Europe eyes restrictions before Christmas as Omicron coronavirus risk soars
- A major new study warns that the new variant is five times more likely to reinfect people than Delta
- Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and Denmark move toward tighter rules, after France closed its borders to most non-resident Britons
European countries braced to impose further travel and social restrictions in an effort to stem fast rising cases of Covid-19, just as a major study warned that new variant Omicron was five times more likely to reinfect people than Delta.
The risk of reinfection with the Omicron coronavirus variant is 5.4 times higher and it shows no sign of being milder than Delta, a study by Imperial College London found, as cases soar across Europe and threaten year-end festivities.
Past infection may offer as little as 19 per cent protection against reinfection by the new variant, Imperial College said, noting that the study of hundreds of thousands of cases, including 1,846 confirmed as Omicron, had not been peer reviewed.
The new findings may add urgency to countries’ efforts to speed up vaccination booster campaigns in a bid to ward off the burden on hospitals and health systems. So far a spike in infections in Britain and elsewhere in Europe has not led to a big jump in hospitalisations or deaths.
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U.K. breaks daily Covid-19 record as Omicron likely to become dominant strain in E.U. by mid-January
Uncertainty about the impact Omicron’s quick-fire spread will have on a global economic recovery was reflected in diverging paths taken by major central banks this week.