- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
'Perfect storm': Europe Covid rise due to fewer curbs, subvariant
Covid-19 is again surging in Western Europe due to a "perfect storm" of governments lifting restrictions, waning immunity and the more contagious BA.2 Omicron subvariant, experts said Monday.
After more than a month of falling cases across much of the continent, countries such as Britain, France, Germany and Italy have all seen a dramatic resurgence of infections in recent days.
In France, cases have risen by more than a third in the week since the government ended most Covid restrictions last Monday.
In Germany, despite a new daily record of nearly 300,000 infections on Friday, the government let national legislation enabling coronavirus restrictions expire over the weekend. Most German states, which have considerable leeway on applying measures, have however maintained the restrictions.
In Italy, the government announced on Thursday it would phase out almost all restrictions by May 1 despite rising cases.
And in Britain, where one in 20 people are currently infected, the government removed the last of its international travel restrictions on Friday.
Faced with its own surging cases, Austria announced on the weekend it would reimpose rules requiring FFP2 face masks -- just weeks after lifting the measure.
- 'Stealth Omicron' -
While some have blamed governments for relaxing restrictions too quickly, epidemiologists also pointed the finger at the BA.2 sub-lineage of the Omicron variant which has become dominant in many countries.
Sometimes called "stealth Omicron" because it is more difficult to detect, BA.2 is estimated to be about 30 percent more contagious than its predecessor BA.1.
Lawrence Young, a virologist at Britain's University of Warwick, said the rising cases in Europe were due to a combination -- "a perfect storm" -- of three factors: the lifting of restrictions, waning immunity after vaccination and BA.2.
"Removing restrictions has fuelled the spread of BA.2 and could also lead to the generation of other variants," he told AFP.
Antoine Flahault, director of the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva said there were "a couple of hypotheses on the table, which are not mutually exclusive".
He told AFP that BA.2 was "clearly a relevant suspect in explaining the current rebound", also mentioning waning immunity and the easing of measures.
He also pointed to air pollution in Western Europe during the infection resurgence, referring to research that showed "strong correlation" between Covid outbreaks and high levels of fine particulate matter in the air.
Simon Clarke, cellular microbiology professor at the University of Reading, said that despite soaring cases in Britain, "concern about the virus among the public seems to be at an all-time low since the start of the pandemic.
"The BA.2 version of Omicron seems to be behind this uptick in infections, which again shows how quickly the situation can change as the virus evolves into new forms," he told the Science Media Centre.
- New variant threat -
In a bid to bolster waning immunity, some nations such as France have started rolling out fourth vaccine doses.
In England, a fourth booster shot will be made available to care home residents, people aged over 75 and the immunosuppressed this week, the National Health Service said Sunday.
However the World Health Organization has warned that new variants were more likely to continue emerging if wealthy nations continue to boost their own citizens ahead of sharing vaccines with countries where many have not received their first dose.
Jean-Francois Delfraissy, president of the French government's scientific advisory board, has already warned of potential variants.
"We are at the mercy of a new variant which, if we ask the scientist community, could be expected in the autumn... it could happen before then," he said last week.
"Will it be a more transmissible variant? Will it be more severe? Will it escape the vaccine? Nobody knows."
L.Davis--AMWN