Belgian police prevent French ‘freedom convoy’ from entering Brussels
Barriers and checkpoints set up around European quarter, and drivers directed to park and rest area
Belgian police have stopped drivers taking part in France’s so-called freedom convoy from entering Brussels, where they planned to hold a demonstration on Monday.
Hundreds of protesters had headed north from Paris region on Sunday but Brussels authorities said the convoy would not be allowed to enter the city.
Police set up barriers and enforced checks around the European quarter, home to the EU headquarters and other buildings including the European parliament.
The protest against Covid restrictions and high energy prices shifted its focus to the symbolic heart of the EU after police prevented most of the estimated 3,000 vehicles from entering Paris at the weekend.
About 100 managed to get past the police and converged on the Champs Élysées, where they were eventually dispersed with teargas on Saturday evening.
Belgian police said they had deployed forces along several motorways and stopped vehicles with French registration plates heading for the capital.
The mayor of Brussels, Philippe Close, said police were directing vehicles to a parking and rest area just outside the city, capable of accepting up to 10,000 vehicles, and warned demonstrators this was the only place they would be allowed to converge.
He said protesters could be allowed to enter Brussels on foot, but they would not be allowed to “take the capital hostage”. Officials banned any demonstrations in the city on Monday.
On Sunday night French police said there were about 1,300 vehicles converging on the northern city of Lille, not far from the Belgian border.
The French convoy, inspired by the movement that has paralysed Ottawa in Canada, has brought together people opposed to the vaccine pass, gilets jaunes (yellow vests), and anti-government protesters angered at energy price rises.
Jean-Pierre Schmit, 58, an unemployed man from Toulouse, told Agence France-Presse: “We’re going to Brussels to try to block it to fight against this policy of permanent control.”
Sandrine, 45, from Lyon, said: “We’re aiming to get to all the European institutions one by one. We don’t know where this is leading, but we’re on our way and we will make ourselves heard.”
The convoy was reported to be aiming for Strasbourg, where the European parliament also sits, after Brussels.
Jean-Christophe Couvy, the secretary general of the SGP police union, said the convoy appeared to have a number of targets. “There’s Brussels and the European parliament in Strasbourg. We have officers on standby and for the moment we’re being vigilant. We’re closely following the journey of this freedom convoy,” he told FranceInfo.
Officials said only about 10% of the convoy that had converged on Paris at the weekend had left for Brussels.
It is not clear what protesters are now planning, but one told Belgian television: “There’s no hurry. We’ll get there in the end.”
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COVID-19 rules to ease starting Tuesday
© Getty
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) announced Monday that the city will end its requirement for people entering businesses to show proof of vaccination starting this week and will lift its mask mandate for businesses starting on March 1.
Bowser cited a sharp decline in cases in the omicron wave as justification for the loosening of restrictions. The mayor pointed to the protection of vaccines in saying the situation had changed.
“COVID is not as deadly as it was,” she said, noting people can now get vaccinated. “Getting vaccinated and boosted, we can’t emphasize enough.”
The vaccination requirement for people entering businesses like restaurants will end on Tuesday, less than a month after taking effect. That requirement had drawn resistance from some congressional Republicans who rallied behind a neighborhood bar, The Big Board, that defied the mandate.
Masks will still be required in schools, an area of strong controversy, and some situations like public transit, Bowser said, while the broader mandate will be lifted next month.
National debate: The move comes amid a national debate over lifting restrictions as the omicron wave descends. Several Democratic governors, in states like New York and New Jersey, have also announced the lifting of mask mandates in recent days.
The Biden administration, despite the moves by local Democratic leaders, has maintained that it is following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, which recommends that people mask indoors in areas with high amounts of transmission, which is still almost all of the country.
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Walmart ends mask rule for vaxxed workers
© Paul Ratje / AFP
Fully vaccinated Walmart employees will no longer be required to wear masks at work in any Walmart or Sam’s Club facilities, unless face coverings are mandated in their states or localities.
Walmart announced the new guidance in a memo to staff on Friday, according to a copy of the update provided to The Hill.
Employees who have not yet received the jab, however, will still be required to wear masks while in stores and offices. Additionally, associates who work in clinical care environments — such as health clinics and pharmacies — and come into direct contact with patients and customers will have to continue wearing a mask, regardless of their vaccination status.
The retail giant said it decided to nix the mask mandate for vaccinated employees as it continues to examine the state of the pandemic in the country.
The company is also lifting a sick pay policy enacted during the pandemic that provided associates with extra paid time off. The memo to employees said it will end on March 31, except for in areas where such a policy is required by state or local mandates or ordinances.
Additionally, Walmart will phase out its daily health screenings for employees — except those who work in California, New York and Virginia, where they are mandated by the states, according to the memo.
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Novak Djokovic says he would rather miss out on grand slams than be vaccinated against Covid, in his first major interview since being deported from Australia earlier this year due to his vaccination status.
Djokovic told the BBC on Tuesday he was not anti-vaccination in general but believed people had the right to choose whether they were jabbed or not.
Asked if he would miss Wimbledon and the French Open over his vaccine stance, he replied: “That is the price that I’m willing to pay.”
“The principles of decision making on my body are more important than any title or anything else,” Djokovic said. “I’m trying to be in tune with my body as much as I possibly can.”
Djokovic said he had “always been a great student of wellness, wellbeing, health, nutrition”.
“I was never against vaccination. I understand that, globally, everyone is trying to put a big effort into handling this virus and seeing, hopefully, an end soon to this virus,” he said.
The 34-year-old did not rule being vaccinated for Covid in the future – telling the BBC he was keeping his “mind open”
Cook Islands records first case of Covid
One of the last remaining countries without Covid – the small Pacific nation of Cook Islands – has reported its first case of the virus.
The prime minister, Mark Brown, said the first case arrived on an international flight from New Zealand on 10 February.
“While she was asymptomatic, she returned a positive result in just a few hours later. The case been issued an isolation order. The case is travelling with two others, and they will all remain in isolation until they no longer test positive for Covid-19,” Brown said on Monday.
The prime minister said at the weekend there could be “silent transmission” in the country after another traveller tested positive for Covid upon their return to New Zealand, having travelled through the Cook Islands from 31 January to 8 February.
“It is likely that the person who tested positive was infectious while here and further likely that the virus is in our community,” the prime minister said of that case on social media on Saturday.
South Korea reports highest number of Covid deaths in a month
Hello. I’m Tom Ambrose and will be bringing you the latest Covid news from around the world over the next few hours.
We begin with the news that South Korea reported its highest number of Covid deaths in a month today as US health authorities advised Americans to avoid travelling to the country grappling with a fast-developing omicron surge.
The 61 deaths reported by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Tuesday was the highest daily tally since the 74 reported on 19 January, when the country was emerging from an outbreak driven by the Delta variant.
While Omicron so far seems less likely to cause serious illness or death, the greater scale of the outbreak is fuelling concerns that hospitalisations and fatalities could spike in coming weeks, the Associated Press reported.
The 57,177 new cases reported by the KDCA was another one-day record and more than a 12-fold increase from the levels seen in mid-January, when omicron became the dominant strain.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its travel notice for South Korea to level 4, the highest risk, advising Americans to avoid travel to the country or to make sure they are fully vaccinated if travelling is necessary.
Park Hyang, a senior South Korean Health Ministry official, said the country’s hospital resources remain stable, with less than 27% of intensive care units designated for Covid currently being occupied.
People wait for their coronavirus test at a makeshift testing site in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. Photograph: Ahn Young-joon/AP
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