‘Hoodwinked’ before Christmas, EU nations seek to slow virus

By MIKE CORDER and RAF CASERT
Associated Press

THE HAGUE (AP) — Nations across Europe are taking new measures in an attempt to keep a COVID-19 spike from spiraling out of control, hoping that action now will safeguard the joys of Christmas next month. A spike in cases fueled by the contagious delta variant forced governments to act to rein in infections even in countries not seeing surges and where vaccination rates are high. Meanwhile, the world on Friday was confronted with yet another challenge in its long pandemic ordeal: the discovery of a new, potentially more transmissible COVID-19 variant found in southern Africa. Belgium and the Netherlands are among some of the worst hit countries in Western Europe and are facing a series of new restrictions.