Monday Morning News & Notes
The E.U, U.K, and the United States are mobilizing to help devastated India
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The E.U. is coming to help India as it is engulfed in a horrific COVID infection wave claiming thousands of lives each day. European Union Emergency Response Coordinator Janez Lenarčič says desperately needed oxygen and other medical supplies are being put together and will be dispatched to India as fast as humanely possible.
In the United States the Biden administration announced Sunday it is sending India raw materials required for vaccine production, test kits, ventilators, and personal and protective equipment. Jake Sullivan, the White House National Security Advisor, says they are “urgently” pursuing options to get India desperately needed supplies of oxygen and oxygen regeneration equipment. As well an expert group of public health advisors from the American Centre for Disease Control are also being dispatched to India.
The United Kingdom is also sending help and it will ship 500 oxygen tanks and 140 ventilators to India as well.
In India, New Dheli has extended its week long COVID lockdown as infections soar and the number of dead overwhelm crematoriums.
Yesterday India recorded another 354,531 new infections and 2,806 more coronavirus deaths. Both of those numbers are again record highs. Hospitals in the country are beyond capacity and are turning COVID patients away as they are running out of medical supplies and oxygen.
It is important to note news reports on the ground and monitoring agencies say both infection and fatality numbers are likely under reported and deaths may in fact be discounted by as much as half.
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There may be a second Danish fatality due to serious but rare side effects from the AstraZeneca vaccine. Danish newspaper B.T. is reporting that a 57 year old man died in March from a blood clot in his brain. He had received a first dose of AstraZeneca “well over a week prior.” The paper reports that Region Hovedstaden (Metro Copenhagen Health Authority) has reported the death to the Danish Medicines Agency as due to a possible side effect. The man also had low platelets fitting the vaccine side effect profile. The only other confirmed death linked to an Astra Zeneca vaccine in Denmark was a 60 year old woman who died from a series of blood clots and low platelets.
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Denmark added 1,159 COVID infections and three more coronavirus deaths over the weekend. There were 547 infections and 2 deaths reported Saturday and another 612 infections and one more death reported Sunday.
The good news is that there are now just two kommunes experiencing a COVID ‘red’ zone level of infection activity with incidence rates of over 200 per 100,000 people. They are Ishøj and Høje-Taastrup.
More concerning is that the number of infections in Denmark since February is slowly pushing upward, per the chart below. Authorities in Denmark have warned another wave could arrive in May with the U.K. variant dominant and society reopening.
On the vaccination campaign to date, 1,207,341 1st vaccination doses (20.7% of the population) have been administered while 573,551 people (9.8%) are now fully vaccinated.
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It was an open and shut case in a district of Herning Kommune over the weekend. On Saturday infection rates in the districts of Hedeager and Fredens declined enough to be able to reopen. Both districts were ordered into a lockdown a week ago after exceeding infection benchmarks triggering the legislated automatic shutdown.
However the celebration in Fredens lasted just 24 hours as the Kommune announced on Sunday its infection numbers had again exceeded the automatic shut down thresholds. The district must go back into lockdown again as of today.
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The Sjælland Health Region says COVID rapid testing sites have been set up on the small islands of Sejerø, Femø, Omø, Agersø, Orø, and Fejø. It credits people on the islands and Falck for working together to make it happen. Residents on the island helped find locations for the testing facilities and volunteers were trained by Falck to administer tests.
Prior to this, islanders had to go to the mainland to get tested. The Island Contact Committee in Lolland Municipality says with warmer weather, tourists and the summer house crowds will begin to arrive. They wanted the ability for people to go to restaurants and enjoy the islands without having to jump to the mainland for a COVID test to be able to dine in at a restaurant.
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On the travel front, Danish insurance company TopDanmark has changed its policies to cover expenses and medical treatment for customers traveling abroad. The company says this applies whether you are vaccinated or not.
TopDanmark Director Carsten Elmose:
"COVID has now affected our lives for almost a year and a half, and we are in a situation where the disease and the risk of infection are becoming conditions we must learn to live with. That is why we have also chosen to change our practice so that our customers do not risk getting in trouble if they become ill during the holidays.”
COVID infections will also be included in cancellation insurance in the event someone gets infected just before their holidays and can’t fly.
A positive PCR test is required in order to claim coverage for those insured.
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Norway is ramping up its testing regime. It sees mass testing as an avenue to help reopen the country while vaccinations are still being administered. According to Norwegian Health Minister Bent Høie, children, adolescents, students, and employees will get priority for testing in areas with high infection rates as part of a phase one increase in mass testing. Children won’t be tested without their parents consent.
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Over the weekend, Germany designated levied travel restrictions on India, Tunisia, Cape Verde, Qatar, and Oman due to high infection rates. Travelers from those countries can still come to Germany, but they face mandatory testing and quarantine upon arrival.
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The German government enacted its ‘emergency brake’ law over the weekend. It comes into force if the infection rates, measured as an incidence rate per 100,000 people, in any given district reaches 100 for three days in a row. Large chunks of the country already exceed that limit including the cities of Berlin, Frankfurt, and Munich. When triggered, the restrictions include closing cultural spaces, limiting social contacts, closing restaurants except for take-away, imposing a nightly curfew, and if the incidence rate is high enough, closing schools and moving students to distance learning.
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Yesterday Germany recorded 15,165 new infections and another 77 deaths. Numbers that dipped as they usually do on Sundays but it continues to see mid week infection surges in increasing numbers.
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It was not a good weekend in Ontario per Health Minister Christine Elliott who tweeted yesterday, “Ontario is reporting 3,947 cases of COVID19 and nearly 46,700 tests completed. Locally, there are 1,136 new cases in Toronto, 901 in Peel, 406 in York Region, 209 in Ottawa and 207 in Durham.” This follows 4,094 infections that were reported on Saturday. There were 48 virus deaths over the weekend.
Ontario’s Chief Coroner says the pandemic situation in the province has reached an awful new development with at least 25 people getting infected and dying in their homes before being able to get medical care.
At least 24 patients have been transferred out of hospitals, most in Toronto, to other facilities in the province as the health system in the hardest hit areas of Ontario strain under the influx of patients.
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Nova Scotia reported 63 infections yesterday, the highest daily infection numbers seen in the pandemic so far. The province is tightening coronavirus restrictions, and is advising people not to travel outside their own communities. Fines have also been cranked up for people violating the rules.
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The pandemic has now reached as far as the world’s tallest mountain. Norwegian climber Erlend Ness tested positive for COVID and had to be evacuated from the Mount Everest base camp.
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The U.S. Centre for Disease Control now says obsessively cleaning surfaces does little or nothing to combat the coronavirus. According to a recently released paper from the agency, the risk of contracting the virus through “contact with a contaminated surface has a less than 1 in 10,000 chance of causing an infection.” That said, it still advises cleaning surface spaces if an infected person has been in the space during the past 24 hours. Essentially, the paper concludes most people get COVID by breathing contaminated air as opposed to touching a contaminated surface.