The shutdown was initiated over fears of the rapid spread of the omicron variant. Meanwhile, Germany's health minister has ruled out a lockdown before Christmas. Follow DW for the latest.

The Netherlands has become the first European country to enact a strict lockdown over Christmas. Omicron infections are spreading rapidly across the country. All nonessential businesses have been closed until at least mid-January.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was under fire on Tuesday after it emerged his private secretary had invited over 100 people to a "bring your own booze" party in the garden of Downing Street during the first coronavirus lockdown.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has acknowledged he attended a party at Downing Street during the coronavirus lockdown in May 2020. He claimed he was not aware of the nature of the gathering before arriving, but the opposition wants him to step down.

Boris Johnson has apologized for attending an event in the back garden of 10 Downing Street on May 20, 2020, at which point Britons were prohibited from gathering due to strict coronavirus restrictions. At the start of the weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions, Johnson said he did attend the gathering for 25 minutes before going inside to work. He said he believed the gathering to be a work event, but with hindsight conceded he should have sent attendees back inside.

Boris Johnson has insisted he believed a gathering in No 10’s garden during the first lockdown would be a “work event” after being accused of lying to Parliament by Dominic Cummings. The PM was speaking at the Finchley Memorial Hospital in North London.

The British prime minister is facing fresh accusations of hosting parties during lockdown in June 2020. About 30 people are said to have attended a birthday celebration, when gatherings were not allowed.

London police chief Cressida Dick has said officers will investigate a spate of parties held at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's residence and office during COVID-19 lockdowns

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday he had no intention of resigning over a series of lockdown-breaking gatherings at his Downing Street office and residence, pledging to get on with the job. Johnson answered questions from MPs during a combative Prime Minister's Questions session ahead of the release of an official report into allegations of partying during lockdown that could threaten his future as prime minister.

Ottessa Moshfegh is routinely hailed as one of the most exciting American authors working today. Her award-winning, critically acclaimed books like "Eileen" and "My Year of Rest and Relaxation" contain an ensemble of drunks and dropouts, misfits and murderers, pervs and pill-heads – all of them loners. Her narrators are often angry, amoral and unpleasant and they challenge our assumptions about femininity in uncomfortable ways. More than anything, they're all incredibly human. Her new book "Death in her Hands" has just come out in French, focusing on Vesta, another character at home alone.

Could inflation prove more perilous to livelihoods than lockdown? The latest figures from France and its neighbours show light at the end of the public health crisis tunnel, but there's no time to celebrate. The recovery has spawned a bidding war over goods and raw materials that's cancelled out wage hikes for an in-demand labour force.

Could inflation prove more perilous to livelihoods than lockdown? The latest figures from France and its neighbours show light at the end of the public health crisis tunnel, but there's no time to celebrate. The recovery has spawned a bidding war over goods and raw materials that's cancelled out wage hikes for an in-demand labour force.