiese, deputy caucus leader for the SPD in German parliament, said on ZDF television on Tuesday.
With less than 70% fully immunised against the disease, Europe’s biggest economy is lagging western peers such as Spain, Italy and Portugal on vaccine uptake, helping to catapult Germany into a devastating new outbreak.
Austria on Monday became the first European country to lockdown unvaccinated people in a bid to increase take-up of jabs as new cases surge.
In Ukraine, as the country reported record daily deaths on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised Monday to pay 1,000 hryvnias ($38) to each Ukrainian who gets vaccinated. Ukrainians can receive their payments starting December 19, authorities said.
“With this money, it will be possible to purchase a gym or fitness club membership, visit a cinema, theatre, museum, concert hall or exhibition centre, or buy tickets for domestic travel,” Zelenskyy said in a video message posted on Facebook.
The government plans to allocate 3 billion hryvnias ($113.8 million) to the incentive program this year and the same amount in 2022.
Ukraine reported 838 more deaths from Covid-19 on Tuesday, bringing the pandemic death toll in the country of about 41 million residents to 77,985.
The government also started requiring proof of vaccination or negative test results to board planes, trains and long-distance buses.
Egypt on Tuesday barred civil servants and students who are still not vaccinated from their offices and universities unless they show a negative PCR test, which are prohibitively expensive there.
Workers in Latvia - which is also struggling with a spike in cases - can now be sacked if they refuse to get vaccinated. The new rule also applies to politicians, who can be barred from their duties.
Peru, the country with the world’s highest Covid-19 mortality rate, is to require adults to show proof of vaccination to enter indoor spaces from next month.
Health workers in Belgium who don’t want to get vaccinated against Covid-19 will face losing their jobs. The government finalised a draft bill late on Monday to make vaccination of health care workers mandatory.