Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world Dec. 5
The Associated Press | Posted: December 5, 2021 4:54 PM | Last Updated: December 6, 2021
Belgian police fire water cannons, tear gas as anti-lockdown protest turns violent
The latest:
- Planning a trip over the holidays? Expect airport delays, sudden travel restrictions, experts say
- Would national vaccine mandates work in Canada? Experts aren't sure.
- Travel rules eased for Canadians stranded in South Africa, but criticism of broader ban endures.
- Explainer: How the arrival testing system will work for foreign travellers from non-U.S. countries.
- Track how many people have been given the COVID-19 vaccine across Canada.
In Europe, Belgian police used water cannon and tear gas on Sunday to disperse some rowdy protesters in Brussels after most demonstrators marched peacefully to protest tightened COVID-19 restrictions that aim to counter a surge of coronavirus infections.
Thousands came to reject the new measures announced on Friday, the third week in a row that the government has tightened its rules as an avalanche of new cases strains the country's health services, depriving people with other life-threatening diseases of treatment.
Shouting "Freedom! Freedom!" and carrying banners that read, "United for our Freedom, Rights and our Children," protesters marched to the European Union headquarters. Some also carried signs critical of vaccines and against making vaccine shots mandatory.
The main crowd in Sunday's mostly peaceful march had already dispersed when about 100 protesters ran into a riot police barricade cordoning off access to the European Commission. After a brief standoff with police, protesters hurled trash and other objects, including a bicycle, at police and set off firecrackers and flares. Police used water cannon and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
On Friday, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced that daycare centres and primary schools will close for the holiday a week early, and children must now wear masks from the age of six. Indoor events will only be allowed with a maximum of 200 people.
Previously, the government closed nightclubs and ordered bars and restaurants to shut at 11 p.m. for three weeks. Speculation had been rife that closing times would be brought forward to 8 p.m., but the cabinet decided against it.
According to the latest coronavirus figures, the EU nation of 11 million appears to have reached a plateau.
On a weekly average, 17,862 new daily cases were reported in Belgium, a rise of six per cent over the previous week. Hospital admissions rose four per cent. More than 3,700 people are hospitalized with the virus, 821 of them in intensive care. More than 27,000 people with the virus have died in Belgium since the outbreak began last year.
What's happening across Canada
WATCH | Canada ramping up new testing requirements at airports:
- B.C. chiropractors association 'appalled' by anti-vaccine statements at meeting.
- Alberta residents 60 and older eligible for a 3rd dose starting Monday.
- Military staff aiding hospitals leave Saskatchewan as active cases decrease.
- Manitoba couple feel 'criminalized' by travel restrictions after return from South Africa.
- Ontario registers 1,184 new cases — its highest count in 6 months
- COVID-19 hospitalizations expected to rise across Quebec, says province.
- New restrictions take effect in N.B. as province sees 118 new infections.
- 2 new cases linked to P.E.I. school prompts weeklong closure.
- Here are all the potential COVID-19 exposure sites in N.S.
What's happening around the world
As of Sunday, more than 265.6 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus tracker. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.2 million.
WATCH | WHO warns of information 'roller-coaster' surrounding omicron:
In Africa, both Senegal and Tunisia confirmed their first case of the omicron coronavirus variant.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Australia's medicine regulator provisionally approved the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children between the ages of five and 11, with the health minister saying the rollout could begin beginning Jan. 10.
In the Americas, a Norwegian Cruise Line ship with at least 10 passengers and crew members infected with COVID-19 docked Sunday in the U.S. city of New Orleans, where health officials said they were trying to disembark people without worsening the spread of the coronavirus illness.