Governments across Europe are weighing stricter Covid-19 closure measures, and London police are 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 officers had already disbanded parties despite the increase in new infections. Police Minister Kit Malthouse told the British Broadcasting Corp that more fines, starting in England at £ 200, equivalent to $ 270.26, could be imposed, while other British government ministers refused to exclude stricter closure restrictions .
The latest figures from the UK, the current epicenter of the pandemic in Europe, showed that more than 46,000 new infections were reported on Monday, with 529 deaths.
In Germany, there is growing anticipation that Chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders could agree to extend an exclusion imposed during the Christmas and New Year. It has already been extended until the end of January to buy time for the country’s vaccination program, due to concerns that the more easily transmitted variant of the virus, which was first detected in Britain, could also lead to an increase in Germany. The latest figures from the Robert Koch Institute of Infectious Diseases reported nearly 13,000 new infections and 891 additional deaths on Tuesday.
Portugal, whose 72-year-old leader, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, tested positive for the coronavirus, will begin fighting new infections on Wednesday. Mr. Rebelo de Sousa, who wants to run for re-election on January 24, isolates his official residence in Lisbon and shows no symptoms, his office said.
Israel, meanwhile, plans to vaccinate children over the age of 12 in mid-March as it continues its rapid vaccination program. By that date, the country wants to give more than half of its nine million people one or two shots.