STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden is recommending a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose to people over age 80 and those living in nursing homes or getting home care, authorities said Monday, adding it must be administered no earlier than four months after the previous shot.

The Scandinavian country's chief epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, said in a statement from the Swedish Public Health Agency that a fourth dose ”strengthens the protection” against severe disease.

For most of the pandemic, Sweden has stood out among European nations for its comparatively hands-off response. It never went into lockdown or closed businesses, largely relying instead on individual responsibility to control infections. While coronavirus deaths were high compared with other Nordic countries, they were lower than many other places in Europe that did implement lockdowns.

Earlier this month in neighboring Denmark, health authorities there said that they were considering “winding down” the country’s coronavirus vaccination program in the spring and saw no reason to administer a booster dose to children or a fourth shot to anymore residents at risk of severe COVID-19.

The reasoning for the Danish Health Authority was that the third infection wave in Denmark was waning because of the population's significant rates of natural immunity and vaccination. In January, the Danish government said it offered a fourth vaccine dose to older adults and other vulnerable citizens because they were concerned about the rapid spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. But omicron is milder compared to previous variants and there hasn't been a strain on health care systems.

Last week, Sweden halted wide-scale testing for COVID-19 even among people showing symptoms of an infection.

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BRUSSELS (AP) — Plans for a major trucker virus protest near the European Union headquarters in Brussels fizzled Monday, with police filtering traffic during the morning rush hour to leave only a few scattered demonstrators on foot instead.

Police narrowed some highways and imposed go-slow traffic early Monday in and around the Belgian capital to keep control of what it feared could turn into a choking protest like those by horn-honking truckers in Canada. Early indications didn't show a groundswell of support for the protest but police took extensive precautions.

“We don’t actually think that Brussels has been paralyzed. Anyone who wanted to enter Brussels with good intentions was able to do so — with some delay, of course," said federal police spokeswoman An Berger.

Instead a few hundred people protesting virus restrictions gathered in a square in the Belgian capital.

Many trucks had been expected from France, where Paris police fired tear gas Saturday against a handful of demonstrators on the Champs-Elysees Avenue who defied a police order by taking part in a vehicle protest. But a threatened blockade of Paris failed to materialize over the weekend, despite days of online organizing efforts.

In the Netherlands, dozens of trucks and other vehicles arrived Saturday in The Hague for a similar virus-related protest, blocking an entrance to the historic Dutch parliamentary complex.

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea reported its highest number of COVID-19 deaths in a month Tuesday as U.S. health authorities advised Americans to avoid traveling to the country grappling with a fast-developing omicron surge.

The 61 deaths reported by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Tuesday was the highest daily tally since the 74 reported on Jan. 19, when the country was emerging from an outbreak driven by the delta variant.

While omicron so far seems less likely to cause serious illness or death, the greater scale of the outbreak is fueling concerns that hospitalizations and fatalities could spike in coming weeks.

The 57,177 new cases reported by the KDCA was another one-day record and more than a 12-fold increase from the levels seen in mid-January, when omicron became the dominant strain.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its travel notice for South Korea to level 4, the highest risk, advising Americans to avoid travel to the country or to make sure they are fully vaccinated if traveling is necessary.

Park Hyang, a senior South Korean Health Ministry official, said the country’s hospital resources remain stable, with less than 27% of intensive care units designated for COVID-19 currently being occupied.

Officials have expressed cautious hope the country’s high vaccination rate – with nearly 58% of a population of more than 51 million having received booster shots – would prevent hospital systems from buckling. They plan to start offering fourth vaccination shots to people at nursing homes and other long-term care settings later this month.

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HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong's leader on Tuesday said a surge of coronavirus cases is overwhelming the city’s emergency resources, but defended strict measures that have been imposed.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the Chinese central government was extending help to the city, which remains a nominally autonomous enclave.

Despite its varying success, Hong Kong has stuck with China’s zero-tolerance strategy requiring lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing for COVID-19.

"So far, our measures to contain the spread of the disease remain legitimate and valid,” Lam told reporters.

“The problem we are facing is given the magnitude, the pace of and the severity of this fifth wave,” Lam said. “It has outgrown our capacity.”

The city reported a record 2,071 new cases on Monday, with that number expected to double on Tuesday with more than 4,500 preliminary positives identified.

Lam added that authorities will designate as quarantine stations new public housing units that have yet to be occupied, along with around 10,000 hotel rooms. Hong Kong requires confirmed coronavirus cases to isolate.

The city's restrictions extend to limiting in-person gatherings to no more than two households, allowing only vaccinated people in shopping malls and supermarkets, and closing places of worship, hair salons and other businesses.

Authorities have also imposed lockdowns on residential buildings wherever clusters of infections are identified, and have banned public dining after 6 p.m. Schools have extended a suspension of in-class teaching until March 6.