Omicron fears: New Year fireworks cancelled in Paris
Paris said it was cancelling its traditional New Year fireworks as Europe braced for tighter curbs to rein in the spread of the new strain of the coronavirus fueling a resurgence in COVID-19 cases worldwide, AFP reported.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has warned the Omicron coronavirus variant could be dominant in Europe by mid-January.
Many countries have decided to reintroduce travel restrictions and other containment measures since it was first detected in South Africa last month.
“With regard to the acceleration of the pandemic, and the risks related to the end-of-year festivities, authorities should impose significant restrictions,” France’s scientific panel said.
And Paris municipal authorities announced “with regret that we will have to cancel all the festivities planned on the Champs Elysees on Dec. 31.
“The fireworks will not take place, nor unfortunately will there be any DJ sets,” the mayor’s office told AFP.
On Friday, Germany designated France and Denmark as high risk zones, and said it would impose quarantine on unvaccinated travelers from its two neighbors, starting from Sunday.
In Ireland, bars and restaurants will have to close from 8 p.m. from Sunday until Jan. 30, prime minister Micheal Martin announced.
Denmark, which this week had the highest per capita new Covid-19 infection rate, said it would close cinemas, theaters and concert halls and restrict restaurant opening hours.
And Switzerland is also stepping up anti-Covid measures from Monday as the country battles an intense fifth wave of the virus, which has killed at least 5,335,968 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019.
The Dutch government is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Saturday afternoon after its team of expert scientific advisers recommended new restrictions to rein in Omicron, media reports said.
A number of countries are opening up their immunization drives to younger children, even though the EU’s health agency has warned that jabs alone will not be sufficient to stop the variant’s rise.
In Portugal, where 88.9 percent of the population is vaccinated, more than 60,000 children aged between five and 11 were set to receive their first jab of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine this weekend.
And in France, Health Minister Olivier Veran said that jabs will start to be administered to children in the same age group from Wednesday.
“If all goes well, we will start vaccination of children on the afternoon of Dec. 22 in specially adapted centers,” he told France Inter radio.