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Post by Admin on Nov 5, 2021 21:16:54 GMT
The World Health Organization warned Thursday about rising COVID-19 cases and deaths in Europe. In the past week alone, the Europe region saw 1.8 million new COVID-19 cases and 24,000 deaths, or 59 percent of global cases and nearly half the world's coronavirus deaths. "If we stay on this trajectory, we could see another half a million COVID-19 deaths in Europe and Central Asia by the first of February next year," warned WHO Europe chief Dr. Hans Kluge.
"We are at another critical point of pandemic resurgence," Kluge said. "Europe is back at the epicenter of the pandemic — where we were one year ago." Kluge and other public health officials attributed the looming fourth coronavirus wave to low vaccination rates in some areas, the Delta variant's contagiousness, and a relaxation of public mitigation efforts like masking. Kluge said if 95 percent of Europeans just wore masks in public, 188,000 lives could be saved in the next three months.
Eight of the 53 countries in the WHO's European region have vaccinated more than 70 percent of their population, but two have immunized less than 10 percent. The worst outbreaks are in Russia, Ukraine, and elsewhere in low-vaccination Central and Eastern Europe. Germany, with 67 percent of its population fully vaccinated, recorded a pandemic-high 33,949 new COVID cases on Wednesday.
Spain, with about 80 percent of its population fully vaccinated, is one of the few European countries not seeing a rise in infections. But Italy saw a 16.6 percent increase in cases over the past week, despite 72 percent of its population fully immunized, a national health pass, and stringent new rules requiring workers to be vaccinated or test negative for COVID-19. One outbreak, in the northeastern city of Trieste, is directly tied to a large anti-vaccination protest there two weeks ago, The New York Times reports.
"The situation in Trieste is particularly worrisome," said Dr. Fabio Barbone, the epidemiologist working to contain the outbreak in Trieste's region, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Regional president Massimiliano Fedriga had some more direct words for the anti-vaxxers flocking to Trieste: "It is the moment to say with clarity: Enough idiocy."
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2021 4:20:16 GMT
Scientists on the Zoe Covid study believe UK cases of coronavirus may have peaked for the year, a suggestion that prompted some experts to warn that it was too soon to know how the epidemic would play out in the weeks ahead. The study, which estimates the number of Covid cases in the community from the information that users log on an app, found a clear decline in cases in under-18s since mid-October, with infection rates levelling off in most other age groups though still climbing in 55- to 75-year-olds. The trends are based on 42,359 swab tests taken between 16 and 30 October and point to 88,592 daily symptomatic cases, a decrease of 4.7% on the previous week’s Zoe data. The numbers equate to one in 53 people in the UK currently with symptomatic Covid infections. “Young people have been driving the big numbers of cases, and the big numbers look from our data to have finished,” said Prof Tim Spector, the lead scientist on the Zoe study, at King’s College London. “There are multiple reasons behind it, but a lot is driven by the pattern we are seeing with kids, plus the history of the past waves.” It comes as figures on Thursday showed that 37,269 people across the UK tested positive for Covid in the previous 24 hours, a small drop on the 41,299 seen the day before. However, the number of deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test recorded over the same period – 214 – was almost the same as the 217 reported the previous day. In the autumn term Covid infections have soared in secondary school children, a cohort largely unprotected because of the slow rollout of vaccines to the age group. The Office for National Statistics estimates that more than 9% of children in years seven to 11 were infected in the week ending 22 October. But the sustained high rates of infection in schools have driven up levels of immunity to the virus and at some point, with help from vaccinations, cases are expected to fall back down. Outbreak modellers expect this to happen unevenly across the country, with hard-hit areas such as London among the first to see cases drop in the age group. What is unclear is when infection rates at schools will peak. Scientists on the React study, at Imperial College, have reported similar evidence for a downturn in cases at the end of October, but warned that the decline could be temporary and driven by children being out of school for half-term. Kevin McConway, an emeritus professor of applied statistics at the Open University, said cases had fallen for only a short time and what would happen next was highly uncertain. “While I very much hope personally that the decline continues, I really don’t think we can be anywhere near certain that it will,” he said. He added that while the Zoe study provided some plausible reasons for cases to keep falling, a lot seemed to be “expressions of hope more than definite predictions”. McConway said: “We can hope that the peak for 2021 has been reached, but we still need to plan accordingly for what should be done if it hasn’t been reached.” Mark Woolhouse, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at Edinburgh University, said a worrying trend was the rise in cases in older and much more vulnerable people. “Even though the vaccines give very good protection against severe disease they do not give complete protection, and these age groups continue to dominate hospital cases. I would not want to conclude that the UK Covid-19 pandemic is in decline until it declines in older and more vulnerable age groups. That has not happened yet.”
