Category: Corona Virus

Parks and Recreation (PARCS): All City parks and dog parks are open to the public from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. City park drinking fountains are temporarily turned off in accordance with State and County guidelines.

All Splash Pads are open 7 days a week; from 10:00 am to 8:00 p.m. (Martin Ray Reilly, Inspiration, Mosqueda, Dickey, Figarden, Melody, Todd Beamer). City swimming pools are open from 12:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m., for community swim 7 days a week (Frank H Ball, Mary Ella Brown, Mosqueda, Einstein, Fink White, Pinedale, Quigley, and Romain). Fresno Unified School District pools at Roosevelt and Edison High schools are open on weekends from 12:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m., for community swim.

Community Recreation centers and skate/BMX parks are open from 3:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. Airways and Riverside Golf Courses are open to the public, as is the Disc Golf Course at Woodward Park. The Regional Sports Complex is open from 8:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m., Saturdays through Tuesdays, and from 8:00 a.m. 10:00 p.m., Wednesdays through Fridays for tournament play. (Park may stay open longer on weekends to accommodate scheduled tournaments.)

Senior congregate meals are temporarily suspended by order of the Fresno-Madera Agency on Aging. For information about senior meals, please click the Food Delivery tab.

Applications for Special Event permits have resumed. Reservations for park shelters, indoor facilities, or athletic fields have resumed. Please call (559) 621-2900 for Special events, park shelter, indoor facility, or athletic field reservations.

Camp Fresno and Camp Fresno Jr. are also open for private reservations. Please call (559) 621-2905 to make your reservation.

All parks are sanitized daily to ensure the health and well-being of park patrons. Park patrons are encouraged to limit family gatherings to household members while social distancing. Guidelines for social distancing, masking, etc., are posted at the park. For more information, please visit thePARCS websiteor call(559) 621-2900.

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City of Fresno | Corona Virus (COVID-19)

Dr. Rebecca Smith, an epidemiologist at the University of Illinois, said she planned to travel by vehicle with her children to see family but would get tested before and after.

People want to get back to normal and we understand that and there are ways to do that safely, she said.

Still, Dr. Smith said she expected the outbreak in Illinois to continue to worsen as the virus rips across Midwestern and Northeastern states that largely avoided the worst of the summer surge. In the last two weeks, reports of new cases have increased by more than 40 percent in Pennsylvania, by more than 80 percent in Massachusetts and by 70 percent in Indiana.

Infection levels are also persistently high across much of the West, including in Arizona and New Mexico, where hospitalizations are rising, and in Alaska and Wyoming, which have started to improve after enduring major outbreaks. But case rates in California are relatively low, as they also are in the South, the region hit hardest over the summer.

Ahead of Thanksgiving 2020, the country was reporting 175,000 new infections a day and was midway through its worst case surge of the pandemic. Vaccines were still weeks away from being authorized, many schools were closed and at-home rapid tests were rare. But even as scientists warned that Covid-19 was unlikely to completely vanish, there was widespread optimism back then that vaccines could make the virus an afterthought in daily life.

It was wicked bad last year during the holidays, said Kirk Burrows, 26, a paramedic in Unity, Maine, who said he planned to stay home for another Thanksgiving. I think its going to be worse this year.

Mr. Burrows, who described long ambulance rides with coronavirus patients being transferred to hospitals hours away, said he thought many people had let their guard down as the pandemic persisted. Maine is routinely reporting more than 700 new cases a day, its most since the pandemic started, and hospitalizations have reached record levels.

The rest is here:

As Thanksgiving Approaches, U.S. Virus Cases Tick Upward Once More - The New York Times

US opens COVID-19 booster doses to all adults

The U.S. is opening COVID-19 vaccine boosters to all adults and urging them for anyone 50 and older. The decision Friday seeks to simplify what's been a confusing list of who's eligible. Anyone 18 or older can choose a Pfizer or Moderna booster. (Nov. 19)

AP

With COVID-19 cases ticking up again in Oklahoma and across the U.S., experts predict were headed for another surge this winter.

Cases and hospitalizations had fallen dramatically since a COVID-19 wave hit Oklahoma in late summer, taxing health care workers and hospitals. Even after weeks of declining numbers, they never returned to the lows the state saw before the fast-spreading delta variant took hold, and cases are now rising again.

