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Denmark is reporting 497 new infections and four more coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours.
138,184 corona tests were done yesterday for a positivity percentage of 0.36%.
COVID hospitalizations (243) are up (+12) ICU numbers (44) also inched up (+3) while ventilator numbers (21) are unchanged.
In the last seven days new infections continued to plummet for those 70 years old and older as the impacts of vaccinating the oldest and most vulnerable begin to show themselves.
According to Denmark’s Public Health Board over 90% all nursing home residents in the country have received a first vaccination dose. For people aged 85-89, it is 65%, and for people aged 90 or older, 76% have received their first vaccination.
However there are still some wrinkles that need ironing out in the vaccination effort according to Sundhedsstyrelsens Director Søren Brostrøm.
“Even though it is progressing well to get the very oldest and most vulnerable groups vaccinated, we still see differences across the country.”
He says there are still too many problems with the online system to get a vaccination appointment and improvements continue to address those issues. Brostrøm says they are also increasing staffing on the vaccination hotline for those encountering problems online.
On the vaccination front to date 429,887 1st dose (7.4% of population) and 184,435 2nd vaccination doses (3.2% of pop) have been administered.
The National Health Board is strongly encouraging everyone in Kolding, Vollsmose, Ishøj and Copenhagen’s Northwest to get tested. All those areas are seeing concerning infection numbers. In order to increase testing capacity in those areas temporary test centers have been set up where people can be tested without an appointment.
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The Sjælland Health Region has formed a partnership with municipalities in the region to help its most elderly and vulnerable citizens get vaccinated. They have identified 6,800 people in this group and will proactively contact them and set up a vaccination appointment for them.
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Denmark’s Health Minister Magnus Heunicke met virtually with his E.U. counterparts today. He took to social media today to E.U. member countries need to work together to track the spread of COVID variants.
“Viruses do not know national borders, we are dependent on each other.”
Heunicke says an offer has been made for countries with the laboratory capacity to screen for variants to receive samples from other member nations who do not.
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Sweden won’t report its latest corona numbers until tomorrow but things are not looking good.
According to the Göteborg-Posten over the last two days the number of COVID patients in intensive care has “increased sharply.” Across the country there are currently 240 infection cases in an ICU up from 197 just ten days ago. It is not just ICUs as general corona related hospitalizations are on the rise as well.
Director of Health and Medical Care Johan Kaarme as quoted in the article.
“We clearly see that we are in a third pandemic wave and the British variant of coronavirus is spreading at an ever-increasing rate.”
Some regions, like Gävleborg, are already seeing ICU capacity shrink to the point they have activated emergency measures and are sending some patients to hospitals in other regions to ease pressure.
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Today Finland declared a COVID state of emergency ahead of a coronavirus lockdown to begin March 8th. The State of Emergency gives the government broad powers to close businesses and schools as well limiting movement and bring in other measures to curb the virus spread.
In the last 24 hours Finland has registered 392 infections and eight more corona deaths.
Since Friday it has added 1,657 infections (645 on Saturday, 620 on Sunday, and today).
COVID hospitalizations (200) are up (+28) ICU numbers (39) rose slightly (+1).
On the vaccination front to date 452,469 total vaccinations have been administered. Of those 371,314 are 1st doses (6.7% of population) and 81,155 are 2nd vaccination doses (1.5% of population) have been done.
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Since Friday Norway has added 1,065 infections and one corona death.
COVID hospitalizations (102) are up (+7) those on a ventilator (22) also rose (+3).
To date 329,034 1st doses (6.13% of population) and 161,891 2nd vaccine doses (3.02% of population) have been administered
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In the U.K. there were 6,035 new infections and 144 virus deaths yesterday.
Today Public Health England confirmed “up to” six cases of the Brazilian P1 variant have been confirmed in the country. Most of the cases are linked to travel to Brazil however one infection case has no links to travel. Another infection case is proving hard to find apparently and officials are working to track them down. Contact tracing for passengers on all the impacted flights is also underway.
The rate of positive tests, fatalities, and hospitalizations continue to drop.
1st dose vaccinations now exceed 20-million while 796,132 people are fully vaccinated.
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The European Union Commission is proposing a ‘Digital Green Pass’ or essentially a vaccine passport. E.U. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says if passed it would provide proof of vaccination, results of corona tests for those who aren’t yet vaccinated, and “information on COVID19 recovery.” She says the digital vaccine passport would “respect data protection, security, and privacy.”
The COVID situation in the Czech Republic remains dire. It reported 4,557 new infections and 73 virus deaths yesterday. Its overall numbers are still unsustainably high. Today strict restrictions on movement and mask wearing come into force.
Across Europe there are some concerning signs as infections continue to creep up in France.
Italy is also seeing coronavirus infections trend back up as is Poland.
In Hungary its COVID infections curve is increasing sharply.
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In Canada yesterday it logged 2,307 new infections and 34 corona deaths yesterday.
Its infection decline has now stalled entirely. It remains to be seen where it goes now.
Today provinces who don’t report on weekends will table catch up numbers.
To date 1,384,297 1st vaccination doses have been administered (3.64% of pop) while 521,368 Canadians are now fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says there are 1,010 confirmed variant infections across the country.
964 cases of the U.K. variant
44 of the South African variant
2 of the Brazilian P1 variant
As for today in Ontario per Health Minister Christine Elliott on Twitter “Ontario is reporting 1,023 cases of COVID19 and over 35,000 tests completed. Locally, there are 280 new cases in Toronto, 182 in Peel and 72 in Ottawa. As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 704,695 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.” There were also six more corona deaths.
Today Quebec reported 613 new infections and six virus deaths. COVID hospitalizations stand at 612 with 122 people in an ICU.
In Atlantic Canada Prince Edward Island is going into a lockdown with five new infection yesterday. Newfoundland and Labrador had seven infections, Nova Scotia three, and no new infections were reported in New Brunswick.
Yesterday Manitoba registered 50 new infections and two more deaths.
There were 141 new infections in Saskatchewan on Sunday.
Alberta reported 301 new infections and three deaths.
B.C. does not report on weekends and it will table three days worth of numbers later today.