- China puts hundreds of thousands more under lockdown; the US, Europe badly hit COVID-19 surges have wreaked havoc around the world, with many nations trying to strike a balance between economically punishing restrictions and controlling the spread of the virus.
- The United States has halved the isolation period for asymptomatic cases to try and blunt the disruption, while France has ordered firms to have employees work from home at least three days a week.
- All sports competitions will now be held behind closed doors.
Even though early research suggests it causes milder sickness, the WHO warned Tuesday that the Omicron coronavirus variety might overwhelm healthcare systems, as China and Germany reinstated severe restrictions to prevent fresh infection outbreaks as reported by Gulf News.
Lockdown
China put hundreds of thousands more people under lockdown, while infections hit new highs in multiple US states and European countries.
The United States has halved the isolation period for asymptomatic cases to try and blunt the disruption, while France has ordered firms to have employees work from home at least three days a week.
Contact restrictions were in place in Germany for the second year in a row heading into the New Year, as Europe’s biggest economy shuttered nightclubs and forced sports competitions behind closed doors.
Despite facing a much smaller outbreak compared with global virus hotspots, China has not relaxed its “zero COVID-19” strategy, imposing stay-at-home orders in many parts of the city of Yan’an.
“I’m about to be starved to death,” wrote one Xi’an resident on the Twitter-like Weibo platform.
“There’s no food, my housing compound won’t let me out, and I’m about to run out of instant noodles… please help!”
Widespread disruption
The surges in many countries have been propelled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
“A rapid growth of Omicron… even if combined with a slightly milder disease, will still result in large numbers of hospitalisations, particularly amongst unvaccinated groups, and cause widespread disruption to health systems and other critical services,” warned WHO Europe’s COVID-19 Incident Manager Catherine Smallwood.
To hold back the tide, European nations brought back curbs with painful economic and social consequences.
All sports competitions will now be held behind closed doors.
“Something has to be done to bring the infection figures down,” a Berlin resident told AFP TV.
Travel chaos
Beyond social strife, the pandemic has been punishing economically, in particular for sectors like travel.
Some 11,500 flights have been scrapped worldwide since Friday, and tens of thousands more delayed, during one of the year’s busiest travel periods.
Multiple airlines have blamed staffing shortages caused by spikes of Omicron cases.
The surge in the US has been fuelled by the Omicron variant, as well as large pockets of unvaccinated residents and a lack of access to quick and easy testing.
President Joe Biden said Monday some US hospitals could be “overrun” but that the country was generally well prepared.
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Source: Gulf News
