Ukraine’s Covid crisis has deepened with record numbers of infections and deaths reported this morning. Health Minister Maksym Stepanov says 433 people died in the past 24 hours and 19,893 new cases were reported. The capital Kyiv has imposed a strict lockdown.
French schools close later today for at least three weeks as stricter anti-Covid measures start kicking in across the country. Secondary schools will shut for four weeks, although two of those include France’s spring holiday. A new opinion poll suggests seven out of 10 people back the decision to go into a new national lockdown tomorrow night which is looser than last year.
Most EU countries have agreed a complicated formula to give 2.85 million extra BioNTech-Pfizer vaccines to five struggling countries, including Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovakia. Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic objected to the deal. Austria’s Sebastian Kurz has criticised what he sees as uneven distribution of vaccines.
A Serbian anti-vaccination campaigner was questioned by police yesterday on suspicion of spreading panic through social media posts and media appearances. Jovana Stojkovic has been in trouble before for posting misleading information.
A baby has been born on Spain’s Balearic island of Ibiza with Covid antibodies after his mother was vaccinated in the final three months of her pregnancy. Baby Bruno’s umbilical cord was tested for antibodies after he was born. Meanwhile, a million Oxford-AstraZeneca doses will be distributed across Spain this morning to enable vaccinations to continue throughout Easter week.
Greece starts easing restrictions on movement from tomorrow with retail opening up from Monday. Schools will start opening up again on 12 April.
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