COVID Surge Across Europe

COVID Surge Across Europe

In France, the number of new corona infections has increased significantly for days. While more than 100,000 new cases were reported for the first time on Christmas Day, the authorities now registered 179,807 new infections within one day.

Because of the significantly increasing number of cases, the French government once again tightened its corona measures considerably on Monday. The aim is to prevent an overload of the health system and a severe disruption to the economy.

The UK has also set a new high in new infections with more than 129,000 cases. Authorities reported 129,471 new infections in England and Wales within 24 hours. The number of deaths rose 18 to a total of 148,021. The figures from Northern Ireland and Scotland were unavailable due to delays in sending data over the holidays. The Scottish authorities only reported a preliminary record of 9,360 new infections.

In the UK, where each region has its own health policy, the highly contagious omicron variant of the virus is spreading rapidly. Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have therefore tightened the corona measures after Christmas. The government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which is responsible for England, has so far rejected this.

Italy has also seen a surge in the number of corona cases. The Ministry of Health reported more than 78,300 new infections within one day. That is far more than twice as many as the day before. In addition, around 200 other people died in connection with the virus.

New highs are also reported from Greece. The health authority registered a total of 21,657 new corona infections in the past 24 hours. That is more than twice as much as the day before and a new negative record since the beginning of the pandemic.

The experts attribute the sudden increase to the Omicron variant, which is particularly common in Athens. The authorities registered a good half of the new infections in the metropolitan area. Around 70 per cent are Omicron.

In Spain, more new infections were registered within a day than ever since the beginning of the pandemic. Health officials recently reported 214,619 new cases. The Omicron variant is primarily responsible for the explosive increase. However, the number of infected patients requiring hospital treatment is relatively fewer than in previous outbreaks.

A significant increase in new infections has also been reported from other European countries. However, the figures are difficult to compare as there may be regional reporting delays due to public holidays.

Image by Alexandra Koch (Pixabay)

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