Germany has entered a “nationwide state of emergency” because of surging coronavirus infections, the head of the country’s disease control agency said Friday.
Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, said regular medical care cannot be guaranteed anymore in some parts of the country because hospitals and intensive care wards are overstretched.
The German air force confirmed a report by daily Bild that it was preparing to help transfer patients to clinics with free beds.
“All of Germany is one big outbreak,” Wieler told reporters in Berlin. “This is a nationwide state of emergency. We need to pull the emergency brake.”
He called for urgent additional measures to tackle the rise in COVID-19 cases, which topped 50,000 for the third day running. The Robert Koch Institute also reported 201 further deaths, taking the toll to 98,739 since the start of the outbreak.
Wieler’s comments came as the upper house of parliament on Friday approved new measures to control the outbreak proposed by the centre-left alliance that emerged after the Sept. 26 national election. The measures include requirements for people to prove they are vaccinated, recently recovered from COVID-19 or have tested negative for the virus in order to access communal workplaces or public transport.
Separately, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed with the governors of Germany’s 16 states to introduce a new threshold linked to the number of hospital admissions of COVID-19 patients per 100,000 people over a seven-day period. Some states are also considering mandatory vaccinations for some professional groups such as medical staff and nursing home employees.
Austria extends restrictions
Austria announced a new national lockdown and a plan to mandate vaccinations as coronavirus infections hit a record high Friday, forcing the government to walk back promises that such blanket shutdowns were a thing of the past.
The latest lockdown comes as Austria has struggled without success to stop spiraling case numbers. On Friday, the country reported 15,809 new infections, an all-time high.
For the past seven days, the country has reported more than 10,000 new infection cases daily.
Imposing a mandate would give Austria one of the world’s most stringent vaccine requirements. Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said those who didn’t comply would likely be fined but gave no other details.
The moves come as vaccinations in Austria have plateaued at one of the lowest rates in Western Europe and as hospitals in heavily hit states have warned that their intensive care units are reaching capacity.
But earlier this month, Schallenberg indicated a full lockdown would not be needed and instead imposed the restrictions only on those not vaccinated.
The lockdown will start Monday and initially will last for 10 days, when it will be re-evaluated, Schallenberg said. Starting Feb. 1, the country will also make vaccinations mandatory — though the chancellor gave few details about what that meant or how it would work.
The Silvrettabahn cable car stands closed on Friday in Ischgl, Austria. Austrian authorities announced a countrywide lockdown beginning this coming Monday in response to the current high levels of novel coronavirus infections. (Jan Hetfleisch/Getty Images)
“Increasing the vaccination rate — and I think we’re all in agreement on this — is our only way to break out of this vicious cycle of viral waves and lockdown discussions for good,” Schallenberg said. “We don’t want a fifth wave, we don’t want a sixth and seventh wave.”
Not quite 66 per cent of Austria’s 8.9 million people are fully vaccinated, according to government figures. It has tried various measures to boost that further. This summer, Austria introduced a “green pass” — which shows proof of vaccination, recovery from COVID-19 or a negative test result and was required to enter restaurants and attend cultural events.
“For a long time the political consensus was that we don’t want a vaccine mandate in this country,” Schallenberg said. “But we have to look reality in the eye. For a long time, maybe too long, me and others thought that it must be possible to convince people in Austria, to convince them to get vaccinated voluntarily.”
-From The Associated Press, last updated at 12:05 p.m. ET
What’s happening across Canada
What’s happening around the world
A person walks past a white flag memorial installation outside the Griffith Observatory on Thursday that honours the nearly 27,000 Los Angeles County residents who have died from COVID-19. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
As of early Friday afternoon, more than 256.3 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 tracker. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.1 million.
In the Americas, U.S. regulators on Friday moved to open up COVID-19 booster shots to all adults, expanding the government’s effort to get ahead of rising coronavirus cases that experts fear could snowball into a winter surge as millions of Americans travel for the holidays.
The Food and Drug Administration’s decision stands to simplify what has been a confusing list of who’s eligible by allowing anyone 18 or older to choose either a Pfizer or Moderna booster six months after their last dose — regardless of which vaccine they had first. The move came after about a dozen states had started offering boosters to all adults.
“We heard loud and clear that people needed something simpler — and this, I think, is simple,” FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks told The Associated Press.
There’s one more step before the approach becomes official: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must agree to expand Pfizer and Moderna boosters to even healthy young adults. Its scientific advisers were set to debate it later Friday. If the CDC agrees, tens of millions more Americans could have three doses of protection before the new year. Anyone who got the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine can already get a booster.
Health workers carry coolers of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine during a door-to-door vaccination campaign in the Villa Maria del Triunfo district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, earlier this week. (Guadalupe Pardo/The Associated Press)
In Europe, Russian authorities have reported a record number of coronavirus deaths for a third day in a row. Russia’s state coronavirus task force reported 1,254 virus deaths Friday, up from the previous record of 1,251 registered the day before. The task force also reported 37,156 new confirmed cases. The daily new infections in recent weeks appeared to have taken a downward trend but still remain higher than during previous surges of the virus.
In Africa, health officials in South Africa on Thursday reported 585 new cases of COVID-19 and 40 additional deaths.
In the Middle East, Kuwait on Thursday reported 22 additional cases and one additional death.
In the Asia-Pacific region, the Philippines has approved a plan to allow entry soon to foreign tourists vaccinated against COVID-19, its tourism ministry said, following moves by other Southeast Asian countries to relax travel curbs.
-From Reuters, The Associated Press and CBC News, last updated at 12:15 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) — In a new video posted early Election Day, Beyoncé channels Pamela Anderson in the television program “Baywatch” – red one-piece swimsuit and all – and asks viewers to vote.
In the two-and-a-half-minute clip, set to most of “Bodyguard,” a four-minute cut from her 2024 country album “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé cosplays as Anderson’s character before concluding with a simple message, written in white text: “Happy Beylloween,” followed by “Vote.”
At a rally for Donald Trump in Pittsburgh on Monday night, the former president spoke dismissively about Beyoncé’s appearance at a Kamala Harris rally in Houston in October, drawing boos for the megastar from his supporters.
“Beyoncé would come in. Everyone’s expecting a couple of songs. There were no songs. There was no happiness,” Trump said.
She did not perform — unlike in 2016, when she performed at a presidential campaign rally for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland – but she endorsed Harris and gave a moving speech, initially joined onstage by her Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland.
“I’m not here as a celebrity, I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother,” Beyoncé said.
“A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in, a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies, a world where we’re not divided,” she said at the rally in Houston, her hometown.
“Imagine our daughters growing up seeing what’s possible with no ceilings, no limitations,” she continued. “We must vote, and we need you.”
Harris used the song in July during her first official public appearance as a presidential candidate at her campaign headquarters in Delaware. That same month, Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, publicly endorsed Harris for president.
Beyoncé gave permission to Harris to use the song, a campaign official who was granted anonymity to discuss private campaign operations confirmed to The Associated Press.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May pay tribute to the life of Murray Sinclair, former judge, senator and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Sinclair died November 4, 2024 at the age of 73. (Nov. 4, 2024)
The head of the United Nations refugee agency says it is wise of Canada scale back the number of new refugees it plans to resettle, if that helps stabilize the housing market and avoid anti-immigration backlash. UNHCR Commissioner Filippo Grandi spoke to The Canadian Press during a visit to Ottawa a little more than a week after the federal government announced significant cutbacks to Canada’s immigration targets, including for refugees. (Nov. 5, 2024)
