Coronavirus surging in Europe due to ‘perfect storm’ of fewer curbs and subvariant
- Some have blamed governments for relaxing restrictions too quickly, but epidemiologists also pointed the finger at the Omicron BA. 2 subvariant
- Sometimes called ‘stealth Omicron’ because it is more difficult to detect, BA. 2 is estimated to be about 30 per cent more contagious than its predecessor BA. 1
Covid-19 is again surging in western Europe due to a “perfect storm” of governments lifting restrictions, waning immunity and the more contagious BA. 2 Omicron subvariant, experts said on Monday.
After more than a month of falling cases across much of the continent, countries such as Britain, France, Germany and Italy have all seen a dramatic resurgence of infections in recent days.
In France, cases have risen by more than a third in the week since the government ended most coronavirus restrictions last Monday.
In Germany, despite a new daily record of nearly 300,000 infections on Friday, the government let national legislation enabling coronavirus restrictions expire over the weekend. Most German states, which have considerable leeway on applying measures, have however maintained the restrictions.
In Italy, the government announced on Thursday it would phase out almost all restrictions by May 1 despite rising cases.
And in Britain, where one in 20 people are currently infected, the government removed the last of its international travel restrictions on Friday.
Faced with its own surging cases, Austria announced at the weekend it would reimpose rules requiring FFP2 face masks – just weeks after lifting the measure.