New curbs as virus cases surge in eastern Europe

Countries in Eastern Europe faced major surges in new infections after the holiday season. Over the past week, new daily infections skyrocketed in Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia.

On Tuesday, Bosnia reported nearly 2,300 new daily infections and 19 coronavirus deaths.  Croatia where authorities further limited gatherings from Tuesday, widened the mandatory use of face masks and urged companies to organize home work when possible. The country reported almost 8,000 new cases in the past 24 hours while authorities said that 38 people died. There were more than 7 million new cases of the omicron variant across Europe in the first week of January, more than doubling in just two weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday.