The essential
Alain Berset affirmed in a German-speaking radio program that “time is not more to harsh measures“. The government is expected to announce relief on Wednesday February 2.
The controversy grows over the vaccine-skeptical podcast of Spotify. After Neil Young, singer Joni Mitchell, nearly four million subscribers, is withdrawing from the platform.
■ New event in Brussels
Corona-skeptical activists began to gather this Sunday at 12:30 p.m. in Brussels for a demonstration that was supposed to reach a large scale. “Resistance”, “Freedom” and “Respect for the Constitution” are heard in the words of the walkers, terms that recall the mobilizations in Switzerland a few weeks ago. According to the media La Libre, the demonstrators were around 1600 on Sunday in Brussels.
RTBF reminds that last week, a similar demonstration had gathered 50,000 people according to the police and had been peppered with clashes with the agents.
■ Returning the ball for funding London transport
Lockdowns and teleworking have plagued London’s subways and buses, forcing the government to inject several billion pounds to keep operator TfL afloat, says AFP.
At a time when the use of public transport is restarting in the British capital, the government and the town hall of London, on which depends the public body Transport for London (TfL), pass the buck to find sustainable funding.
The matter is urgent: public subsidies to maintain the current level of London public transport services will run out on February 4 and Mayor Sadiq Khan is waving the scarecrow of service cuts or even the closure of an underground line.
“The government must urgently provide the long-term support that TfL desperately needs,” insists the mayor of London.
The Ministry of Transport for its part calls on the mayor to his “responsibility to put TfL on a viable financial footing rather than continuing to ask the State to bail it out”, he told AFP.
■ Loosening announced this Wednesday?
The Federal Council had indicated that its next meeting dedicated to a covid situation update will be that of February 2, Wednesday. The German-speaking press assumes that the end of quarantines and the imperative of teleworking will be on the menu.
On this subject: Towards the end of teleworking and quarantines as of Wednesday
■ Ticino will require vaccination in hospitals and homes
Ticino has decided to suspend the hiring in public health and care establishments of people who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19. A spokeswoman for the cantonal health department indicates this in the NZZ on Sunday. The newspaper assumes that this measure aims to anticipate applications from Italian caregivers who are not immune to the coronavirus, because vaccination is compulsory in the health sector in Italy.
Germany will also apply the vaccination obligation in the health sector from mid-March. According to a newspaper survey of hospitals in several cantons, applications from Germany have not yet increased. In France too, health personnel must be vaccinated and, in Austria, compulsory vaccination must apply to everyone from February.
■ Protests in Canada
Canadian flags, “Freedom” signs and slogans against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: thousands of people and hundreds of trucks blocked the center of Canada’s capital on Saturday, Ottawa, to protest against sanitary measures, says the AFP agency.
Starting from the grumbling of truckers against the compulsory vaccination imposed to cross the border between Canada and the United States, the movement then extended to broader demands.
Since mid-January, Canada and the United States have imposed vaccination on truckers crossing the border between the United States and Canada, the longest in the world at nearly 9,000 km.
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