But, in part because Oklahomas most recent COVID-19 wave this summer wassevere, the winter surge were facing isnt forecasted to be as brutal, experts said.

As long as a new variant doesnt take hold, we arent expected to see the hospital overcrowding we saw in August and September of this year, said Dr. Aaron Wendelboe, a University of Oklahoma epidemiologist.Wendelboe has been modeling the spread of COVID-19 in Oklahoma since the early days of the pandemic.

Having said that, what this model doesn't account for is the reality that our health care workers face the shortage of health care workers, the many people leaving the field just the exhaustion that everyone's facing, he said.

COVID-19 Coverage: CDC makes COVID vaccine boosters available for all US adults, recommends for 50 and older

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases reported in Oklahoma hovered in the mid-500s in early November, but its since risen back up to 838 as of Fridays latest figures.

Hospitalizations, which had plateaued briefly after weeks of decline, also appear to be ticking up again.

Dr. David Chansolme, medical director of infection prevention with Integris Health, said the increase in cases is worrisome.

I don't think we'll see some of the huge increases that we saw before, but anything could happen, he said. If we've not learned anything yet, it's that COVID zigs when we think it's going to zag more often than not, and it could certainly happen again.

Even with a milder surge projected than the ones Oklahoma has already been through, it would still take a toll on health care workers, Chansolme said.

It certainly would be difficult. There's more and more stories coming out now about people leaving the health care workforcebecause they just can't take it anymore. he said. Personally, I really don't want to do another surge. It takes something out of you every time.

Read more: 7 questions answered about COVID vaccines for kids 5-11, including where to get them in OKC

In Oklahoma County, vaccination rates are high enough that health officials hope it can blunt the effect of a winter increase on hospitalizations and death rates, said Phil Maytubby, chief operating officer of the Oklahoma City-County Health Department.

Weve done a good job here of getting people vaccinated, he said. Oklahoma County has 70% of its residents over 12 fully vaccinated. Butwe know that its not going to be absolute were still going to get cases, and were still going to have people end up in the hospital.

While Oklahoma County is on much of the same trajectory for the increase in COVID-19 cases across the country, the more people who get vaccinated, the better the county will fare, Maytubby said.

In Wendelboes initial modeling for Oklahomas COVID-19 transmission heading into the winter, we werent expected to see an increase until December.

But with higher levels of transmission going into the winter, his updated models show that we start to plateau, but actually, as we go into, say, January and February, we don't surge as much either, Wendelboe said.

Those projections hinge on no new variant showing up

Oklahoma has reported over 11,700 COVID-19 deaths, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions National Center for Health Statistics.

Deaths climbed dramatically after the delta variant began to spread in Oklahoma.More than 3,300 Oklahomans have died of the virus since June, and experts have said many of those deaths could have been prevented by vaccinations.

By March, the total is projected to eclipse 13,500, according to the latest forecast from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)at the University of Washington.

But if 95% of people in the state wore a mask, the model projects about 1,000 fewer deaths.

From the experts: Oklahomans with mood disorders like depression are at high risk for COVID-19, CDC says

The rest of the U.S. is also projected to see a winter surge, but Oklahoma may fare better than states that had a less severe delta variant surge in the summer, said Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at IHME.

Because the delta variant sickened so many in the state, a sizable part of the population has recent infection-acquired immunity to the delta variant, Mokdad said.

For those who received a vaccination early on, they may besusceptible to infection because of waning immunity from the vaccine, he said.

Thats why a booster dose is critical. The CDC and FDA on Friday approved booster doses for all adults, and experts have said it's important for people to get them as soon as possible.

My advice for everybody in Oklahoma: go get your third dose, because right now we know a third dose is needed for full protection and it will save lives, Mokdad said.

For public health professionals, vaccinations have allowed for some more normalcy in their holiday plans this year.

Compared to a muted holiday season last year without family get-togethers, Dr. Dale Bratzler, the University of Oklahomas chief COVID officer, said he now feels comfortable gathering with a small group of family, since everyone is vaccinated.

We know were a vaccinated group of people (and) that the risk of spreading COVID-19 is very, very low in that setting, he said, adding that he is fully vaccinated and has also received a booster dose.

