A healthcare worker puts on a protective gear as he prepares to tend to a Covid-19 patient at the Intensive Care Unit of the Bellvitge Hospital in Barcelona on Jan 19, 2022. (JOSEP LAGO / AFP)
BERLIN / PARIS / BRASILIA / THE HAGUE / VALLETTA / MADRID / QUITO – Spain On Monday entered a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic as the government decided to lift many of its coronavirus restrictions.
From now on, COVID-19 will be classified in Spain as an "endemic" disease – one that will be consistently present rather than one for which there is a definite end
From now on, COVID-19 will be classified in Spain as an "endemic" disease – one that will be consistently present rather than one for which there is a definite end.
Accordingly, the authorities have removed the seven-day quarantine requirement for those infected if they are asymptomatic or only show light symptoms of COVID-19.
They will still be recommended to wear face masks and avoid close contact with vulnerable people, but will be allowed to go to work. Remote working is still recommended when possible.
The quarantine requirement will remain in force for severe cases, similar to that applicable for severe cases of the common flu.
Controls will be focused on those older than 60 or with underlying health conditions that could make them vulnerable to the virus.
Healthy people younger than 60 will no longer have to take a PCR test to confirm their infection status.
The country's Health Ministry explained that it had "established the mechanisms to maintain vigilance at a European level and for the correct inclusion of the information generated in Spain in reports and documents to assure an accurate following of the pandemic in the European Union."
Under the new rules, spectators will once again be allowed to eat and drink at sporting events, such as football matches.
A girl receives the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19, at the Clinicas hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Jan14, 2022. (NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP)
Brazil
Brazilian health regulator Anvisa recommended on Monday that COVID-19 travel restrictions be eased due to a drop in cases and deaths, requiring only full vaccination and doing away with quarantine for unvaccinated travelers.
People entering the country who have not been vaccinated will still need to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test result, but quarantining will be eliminated immediately.
Travelers' health declarations used for tracing COVID cases will no longer be required, with immediate effect, while testing for vaccinated travelers will be suspended from May 1, Anvisa said.
Its recommendation must still be approved by the Health, Justice and Public Security, and Transport ministries.
Cruisers and cargo ships will still be subject to quarantine if COVID-19 cases are detected aboard and must remain in isolation when docked, with only health authorities allowed to board them, Anvisa said.
Brazil reported 9,923 new cases of coronavirus and 77 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said. The pandemic peaked a year ago when more than 3,000 people were dying each day on average in the South American country.
In this file photo a bottle reading "Vaccine COVID-19" next to US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech logos is viewed on Nov 23, 2020. (JOEL SAGET / AFP)
Britain
Pfizer's oral COVID-19 therapy will be evaluated as a potential treatment for patients hospitalized with the illness in a major British trial, scientists said on Monday, as cases rise in some parts of the world.
The world's largest randomized study of potential medicines for COVID-19, dubbed the RECOVERY trial, will assess Paxlovid across hospitals in Britain, which has already approved the drug for early-stage treatment
The world's largest randomized study of potential medicines for COVID-19, dubbed the RECOVERY trial, will assess Paxlovid across hospitals in Britain, which has already approved the drug for early-stage treatment.
"Paxlovid is a promising oral antiviral drug but we don't know if it can improve survival of patients with severe COVID-19," said Peter Horby, a professor at the University of Oxford and joint chief investigator of the RECOVERY trial.
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The scientists said they aim to mainly find whether Pfizer's Paxlovid reduces the risk of death among patients admitted to hospitals with COVID-19.
Earlier this year, the trial began testing a rival COVID-19 pill from Merck for hospitalized patients as well.
RECOVERY, led by the University of Oxford, will also probe whether Paxlovid shortens the length of hospital stay or reduces the need for a mechanical ventilator, they added.
Paxlovid is part of a class of drugs called protease inhibitors, currently used to treat HIV, hepatitis C as well as other viruses, and works by stopping the virus from replicating.
Ecuador
Ecuador is close to controlling the COVID-19 pandemic if it can keep the positivity rate of the virus, as well as infections and deaths down, Health Minister Ximena Garzon stated Monday.
The official said that the positivity rate dropped from 61 percent at the beginning of the year to the current 5 percent, adding that "if we maintain this, we can say that Ecuador has controlled the pandemic" and become "one of the first countries in the region" to do so.
