The Dutch government announced a three-week partial lockdown on Friday amid soaring COVID-19 cases that are putting the country’s health-care sector under renewed strain.
Carnival revellers line up at a beer pub to show proof of their COVID-19 vaccinations before they begin the start of the carnival season in Cologne, Germany, on Thursday. Europe has once again become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for half of the recent cases and deaths worldwide. (Oliver Berg/The Associated Press)
It comes as Europe has become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic again, prompting some governments to consider re-imposing unpopular restrictions in the run-up to Christmas and stirring debate over whether vaccines alone are enough to tame COVID-19.
Under the lockdown, which comes into effect on Saturday night, bars, restaurants and supermarkets will have to close at 8 p.m. local time, professional sports matches will be played in empty stadiums and people are being urged to work from home as much as possible. Stores selling non-essential items will have to close at 6 p.m, caretaker Dutch Prime Minister Marc Rutte said Friday.
The move means the Dutch national team playing a World Cup qualifier against Norway on Tuesday night behind closed doors.
It comes a day after the country’s public health institute recorded 16,364 new positive tests in 24 hours — the highest number of any time during the pandemic.
The Netherlands, where nearly 85 per cent of adults are fully vaccinated, largely ended lockdown restrictions at the end of September.
Half of all infections globally are now in Europe
Europe accounts for more than half of the average seven-day infections globally and about half of the latest deaths, according to a Reuters tally, the highest levels since April last year when the virus first swept into Italy.
Germany and France are also experiencing a surge in infections, showing the challenge even for governments with high acceptance rates and dashing hopes vaccines would mean a return to close to normal.
World Health Organization Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday that the surge in Europe is “another reminder” that vaccines alone do not replace the need for other health measures.
WATCH | WHO chief says COVID-19 is surging even in European countries with high vaccination rates:
‘No country can simply vaccinate its way out of the pandemic’: WHO
9 hours ago
As Europe combats a major surge in new COVID-19 cases, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cautioned that “vaccines do not replace the need for other precautions.” He urged people to follow pandemic restrictions in addition to getting vaccinated. 2:49
To be sure, hospitalizations and deaths are much lower than a year ago. As well, big variations by country in use of vaccines and boosters as well as measures like physical distancing make it hard to draw conclusions for the whole region.
Germany’s disease control centre is calling for people to cancel or avoid large events and to reduce their contacts as the country’s coronavirus infection rate hits the latest in a string of new highs. While the infection rate isn’t yet as high as in some other European countries, its relentless rise in Germany has set off alarm bells.
“We must now do everything necessary to break this momentum,” Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters. “Otherwise it will be a bitter December for the whole country.”
Austria’s government is likely to decide on Sunday to impose a lockdown on people who are not vaccinated, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Friday.
– From Reuters, The Associated Press and CBC News, last updated at 12:56 p.m. ET
What’s happening across Canada
WATCH | Albertans head to the United States for surgeries as wait times climb:
Surgery delays have Albertans heading south
23 hours ago
Alberta has delayed more than 45,000 surgeries because of the pandemic, creating years-long wait times for joint replacements. Now, many who can afford it are heading south of the border and paying out of pocket for surgery. 1:55
(CBC)
What’s happening around the world
As of Friday morning, more than 252 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to the global database maintained by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. The reported global death toll stood at more than five million.
In Europe, Latvia’s parliament voted on Friday to ban lawmakers who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine from voting on legislature and participating in discussions. Latvia has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the European Union.
British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said Friday that it will start to book a modest profit from its coronavirus vaccine as it moves away from the nonprofit model it has operated during the pandemic. Until now, AstraZeneca said it would provide the vaccine “at cost” — around $2 to $3 — for the duration of the pandemic following an agreement with the University of Oxford, which developed the vaccine. Other COVID-19 vaccine producers, such as Pfizer and Moderna, have been booking hefty profits on their shots all along.
A man wearing a face mask walks in the town of Podolsk, some 40 kilometres outside of Moscow, on Friday. (Yuri Kadobnov/Getty Images)
In the Asia-Pacific region, Thailand on Friday said it would delay the reopening of nightlife entertainment venues to Jan. 15 despite pleas from the industry to make it sooner. A spokesperson for the government’s COVID-19 administration cited concerns about ventilation and inefficient prevention measures in pubs, bars and karaoke joints.
The Japanese government’s preparations for the next virus surge include adding thousands more hospital beds to avoid a situation like last summer when many COVID-19 patients were forced to stay home, even while dependent on oxygen deliveries.
In the Americas, one United States governor defied federal guidance on COVID-19 booster shots Thursday by issuing an order allowing all state residents 18 and older to get them.
“Because disease spread is so significant across Colorado, all Coloradans who are 18 years of age and older are at high risk and qualify for a booster shot,” Gov. Jared Polis said in an order. The state is facing a surge in infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals.
In the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and senior aides holed up in a nuclear command bunker to simulate an outbreak of a vaccine-resistant COVID-19 variant to which children are vulnerable, describing such an eventuality as “the next war.”
– From Reuters and The Associated Press, last updated at 11:10 a.m. ET
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
