Monday Morning News & Notes
Denmark to pass another vaccination milestone today
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Today marks the end of the tragic and at times bizarre story around Denmark’s massive cull of farmed mink. The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration says today the last of the 13,000 tonnes of slaughtered farmed mink will be dug back up in Kølvrå, loaded on a truck, and taken to be incinerated.
Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Rasmus Prehn:
“I am really happy that the task of removing the buried mink in Kølvrå and Nørre Felding has now been solved. The citizens in the affected areas have had to go through a lot, and I am relieved that the schedule held and that the odor nuisance despite the summer heat was less than feared”
Danish Veterinary and Food Administration's head of operations, Kasper Klintø, says it isn’t just about removing the remaining mink carcasses but also about restoring the impacted areas.
“The goal is for the areas to appear as they were before the minks were buried, both in Kølvrå and Nr. Felding. That task will take some time because the areas must have the opportunity to grow back.”
In all, it took 25 days to dig up and remove the millions of mink carcasses. Environmental experts have examined the soil in the area and analyzed the ground water and are assessing both for any further need for environmental mitigation efforts.
Last year, the Danish government ordered the culling of just over 15-million farmed mink due to concerns about the cluster-5 mink COVID variant. The carcasses were then buried, without consultation and in one location near a popular swimming lake. Nearby residents were upset and issues were raised about potential environmental impacts. The uproar exacerbated when the mink carcasses, which were buried to shallow, filled up with gases while decomposing and began popping out of the ground.
The order from the government to cull the mink was later deemed to have been illegal and a commission of inquiry was struck to investigate the whole mess. As well the Danish government had to pay out billions of kroner of compensation to mink farmers whose livelihood, and the Danish mink fur industry as a whole, was effectively destroyed.
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The latest travel COVID risk changes came into force on Saturday afternoon, as reported in Friday’s Informeret. Here is the updated map of how Danish Foreign Affairs assesses countries in the EU and Schengen Zone.
The biggest change in the EU was Slovakia jumping from green to orange. This was due to it placing strict entry restrictions on travelers from Denmark.
As for the COVID situation in Europe, a number of countries, details below are seeing rapidly worsening outbreak situations as the Delta variant spreads rapidly. I expect to see more changes this Friday for countries like Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and possibly Greece.
Danish Foreign Affairs is also taking a hard look at border restrictions Malta will put in place this week. As of Wednesday, Malta will only allow fully vaccinated travelers into the country. The Udenrigsministeriets says the Danish Embassy in Rome is “investigating the matter further” and once it assesses the rule change further, the travel guide to Malta could be changed.
Outside the EU, most of South America, almost all of Southern Africa, India, and Russia are currently rated as COVID-high-risk red.
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On the vaccination front, Denmark will surpass another milestone today, with second doses administered surging past the 40% of the total population mark. So, four out of every ten people in Denmark will be fully vaccinated as of today.
As of Sunday’s update, 3,661,219 1st doses (62.6% of the population) have been administered while 2,327,478 people (39.8%) have had both vaccine doses.
There were 52,457 total inoculations done on Saturday.
Denmark added another 1,129 COVID infections and one more coronavirus death over the weekend. There were 520 infections reported on Saturday and another 609 on Sunday.
This is another increase from the weekend prior and the most new infections of any weekend since the first Saturday and Sunday in June.
COVID hospitalizations (29) inched upward (+1) while the number of infected people in an ICU (9) and of those on a ventilator (7) are both unchanged.
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Ishøj Kommune, which for months stubbornly remained one of the hardest-hit municipalities in Denmark, has recorded just nine new infections in the last seven days. The COVID incidence rate is so low that TV2 is reporting that wastewater testing surveillance has now been put on hold in the kommune. Wastewater testing can often detect COVID outbreak down to the specific variant much earlier than when it shows up in testing people. Officials in Ishøj tell TV2 that infection rates are so low there it doesn’t make sense to keep up the wastewater monitoring effort. However, they add if rates begin to increase again, wastewater monitoring can quickly resume.
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Finland has made some changes to COVID entry restrictions at its borders. Beginning today, people who have proof of being fully vaccinated or of a recent infection within the last six months can enter the country with no further obligations.
Travelers who have had one vaccine dose at least 14 days before arriving in Finland can enter but must isolate pending a negative COVID test taken three to five days after arriving.
Anyone not fully vaccinated or considered immune due to a recent infection must provide proof of a “negative coronavirus test prior to entry.” They too must isolate until a negative test result three to five days after entry.
The testing requirement applies to everyone 16 years old and older.
Anyone traveling to Finland who is not fully vaccinated, has not had a previous infection, and does not have the required negative COVID test must be tested on arrival, go into isolation, and wait for a second negative result in a test taken three to five days after arriving.
Finland’s Communicable Diseases Act criminalises it if a person does not take the required coronavirus tests.
The Finnish government has ruled some countries and regions considered low-risk are exempted from having to present certification or get tested. They are Australia, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, China, Macao, Malta, Poland, San Marino, Singapore, New Zealand, and the Vatican, as well as the municipalities of Omasvuono, Kaivuono, Raisin, Koutokeino, Kaarasjoki, Teno, Uuniemi, and South Varangi in Norway.
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The European Union Commission said over the weekend the EU has passed a significant vaccination milestone.
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The BBC is reporting that a 90-year-old woman who died in Belgium in March was infected with both the Alpha and Beta COVID variants. This is the first documented case where someone has had two different variant infections at the same time. According to doctors treating the senior, they believe she was infected by two different people, each with a different variant.
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The Delta variant has triggered an absolute explosion of infections in the Netherlands, where cases went from around 500 a day just two weeks ago to over 10,000 on Friday.
Greece and Spain are also their infection curves rocket upward, while numbers are growing in Portugal.
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In the UK, it is seeing over 30,000 new infections a day even through the weekend and unless the trend shifts those numbers will increase again this week.
New infections, fatalities, and hospitalizations all continue to increase over the last seven days in one of the world’s most vaccinated countries.
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As the Delta variant causes COVID infections to flare up again in Israel, the world’s most vaccinated country, it has decided to accelerate a plan to offer a third booster dose. The third dose of Pfizer/BioNTech shots will go to high-risk groups, especially those with compromised immune systems. A lot of severe coronavirus infections in this wave are among people who have been vaccinated but are considered high risk, are over 60 years of age, and have health problems.
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In South Africa, it is now recording record high infection numbers. While COVID cases hit historic highs in Libya, which has a near-vertical infection curve, and Tunisia, while coronavirus numbers head upward in Morocco.
It isn’t just Africa, as the pandemic is exploding again in countries like Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. In all cases, daily infection numbers are hitting record highs.
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The Canada Border Services Agency says the rate of incoming travelers has increased by about 25% since restrictions were eased to allow fully vaccinated citizens, permanent residents, and some family members in.
However, the agency says they have had to turn away about half of the people who are now arriving at the border. The agency says most of the people they turned away weren’t fully vaccinated, hadn’t waited the required 14 days after their second shot, or had two doses of a vaccine not authorized for use in Canada.
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Yesterday, Saskatchewan removed all remaining coronavirus restrictions, including mask mandates and limits on public gatherings.
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Ontario added another 345 infections over the weekend, with 166 cases reported on Saturday and another 179 on Sunday. The province will enter phase three of its reopening this Friday.