![]() ![]() Germany has been hit and is tightening restrictions. Denmark is being hit hard and has instituted a curfew, along with Ireland. So if you want to go out to bars, restaurants, just about anywhere, you had to have a vaccine or a negative test.īut other countries are in worse shape. In October, Italy became the first major European country to require a vaccine pass at all workplaces, and France instituted a vaccine pass in July. It seems like the tighter restrictions in these countries and the consistency of keeping them in place have paid off again for now. Where I am in France, things are not too dramatic, and in Italy and Spain - seem to be doing better than other places for now. MARTÍNEZ: Eleanor, what's the situation looking like in the rest of Europe?ĮLEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Well, you know, it's a real patchwork, both of severity and restrictions, and we're seeing a disparity between countries. Bed occupancy rate right now in England is about 95%, so there is a concern that once again, the health care system could find itself under a ton of pressure. LANGFITT: And she's - you know, she says, A, it's a serious threat, of course, because it is - the omicron variant is so infectious, and so it could still end up putting a lot of people in the hospital here. JENNY HARRIES: I think there's a glimmer of Christmas hope in the findings that we published yesterday, but it definitely isn't yet at the point where we could downgrade that serious threat. She was speaking to the BBC this morning. Health Security Agency put out a report yesterday saying 50 to - people were 50 to 70% less likely to need to go to the hospital if they contracted omicron versus past variants. Several new studies have come out here just this week, suggesting that omicron is a lot less severe than the delta variant. How high are those numbers?įRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Yeah, they're the highest we've ever seen here, nearly 120,000 just yesterday. Omicron cases are spreading quickly in the U.K. Frank Langfitt covers the U.K., Eleanor Beardsley is based in France, and Lauren Frayer covers South Asia. We're joined now by three of our colleagues from NPR's international desk for an update. In South Asia, however, few omicron cases have been identified, and COVID numbers are near the lowest of the pandemic. China has shut down Shiyan, a city of 13 million people, and closed its border with Vietnam. In Europe and the U.K., cases continue to rise, and governments there are either imposing new limits on travel or gatherings or they're planning them. ![]() Omicron is wreaking havoc in some parts of the world, while others are barely feeling its impact. ![]()
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