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2021 22:48:22 GMT
Russia has hit a daily record for coronavirus infections after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the whole country to participate in a stay-at-home week to try to slow the spread of the virus.
The country recorded 41,335 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, according to the country’s coronavirus task force, The Associated Press reported.
The number beat the previous week's record high of 40,993.
The latest stay-at-home week, which started Oct. 30, sent most Russians home, with only essential employees allowed to work.
However, some Russians used the time to take vacations within their country or to other countries.
Officials are saying the continuing wave of infection that began weeks ago is due to the country's low vaccination rate, according to the AP.
Overnight Health Care — COVID-19 pills are coming Buttigieg's newborn back at home after hospital stay Less than 40 percent of the country is vaccinated despite pleas from Putin and others to get the vaccine.
“There are only two ways to get over this period — to get sick or to receive a vaccine,” Putin said last month. “It's better to get the vaccine, why wait for the illness and it's grave consequences? Please be responsible and take the necessary measures to protect yourself, your health and your close ones.”
Certain regions in Russia have extended the stay-at-home week due to the increase in cases.
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Post by Admin on Nov 15, 2021 2:10:23 GMT
The Austrian government has ordered a nationwide lockdown for unvaccinated people starting at midnight Sunday to combat rising coronavirus infections and deaths. The move prohibits unvaccinated people 12 and older from leaving their homes except for basic activities such as working, grocery shopping, going for a walk — or getting vaccinated. Authorities are concerned about rising infections and deaths and that soon hospital staff will no longer be able to handle the growing influx of COVID-19 patients. “It’s our job as the government of Austria to protect the people,” Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg told reporters in Vienna on Sunday. “Therefore we decided that starting Monday … there will be a lockdown for the unvaccinated.” The lockdown affects about 2 million people in the Alpine country of 8.9 million, the APA news agency reported. It doesn’t apply to children under 12 because they cannot yet officially get vaccinated. The lockdown will initially last for 10 days and police will go on patrol to check people outside to make sure they are vaccinated, Schallenberg said, adding that additional forces will be assigned to the patrols. Unvaccinated people can be fined up to 1,450 euros ($1,660) if they violate the lockdown.
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Post by Admin on Nov 19, 2021 21:47:18 GMT
Days after Austria imposed a lockdown on the unvaccinated, it has announced a full national Covid-19 lockdown starting on Monday. Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said it would last a maximum of 20 days and there would be a legal requirement to get vaccinated from 1 February 2022. He was responding to record case numbers and one of the lowest vaccination levels in Western Europe. Many other European countries are imposing restrictions as cases rise. "We don't want a fifth wave," said Mr Schallenberg after meeting the governors of Austria's nine provinces at a resort in the west of the country. For a long time, there had been a consensus over avoiding mandatory vaccinations, the chancellor said. However, too many people had been incited not to get the jab, because of "too many political forces, flimsy vaccination opponents and fake news", he added. The measures are yet to be finalised. 1px transparent line Latest figures show the incidence rate has risen to 1,049.9 cases per 100,000 people in the past week, and Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein said imposing a lockdown was a "last resort". A record 15,809 cases were reported in the past 24 hours, in a population of under nine million. Under the measures, Austrians will be asked to work from home, non-essential shops will close, and schools will remain open for children who require face-to-face learning. They will continue until 12 December, but will be reassessed after 10 days. Neighbouring Germany has seen several days of record infections this week, and Health Minister Jens Spahn has spoken of "a national emergency that requires a combined national effort". German leaders have already agreed to introduce restrictions for unvaccinated people in areas with high hospital admissions. And parliament has backed requirements for people to show Covid passes on buses and trains, and in workplaces. But now in Bavaria, which borders Austria, state premier Markus Söder has gone further, declaring a "de facto lockdown for the unvaccinated". Bars and clubs will close for three weeks and all Christmas markets have been cancelled. Where weekly incidence rates top 1,000 per 100,000 people - restaurants, hotels, sport and culture will also close. Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger has already announced that a "lockdown for the unvaccinated" will start on Monday, and the Czech government is also limiting access to a variety of services. The Netherlands introduced a partial lockdown last weekend. In the UK - where there is currently no lockdown, although masks have to be worn in some parts of the country - the incidence rate per 100,000 is 395.4 cases, officials figures show.
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