As cases of Covid-19 surge across Europe and a new variant has emerged in South Africa, new health restrictions are being imposed in many European countries, reigniting tensions and violence.
The Covid-19 pandemic is on the rise again in Europe. This week, the World Health Organization expressed concern about the surge and fears that 700,000 people will die by spring 2022.
Faced with the situation, many European countries have introduced new health restrictions. Hungary said that masks must be be worn in indoor public gathering places from Saturday, and Austria went into a full lockdown on Monday. In France, people must receive a third Covid-19 vaccine dose by January 15 to keep their health passes active.
In addition, a new, potentially dangerous variant has been detected in South Africa, leading several countries to close all air travel connections with South Africa and five other countries in the continent.
Heng, the creator of today's featured Cartooning for Peace work, has been a cartoonist since 1984 for Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore's leading daily newspaper. Heng also works for other Asian newspapers and his cartoons have been published in several international journals. In 1998, he won the first prize organised by the United Nations within the framework of ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), and in 2000 he received the Grafica Internazionale Award at the International Festival of Political Satire in Italy.
Cartooning for Peace is an international network of cartoonists committed to promoting freedom of expression, human rights and mutual respect between people of different cultures and beliefs through the universality of press cartoons.
