Monday Morning News & Notes
Denmark tackles the energy crisis. New concerning variant arrives in DK.
(Editor’s note: Informeret will take a break for the first three weeks of October due to a trip home to Canada to see friends and family.)
⚡️Energy Crisis⚡️
🇩🇰
The Danish government has made its plans to tackle the energy crisis official. Families will get some financial help and the electricity tax will be reduced to try and claw down soaring prices.
Finance Minister Nicolai Wammen:
“With the agreement, all Danish households and businesses get a helping hand. The agreement does not solve all problems, but could provide more security over the winter.”
The deal:
The electricity tax is lowered from 69.7 øre per kilowatt-hour to 0.8 øre per kilowatt-hour until at least June 2023.
Home heating costs will be frozen for homeowners and businesses, with the excess amount deferred to be paid back over five years.
Families receiving a children’s subsidy will see it increase by 660 Danish kroner (about $116 Cdn) per child.
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Andel Energi has joined Norlys in shutting down its phone system as it was swamped with calls by anxious customers.
“We receive an extraordinary number of calls during this time and have reached maximum capacity. We have closed incoming calls, but are busy answering your questions.”
The company says it was seeing around 2,000 calls an hour with most involving customers looking for details on how the government’s energy scheme will work.
“We do not know the details of the scheme yet. And therefore it is not possible for our customer service to answer some questions about the scheme until right up until it comes into force.”
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The energy crisis is impacting efforts in one Danish municipality to become more environmentally friendly. Last year, Vordingborg Kommune switched its bus fleet to a green biodiesel fuel but with soaring energy costs straining the budget, it has decided to ditch the biodiesel and return buses to regular diesel. The switch back will save the kommune in the range of two-million kroner.
Climate and Technology Committee Chair Anders J. Andersen spoke to TV2:
“It is a real shame that we are forced to do it. But it makes up such a large proportion of the total savings that we find it difficult to preserve the green diesel and save on some routes. We will have to weigh it against each other, and in a relatively easy way we can save two million.”
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It is going to be a dark winter in Denmark as the lights continue to go out across the country as a brutal energy crisis continues to sink its teeth in. On top of various traditional Christmas lights and other seasonal displays being shelved this year, in Aarhus, the major tourist attraction, the ‘Rainbow Skywalk’ at the Aros Art Museum will no longer be lit up at night. The museum says it is also hunting for other energy-saving measures. Joining the parade to turn off the lights at night to save energy costs are also the Storebæltsbroen, the Big Belt bridge connecting Fyn and Sjælland, and the Øresundsbroen, the bridge connecting Denmark with Sweden, will also both go dark at night.
🇩🇪
Germany’s search for alternate sources of natural gas has found some success. As of the end of December, Germany will begin to redo Eve gas from the United Arab Emirates. In addition, Germany has also agreed to buy 250,000 tonnes of diesel fuel per month from the UAE beginning in 2023. This doesn’t solve Germany’s energy crisis woes, but it will provide some help.
🦠Pandemic🦠
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Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke confirmed on Saturday that a new concerning COVID variant has arrived in Denmark. Heunicke says two cases of the BJ.1 variant have been identified in the country.
“It is entirely to be expected that BJ.1 will appear in Denmark, and the Statens Serum Institute are not worried at the moment, but are following the development in variants closely.”
Heunicke says the BJ.1 variant is causing concern because it has more mutations in its spike protein than the currently dominant BA.5 Omicron sub-variant.
“But the significance of the mutations is not known with certainty.”
The variant was first detected in India in July but has spread to a number of countries since, including Austria and now Denmark.
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Over the last seven days, coronavirus infection activity in Denmark was concentrated among those 20 to 79 years old. Case numbers were far and away the highest among people 40 to 64 years old.
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Seniors remain by far the highest risk for severe infections resulting in hospitalization in Denmark. COVID admission numbers among those 65 years old and older towered above all other age groups. To put it in a different context, over 70% of all pandemic-related hospitalizations in the last seven days were senior citizens.
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To underline how in harms way seniors are in Denmark, and by extension elsewhere else, during COVID infection waves look at these mortality charts from the Statens Serum Institute. The lower blue line is the average death rate for any given age group. Now look at the charts for those 75 to 84 years old and those 85 years old and older.
University of Oxford Professor of Virology and Immunology Astrid Iverson:
“A vaccine booster in the spring and or this summer, as recommended by the ECDC, would probably have prevented excess mortality from becoming so great. We will have to learn from the mistakes made earlier this year so that ECDC and WHO are not ignored again.”
