Hard like Vienna or soft like London, Europe is now in no particular order – Doubt
The Austrian has approved the obligation of vaccine against Covid-19 for adults, from 1 February: it is the first step of this kind in Europe, while the Parliament is foreseen an initial phase without sanctions for those who do not respect the measure, until In mid-March. Since then, however, the risk will be higher, up to 3,600 euros.
Health Minister Wolfgang Mueckstein noted that it’s not just about fighting the Omicron variant, but any future variant that might emerge: “This is why this law is so urgently needed.” The debate in Parliament was heated, but consent was expected. The law provides exemptions for people who are pregnant, who for medical reasons cannot be vaccinated or who have recovered from the infection in the past six months. The news came as part of a broader strategy in Vienna, which Guardian has as a “carrot and stick”: on the one hand the obligation and fines, on the other a national lottery to reward vaccinated people with 500 euro vouchers. usable in shops, restaurants and tourism, as well as economic incentives for municipalities based on the local vaccination rate. The initiative, according to Chancellor Karl Nehammer, will serve to increase participation in the vaccination campaign: about 72% of the Austrian population is fully vaccinated, among the lowest percentages in Europe.
Also new in FranceAccording to the government’s scientific council, the impact of the fifth on hospital data will remain “high” until mid-March. Prime Minister Jean Castex spoke to the population by announcing a roadmap for easing restrictions. He said that France “is going through a difficult period” with “an exceptional wave” of new cases, which “is not over”, but “the situation is starting to evolve more favorably”. This while, he said, the Delta variant “is in marked retreat” and “Omicron begins to slow down in the regions where it initially struck.” The prime minister announced that the vaccination pass (equivalent to the super green pass) will be in effect from January 24, speaking of a “necessary” passage also in light of the risk of new variants. He then stressed that “it will be applied for the time necessary, no longer”. The loosening rules, meanwhile, while from February: from 2, in fact, wearing masks outside and teleworking will no longer be mandatory, from 16 February the discoche will reopen. The latest figures in France are of over 425 thousand new cases and 251 deaths in 24 hours, while the positivity rate is 26.9%.
Elsewhere in Europe, the Sweden it will loosen quarantine rules and make it easier for people to get to work in key jobs in areas like health care and police, as the Omicron variant spreads. People who have tested positive or living with someone positive, while not isolating themselves for 5 days instead of 7 symptoms, a small number of key workers will not have to comply with any quarantine other than key symptoms. “To cope with the high rate of infection, which is expected to increase in the next period, and not to jeopardize social functions, we are adjusting the recommendations,” said health agency official Sara Byfors. Sweden recorded a new record of cases in 24 hours, almost 40,000.
After the announcement of the Spain, which has proposed to give up the bulletins and swabs to treat Covid as a normal flu, in the lead of the countries that remove the soft line to avoid the virus there is certainly the Great Britain. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has in fact announced the end of the obligation to wear masks starting from January 27. From the same date, remote work will no longer be officially recommended and the health pass will no longer be necessary to access the premises and large gatherings. L
And if for the virologist Andrea Crisanti, that of England is not “a wrong choice” since “they have declining infections”, despite Omicron, “and a high momentum level in the population”; for the medical director of the Spallanzani Institute in Rome Francesco Vaia, “we must not imitate anyone”. The path that Italy has chosen to face the pandemic wave “will take place, I imagine, by the end of January and the first ten days of February, when we will have the plateau, towards a mitigation of the measures that we have also requested as Spallanzani and which, it seems to me, the government is preparing to approve, ”explains Vaia. While for the director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic at the San Martino hospital in Genoa, Matteo Bassetti, the priority is “to think about how to relax the measures in those who are vaccinated” against Covid-19. «Europe is moving in a different way in dealing with this epidemic», observes the expert, even if «it must be said that in the various countries the situations are also different. Austria has launched the vaccination obligation and it seems to me the most resolute one. But – warns Bassetti – we must turn the page: what we have done with the obligation to rectify the green pass is fine and vaccinations are growing, 80-90 thousand a day, a good sign. Lost – he reiterates – that in the end we will reach a safety immunity within 3-4 months, with 95% of the population vaccinated ».