An employee checks the COVID-19 vaccine certifications at the enter of a shop in Thessaloniki on Nov 11, 2021. Mandatory negative COVID-19 tests is now required in Greece for unvaccinated people seeking access to government offices, shops and banks. (SAKIS MITROLIDIS / AFP)
NEW YORK / LISBON / OTTAWA / ROOM / ATHENS / LONDON – Greece said on Wednesday that pandemic restrictions such as mask-wearing indoors and COVID-19 certificates will be lifted throughout the summer tourism period and authorities will consider reinstating them in September.
Coronavirus infections in Greece have eased in recent weeks, with authorities recording 15,000 infections and 64 deaths on Tuesday. Out of a population of 11 million, some 72 percent are fully vaccinated.
Coronavirus infections in Greece have eased in recent weeks, with authorities recording 15,000 infections and 64 deaths on Tuesday
Greece's vital summer tourism season typically begins after the Orthodox Easter, which this year falls on April 24. Greece is expecting high numbers of visitors this year, with officials predicting revenues reaching 80 percent of 2019 levels, a record year before the pandemic brought travel to a halt.
Health Minister Thanos Plevris said the decision to ease restrictions was "based on the epidemiological data and suggestions from experts."
From May 1 to August 31, the public will no longer need to present coronavirus vaccination or illness certificates to enter indoor or open spaces such as restaurants, and authorities are also considering lifting the requirement of presenting an EU digital COVID-19 certificate to enter the country.
In addition, wearing masks indoors will no longer be mandatory as of June 1 and students will return to class after the Easter break without needing to regularly present negative self-tests.
Plevris said all measures will be re-evaluated in September.
Greece, one of the most popular summer tourism destinations in southern Europe, attracted more than 33 million visitors in 2019, most of them from Britain and Germany. The industry accounts for about a fifth of the economy and employs one in five people.
Canada
The National Advisory Council on Immunization of Canada strengthened its guidance on boosters on Tuesday while Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam confirmed the country is in a sixth wave of COVID-19.
NACI said in a statement that all adults aged 18 years or older are now "strongly recommended" to receive a first booster dose.
Adolescents 12 to 17 years of age "should" be offered a first booster dose if they have an underlying medical condition that puts them at high risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19, NACI said.
In addition, NACI recommended that a first booster dose be offered to anyone aged 12 years or older in the context of heightened epidemiological risk.
NACI said that booster doses should be given at least six months after the primary series of COVID-19 vaccines, noting that the guidance change is based on considering additional data on the duration of protection from a primary COVID-19 vaccine series, the safety and effectiveness of a first booster dose in adolescents and adults, and the changing epidemiology of COVID-19 in Canada.
Tam said on Tuesday the latest rise in cases across the country is fuelled by the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron. "We can say we are experiencing a sixth wave in Canada, generally speaking."
According to a statement from the Chief Public Health Officer, recent 7-day averages showed an ongoing marked increase in average daily case counts, as well as rising trends in severe illness in most jurisdictions.
Likewise, laboratory test positivity during the latest 7-day period ending April 10 increased to 19 percent nationally, and community wastewater data continued to signal sharply rising trends in the number of localities across the country, the statement said.
A man receives a booster dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center for people over 18 years old, in Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico, on April 6, 2022. (ULISES RUIZ / AFP)
Global COVID-19 tally
Global COVID-19 cases topped 500 million on Tuesday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
The global case count amounted to 500,074,490, with 6,183,035 deaths worldwide, as of 12:20 pm local time, showed the data.
The United States reported 80,456,912 cases and 986,019 deaths, both the highest counts around the world, accounting for more than 16 percent of the global cases and more than 16 percent of the global deaths.
India recorded the world's second largest caseload of 43,036,928, followed by Brazil with 30,161,909 cases as well as the world's second largest death toll of 661,576.
Countries with more than 15 million cases also include France, Germany, Britain, Russia, South Korea and Italy, according to the university's tally.