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University of Oxford Professor of Virology and Immunology, Astrid Iverson, also says Danish guidelines may be hindering, not helping, the fight against COVID. Iverson, who served on an expert panel advising the government during the pandemic, notes that currently the health guidelines recommend isolating for just four days after testing positive. She says health authorities don’t even recommend taking a self-test before ending a quarantine after four days. Iverson says this flies in the face of multiple studies that found compelling evidence that in about 66% of cases people were still contagious after five days and around 25% were still infectious after seven.
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Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke says the fall booster dose campaign had inoculated over half of all seniors in care as of Friday afternoon. Heunicke says 58.4% of seniors in nursing homes, or 23,647 people, have had a 4th vaccine dose.
“Thank you for all your efforts to everyone who is helping get our elderly and vulnerable vaccinated! We will continue the campaign.”
Seniors 85 years old and older and seniors in care have been the first to get another booster dose since the campaign began on September 15. On October 1, the booster dose effort will expand to everyone 50 years old and older and anyone 18 years old and older who is high-risk or in a vulnerable population and their close contacts.
🇪🇺
After weeks of falling COVID numbers in Europe, pandemic statistics seem to indicate that things may be, again, about to take a turn for the worse. According to the latest pandemic snapshot from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, overall infection numbers fell 3% last week. The agency says this shows that the trend of falling numbers at the Europe-wide level is slowing down.
Looking at the statistics at the individual country level and things begin to look a little more concerning. 13 countries reported increasing COVID numbers across all age groups last week, up from just five the week before.
Across the European Union and the greater European Economic Area COVID hospitalizations remained stable. But nine of the 27 countries that report hospital and intensive care admissions data saw rising numbers in one or both categories, up from five the week previous.
The good news is pandemic fatalities fell by another 30% last week to sit at 4.2% of the pandemic peak. This marks the 7th straight week coronavirus deaths have dropped. Two countries did report increasing fatalities. It’s also worth mentioning deaths are a lagging statistic, so if infection numbers do climb again across Europe due to another COVID wave then fatalities, to some degree depending on vaccination coverage, will likely follow.
“Overall, the epidemiological picture suggests that the increasing transmission observed in the last two weeks in some countries is becoming more widespread and also affecting the population aged 65 years and above. Similarly, it is causing some reported impact on hospital/ICU indicators.”
The ECDC does add the caveat that COVID indicators remain at “low levels” and the associated number of deaths has been “very limited.” It attributes the rising infection numbers to a hangover from a summer of vacationing and increased social interactions “with no indication that they are caused by changes in the distribution of circulating variants.”
On the vaccination front, 53.8% of the total European population have had two vaccine doses plus a booster shot. That number rises to 84% among seniors 60 years old and older. 6.7% of the total population had a 4th dose.
Based on data from the mere 14 countries in Europe testing and sequencing in high enough numbers to produce reliable data, the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants remain massively dominant in Europe, coming back in 99% of all sequenced positive tests. The agency doesn’t mention BJ.1 variant numbers, but we do know it has been confirmed in several European countries now.
The agency is forecasting that over the next two weeks eight out of 30 European countries will see rising infection numbers; four countries will see hospitalizations increase, while coronavirus deaths will remain largely static.
🇪🇸
Spain has extended COVID entry restrictions for travelers coming from outside the EU until November 15. This means travelers 12 years old and older from outside the EU, including the United Kingdom, are required to show proof of COVID vaccination, a negative COVID test, or a recovery certificate to enter Spain without any restrictions.
“Passengers (except for children under the age of 12 and those in international transit) arriving from countries that do not belong to the European Union or are NOT considered Schengen associated countries must show an EU Digital Covid Certificate or EU equivalent or the SpTH QR, in order to pass the health controls on arrival in Spain.”
A vaccine passport is valid if it shows at least two or a booster shot within the last 270 days. Recovery certificates are valid for six months from a positive test result.
However, travelers from outside of Europe arriving in Spain will no longer have to fill out a health control form prior to arrival.
🇳🇱
As of last week, the Netherlands has lifted all remaining COVID entry restrictions for all incoming travelers including those coming from outside the European Union.
“The Dutch government has decided to lift the EU entry ban for the Netherlands. Given the current epidemiological situation in the Netherlands, the government feels that for entry to the Netherlands, the EU entry ban is no longer proportional.”
