BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania on Friday hit a new pandemic record of 19,649 COVID-19 infections amid a rapid rise of cases, but hospitalizations and deaths remain significantly lower compared to the previous wave, official data shows.

Just a month ago Romania was registering fewer than a thousand coronavirus infections a day. But daily cases have skyrocketed since the emergence of the highly transmissible omicron variant.

Despite the record case number, only 49 deaths were reported, compared with several hundred a day during October and November. Of the 49, 43 were unvaccinated, authorities said.

The head of Romania’s Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, told a news conference Thursday that vaccination “remains the solution to avoid serious illness.”

“Unfortunately, none of the young people who died in the last 24 hours were vaccinated,” he said. “And the percentage of those who die, of those who are in (ICUs), are mostly unvaccinated people, a situation that could have been prevented — if they were vaccinated.”

Romania is the EU’s second-least vaccinated nation against COVID-19, with just 49% of adults being double-jabbed against COVID-19, compared with a bloc average of 80%. Over the past week, Romania has administered fewer than 20,000 jabs a day, official data shows.

Dragos Zaharia, a primary care doctor at the Marius Nasta Institute of Pneumology in Bucharest, said it’s a “big relief” that outpatient evaluations in his hospital are this time resulting in “a minimal number of admissions.”

“The cases are much less severe than in the delta wave. I am not expecting a big impact on hospitalizations and deaths,” he told The Associated Press. “It seems the pandemic end is near."

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CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia on Friday reported its deadliest day of the pandemic with 80 coronavirus fatalities, as an outbreak of the omicron variant continued to take a toll.

But Dominic Perrottet, premier of the most populous state, New South Wales, said a slight decrease in hospitalizations gave him some hope about the strain the outbreak is putting on the health system.

The previous record of 78 deaths was set on Tuesday. There have been just under 3,000 coronavirus deaths in Australia since the pandemic began.

New South Wales, home to Sydney, reported a record 46 deaths. They included a baby who died from COVID-19 in December, one of several historical cases that were investigated.

The news came after the premier of Western Australia state, Mark McGowan, backed down on a promise to reopen the state to the rest of the country on Feb. 5.

In a late-night news conference on Thursday, McGowan said reopening the state as planned would be “reckless and irresponsible” given the large number of COVID-19 cases in other states. No new date has been set for when the state might relax its border closure.

The border decision means neither Prime Minister Scott Morrison nor opposition leader Anthony Albanese can campaign in the state for now. An election is due to be held by May 21.

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s deputy health minister said Friday the nation hit a COVID-19 pandemic record of 36,665 new infections reported in 24 hours.

Waldemar Kraska said that 1,390 among the new cases were confirmed as caused by the highly contagious omicron variant.

Health care authorities are expecting up to 50,000 new daily infections next week, saying the fifth wave will be a tough challenge to the system, which has some 31,000 hospital beds prepared for coronavirus patients.

Many medics are saying the already overloaded system is not prepared to handle so many cases, especially under staff shortages and exhaustion.

There were 248 deaths among coronavirus patients reported Friday, a significant drop from almost 800 daily in late December. The have been over 103,000 deaths in Poland since the start of the pandemic.

The vaccination rate is almost 57% in this nation of some 38 million, and some 9 million people have received booster shots.

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VIENNA (AP) — Austria’s parliament voted Thursday to introduce a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for adults from Feb. 1, the first of its kind in Europe, with maximum potential fines of up to 3,600 euros ($4,000) for people who don't comply after a series of reminders.

Lawmakers voted 137 to 33 in favor of the measure, which will apply to all residents of Austria aged 18 and over. Exemptions are made for pregnant women, people who for medical reasons can’t be vaccinated, or who have recovered from the coronavirus in the previous six months.

Officials say the mandate is necessary because vaccination rates remain too low in the small Alpine country. They say it will ensure that Austria’s hospitals are not overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

Health Minister Wolfgang Mueckstein, speaking in parliament Thursday afternoon, called the measure a “big, and, for the first time, also lasting step” in Austria’s fight against the pandemic.

“This is how we can manage to escape the cycle of opening and closing, of lockdowns,” he said, noting that it’s about fighting not just omicron, but any future variants that might emerge. “That is why this law is so urgently needed right now.”

The Austrian government first announced the plan for a universal vaccine mandate at the same time it imposed a since-lifted lockdown in November, and amid concern that Austria’s vaccination rate was comparatively low for Western Europe. As of Thursday, about 72% of the population of 8.9 million was considered fully vaccinated.

