The Economist Continental Europe Edition April 3, 2021

The leaders of two dozen countries, including Britain, France and Germany, called for a new global treaty to fight pandemics. The declaration described covid-19 as “the biggest challenge to the global community since the 1940s”. A second wave of covid-19 continued to surge in India, with detected daily cases exceeding 60,000 several times. Pakistan is also suffering a new wave, in which the president, prime minister and defence minister have all tested positive. The African Union signed a deal with Johnson & Johnson to supply 220m doses of its single-jab vaccine to member states starting later this year. The head of America’s Centres for Disease Control said she felt a sense of “impending doom” about rising infections in the country. Joe Biden said that 200m Americans should receive a vaccination by May 1st,…

Politics The European Union outlined a mechanism to stop exports of covid-19 vaccine components to countries that do not export to the EU , or already have higher vaccination rates. Underlining the disarray in the EU’s inoculation programme, Austria’s chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, threatened to try to stop the bloc from buying an extra 100m doses of Pfizer’s jab if his country did not get a bigger share. He has begun talks with Russia to buy vaccine. Britain, meanwhile, said a domestic factory would produce the new Novavax vaccine, which will reduce the country’s reliance on overseas production. Despite surging infections Germany recommended that the AstraZeneca jab should be used mostly for the over-60s and limited among younger groups, because of concerns about blood-clotting. Angela Merkel said the country’s inoculation campaign “rests on…

Politics The European Union outlined a mechanism to stop exports of covid-19 vaccine components to countries that do not export to the EU , or already have higher vaccination rates. Underlining the disarray in the EU’s inoculation programme, Austria’s chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, threatened to try to stop the bloc from buying an extra 100m doses of Pfizer’s jab if his country did not get a bigger share. He has begun talks with Russia to buy vaccine. Britain, meanwhile, said a domestic factory would produce the new Novavax vaccine, which will reduce the country’s reliance on overseas production. Despite surging infections Germany recommended that the AstraZeneca jab should be used mostly for the over-60s and limited among younger groups, because of concerns about blood-clotting. Angela Merkel said the country’s inoculation campaign…

LOOK AROUND the world at the devastation wrought by the covid-19 pandemic and something odd stands out. The European Union is rich, scientifically advanced and endowed with excellent health-care and welfare systems and a political consensus tilted strongly towards looking after its citizens. Yet during the pandemic it has stumbled. In the brutal and blunt league table of fatalities, the EU as a whole has done less badly than Britain or America, with 138 recorded deaths per 100,000, compared with 187 and 166 respectively—though Hungary, the Czech Republic and Belgium have all fared worse than either. However, it is in the grip of a vicious surge fuelled by a deadly variant. That underlines the peril of Europe’s low rate of vaccination. According to our tracker, 58% of British adults have had…

The leaders of two dozen countries, including Britain, France and Germany, called for a new global treaty to fight pandemics. The declaration described covid-19 as “the biggest challenge to the global community since the 1940s”. A second wave of covid-19 continued to surge in India, with detected daily cases exceeding 60,000 several times. Pakistan is also suffering a new wave, in which the president, prime minister and defence minister have all tested positive. The African Union signed a deal with Johnson & Johnson to supply 220m doses of its single-jab vaccine to member states starting later this year. The head of America’s Centres for Disease Control said she felt a sense of “impending doom” about rising infections in the country. Joe Biden said that 200m Americans should receive a vaccination…

LOOK AROUND the world at the devastation wrought by the covid-19 pandemic and something odd stands out. The European Union is rich, scientifically advanced and endowed with excellent health-care and welfare systems and a political consensus tilted strongly towards looking after its citizens. Yet during the pandemic it has stumbled. In the brutal and blunt league table of fatalities, the EU as a whole has done less badly than Britain or America, with 138 recorded deaths per 100,000, compared with 187 and 166 respectively—though Hungary, the Czech Republic and Belgium have all fared worse than either. However, it is in the grip of a vicious surge fuelled by a deadly variant. That underlines the peril of Europe’s low rate of vaccination. According to our tracker, 58% of British adults have…