🇪🇺🦠
Over two years into the global COVID pandemic and we are still trying to figure out the impacts the coronavirus can wreak on our bodies. An international research group has been struck to begin to fill in the blanks on how the virus affects the brain. The European Union is funding the research project. Besides huge numbers of people who suffer from long-COVID others have also reported a range of neurological and psychiatric symptoms due to a coronavirus infection.
🇺🇸 💉
Moderna has submitted an application for an emergency use authorization to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the use of its bivalent vaccine for children six to 17 years old. This latest bivalent vaccine targets the original coronavirus strain and the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants. Moderna says its application to use the newly formulated vaccine for infants under six years old is expected to be completed and filed later this year.
🇨🇦
Mixed news on the COVID hospitalization front in Canada. While the overall number of hospital beds occupied by infected patients dropped intensive care and ventilator numbers, both crept upward. The total number of hospital beds for coronavirus patients dropped by 57 in the week ending September 19 to reach 4,399. General admissions declined were responsible for the overall drop in numbers, with 4,183 beds in use, 72 fewer than there were the week before. Intensive care numbers nudged upward by 15 to 216 ICU beds in use, and of those there were 93 people on a ventilator, five more than the week previous.
The Public Health Agency of Canada reported another 17,325 infections and another 196 coronavirus deaths in its latest weekly update.
The seven day positivity percentage is 10.1%.
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As you can see from the map below of vaccination coverage from the Public Health Agency of Canada, 49.84% of the total population has had two vaccine doses plus one booster shot. Coverage for those with a 2nd booster dose is 13.32%. Currently, 82.08% of the population has at least two vaccine doses.
🇺🇦/ 🇷🇺 War
🇫🇮/ 🇷🇺
Russians fleeing conscription into the military will soon have one less option to leave the country. Finland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto is following through on a promise to all but close the border to Russian citizens.
“Russia’s mobilisation and increasing volume of tourists transiting via Finland are causing serious harm to Finland’s international position and relations. The government will issue a resolution to significantly restrict the entry and issuing of visas to Russian citizens. Entry into Finland can be refused under the Schengen Borders Code.”
Haavisto says there will be some exceptions for specific groups including, relatives, for study, or for work, and on humanitarian grounds. He says Finland is still working to get a border resolution at the European Union Level.
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Finnish border guards are reporting higher than usual numbers of crossings at the country’s land borders with Russia. Matti Pitkäniitty, head of the Border Guard's International Affairs Unit, has been updating the number of crossings regularly on Twitter.
As of Sunday night:
“Border traffic at Finnish Russian land border has remained on a higher level than in previous weeks. Lots of uncertainty about the Future. Finnish Border Guard is prepared for different developments, also difficult ones.”
Pitkäniitty is estimating between 15,000 to 20,000 Russians arrived at the land border over the weekend. Exact numbers are to come on Monday morning.
🇳🇴/ 🇷🇺
Norway is also tightening its border controls to Russians. Last week it suspended a visa agreement between the two countries. That will make it very difficult for Russian citizens to travel to Norway. The country’s Foreign Affairs Ministry shows that in August, 41% of visa applications filed by Russians were refused. To put some context into that, figures from the ministry show a visa approval rating of 90% or higher earlier in the year.
Russians can also apply for asylum in Norway, but in order to do so they must be able to physically reach the country. The ministry says so far this year 219 asylum applications from Russians have been received.
🇪🇺/ 🇷🇺
The President of the European Council is calling for Russia to be suspended from its permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council. Charles Michel says Russia should be removed for launching an “unprovoked and unjustified war” against Ukraine. Russia as a permanent member has a veto right, which it has used to try and block Security Council resolutions aimed at Russia over its illegal invasion of Ukraine.
🇩🇰 🇸🇪 🇫🇮 🇳🇴 🇮🇸 🇬🇱/ 🇷🇺
The Danish Sports Federation has joined a chorus of Nordic voices urging the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee to continue banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in international sports. The federation says the IOC is considering whether or not to uphold the ban or allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete again.
In a statement from the Danish Sports Federation it says there is no place for athletes from those countries in international competition.
“The Russian aggression in Ukraine is escalating. Under these circumstances, it will be unacceptable to open up sports participation to Russian and Belarusian athletes. We stand firm in our position. Now is not the right time to consider their return.”
Joining the federation in urging the IOC to keep the door closed to Russian and. Belarusian athletes is Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the Finnish archipelago of Åland.