Europe

Germany to go for extension of lockdown to mid-February over concerns on COVID variants

Editorial Bureau January 19, 2021

BERLIN (GERMANY) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel is all set to agree with regional leaders for extension of a lockdown for most shops and schools until mid-February. This has come as part of steps to control the coronavirus, sources said before talks on Tuesday. Though new infections

Europe

Italy’s Conte supports record, asserts political crisis risks affecting nation

Ren Leen January 18, 2021

ROME (ITALY) – Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, looking to salvage his government after a junior partner left the coalition, highlighted on Monday how he dealt with both the coronavirus emergency and the knock-on economic crisis. Addressing the lower house of parliament, Conte said there was “no plausible justification” for Renzi’s decision.

Europe

France can inoculate 2.4 million people by February end – minister

Editorial Bureau January 18, 2021

PARIS (FRANCE) – France is on its way to reach its target of vaccinating 1 million people against COVID-19 by the end of January. It has surplus doses to increase the total to 2.4 million by February end, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Monday. During a visit to a vaccination centre in the eastern […]

Europe

Kurz says, ‘Every week counts’, as Austria, Greece, Denmark look for quick approval from EU for AstraZeneca vaccine

Editorial Bureau January 18, 2021

VIENNA (AUSTRIA) – Austria, Greece and Denmark will jointly put pressure on the European Medicines Agency for the approval of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine at the earliest, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Monday, adding: “Every week counts.” Kurz was speaking before a European leaders’ virtual summit on Thursday. This is coming a

Europe

Germany aims for more tests, sequencing to tackle new coronavirus strains

Ren Leen January 18, 2021

BERLIN (GERMANY) – Germany’s health minister said new measures would be needed to control the spread of new, more infectious variants of the coronavirus. Additional measures would include more health checks for cross-border commuters and reinforcing gene sequencing of virus samples. In future, health labs will have to sequence 5% of the samples collected during

Europe

New CDU leader trails behind Bavarian premier in race to become Merkel’s successor

Ren Leen January 18, 2021

BERLIN (GERMANY) – Armin Laschet, the new leader of Germany’s Christian Democrats, has yet to make voters convinced that he would be a better choice than Bavarian premier Markus Soeder to become Chancellor Angela Merkel’s successor after elections in September, a poll showed on Monday. Centrist Laschet positioned himself on Saturday as the man to […]

Europe

Swiss ski resort St Moritz places hotels in quarantine, closes schools to contain COVID variant

Editorial Bureau January 18, 2021

ZURICH (SWITZERLAND) – Health authorities quarantined two hotels and closed ski schools in the posh Swiss resort of St Moritz on Monday in an attempt to control an outbreak of the highly infectious new coronavirus variant. The eastern Swiss canton of Grisons ordered everyone to wear masks in the town of 5,200 residents, which has […]

Europe

Police detain Navalny soon after he lands in Russia

Editorial Bureau January 18, 2021

MOSCOW (RUSSIA) – Thousands of supporters of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny waited to welcome him at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport as the Pobeda flight DP936 in which he was travelling home from Germany was a few minutes into its descent. Suddenly, the flight captain said he could not land as planned citing “technical difficulties”.He said the […]

Europe

Number of confirmed COVID infections in Germany climbs by 7,141I

Editorial Bureau January 18, 2021

BERLIN (GERMANY) – The number of new COVID-19 infections in Germany climbed by 7,141 to reach 2,040,659, according to data compiled by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases on Monday. The fatalities tally went up by 214 to 46,633, as per the data.

Europe

New US administration should end trade spat with EU: France’s Le Drian

Editorial Bureau January 17, 2021

PARIS (FRANCE) – French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche on Sunday that the EU and the new administration of US President-elect Joe Biden should suspend a trade dispute in order to have time to find common ground. “The issue that’s poisoning everyone is that of the […]