- Austria is to reimpose full lockdown from Monday. Country will also mandate vaccines for everyone from February 1
- Partial lockdown introduced in The Netherlands on November 13, with limits on home visitors, working from home encouraged, and public events scrapped
- German ministers say they can't rule out full lockdown, with decision to be determined by hospitalisation rates
- Restrictions imposed on the unvaccinated in Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia
- Unvaccinated banned from restaurants in Germany
- Belgium ICU coordinator says there is an increasing risk country will have to resort to triage as cases mount
- France's Emmanuel Macron says he thinks high levels of vaccines will be enough to avoid future lockdowns
- Britain, with higher infection numbers than most European countries, is rolling out booster jabs
ITALY: Demonstrators listen to speakers and show their mobile phones during a protest against restrictions for the unvaccinated, at Rome Circus Maximus, Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021
Professor John Edmunds said today that opposition to stringent restrictions on the continent have demonstrated the importance of booster jabs, warning, 'it is pretty clear immunity does wane'.
'What you see now in central Europe with these rapid increase in cases, you see the importance of vaccination,' Mr Edmunds told Sky.
This comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was 'very worried' about the spread of Covid-19 within Europe as the continent battles a fresh wave of infections.
Regional director Dr Hans Kluge told the BBC that some 500,000 more deaths could be recorded by March unless urgent action is taken.
NORTHERN IRELAND: Demonstrators take part in a protest against Covid certification in Belfast city centre. PA Photo. Picture date: Saturday November 20, 2021
This comes amid a fresh wave of Covid infections on the continent that has sent nations back into draconian restrictions and could see excess deaths start to rise again.
Comment: Countries with high rates of infections are also those with the highest vaccine uptake, leading one to conclude that the experimental injections are, either directly or indirectly, responsible for causing the infections. Gibraltar, dubbed 'the most vaccinated place on earth' has already cancelled its Christmas celebrations because of soaring 'cases'. Similar patterns in the data can be seen in other highly vaccinated countries, like Israel, whilst in the UK this correlation between increased vaccine uptake and a spike in cases was even detected in specific regions.
Italy is considering a lockdown of the unvaccinated, it emerged yesterday, which would make it the latest country to impose the controversial intervention after Austria announced lockdown would return on Monday.
Comment: Austria was the first country to threaten an apartheid-style lockdown, it then, for some reason, declared it would instead put the entire country on lockdown. It's not clear what 'science' is directing their decisions.
And Germany's incoming government has said that it wants unvaccinated people to be barred from going to work and travelling on public transport amid what Angela Merkel calls 'dramatic' infection levels. The Netherlands has also introduced a 7pm curfew for pubs and restaurants amid rising cases there.
Both Austria and the Czech Republic have announced the return of lockdowns from Monday, with Germany poised to follow suit after health officials warned they cannot rule out a full shutdown.
CROATIA: Demonstrators march in the centre of Zagreb to protest against Covid-19 measures such as obligatory certificates for public sector on November 20, 2021
The reintroduction of restrictions across Europe have sparked a fierce backlash and fevered protests broke out in cities including Rotterdam overnight, where riot police fired warning shots - injuring protestors marching against the Covid measures.
Comment: It's likely that there was a mix of people later on in the evening at protests. As we've seen elsewhere, there are the genuine protestors reacting to the police aggression, as well as a mix of other groups that use the opportunity to vent their own grievances, as well as just to generally cause trouble.
Today, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Vienna with the far-right opposition Freedom Party among those who have called for the protest and vowed to combat the new restrictions.
Demonstrations against virus measures are also expected in other European countries including Switzerland, Croatia and Italy.
The British Government has repeatedly rejected pleas to implement its Plan B, which would see similar measures to what are being levied on Ireland. But Boris Johnson has admitted a full-blown lockdown could still be on the cards if cases spike.
Comment: Whilst some are indeed calling for a lockdown in the UK, aka 'Plan B', there are a great many people, as witnessed by yesterday's protest in the UK, that are rejecting the vaccine mandates and lockdown restrictions. In fact, there are so many healthcare workers rejecting the vaccines that the UK has had to delay its mandates because officials know that the healthcare system would collapse over the loss of workers: England's govt estimates it may lose 123,000 health and social care staff over Covid vaccine mandate
Protests in London, Manchester, & Glasgow:
SWITZERLAND: Demonstrators protest against a planned coronavirus disease (COVID-19) law of the Swiss government, in Zurich, Switzerland November 20, 2021
The figures also showed 150 deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test - versus 157 seven days earlier - bringing the country's total deaths to 143,866.
