Germany scraps strict Easter shutdown

BERLIN－Germany on Wednesday backtracked on its plan to impose a strict Easter weekend shutdown after a public outcry even as coronavirus infections rise.

The backflip in Berlin came as the European Union said it would tighten vaccine export controls in a bid to ramp up its stuttering inoculation campaign.

Vaccinations across the EU remain stubbornly behind those of hard-hit countries outside the bloc, with Brussels blaming production and supply problems for the slow rollout.

The melee over vaccines is deepening as many countries battle third waves of COVID-19, with some governments looking to impose new antivirus measures despite widespread lockdown fatigue more than a year into the pandemic.

In the German reversal, the government scrapped plans to close most of the country's shops over Easter, from April 1-5, after stinging criticism of the plan.

The government instead asked people to stay home over the holiday and Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a mea culpa after reversing the measures.

"This mistake is mine alone,"Merkel said."The whole process has caused additional uncertainty, for which I ask all citizens to forgive me."

Germany is also weighing a temporary ban on certain trips abroad to help curb infections, a government spokeswoman said.

Vaccines are seen as the way out of a pandemic that has now killed more than 2.7 million people around the world. But with demand far outstripping supply, countries are scrambling to secure much-needed doses.

Unfair one-way flow

The EU said its tougher export rules would prevent what it sees as an unfair one-way flow of vaccines out of the bloc.

EU leaders were meeting via videoconference on Thursday to discuss supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as well as new export rules that will weigh how needy countries are in terms of infection rates, how many jabs they have, and how readily they export doses to the bloc.

Draft conclusions of the meeting show support for export controls and warn that Europe must step up its own game when it comes to vaccine production. The tussle on exports has added to AstraZeneca's woes after several countries suspended its vaccine over blood clot fears.

The World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency have said the jab is safe and effective, dismissing feared links with clots.

In respond to a fresh controversy, AstraZeneca said its vaccine was 76 percent effective at preventing symptomatic illness in a new analysis of its major US trial－a tad lower than the level announced earlier this week in a report that was criticized for using outdated information.

US health officials had publicly rebuked the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker for not using the most up-to-date information when it published an interim analysis on Monday that said the vaccine was 79 percent effective.

As the hardest-hit country in the world, the US has now surpassed 30 million cases, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. Cases nationwide reached 30,001,245 on Wednesday, nearly three months after the country hit 20 million cases.

More than 124 million cases have been confirmed worldwide.

Agencies Via Xinhua