COVID-19 ‘fourth Wave’ Sweeps Through Europe.

Despite the drastic measures employed since the beginning of 2020, European nations are experiencing a ‘Fourth Wave’ of the novel coronavirus. With deaths rising precipitously, leaders including Belgium’s Prime Minister have said that the situation is on “red alert”. Even among countries with the highest vaccination rates such as the UK, record case numbers are being recorded. Countries including Belgium, Italy, Germany and Russia are scrambling to implement countermeasures to reduce the spread of infection before the Christmas period.

Both the Netherlands and Austria have opted for partial lockdowns as a desperate measure to prevent peaks in transmission. In other countries such as Sweden where the situation appears less severe, restrictions will be limited to COVID passes for gatherings over 100 people. Even in countries like Spain where vaccination rates are encouraging, rates of positive tests are rising. This development has put stress on conceiving new protocols to slow the spread of the infection.