On a day of heightened tension across the continent;
- Department of Health posted another 44,242 Covid infections and 157 deaths linked to the virus last night;
- Latest UK hospitalisations fell by a fifth after 827 more admissions were recorded in the country's wards;
- Austria made Covid vaccines compulsory for all residents and imposed a full nationwide lockdown;
- Fevered protests broke out in cities including Rotterdam overnight, as tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Vienna
Comment: Which tells us that the UK's 'successful' injection campaign has had no effect in lowering infection rates, instead it has seen infection rates soar. Meanwhile in other countries that have used provably safe and effective medications, like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, coronavirus cases, and deaths, plummeted: Covid deaths plunge after Mexico City introduces ivermectin, hospitalizations down 76%
'I don't think things will quite happen in the same way here as they have done there. But it is a warning to us. I think it's pretty clear that immunity does wane.
NORTH MACEDONIA: People protest through downtown Skopje, North Macedonia, on Saturday, November 20, 2021
Comment: The data from Israel, aka Pfizer's laboratory, shows that its vaccine has an efficacy of barely 39%.
Asked whether the Government should re-introduce control measures, Mr Edmunds told Sky: 'The plan B measures, we could've implemented them at any point. It's a government decision whether to take that step.
'They have to look at the potential effectiveness and measure that against the potential cost of some of those things.'
Last week the WHO warned the continent was now the epicentre of the pandemic and said the surge in infection was 'alarming'.
Speaking to the BBC, regional director Dr Hans Kluge predicted 500,000 more deaths could be recorded on the continent by March unless urgent action is taken.
Comment: What action do they propose should be taken? The nearly 20 months of rolling lockdowns and the experimental injection roll out has evidently made the situation many times worse.
Moreover, even the UK government has been forced to admit that the lockdowns are responsible for many MORE deaths than those attributed to the coronavirus: 10,000+ EXCESS deaths in just 4 months in England, NOT Covid related, lockdown backlog partly to blame
He said: 'Covid-19 has become once again the number one cause of mortality in our region.'
Dr Kluge said mandatory vaccination measures should be seen as a 'last resort', adding: 'Before that there are other means like the Covid pass.
He said this is 'not a restriction of liberty, rather it is a tool to keep our individual freedom', according to the BBC.
At least one person was shot and six more injured in Rotterdam last night as Dutch riot police opened fire on protesters
It comes after two people were shot and six others injured in Rotterdam last night after activists clashed with Dutch riot police in a demonstration condemned as an 'orgy of violence'.
In Italy, 3,000 turned out in the capital's Circus Maximus, a field where in ancient times Romans staged popular entertainment, to protest against 'Green Pass' certificates required at workplaces, restaurants, cinemas, theaters, sports venues and gyms, as well as for long-distance train, bus or ferry travel within Italy.
In Northern Ireland, several hundred people opposed to vaccine passports protested outside the city hall in Belfast, where the city's Christmas market opened Saturday - a market where proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test was required.
Comment: Bear in mind the numbers of those in attendance is likely to be much higher.
Brisbane, Australia:
The Northern Ireland government voted this week to introduce vaccine certificates for admission to nightclubs, bars and restaurants starting Dec. 13.
Police officers check the vaccination status of visitors during a patrol on a Christmas market in Vienna, Austria, on Friday
Switzerland saw 2,000 people protest an upcoming referendum on whether to approve the government's COVID-19 restrictions law, claiming it was discriminatory, public broadcaster SRF reported.
In Croatia, thousands gathered at in the capital Zagreb, carrying Croatian flags, nationalist and religious symbols, along with banners against vaccination and what they describe as restrictions of people's freedoms.
A day after the Rotterdam rioting, thousands gathered on Amsterdam's central Dam Square, despite organizers calling off the protest. They walked peacefully through the city's streets, closely monitored by police.
North Macedonia also saw hundreds of anti-vaccination protesters march in downtown Skopje on Satruday evening against the country's health authority's recommendation of mandatory vaccinations.
Restrictions have also been placed on the unvaccinated in Germany - where they have been banned from restaurants - as well as in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Austria becomes first EU country to mandate jabsThe Dutch government has said it wants to introduce a law that would allow businesses to restrict the country's coronavirus pass system to only people who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19 — that would exclude people who test negative.
Austria on Friday became the first EU country to announce it would make coronavirus vaccinations mandatory and will next week impose a partial lockdown in the face of spiralling infections.
The lockdown, which comes into effect on Monday, constitutes the toughest restrictions introduced in Europe in recent weeks as Covid-19 cases surge continent-wide, fuelled by vaccine resistance.
