People crowd the street after Major sectors of the UK society have reopened on Monday, May 17 in London, United Kingdom as coronavirus restrictions are further eased across England, Wales, and parts of Scotland. Photo: VCG

France and Greece on Monday joined countries that are reimposing tighter COVID-19 restrictions to stem the surge of Delta variant infections threatening the global fight against the pandemic.

The attempts to halt the spread are being hampered by mutations creating highly contagious variants such as Delta, first seen in India.

Vaccines are seen as the best way to allow economies to reopen while keeping the public safe. For this reason, European governments are turning to more coercive measures to get more of their populations to sign up for the jabs.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a national address, said that healthcare staff, retirement home employees and others working with vulnerable people will have to get jabbed by September.

Greece is also ordering mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations of all health workers, including those working in retirement homes, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday.

The EU approach stands in contrast to that of London, where the government confirmed plans to lift most curbs in England by July 19, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson has dubbed "Freedom Day." 

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own COVID-19 response policies.

While some scientists fret that ending measures such as mandatory mask-wearing and social distancing spells trouble, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the link between infections and deaths was "severely weakened" with more than two-thirds of the UK population having full protection.

AFP