Governments across Europe are evaluating tougher measures to block Covid-19, with London police warning that offenders are now more likely to be fined for preventing people from gathering in parks or other public spaces.
London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said police officers have already had to stop the parties despite the rise in new infections. Police Minister Kit Malthouse told British Broadcasting Corp. that more fines, which in England start at £ 200, equivalent to $ 270.26, can be imposed, while other UK government ministers have refused to discard stricter restrictions.
The latest figures from the UK, the current epicenter of the pandemic in Europe, showed that there were more than 46,000 new infections reported on Monday, with 529 deaths.
In Germany, expectations are growing that Chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders will agree to extend a blockade that was imposed during the Christmas and New Year period. It has already been extended until the end of January to buy time for the country’s vaccination program, due to concerns that the most easily transmitted strain of the virus first detected in Britain could lead to an increase in cases also in Germany. . The latest figures from the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases on Tuesday reported nearly 13,000 new infections and 891 additional deaths.
Portugal, whose 72-year-old leader, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, tested positive for the coronavirus, will begin a blockade on Wednesday to contain new infections. Rebelo de Sousa, who is seeking re-election in the January 24 vote, is isolating his official residence in Lisbon and has no symptoms, his office said.
Meanwhile, Israel is planning to start vaccinating children over 12 by mid-March, while continuing its rapid vaccination program. By that date, the country intends to have given one or two doses to more than half of its nine million inhabitants.