See more: Oklahoma AG sues Biden administration over health care worker vaccine mandate

Maytubby, with the Oklahoma City-County Health Department, said his family went without holiday gatherings last year too. This year, we want people to all be vaccinated that are coming, he said.

Well wear masks unless were eating, and Im hoping that the weathers good enough where we can be outside a lot, Maytubby said. Normal precautions like hand-washing and sanitizing will also be part of holiday plans, he said.

Vaccine news: As COVID-19 shots begin for younger kids, it's a dose of relief for Oklahoma families

Mokdad, with IHME at the University of Washington, said hes going into this holiday season more frustrated than last year, since we have a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine that couldve saved thousands of lives in the U.S. if more people had taken it. But he wants people to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

If we do our homework, we can go back to our normal lives, but we shouldn't do it prematurely, he said.

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With coronavirus on the rise again, what will another pandemic winter look like in Oklahoma? - Oklahoman.com

Connecticut's COVID-19 positive test rate remains above 3% ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday when many residents will travel or spend time with extended families, the governor said in his first coronavirus briefing in a couple of months.

As of Monday, the state's test positive rate is 3.53%. Of the 58,379 tests administered since Friday, 2,060 came back positive. Twenty-one more residents are hospitalized in the state since Friday.

The governor said the state's seven-day rolling average is 3.3%, the highest since early September. The current infection rate is 21 per 100,000 residents.

The rate as "gone up quite a bit" since the end of the summer, Gov. Ned Lamont said.

The state has seen a recent uptick over the last several weeks of COVID-19 cases in residents aged five to 11, according to Connecticut Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani.

"This virus will find the unvaccinated," Juthani said.

The governor's office releases information on coronavirus cases on a daily basis on weekdays, but it has been a while since he held a news conference specifically about coronavirus response efforts.

On Friday, the states COVID-19 positivity rate was 3.27%. Data from the weekend is usually released on Monday.

Anyone 5 years old and up is now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.

The governor said 84% of the state's eligible residents 18 and older are fully vaccinated and 18% have received boosters.

LX, or Local X stands, for the exponential possibilities of storytelling in our communities.

COVID-19 booster shots are now available for anyone 18 and older who received a Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine at least two months ago and anyone who received the Pfizer or Moderna shots at least six months ago.

Learn more here about who is eligible.

Lamont will hold a briefing at 4 p.m. by videoconference.

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State's COVID-19 Positive Rate Remains Above 3% Ahead of Thanksgiving Weekend - NBC Connecticut

Adam Beam| The Associated Press

FDA authorizes boosters for all US adults

The U.S. booster campaign is getting a lot simpler now that regulators have opened extra vaccine shots to all adults. The Food and Drug Administrations Dr. Peter Marks says the new approach will streamline booster decisions as COVID-19 cases begin rising again across the country (Nov. 19)

AP

SACRAMENTO California now has one of the lowest coronavirus infection rates in the country, with 1.9% of people testing positive for the disease in the last week as the nations most populous state has so far avoided the uptick feared heading into the end-of-year holidays.

Coronavirus hospitalizations in the state have fallen about 14% in the last month a trend state data models forecast will continue for the next month but Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday continued to sound the alarm about the potential for another winter spike that could overwhelm hospitals in some areas.

Unvaccinated relatives?Families navigate plans as Thanksgiving nears

Visiting a coronavirus vaccination clinic in San Francisco, Newsom urged people to wear masks and get COVID shots ahead of the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. He pointed to at least 27 states that have seen at least a 10% increase in cases in the past week.

Ask the governor of Michigan (or) Colorado how they are doing, Newsom said. States are struggling because people are taking down their guard or claiming mission accomplished. ... I dont want to see that happen here in California.

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

Newsom has struck a more cautious tone compared to the spring when he lifted nearly all of Californias pandemic restrictions and told people who were vaccinated they could stop wearing masks and socially distancing in some places. But a summer surge prompted some of the states largest local governments to bring back mask mandates and other restrictions, creating a dizzying patchwork of policies across the state.

Last winter brought the deadliest surge of the pandemic to California and while a repeat isnt expected because so many people are vaccinated the state still could see a lesser surge as people gather indoors for the holidays. That possibility prompted Santa Cruz County to reinstate its mask requirement on Sunday, just a few days after neighboring Monterey County lifted its mandate.

