The 25th of December will mark the “second Christmas” of the pandemic. Small wonder that countries of Europe are considering fresh curbs, pre-eminently President Biden who has called upon “military medics” to supplement the work in hospitals and fight the Omicron variant, which could turn out to be more severe and deadlier than Delta.
The Omicron infection is said to be multiplying in Japan, Europe, the United States of America and parts of Asia. The potentially mortal crisis has prompted Hans Kluge, the head of the World Health Organisation’s cell for Europe, to warn the comity of nations that “we can see another storm coming”. This has been couched with a caveat to countries of Europe, specifically to “brace for a significant change in Covid-19”. President Biden has pledged 500 million free Covid tests to counter Omicron. He has mentioned the risks that one in four Americans (who are unvaccinated) still face. And children are particularly vulnerable.
New measures are reported to be on the anvil and these include activating 1,000 military medical personnel to support hospitals. Not wholly unrelated is the recent decision by Germany, Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands and South Korea to reimpose partial or complete lockdowns or other social distancing measures. For instance, Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland ~ still part of the United Kingdom with devolved responsibilities for health ~ has announced plans for further restrictions on public events, including sports fixtures, for three weeks after Christmas.
Referring to the historical Scottish New Year parties, she said: “It will also mean unfortunately that large-scale Hogmanay celebrations, including that planned here in our capital city of Edinburgh will not proceed.” Omicron, therefore, will translate to a deviation from Scotland’s tradition, almost historical. Fears of another “storm” have impacted New Zealand and Germany no less. Having imposed some of the world’s toughest Covid-19 measures, New Zealand will delay the start of a staggered reopening of its border until the end of February.
“All of the evidence so far points to Omicron being the most transmissible Covid-19 variant yet,” is the warning of Chris Hipkins, the country’s minister for Covid-19 response. Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases has urged that what it calls “maximum contact restrictions” be imposed at once.
While a nationwide lockdown is not being considered just yet, federal and state ministers will decide on new measures, which might include contact restrictions even for the vaccinated and those who have recovered from an infection. The measures adopted by several European countries can be contextualized with WHO’s warning that within weeks Omicron will be overwhelming in more countries of the region, “pushing already stretched health systems further to the brink”.
The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, is shortly expected to announce what they call “circuit breaker” restrictions. In a word, Europe has been overwhelmed by the gathering storm; the world watches with horror.