Europe faces recovery from Covid-19 as vaccines hope to retreat

Virus infections and deaths have been falling rapidly in the United States and the United Kingdom since January, as vaccinations take off among the elderly and other vulnerable groups. In the EU, however, new cases of Covid-19 have increased again since mid-February. Infections and deaths in the U.S., which were highest per capita during most of 2020, fell below those in the bloc.

In much of the continent, the spread of the most aggressive variant first detected in the UK is behind the worsening pandemic, undoing strenuous efforts to control the virus since the fall with a series of restrictions that brought the economic recovery of the bloc to a standstill.

Governments and public health experts say that only a combination of accelerated vaccinations and a gradual reopening can defeat Covid-19’s latest recovery. But the EU’s efforts continue to suffer from its sluggishness in obtaining and approving vaccines, delays in the production of vaccine manufacturers and bureaucratic delays in injecting available doses.

So far, there is nothing like the acute hospital crisis that overwhelmed healthcare systems in parts of Italy and Spain a year ago. Instead, the bloc’s public health crisis has become chronic, with officials constantly struggling to contain the flames.

Despite similar trends in the bloc’s larger countries, political pressures are leading to different responses.

Italy, the first western country hit by the pandemic, entered the world’s first national blockade on March 10 of last year. Now, some Italians are starting to joke that they will be the last nation to come out of the blockade.

The new major decision by the new Prime Minister Mario Draghi, confirmed on Friday, was to block many regions of Italy starting on Monday, and the whole country during Easter.

The decision means that bars, restaurants and non-essential stores will close in many regions, while elsewhere they face stricter limits on hours and services offered. People’s movement will be more restricted. Millions of students in schools will return to distance learning.

Italy’s escalation comes after weeks of lighter measures have failed to prevent the UK variant from growing rapidly.

“I thank the citizens once again for their discipline, their infinite patience,” said Draghi earlier this week. His new administration, brought mainly by his economic experience, is instead fighting for ways to increase vaccine production.

Draghi need not worry about re-election: he is a technocratic prime minister leading an emergency government with the support of almost every party in Parliament for probably just a year.

Elsewhere in the region, electoral pressures are preventing leaders from tightening restrictions despite increasing infections and hospitalizations.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is running for reelection next year, rejected calls from public health experts to impose a third blockade on the country. Instead, it relied on a nationwide night curfew and other restrictions, while officials try to speed up vaccinations.

Health Minister Olivier Veran told reporters on Thursday that variants now account for more than 70% of new infections in France. The pressure is rising again in the intensive care units in the Paris region, where he said a new patient is admitted every 12 minutes. Veran said he expected authorities to start transferring dozens of patients from the Paris area to hospitals in regions with fewer cases. Across the country, ICUs are almost 80% occupied.

“It is a situation that I would classify as tense and worrying,” said Veran.

In Germany, which is preparing for the September national elections, there is little political will to impose tougher restrictions, although infections have started to increase again since the beginning of February. Scientists say the UK variant is also behind the increase.

The setback took the German government by surprise: for weeks, it seemed that the pandemic was subsiding, and federal and state officials promised a relaxation of the blockade measures. Fearing a public reaction, the German authorities are facilitating some measures anyway.

The hairdressers reopened on March 1st. Some state governments have allowed some stores – from bookstores to garden centers – to reopen. Younger children have also started to return to classrooms.

Despite frustrations with the restrictions, many question the government’s strategy. Only 30% of Germans trust the competence of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right party, while confidence in her center-left coalition partner is single-digit, according to a survey released this week by the polling institute. Forsa.

The German press, initially supporting the way Merkel dealt with the pandemic, also turned against the government, with publications ranging from the conservative mass-market tabloid Bild to the left-wing Spiegel, which attacks the authorities on a daily basis.

Now, scientists fear that the combination of virus variants, snail-paced vaccinations and reopenings may increase the number of infections. “We are seeing clear signs that the third wave has already started in Germany,” Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases, told reporters on Thursday. “I’m very worried.”

Write to Marcus Walker at [email protected], Bertrand Benoit at [email protected] and Stacy Meichtry at [email protected]