Europe Faces Lockdowns Again Amid "Third Major Wave"

Slow Vaccination and Variant Spread
"Economic Recovery Likely to Be Delayed"
More Countries Suspend AZ Vaccination

[Asia Economy Reporters Hyun-ui Cho, Suhwan Kim] As the third wave of the pandemic intensifies in Europe, countries are locking down one after another. Concerns are growing that the strengthening of quarantine measures will slow down Europe's economic recovery.

On the 14th (local time), according to the British daily The Guardian and others, new quarantine measures such as lockdowns are being implemented as variant viruses rapidly spread across Europe. Although vaccination is accelerating, it is not keeping pace with the sharp increase in new confirmed cases.

◆ "The third wave has begun" = Italy, where the UK-origin variant is spreading rapidly, will classify more than half of the country as high-risk areas (Red Zones) starting from the 15th. Major cities including the capital Rome, Milan, and Venice are included, and it is estimated that the number of residents directly affected exceeds half of the total population.

In the Red Zones, going out is prohibited except for health or work reasons, and all non-essential businesses including restaurants and bars are closed. School classes will also switch to remote learning, marking the most extensive and stringent quarantine measures since March to May last year. During the Easter holidays from April 3 to 5, all regions nationwide will be upgraded to Red Zones.

Poland, which recorded the highest number of new confirmed cases since last November, is reported by The Guardian to announce new measures within this week. France, where one critically ill patient is admitted to the ICU every 12 minutes, is considering applying lockdown measures nationwide. The Guardian reported, "The medical community is requesting President Emmanuel Macron to apply measures restricting social activities not only in some regions but nationwide."

In Germany, health authorities have declared that "the third wave has begun," indicating the seriousness of the situation. Germany recorded daily new confirmed cases in the 10,000 range for two consecutive days last weekend. Especially on the 13th, the number surged to 12,674, a 33% increase compared to the previous week. Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany's disease control agency, stated, "There are clear signs that the third wave has already started in Germany," adding, "It is very concerning."

◆ Netherlands and Ireland also suspend AZ vaccinations = Meanwhile, some European countries have suspended AstraZeneca vaccine inoculations following reports of blood clots after vaccination, and the Netherlands and Ireland have also decided to temporarily halt vaccinations. This follows the death of a citizen in Norway due to blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine the previous day.

Starting with Austria, about ten countries have consecutively suspended AstraZeneca vaccinations as of today. After Austria's announcement, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Italy, and Romania suspended vaccinations for some manufacturing batches or the entire supply of AstraZeneca. The UK, Sweden, France, and Spain have stated they will continue administering the AstraZeneca vaccine.

In a statement released today, AstraZeneca said, "After carefully reviewing all possible safety data for about 17 million people vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine in the European Union (EU) and the UK, no evidence was found that the risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, or thrombocytopenia increased in any specific age group, gender, vaccine batch, or any particular country."

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) also recommended continuing AstraZeneca vaccinations on the 12th, stating, "It has not been confirmed that the recently reported blood clot cases were caused by the AstraZeneca vaccine."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.