12 Countries Roll Back COVID Restrictions, Israel Scraps ‘Green Pass’

Sweden and Switzerland joined Denmark, Norway, Finland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Italy, Lithuania, France and the UK in announcing they will lift COVID restrictions and open up their countries.

Europe is accelerating steps to roll back COVID restrictions as efforts to control the spread of the virus have failed and countries downgrade the threat posed by SARS-CoV-2.

Europe is accelerating steps to roll back COVID restrictions as efforts to control the spread of the virus have failed and countries downgrade the threat posed by SARS-CoV-2.

Sweden and Switzerland joined Denmark, Norway, Finland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Italy, Lithuania, France and the UK in announcing they will lift COVID restrictions and open up their countries.

Top Israeli officials also announced this week they are abolishing the country’s “Green Pass” COVID vaccine passport for restaurants, hotels, gyms and theaters.

The policy update will take effect Feb. 6, Prime Minister Naftali Bennet’s government said, pending approval by a parliamentary committee. Israel’s proof-of-vaccination policy will remain in effect for events such as parties or weddings.

“To continue the green pass in the same way can create false assurances,” said Nadav Davidovitch, an epidemiologist and public health physician advising Prime Minister Naftali Bennet’s government. “It’s not reducing infections in closed spaces like theatres. It needs to be used mainly for high-risk places like hospitals, elderly care homes, or events when you are eating and singing and dancing.”

Sweden will lift all COVID restrictions by Feb. 9, the Swedish government said today.

According to Politico, the Swedish Public Health Agency said it reassessed COVID as “not being socially critical” due to a better understanding of the Omicron variant, which is milder and associated with fewer hospitalizations.

“It’s time to open up Sweden,” said Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. “The pandemic isn’t over, but it is moving into a new phase.”

The decision to open Sweden came a day after Switzerland, citing high immunity levels and the milder Omicron variant, announced it will abolish mandatory work-from-home and the quarantine rules beginning today.

The government also will lift health measures at the borders and tourists will no longer need to receive Swiss COVID certificates.

The Swiss government said it planned to phase out other restrictions after consulting with 26 cantons, employers, trade unions and parliamentary committees.

In two weeks, the government will determine the next steps to relax pandemic measures depending on the health situation, according to an official statement.

Options include a staggered exit strategy or an abrupt end to all COVID measures on Feb. 17.

Denmark to classify COVID as endemic disease 

Just days before Sweden and Switzerland’s announcements, Denmark became the first country in the European Union to lift all COVID restrictions, reclassifying COVID as an endemic disease.

Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke on Feb. 1 wrote a letter to the parliament’s epidemiology committee stating COVID was no longer a “socially critical disease.”

Based on the recommendations of the committee, the government decided to scrap COVID restrictions.

The “rules will lapse when the illness will no longer be categorized as ‘socially critical’ on 1 February 2022,” Heunicke wrote.

The classification of a disease as “socially critical” gave the government authority to implement broad restrictive measures such as shutting businesses and making mask-wearing mandatory.

An endemic disease circulates freely but is recognized as posing less of a threat to societies.

“No one can know what will happen next December,” Heunicke told CNN on Monday. “But we promised the citizens of Denmark that we will only have restrictions if they are truly necessary and we’ll lift them as soon as we can. That’s what’s happening right now.”

When asked about vaccine mandates, Heunicke said:

“Luckily we don’t need that in Denmark … I’m really happy that we don’t need it because it’s a very troubling path to move that way.”

Søren Brostrøm, director-general of Denmark’s Health Authority agreed:

“I do not believe in imposed vaccine mandates. It’s a pharmaceutical intervention with possible side effects. You need as an authority, to recognize that. I think if you push too much, you will have a reaction — action generates reaction, especially with vaccines.”

Danish authorities will still recommend taking at-home tests when coming into contact with large groups of people and will make PCR tests available to the public. Travelers entering the country will still be tested upon entry.

Other European Companies drop COVID restrictions 

Italy, France, Norway, Lithuania, England and Finland also relaxed restrictions, Bloomberg reported.

“We should discuss whether it’s time for us to take a different viewpoint and start unwinding restrictions even with a high number of infections,” Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin told reporters. “I hope that we can be rid of restrictions during February.”

