Covid digest: Thousands in Germany protest virus measures, mandates

The city of Freiburg saw some 4,500 people protesting against a proposed vaccine requirement, police said. In Frankfurt, 4,000 marched on Saturday.

Signs read, “My body belongs to me.”

Meanwhile, police stopped a protest in Leipzig that was attended by hundreds of people.

Some protesters reportedly broke through a police cordon and ran into the grounds of Leipzig University Hospital, where they were detained.

A probe is underway for violating the assembly act, resisting law enforcement officers and flouting Covid-19 protocols in the state of Saxony,a police spokesperson said.

Protests also took place in the towns of Brandenburg and Schwerin.

On Sunday, Germany reported 118,970 new cases of Covid-19 infection and 59 deaths.

Here’s the latest on coronavirus from across the globe:

Oceania

Schools in Australia are set to resume after a summer break even as the country sees an explosion in infections due to the omicron variant.

Thousands of students will return to school starting Monday, with many institutions mandating students to be tested twice a week.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was in self-isolation on Sunday after being exposed to an infected person.

Her office said that she had taken a Covid-19 test and the results were expected later in the day or on Monday.

The country, which reported 103 new cases of the virus, is witnessing a health debate on its tough border controls after a pregnant journalist said she was trapped in Afghanistan.

Journalist Charlotte Bellis wrote in the New Zealand Herald that she could not return from Afghanistan, where she had been reporting, after Ardern’s government rejected her application for an exemption to enter the country. .

“When the Taliban offers you – a pregnant, unmarried woman – safe haven, you know your situation is messed up,” Bellis wrote in the article.

Asia

In Beijing, China, authorities sealed off more residential communities as the number of Covid-19 cases in the Olympic host city climbed to 12. China has taken a controversial and strict “zero COVID” approach to containing the pandemic.

There are also 34 new Covid-19 cases reported among Olympic-related personnel.

Pet stores in Hong Kong that sold hamsters can resume business from Sunday after being shut down last week with thousands of hamsters being culled over Covid-19 fears.

Authorities ordered them to cull over 2,200 hamsters after tracking an outbreak to a worker in a shop where 11 hamsters tested positive.

Imported hamsters from Holland into Hong Kong had been cited as the source.

All hamster imports are now banned.

Americas

Slow coronavirus testing at the Chilean border has left thousands of truckers from Argentina stranded.

Over 3,000 trucks have been stuck at the customs checkpoint of Cristo Redentor in Mendoza since Jaunary 21, Argentinean Federation of Business Entities for Cargo Transport said.