Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world Dec. 5

The latest:

• Planning a trip over the holidays? Expect airport delays, sudden travel restrictions, experts say

• Would national vaccine mandates work in Canada? Experts aren't sure.

• Travel rules eased for Canadians stranded in South Africa, but criticism of broader ban endures.

• Explainer: How thearrival testing system will work for foreign travellers from non-U.S. countries.

• Track how many people have been given theCOVID-19 vaccine across Canada.

In Europe, Belgian police used water cannon and tear gas on Sunday to disperse some rowdy protesters in Brussels after most demonstrators marched peacefully to protest tightened COVID-19 restrictions that aim to counter a surge of coronavirus infections.

Thousands came to reject the new measures announced on Friday, the third week in a row that the government has tightened its rules as an avalanche of new cases strains the country's health services, depriving people with other life-threatening diseases of treatment.

Shouting "Freedom! Freedom!" and carrying banners that read, "United for our Freedom, Rights and our Children," protesters marched to the European Union headquarters. Some also carried signs critical of vaccines and against making vaccine shots mandatory.

The main crowd in Sunday's mostly peaceful march had already dispersed when about 100 protesters ran into a riot police barricade cordoning off access to the European Commission. After a brief standoff with police, protesters hurled trash and other objects, including a bicycle, at police and set off firecrackers and flares. Police used water cannon and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

On Friday, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced that daycare centresand primary schools will close for the holiday a week early, and children must now wear masks from the age of six.Indoor events will only be allowed with a maximum of 200 people.

Previously, the government closed nightclubsand ordered bars and restaurants to shut at 11 p.m. for three weeks. Speculation had been rife that closing times would be brought forward to 8 p.m.,but the cabinet decided against it.

According to the latest coronavirus figures, the EU nation of 11 million appears to have reached a plateau.

On a weekly average, 17,862 new daily cases were reported in Belgium, a rise of six per centover the previous week. Hospital admissions rose four per cent.More than 3,700 people are hospitalized with the virus, 821 of them in intensive care. More than 27,000 people with the virus have died in Belgium since the outbreak began last year.

What's happening across Canada

WATCH | Canada ramping up newtesting requirements at airports:

Government ramping up new COVID-19 testing requirements at airports

3 years ago

Duration 8:29

Canada has imposed new travel restrictions and testing requirements in response to the new coronavirus variant, omicron. Rosemary Barton spoke to Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos about the government's evolving response to COVID-19.

• B.C. chiropractorsassociation 'appalled' by anti-vaccine statements at meeting.

• Alberta residents 60 and older eligible for a 3rddosestarting Monday.

• Military staffaiding hospitals leave Saskatchewan as active cases decrease.

• Manitoba couple feel 'criminalized' by travel restrictions after return from South Africa.

• Ontario registers 1,184 new cases its highest count in 6 months

• COVID-19 hospitalizationsexpected to rise across Quebec, says province.

• New restrictions take effect in N.B. as province sees 118 new infections.

• 2 new cases linked toP.E.I. school prompts weeklong closure.

• Here are all the potential COVID-19 exposure sites in N.S.

What's happening around the world

As of Sunday, more than 265.6million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus tracker. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.2 million.

WATCH |WHO warns of information'roller-coaster'surrounding omicron:

WHO warns 'bit of a roller coaster' coming on information about omicron

3 years ago

Duration 1:49

The World Health Organizations emergencies director, Mike Ryan, says the transparency around rapidly emerging data on the coronavirus variant omicron is empowering but recognizes how unsettling it is to be hearing bits of information in real time.

In Africa, both Senegal and Tunisia confirmed their first case of the omicron coronavirus variant.

In theAsia-Pacificregion, Australia's medicine regulator provisionally approved the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children between the ages of fiveand 11, with the health minister saying the rollout could begin beginningJan. 10.

In the Americas,a Norwegian Cruise Line ship with at least 10 passengers and crew members infected with COVID-19 docked Sunday in the U.S. city of New Orleans, where health officials said they were trying to disembark people without worsening the spread of the coronavirus illness.