World’s Worst-Hit Covid Region Starts Reopening Despite Warnings
- More countries in Eastern Europe reopen schools, restaurants
- Experts warn against rushed steps as new virus strains spread
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Eastern European countries are easing lockdown measures to mollify their frustrated citizens, even as the region remains the world’s most deadly area for the coronavirus pandemic.
The lifting of restrictions and those still in place vary in the more than dozen nations stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea, with the rapid spread of new virus variants and botched vaccine roll-outs pushing hospitals to the brink. Nine of the worst 10 nations for Covid-19 fatalities are now former Soviet satellites.