Your questions answered: COVID-19 booster shots and breakthrough infections

Unfortunately, a potential winter surge appears to be a significant threat to the health and safety of our community, said Santa Cruz County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel said in a statement.

Santa Cruz County, located along the coast south of San Francisco, has a per capita infection rate only slightly above the state average. Of Californias 58 counties, the ones with the highest rates are nearly all rural and have lower vaccination rates.

Fresno County, an agricultural powerhouse of nearly 1 million people located in the Central Valley, is the most populated county among those in the top 10 for infections per 100,000 people. Los Angeles County, with its more than 10 million residents making up about a quarter of the states population, has an infection rate that falls in the bottom third.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

Los Angeles became the nations epicenter for the outbreak last winter when California saw its worst surge. Things got so bad that the National Guard had to bring in refrigerated trucks to store bodies at overwhelmed hospitals.

But all of that happened before a coronavirus vaccine was available. Now, more than 75% of people 5 and older in California have gotten at least one dose. For adults 18 and older, more than 91% have received at least one dose. Nearly 5 million people have gotten a booster shot.

Newsom continued to urge parents to get their children vaccinated. While speaking to reporters at the vaccine clinic he was interrupted by a child crying after receiving a shot. He joked that scene wouldnt lead a public service announcement but it is a very human moment. He then turned to applaud the child.

California plans to require all students in public and private schools to receive the coronavirus vaccine as a requirement for attending in-person classes. But that mandate wont take effect until the federal government gives final approval to the vaccine for children 5 and older.

In the meantime, California requires all public school staff and students to wear masks while indoors. Newsom said state officials might lift that rule once more children are vaccinated.

The virus will dictate those terms, he said.

Originally posted here:

California has one of lowest coronavirus rates in US heading into holidays, but could surge again - Stockton Record

New Jersey on Monday reported another 1,330 COVID-19 cases and seven confirmed deaths as nearly every county in the state is once again reporting high community transmission heading into Thanksgiving.

The states seven-day average for new positive tests increased to 1,669, up 20% from a week ago and 39% from a month ago. Thats the highest seven-day average since Oct. 1.

The statewide transmission rate increased to 1.23, up from 1.21 on Sunday and 1.2 on Saturday. Any transmission rate above 1 indicates that each infected person is passing the virus to at least one other person.

Gov. Phil Murphy noted this is a national trend as more people spend time inside because of colder weather. He said 42 or 50 American states have a transmission rate above 1.

This thing takes turns that humble you, Murphy said during his latest coronavirus briefing in Trenton.

State officials said theyre concerned about cases continuing to rise as people gather for Thanksgiving on Thursday and other holidays over the next two months. State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli encouraged all residents to take precautions, get vaccinated, get a booster, stay home if youre feeling ill, mask up in crowded indoor areas or when you are around high-risk individuals.

Please, please, please enjoy this holiday, but enjoy it safely and responsibly at every level, Murphy said of Thanksgiving. If youre with people that you have a degree of confidence in you know them, you know their vaccine status have at it. Raise hell.

Meanwhile, New Jersey publicly reported for the first time there have been at least 22,842 positive coronavirus tests among students and school staff in grades K-12 across the state since the start of this academic year, along with numbers showing nearly 85% of school staff are fully vaccinated.

MORE: N.J.s 1st full report on school staff, student COVID cases shows 22K positive tests this year

There were 816 patients hospitalized with confirmed (768) or suspected coronavirus cases across New Jersey as of Sunday night.

Of those, 168 patients were in intensive care, with 78 of them on ventilators. At least 74 patients were discharged statewide in the 24 hours leading up to Sunday night.

The statewide positivity rate for Wednesday, the most recent day available, was 4.51%.

All but one of New Jerseys 21 counties are listed as having high rates of coronavirus transmission, with just Hudson County listed as substantial transmission, according to the the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency is recommending that all people in the high and substantial transmission counties wear masks for indoor public settings regardless of vaccination status.

Officials said they expect the new surge to peak sometime in January, the same as last year. But Persichilli stressed that the big difference this year is the state has many more people vaccinated.

We just started vaccinating (last year) on Dec. 15, she said. We saw a peak mid-January of almost 3,000 hospitalizations., No, if we did nothing, that may happen again. But because of our high vaccination rate, were hoping severe disease, hospitalizations moderate. But it could still reach 2,000 or more hospitalizations.

Murphy again encouraged everyone in the state 18 and older in New Jersey who has received their second dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines six months ago to get a booster shot. Thats after the CDC announced Friday that it opened booster shot eligibility to all adults.

Anyone 18 and older who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was already eligible for a booster two months after their single shot.

As we know from the ongoing research, the vaccines do begin to lose some effectiveness in some people over time, Murphy said. Breakthroughs continue to be relatively rare, but they do happen. So, to protect against a possible breakthrough infection, all of us up here strongly encourage you to go out and get that boost of protection as soon as possible.

As of Monday, New Jersey has reported a total of 50,762 cases among fully vaccinated people, leading to 1,061 hospitalizations and 300 deaths, though those represent a small percentage total cases.

From Nov. 1 to 7, the state reported 9,429 positive tests. Of those, 1,707 were from fully vaccinated people and those cases led to two hospitalizations (out of 525 total) and no deaths (out of 115 total).

More than 6.23 million people who live, work or study in New Jersey a state of about 9.2 million residents have now been fully vaccinated. More than 7.88 million people in the state have received at least one dose, and more than 1 million people have received third doses or boosters.

At least 87,500 children between the ages of 5 and 11 in New Jersey have received vaccine doses since federal authorities approved the Pfizer shots for that age group two weeks ago, according to the state.

Christina Tan, the state epidemiologist, said officials are also concerned about possible new variants in the virus.

The delta variant, which is more contagious than previous variants, represents nearly 100% of all cases circulating in New Jersey right now.

New Jersey, an early epicenter of the pandemic, has now reported 28,274 total COVID-19 deaths 25,442 confirmed and 2,832 considered probable in the more than 20 months since the start of the outbreak. The probable deaths, which are revised weekly, increased Monday by 13 fatalities.

The state has the third-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S., behind Mississippi and Alabama.

New Jersey has reported 1,071,383 total confirmed cases out of more than 16 million PCR tests conducted since it announced its first case March 4, 2020. The state has also reported more than 162,128 positive antigen or rapid tests, which are considered probable cases.

Murphy insisted the state is not waiting for there to be no cases to move on from the pandemic.

This is never going to zero, he said. This is with us. And were not gonna manage it as though we have to see it go to zero to do X or Y. But I do think we owe it to folks to give them a sense of the trends.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

There have been a total 179 in-school outbreaks across New Jersey among students and staff this academic year, leading to 1,026 cases, according to the latest number released last week. Those numbers are cumulative and do not reflect active infections. Just Burlington and Warren counties have not reported any in-school outbreaks this year.

In-school outbreaks, which are reported weekly by the state, are defined as three or more cases that are determined through contact tracing to have been transmitted among staff or students while at school. They do not include total cases among staff and students.

At least 8,671 of the states COVID-19 deaths have been among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, according to state data. There are active outbreaks at 115 facilities, resulting in 624 current cases among residents and 530 among staffers.

As of Monday, there have been more than 257.7 million COVID-19 cases reported across the world, according to Johns Hopkins University, with more than 5.15 million people having died due to the virus. The U.S. has reported the most cases (more than 47.7 million) and deaths (more than 771,100) of any nation.

There have been more than 7.4 billion vaccine doses administered globally.

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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @johnsb01.

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N.J. reports 1,330 COVID cases, 7 deaths. Positive tests rising ahead of Thanksgiving holiday. - nj.com

Employers in the UK are following the lead of their counterparts in the US by stepping up demands for staff to be vaccinated against Covid-19, analysis of recruitment adverts reveals.

According to figures from the jobs website Adzuna, the number of ads explicitly requiring candidates to be vaccinated rose by 189% between August and October as more firms ask for workers to be jabbed before they start on the job.

Out of a total 1.2m job vacancies in the UK on its platform, the number of adverts requiring vaccination increased from 805 in August to 2,161 in September and 2,324 in October.

