While India's coronavirus disease (Covid-19) situation continues to be in control, the worrying rise in infections in Europe, the new global epicentre of the pandemic, has raised fresh concerns. Several European countries have tightened restrictions, with Austria announcing a nationwide lockdown, one of the most dramatic measures in recent months.
The Netherlands has also resorted to partial lockdown and is now planning to put some restrictions on unvaccinated individuals, triggering protests from angry citizens. The protests against the Covid curbs turned violent Friday night as the Dutch police fired warning shots and deployed a water cannon to push back the crowd.
Without providing details about the ammunition used, the police said that two people were injured “related to the fired shots”.
Germany is the latest European nation to warn about a possible lockdown as vaccination alone has failed to contain the infections. According to Robert Koch Institute, Germany reported over 42,000 fresh Covid-19 cases and 75 related deaths in the last 24 hours.
India logs 10,488 fresh Covid-19 cases, 313 deaths in last 24 hours
During a news conference, German health minister Jens Spahn was asked whether Europe's largest economy could rule out an Austria-style full lockdown.
{{/usCountry}}During a news conference, German health minister Jens Spahn was asked whether Europe's largest economy could rule out an Austria-style full lockdown.
{{/usCountry}}"We are now in a situation - even if this produces a news alert - where we can't rule anything out,” Spahn replied. "We are in a national emergency.”
India, meanwhile, is witnessing a recovery rate of over 98.2%, the highest since March 2020. The daily infections have hovered around 10,000 this week as vaccination numbers continue to grow. On Saturday, India’s Covid-19 vaccination coverage has crossed the 116 crore milestone.
More than 60 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses had been administered till 7 pm on Saturday, with the daily vaccination tally expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports by late night.