World's worst-hit Covid-19 region struggles to maintain curbs

BUDAPEST (BLOOMBERG) - Parts of Eastern Europe, currently the world's deadliest region for Covid-19, are facing increasing pushback against extensions to curbs on daily life designed to halt the spread of the virus.

As a third wave of the disease sweeps across the continent, 10 of the 11 worst-hit countries are located in the east, where adherence to restrictions has fallen short and years of under-investment in healthcare is being felt in some nations.

Despite that, however, the Czech government is battling objections from the opposition to prolonging a state of emergency.

Hungary, meanwhile - which has the highest mortality rate globally during the past week - moved to shorten a night-time curfew and allow some stores to reopen.

"We're living the most difficult weeks of the pandemic," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio, even as his government went against calls by local doctors for stricter measures. It's unclear how quickly the virus will recede once it plateaus, Mr Orban said.

The Czech and Hungarian developments follow an only minor tightening of curbs in Poland, which recorded another record number of daily new cases on Friday (March 26). New measures announced a day earlier included shutting nurseries and large furniture stores.

Some nations are acting more forcefully: Romania has limited opening hours for shops and extended a curfew in areas with high infection rates.

But the Czech Republic demonstrates the battle that's unfolding as lockdown fatigue builds in the run-up to Easter and vaccination programmes continue to mostly stutter.

The opposition is focusing on data on Friday showing that daily new cases fell by about a quarter from a week ago. It's also calling on the government to outline plans for easing curbs that include restrictions on domestic travel.

The minority Cabinet warns that a premature relaxation of measures could lead to another spike in infections.

"The numbers are improving and that's good news but infections are still pretty high," Health Minister Jan Blatny said. "If everything goes as we wish, then relaxing the ban on travel between counties could be possible the week after Easter."