Employers specifying the need for vaccination include the outsourcing firm G4S, which has multiple vacancies where jabs are required they include school cleaner in London, administrator in Essex, and healthcare assistant in Bridgend. G4S said it was not its own policy to require vaccination, but that of the employers it was contracted to.

The sectors with the highest proportion of job adverts mandating vaccination are in social care, at 2% of all positions, followed by healthcare and nursing at 0.9%, charity jobs at 0.6%. Part-time roles, domestic help and cleaning jobs also featured.

Sajid Javid, the health secretary, announced this month that health service workers in England would need to be vaccinated by next April or risk being sacked. The rule built on a July announcement that all care home workers in England must be vaccinated by 11 November. Mandatory vaccination rules do not apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Unions have argued that no jab, no job policies risk the collapse of care companies, with the government expecting the loss of up to 70,000 care home staff. Civil liberty campaigners have also warned against mandatory vaccination rules, instead urging ministers to focus on educating people about vaccines and helping people to make informed consent.

Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, said the figures could illustrate the start of a wider trend in Britain. A taboo appears to be breaking where large corporations are putting a stake in the ground and saying, Right, you have to be vaccinated by certain date, he said.

He said the UK appeared to be following the lead of firms in the US and Canada, a trend that was not yet evident in European countries such as France, the Netherlands and Germany.

Earlier this year you could count the number of job adverts asking for vaccinations on one hand, but it seems to be growing exceptionally as the year goes on.

The development comes as growing numbers of US companies request that their staff are double-jabbed amid a push by the president, Joe Biden, to increase vaccination rates.

The White House announced this month that businesses with 100 or more workers would need to be vaccinated by 4 January or face mask requirements and weekly tests, although the rule has faced legal challenges and opposition in some states.

Some large US companies, including Facebook, Goldman Sachs and Google, have announced that they would require workers returning to their US offices to be vaccinated against Covid.

The investment bank Citigroup told its US staff last month either to get the Covid vaccine or get fired.

Adzuna said the proportion of US job adverts requiring a vaccine had risen to 0.9% by October, with about 69,000 positions on its website out of a total 7.9m vacancies, led by sectors such as healthcare and nursing, hospitality and catering, and social work.

In the US, the jobs website which is tracked by the Office for National Statistics for early warning signs from the employment market is also seeing employers offering vaccine bonuses as incentives. These are not currently trends in the British figures.

A spokesperson for the UK government said: While we welcome employers who support their staff to get vaccinated, those who propose to check the vaccination status of new or existing members of staff will need to consider how this fits with their legal obligations under employment, equalities and data protection law.

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UK employers step up demand for workers vaccinated against Covid - The Guardian

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Mesa cancer survivor nearly dies from COVID-19 breakthrough infection - Arizona's Family

BRUSSELS, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Police and protesters clashed in the streets of Brussels on Sunday in demonstrations over government-imposed COVID-19 restrictions, with police firing water cannon and tear gas at demonstrators throwing rocks and smoke bombs, witnesses said.

About 35,000 people took part in demonstrations, police said, which began peacefully before violence broke out.

Protesters wearing black hoods threw stones at police as they advanced with water cannon at the main junction in front of the European Union Commission headquarters, Reuters journalists said.

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Facing up to the police lines, the protesters held hands and chanted "freedom". One protester was carrying a placard reading "when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty".

People protest against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) measures as police forces stand guard, near the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium November 21, 2021. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

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Protesters also threw smoke bombs and fireworks, the newspaper Le Soir reported. The situation calmed down later, police said.

Belgium tightened its coronavirus restrictions on Wednesday, mandating wider use of masks and enforcing work from home, as cases rose in the country's fourth COVID-19 wave. read more

There have been 1,581,500 infections and 26,568 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country of 11.7 million people since the pandemic began. Infections are increasing again, with 13,826 new cases reported on average each day.

Violence has also broken out in anti-restriction protests in Belgium's neighbour the Netherlands in recent days. On Friday, police in Rotterdam opened fire on a crowd.

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Reporting by Christian Levaux, Johnny Cotton and Sabine Siebold, Editing By Angus MacSwan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Clashes break out in Brussels in protests over coronavirus restrictions - Reuters

A man walks in front of a fire in a street of The Hague during a demonstration against the Dutch government's coronavirus measures on November 20, 2021. DANNY KEMP/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

A man walks in front of a fire in a street of The Hague during a demonstration against the Dutch government's coronavirus measures on November 20, 2021.