The global caseload reached the grim milestone of 100 million on Jan 26, 2021, rose to 200 million on Aug 4, exceeded 300 million on Jan 6, 2022, and surpassed 400 million on Feb 8, 2022.
In this file photo taken on Oct 13, 2021,
Italian Professor Roberto Mezzanotte and a nurse nurse view the lung x-rays of a COVID-19 patient at the Casalpalocco hospital, south of Rome. (ALBERTO PIZZOLI / AFP)
Italy
Italy on Tuesday began the process of distributing a second COVID-19 booster shot to the most high-risk members of its population.
Italy's medicines agency, AIFA, gave its approval to the distribution of second booster doses to those over the age of 80 and those over the age of 60 if they are deemed unusually vulnerable. In both cases, the shots will be distributed only if the previous vaccine dose was received at least 120 days earlier.
Portugal
The Portuguese government decided on Tuesday to extend the "state of alert" due to the COVID-19 pandemic until April 22.
According to a statement of the Council of Ministers released Tuesday, the resolution "maintains the measures currently in force unchanged", including the mandatory use of masks in public indoor spaces, health services, and transport.
For those who do not have the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, the negative test for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus remains mandatory in visits to nursing homes and health facilities.
The alert situation is the lowest level of response to disaster situations provided for in the Civil Protection Basic Law, and its validity will end on April 18.
Positive cases and hospitalizations are decreasing in Portugal, but mortality from COVID-19 "maintains a growing trend", according to the Portuguese Directorate-General for Health.
For every one million inhabitants, 29 people died in the last 14 days, considering that the "red line" stipulated by Portugal is 20 deaths per million inhabitants.
UK
A senior British minister said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not set out to break COVID laws with malice and is mortified after he was fined by police for attending a gathering during lockdown, as calls mounted for Johnson to quit.
Johnson, his wife Carrie and finance minister Rishi Sunak were fined on Tuesday for breaching laws the government imposed to curb COVID-19, drawing a wave of condemnation, including from the families of those who died alone during the pandemic.
The prime minister initially told parliament that no parties took place. But police have investigated 12 gatherings after an internal inquiry found his staff had enjoyed alcohol-fueled parties at a time when social mixing was all but banned in the country.
Johnson has since said he attended some of the events, raising the prospect that he could face further fines.
He said on Tuesday that it had not occurred to him that he was in breach of the rules.
A person receives a COVID-19 test out of a mobile testing van on January 5, 2022, in New York City. (ANGELA WEISS / AFP)
US
The BA.2 Omicron subvariant of the coronavirus is now responsible for 86 percent of US COVID-19 cases and more than 90 percent of infections in the Northeast, according to data on Tuesday from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
COVID-19 infections have been back on the rise during the last few weeks, particularly in Northeast states such as New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, although overall cases have dropped sharply nationally since hitting record levels in January, according to data from the agency.
A resurgence in COVID-19 cases in parts of Asia and Europe has raised concerns that another wave could follow in the United States, as has been the case with previous surges during the pandemic.
Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of division of infectious diseases at Boston's Brigham and Women's hospital, said the trend of an overall decline in cases has now reversed.
"It's clear that there is now a trend towards an increasing number of cases across the country and particularly in the Northeast," Kuritzkes said.
The seven-day moving average of US COVID-19 cases stood at 28,339 as of April 9, up nearly 10 percent from a week earlier, the CDC said, with BA.2 accounting for 85.9 percent of infections.
For the week ending April 2, BA.2 made up 75.4 percent of the variants identified in the country, up from a previous estimate of 72.2 percent, according to CDC estimates.
Philadelphia, in the northeastern state of Pennsylvania, will reimpose indoor mask mandate from April 18, as a response to a fresh wave of cases, making it the first major US city to take that step.
"I think it's likely that if the numbers pick up in the same way, individual cities will reimpose masking requirements," said Kuritzkes. "I don't think it's likely that will happen at the state level."