The measure passed easily in parliament after a fierce debate. Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s governing coalition, made up of his conservative Austrian People’s Party and the Greens, worked with two of the three opposition parties in parliament on the plan. The far-right Freedom Party vehemently opposed it.

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BERLIN (AP) — Germany's health minister expects the number of coronavirus infections in the country to keep rising for several weeks before peaking next month.

Karl Lauterbach told German public broadcaster ZDF late Wednesday that “the wave will reach its peak roughly in mid-February.”

Lauterbach warned that while hospitalization rates are currently low, clinics could see a severe strain in the coming weeks, noting that the share of people over age 50 who aren't vaccinated is significantly higher in Germany than in other European countries, such as Italy and Britain.

Germany's disease control agency reported 133,536 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, and 234 deaths.

Omicron is less likely to cause severe illness than the previous delta variant, according to studies. Omicron spreads even more easily than other coronavirus strains, and has already become dominant in many countries. It also more easily infects those who have been vaccinated or had previously been infected by prior versions of the virus.

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LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal’s government is under fire over its plans to let people infected with COVID-19 cast their ballots at polling stations in an upcoming election, as officials struggle to square the right to vote with the duty to protect public health.

Eligible voters who are infected and confined at home — as many as 600,000 people on the day of the Jan. 30 election, officials estimate — are to be allowed to vote in person as an exceptional measure, the government announced Thursday.

However, it recommends that they vote only in a 6 p.m.-7 p.m. time slot, when polling stations are traditionally less busy, Justice and Interior Minister Francisca Van Dunem said after a Cabinet meeting.

She said that it is not operationally practical to establish separate corridors and booths in polling stations for infected people.

She said she trusted in the “historically exemplary behavior” of the Portuguese to ensure voting goes safely and smoothly.

Portugal on Thursday officially reported more than 56,000 new daily cases of COVID-19 — a new record amid a recent surge blamed on the omicron variant.

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PARIS (AP) — French Prime Minister Jean Castex says a new COVID-19 pass will go into effect Monday, severely restricting the public lives of those who refuse to get inoculated by banning them from domestic flights, restaurants, sports events and other venues.

“(The pass) ... is necessary if we want to preserve and increase our vaccination coverage in the event of new variants,” Castex said Thursday. The so-called vaccine pass “clearly puts constraints on the unvaccinated,” he added.

As of Monday, full vaccination will be needed to enter restaurants and bars, cinemas, theaters and other leisure and sport facilities, and to take interregional trains and domestic flights. The measure applies to everyone 16 and over. The government said some exceptions are planned for those who have recently recovered from COVID-19.

Castex also said France's virus surge is showing signs of waning but pressure on hospitals remains high, which is why the government wants to keep current restrictions in place for 12 more days.

“This exceptional wave is not over, but its waning effects are a positive sign,” the prime minister told a press conference in Paris.

He said that, starting Feb. 2, working from home at least three days per week will no longer be mandated and wearing a mask outdoors will be lifted. Nightclubs will open Feb. 16.

Also starting Monday, children aged 12 to 17 years old will be eligible for a booster shoot, Castex said.

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TOKYO (AP) — Restaurants and bars will close early in Tokyo and a dozen other areas across Japan beginning Friday as the country widens COVID-19 restrictions due to the omicron variant causing cases to surge to new highs in metropolitan areas.

The restraint, which is something of a pre-state of emergency, is the first since September and is scheduled to last through Feb. 13. With three other prefectures — Okinawa, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi — under similar measures since early January, the state of restraint now covers 16 areas, or one-third of the country.

While many Japanese adults are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, few have gotten a booster shot, which has been a vital protection from the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The Health Ministry on Friday approved Pfizer vaccinations for children aged 5-11, who are increasingly vulnerable to infection.

Throughout the pandemic, Japan has resisted the use of lockdowns to limit the spread of the virus and has focused on requiring eateries to close early and not serve alcohol, and on urging the public to wear masks and practice social distancing, as the government seeks to minimize damage to the economy.

Under the latest measure, most eateries are asked to close by 8 or 9 p.m., while large events can allow full capacity if they have anti-virus plans. In Tokyo, certified eateries that stop serving alcohol can stay open until 9 p.m. while those serving alcohol must close an hour earlier.

Restaurants that close at 9 p.m. and don't serve alcohol receive 30,000 yen ($263) per day in government compensation, while those that close at 8 p.m. get 25,000 yen ($220) per day.