The World Health Organization has indicated that a COVID-19 positivity rate of less than 5 percent is one of the epidemiological criteria for calculating whether the pandemic is under control.
Garzon explained that Ecuador owes its advance to the national vaccination campaign against COVID-19 that targeted 16.1 million people.
A woman waits to receive Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site, in Fontainebleau, south of Paris on Dec 6, 2021. (THIBAULT CAMUS / AP)
France
French health authorities said on Monday the number of patients hospitalised for COVID-19 over the past 24 hours jumped by 467 to 21,073, the highest daily rise since Feb 1.
On a week-on-week basis, the hospitalisations figure is up 1.8 percent and it has been now increasing for the fifth day running, after a steady decline since early February.
COVID-19 infections have been rising again since early March, with the seven-day moving average of new cases at a six-week high of 127,488. Generally, such a trend inversion translates into hospital figures with a two-week delay.
Most of the country's COVID-19 restrictions were lifted three weeks ago.
In this file photo taken on January 8, 2022 a doctor inoculates 5-year-old Phillip with the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus in Berlin, Germany. (HANNIBAL HANSCHKE / AFP)
Germany
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday he did not agree with a planned intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines as patents are a crucial way of encouraging companies to continue pushing ahead with new research.
The waiver drafted by the United States, European Union, India and South Africa earlier in March would need formal approval from the WTO's 164 member countries, including Germany, before being adopted.
The potential waiver deal followed months of negotiations over how to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine production in developing countries, where vaccination rates have lagged wealthy countries.
Scholz, speaking at a news conference, said that a better way of making vaccines accessible in emerging economies would be to transfer vaccine production facilities to Africa.
Meanwhile, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said he will propose that the European Union recommend a fourth COVID-19 shot for people over the age of 60 years at a meeting of health ministers in Brussels.
Pointing to data from Israel, he said a recommendation was "urgently necessary" to reduce risk of death from an infection.
Lauterbach added on Tuesday that he expects a vaccine adapted to new variants to become available only in autumn.
September is the target month, he said on Tuesday, but development has been delayed and he warned that is too late.
Malta's Prime Minister Robert Arbela arrives for an informal meeting of the European Council on Ukraine and Russia at The European Council building in Brussels on Feb 17, 2022. (GEERT VANDEN WIJNGAERT / POOL / AFP)
Malta
Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela on Monday pledged to continue with the removal of restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving it up to people to choose how to safeguard their own wellbeing.
In an address to the nation, just hours after taking his oath of office following his massive victory at the polls over the weekend, Abela also promised to work to regain the trust of those who opted not to vote in Saturday's general election which saw the lowest voter turnout since the island's independence in the 1960s.
Abela's Labour Party won the general election with a comfortable advantage over the Nationalist Party in opposition, obtaining a generous 55.1 percent of the vote against PN's 41.7 percent.
The election was characterised by a record low turnout since independence, at 85.5 percent.
This is Abela's first mandate as party leader and prime minister after he took over from Joseph Muscat who resigned in early 2020.
In his televised address, Abela said he will continue to seek expert advice but the path the country had embarked on towards the total removal of COVID-19 restrictions will continue as planned because the pandemic had brought about too many hardships on people.
Turning to plans he had for the legislature, Abela pledged to continue working towards better economic growth based on sustainability and to continue investing in education, job creation, quality careers and a special emphasis on the environment.
Netherlands
The Dutch government has taken the first steps to get 4.7 billion euros ($5.17 billion) from the European COVID-19 recovery fund, Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag announced in a letter to the House of Representatives on Monday.
The steps comprise 39 measures that can be financed with subsidies from Brussels, including plans for more wind energy at sea and a CO2 tax for the industrial sector. It is now up to the parliament to give its opinion on these plans.
If the parliament agrees, the list of measures will be sent to the European Commission. A green light from the European Union is expected in the autumn of this year.
The EU COVID-19 recovery fund with 672.5 billion euros was launched in autumn 2020 to give the European economy a boost.
As part of the fund, 312.5 billion euros will be allocated as grants intended for, among other things, investments in climate and digitization plans.
The Netherlands initially claimed 5.8 billion euros in European subsidies, but due to the relatively good performance of the Dutch economy, that amount has been adjusted to 4.7 billion euros.
