A resurgent Covid-19 means another tough winter could be coming

Restaurants and hair salons are shut. Schooling is remote. People are stuck at home after 8 p.m. At least one country in Europe has already returned to full-on crisis mode as Covid flares anew from the UK to Russia to Singapore.

Latvia’s response is the most extreme, but the Baltic nation isn’t alone in grappling with a coronavirus surge reminiscent of 2020. Britain, which inoculated residents early and dropped most Covid curbs, is now seeing the most cases since July. In Germany, they’re at the highest since May.

In countries where vaccination rates are lagging behind, the situation is worse. With Covid deaths at record levels in Russia, Moscow is headed for a lockdown this month. Romania has run out of intensive-care beds.