Europe steps up curbs as Covid-19 cases spike
VIENNA: A fresh wave of infections across Europe showed no sign of slowing. Austria began a lockdown for people who haven’t been vaccinated, while Ireland got set to recommend people start working from home again.
The three German parties currently negotiating to form a coalition government said they wouldn’t rule out reintroducing tighter restrictions.
The UK expanded its vaccine booster programme, making shots available to people in their 40s, and a study of immune responses to four Covid vaccines found that Pfizer’s shot yielded the strongest result.
Cyprus approved a booster for everyone above age 18, the country’s health ministry said. Some 67% of the population has been fully vaccinated and the extra shot will be administrated six months after the second one.
Hospitals in Slovakia, one of Europe’s least-vaccinated nations, have been filling up with coronavirus patients, with the northeastern region of Presov reporting almost no spare intensive care beds, authorities and hospitals said on Monday.
President Zuzana Caputova has signed a law allowing the government to force unvaccinated people to test twice a week before attending work in the worst-affected regions
Meanwhile, in New York City, US, people age 18 and over who received a Moderna or Pfizer dose at least six months ago or the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at least two months ago are now eligible for the booster.