At a meeting in Helsinki to discuss the pace of removing restrictions, the government decided to lift all limits on gatherings and ease restrictions on restaurants and bars on Feb. 14. Night clubs will remain closed until March 1. Cultural venues, events and sports will be free from restrictions.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s administration met Wednesday to discuss how to curb restrictions. The government will initially focus on quarantine rules for children and plans to cut the 10-day isolation requirement down to five.

France on Wednesday ended mandatory work-from-home rules, eliminated requirements on face masks outdoors and lifted attendance restrictions at stadiums and theaters. However the country’s vaccine pass will remain in place until hospitals are able to function normally without canceling non-emergency procedures to make room for COVID patients in intensive care, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Wednesday.

Asked whether France would require a second booster shot, Veran said it would depend on whether there were further mutations of the virus.

The Lithuanian government is dropping its requirement to present a vaccination certificate in public areas, such as restaurants and sporting events, and unvaccinated workers will no longer be required to undergo weekly testing.

Norway followed suit and lifted restrictions on private gatherings, bars and restaurants and will not require border testing.

England last week announced it was lifting its COVID restrictions. Beginning Jan. 27, face coverings were no longer required by law anywhere in England and the legal requirement for COVID passes to enter large venues and clubs were scrapped.

The government also dropped guidance for face-covering in classrooms, advice for people working from home and restrictions for nursing home visitors.

On Jan. 26, the Netherlands reopened restaurants, bars, museums and theaters as part of a broader easing of restrictions.

Lockdowns had little-to-no benefit on public health, analysis shows

Few studies, if any, have been carried out to determine whether vaccine passports and COVID restrictions actually lowered COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

However, a recent analysis published by researchers at Johns Hopkins found COVID lockdown measures implemented in the U.S. and Europe had almost no effect on public health.

“We find little-to-no evidence that mandated lockdowns in Europe and the United States had a noticeable effect on COVID-19 mortality rates,” the researchers wrote.

The researchers also examined shelter-in-place orders, finding they reduced COVID mortality only by 2.9%.

Studies assessing only shelter-in-place orders found a mortality reduction of 5.1%, but when combined with other lockdown measures, shelter-in-place orders actually increased COVID mortality by 2.8%.

Researchers found limits on gatherings may have actually increased COVID mortality. They wrote:

“[Shelter-in-place orders] may isolate an infected person at home with his/her family where he/she risks infecting family members with a higher viral load, causing more severe illness. But often, lockdowns have limited people’s access to safe (outdoor) places such as beaches, parks and zoos, or included outdoor mask mandates or strict outdoor gathering restrictions, pushing people to meet at less safe (indoor) places.”

COVID lockdown measures also contributed to “reducing economic activity, rising unemployment, reducing schooling, causing political unrest, contributing to domestic violence and undermining liberal democracy,” the report said.

••••

The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … (TLB)

••••

Comment Policy: As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. This also applies to trolling, the use of more than one alias, or just intentional mischief. Enforcement of this policy is at the discretion of this websites administrators. Repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without prior warning.

••••

Disclaimer: TLB websites contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, health, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.

••••

Disclaimer: The information and opinions shared are for informational purposes only including, but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material are not intended as medical advice or instruction. Nothing mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

1 Comment on 12 Countries Roll Back COVID Restrictions, Israel Scraps ‘Green Pass’

  1. I live in France. Président Macron HATES the unvaccinated. He said he wishes to “emmerder” us until the end . Emmerder means literally rub shit on us.. our vaccine pass was put in place on Jan 24..you need a vaccine to go to a public library, cinéma, bar , restaurant, theater, museum, any indoor or outdoor sport facility (outdoor football field, out door skate park etc..) and they just LOWERED the validity the vaccine past post dose from 7 to 4 months and lowered the validity after a positive covid test from 7 to 4 months soas to encourage vaccination!! Veran said it himself..they must encourage those who recently had covid to get vaccinated soas they won’t get a bad case next time..plus our hospitals rescheduled operations not because covid cases clogged up the hospitals but because they were scared that would happen because of all the health care workers who lost their jobs for not being vaccinated. Also many of hose current employed health care workers are now laid off for lack of work because there are so few covid cases..oh and we still need a sanitary pass to go to the hospital. If you are not vaccinated you must pay for your own tests. Vaccinated get free tests to access our public hospitals!! Martin Hirsch..a high ranking civil servant Dr suggested voiding the public national health insurance of all non vaccinated only four days ago. Hell half of french people are afraid of us non vaccinated if we are to believe the polls

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*