Austrians will not be allowed to leave home except to go to work, shop for essentials and exercise. The restrictions will initially last 20 days with an evaluation after 10 days, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said.
Schools will remain open, although parents have been asked to keep their children at home if possible. Working from home is also recommended.
Vaccination against Covid-19 in the Alpine nation will be mandatory from February 1 next year, Schallenberg said. So far, the Vatican alone in Europe has imposed a vaccination mandate.
Austria has already imposed movement restrictions on those not vaccinated or recently recovered from the virus, ordering them to stay at home since Monday, becoming the first EU country to do so.
But infections have continued to rise. On Friday, a new record of more than 15,800 new cases was recorded in the EU member of nearly nine million people.
Late on Friday night, police said downtown Rotterdam remained restive and there was still a heavy police presence on the streets. Organisers of a planned protest Saturday in Amsterdam against the coronavirus measures said they had canceled the event after Friday's violence.
The Netherlands re-imposed some lockdown measures last weekend for an initial three weeks in an effort to slow a resurgence of coronavirus contagion, but daily infections have remained at their highest levels since the start of the pandemic.
It comes after two people were shot and six others injured in Rotterdam last night after activists clashed with Dutch riot police in a demonstration condemned as an 'orgy of violence'.
Last week, the World Health Organisation warned Europe was the epicentre of the pandemic and said the rise in cases was 'alarming', nudging governments to reimpose measures ahead of the Christmas period.
Looming lockdowns weighed on a range of financial market sectors on Friday, pushing stocks and oil down and boosting the dollar.
'We expect targeted measures (against COVID-19) across some countries mainly according to the health situation, but other factors, such as domestic political situations, will be relevant,' Oxford Economics analysts said in a note.
'And while it might take a while before a political consensus can be reached in other countries, it is clear that the tide has turned.'
As cases rise again, a number of European governments have started to reimpose limits on activity, ranging from Austria's full lockdown to a partial lockdown in the Netherlands and restrictions on the unvaccinated in parts of Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Niels Van Regenmortel, the intensive care units coordinator at the ZNA Stuivenberg hospital in Antwerp, said there was an increasing risk hospitals in Belgium will have to resort to triage as ICUs fill up amid soaring COVID-19 numbers, calling on the government to restrict night life.
What Covid restrictions are in place in Sweden?
Although Sweden chose not to lock down completely early in the pandemic, it did introduce stricter legally-binding curbs last winter as cases and deaths rose. A couple hug and laugh as they have lunch in a restaurant in Stockholm, Sweden
It dropped its final measures recommending people to work from home where possible on September 29.
And advice for people to wear face masks on public transport was abandoned on July. Unlike in other countries the coverings were never compulsory.
On November 11 Swedish health authorities went even further telling double-vaccinated people they no longer needed to swab themselves for the virus.
But this move has now been reversed after critics said it left the country in a dangerous position just before winter.
Comment: And in turn Swedes got out to protest:
Some travel restrictions are still in place for people coming to the country from non-EU nations and Britain.
And for the first time in the pandemic, Sweden is recording fewer cases per population size than its Scandinavian neighbours Denmark (655), Norway (351) and Finland (150).
Latest figures show Sweden is only carrying out 1.26 tests per 1,000 people, which is also the lowest number in western Europe.
Comment: Which reaffirms the fact that, without testing, most people wouldn't even know they had the coronavirus.
The threat of fresh lockdowns comes as optimism grows about experimental drugs developed by Pfizer and Merck that cut the chance of hospitalisation and severe illness, more weapons in the world's fight against the virus.
Comment: Why would anyone trust that that these "experimental" medications would fare any better than the ineffective, and even deadly, injections? Alarming Increase in Mortality Rates in 2021: Why COVID Shots Are Disproportionately Affecting Young Males (For Now)
On Friday, the EU drug regulator said it was reviewing data on Pfizer's COVID-19 pill to help member states decide on quick adoption ahead of any formal EU-wide approval.
Slovakia has also seen a surge in infections, with 9,171 reported on Friday, its biggest daily tally since the pandemic began. The country of 5.5 million earlier in the week tightened restrictions on people who have not had COVID-19 shots.
With a seven-day incidence of 11,500 new cases per million inhabitants, the country has the worst reported epidemic situation in the world, according to Our World in Data statistics.
Each individual is A sovereign and has the sovereign choice of what and who they choose to be.
A Government is a non living corporate identity that is no more than a shameful deceit even unto itself.
Do the living take orders from the not alive.