A resurgence of COVID-19 restrictions in a number of countries has resulted in protests, with some demonstrations turning violent and leading to dozens of arrests.

On Saturday night, the Netherlands saw protests at The Hague, with demonstrators lighting fires throughout the area, defacing property and pelting officers with rocks and fireworks, according to police. The disruption went on until around 1 a.m., and police took 19 people into custody before the night was over.

That demonstration also ended with five officers injured, according to the Associated Press. One officer suffered a knee injury as well as a concussion, and others sustained hearing damage, police said on Twitter.

Other COVID-related protests also took place across the Netherlands on Saturday, including in the cities of Amsterdam, Breda, and Katwijk. In Alkmaar and Almelo, fans broke into two soccer games, defying recent lockdown orders, the AP reported.

The night before, protests broke out in the Dutch city of Rotterdam with hundreds attending. Protestors are alleged to have thrown rocks at officers patrolling the scene in addition to setting off fireworks, according to local authorities. As events spiraled into disarray, authorities issued an emergency order and tried to clear the area with the use of a water cannon, officials said. Some in attendance are also alleged to have set fire to police cars and damaged property.

The protests have come in response to a three-week partial lockdown announced last weekend following a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Ahmed Aboutaleb, the mayor of Rotterdam, said that police "felt it necessary to draw their weapons to defend themselves," according to an Associated Press report. Three protestors were shot and are currently being treated at a hospital, police said in a statement. Authorities also claimed that they fired warning shots initially and that officers were also injured; one had to be hospitalized for a leg injury and another needed to be treated by a paramedic.

Police arrested 51 people on Friday on charges that include public assault, incitement, and violation of the emergency order, and around half of those taken into custody were minors, authorities said.

Friday's activities prompted criticism from Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus.

"The riots and extreme violence against police officers, riot police and firefighters last night in Rotterdam are disgusting to see," he said in a statement obtained by the Associated Press. He added, "Protesting is a great right in our society, but what we saw last night is simply criminal behavior. It has nothing to do with demonstrating."

Thousands of protesters opposing the Pandemic Legislation being tabled in the Victorian Parliament are seen with placards and flags in Flagstaff Gardens on November 20, 2021 in Melbourne, Australia. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images hide caption

Thousands of protesters opposing the Pandemic Legislation being tabled in the Victorian Parliament are seen with placards and flags in Flagstaff Gardens on November 20, 2021 in Melbourne, Australia.

Protests in the Netherlands are reminiscent of what's occurring in numerous other countries across Europe in recent days. In Austria, citizens have been protesting the government's recent decision to impose a nation-wide lockdown beginning on Monday, as well as plans to make vaccinations compulsory in February.

Thousands joined a demonstration in Vienna on Saturday, with around 35,000 people gathering in the city's Heroes' Square, The Guardian reports.

Days earlier, hundreds of protestors had gathered outside the Austrian embassy in France, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, on the island of Guadeloupe, a French territory, rioters have set fires in the streets, shot at police, destroyed property, and looted places of business, prompting French officials to deploy around 50 members of their special forces to help restore order on the island, according to an Al Jazeera report.

In Belgium, police estimated that around 35,000 people gathered for a protest on Sunday near a train station in Brussels. Events turned hectic, however, with protestors throwing objects at officers and police resorting to using water cannons and tear gas on the crowd, Politico reports. Italy and Croatia have also been the site of demonstrations regarding COVID restrictions, and in Melbourne, Australia, heated protests against vaccine mandates are entering their second day.

Amid the backlash, some health officials are worried that many countries should brace themselves for even more COVID-related deaths. Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, the World Health Organization's regional director for Europe, said earlier this month that Europe and central Asia are again "at the epicenter" of the COVID-19 pandemic. He warned that failure to act could result in half a million deaths by early next year.

"We are at another critical point of pandemic resurgence. Europe is back at the epicentre of the pandemic, where we were 1 year ago," Kluge warned. "The difference today is that we know more and we can do more. We have more tools and means to mitigate and reduce the damage to our communities and society."

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Protests have broken out across Europe in response to tightened COVID-19 restrictions - NPR