Monday Morning News and Notes
More infectious COVID variants are on the offensive in Denmark and across Europe
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Some disturbing news from Denmark’s Health Minister Magnus Heunicke over the weekend. He says there are now nine total cases of the Brazilian P1 variant in the country. Even more concerning Heunicke says the six latest cases involve two different infection chains unrelated to each other, with no links to travel. How they became infected is unknown.
The P1 variant is causing concern because it has a mutation allowing it to evade the body’s defenses even for those who have had COVID and are thought to be immune. It is suspected, but not yet proven, that it may be somewhat vaccine resistant.
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One of the infections with the concerning Brazilian P1 variant may be a young child in a school in Nyborg. DR is reporting the exact variant hasn’t been confirmed yet but it quotes school official who have said it is either the Brazilian or South African variant. Extraordinary steps are being taken in the community with up to 200 people in isolation. A special testing center has also been set up in Nyborg to test everyone in the school and their families. They will all take a second test 48 hours after the first.
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Also on Fyn, Svendborg Kommune warned in a Facebook post that the municipality has seen 14 new outbreaks with an incidence rate of 91.1 in the last seven days. The Kommune warns COVID mutations have been found.
“Unfortunately, a number of the new outbreaks are with a mutation of the Covid-19 infection that is more contagious and therefore can spread quickly. The Statens Serum Institut is currently investigating the mutation in question.”
The Danish Agency for Patient Safety and the Southern Denmark Health Region have both dispatched special mobile testing units to the city. The Svendborg Kommune is encouraging everyone in the municipality to go get tested but especially people living in the areas of Byparken, Marslevvej, St. Byhavevej, Byskoven and Ørbækvej.
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Denmark added 1,380 infections and three more coronavirus deaths since Friday’s update. There were 416 infections reported Saturday and an unusually high 964 on Sunday. The Staten Serum Institut says a technical issue with a test provider likely resulted in an under reporting of infections one day and an over reporting the next.
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Sjælland continues to see the highest infection activity in the country. A number of municipalities in the greater metro Copenhagen area are seeing some of the highest infection rates anywhere in Denmark.
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The Danish Agency for Patient Safety is conducting what it called “special test efforts” for three days in Aarhus. The testing campaign began yesterday and will wrap up on Tuesday. The incidence rate in Aarhus over the last seven days per 100,000 people is 53.7, which isn’t great, but it’s far from awful. For context Ishøj, which continues to be the hardest hit Kommune in the country, has an incidence rate of 345.6.
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Over the weekend, the Finnish parliament extended the closure of restaurants in areas of the country hardest hit by the latest COVID outbreak. This applies to restaurants across Finland with the exception of those in Åland, Southern Ostrobothnia, Kainuu and Central Ostrobothnia. In Lapland, the restrictions only apply to the municipality of Kittilä.
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To lockdown or not to lockdown, that is the question in Germany. Over the weekend German Health Minister Jens Spahn said a 10 to 14 day hard lockdown is needed to try and curb exploding infection numbers. He says it should happen over this coming Easter weekend.
The health minister is not alone. Chancellor Angela Merkel's Chief of Staff Helge Braun spoke to the newspaper Bild am Sonntag over the weekend.
“We are in the most dangerous phase of the pandemic. The next few weeks will determine if we can get the pandemic under control.”
Just last week the government flip flopped, first saying there would be a five day lockdown over Easter, then rescinding it with an apology the following day after facing fierce backlash.
The infection curve continues to climb in Germany. Over the weekend it added 32,343 infections, 18,692 reported on Saturday and 13,651 Sunday, along with another 175 corona deaths.
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The COVID situation in Poland remains dire as infections climb sharply. Over the weekend or added another 61,023 infections, 31,770 reported Saturday and 29,253 Sunday, while the coronavirus claimed another 579 lives.
As of today, Kindergartens across Poland are closed for at least the next two weeks. Schools for older children remain closed as part of sweeping restrictions to try and bring down soaring infection numbers. The infection wave is being driven by the U.K. corona variant.
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The COVID situation in France is deteriorating rapidly. It saw another 79,633 infections over the weekend, 42,619 reported on Saturday and 37,014 Sunday, while suffering 321 deaths.
Over the weekend, 41 critical care doctors in Paris warned of an impending disaster in the French newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche. The doctors says that infection numbers could soon overwhelm the hospitals in the French capital.
“ We have never known such a situation, even during the worst (terror) attacks.”
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Back in Canada, Ontario reported 2,453 new infections on Saturday and another 2,448 on Sunday. Daily infection numbers haven’t been this high in the province since January.
Health Minister Christine Elliott announced yesterday that Hamilton is being placed under a lockdown as of today.
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A study of excess mortality in Mexico has found the country’s COVID death toll may be almost 60% higher than is currently being reported. The Mexican government has acknowledged the real number of coronavirus deaths is more than 321,000, not the 201,429 currently being reported. That would make Mexico second only to the United States for total virus deaths.
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The horrific pandemic situation continues in Brazil as it reported a total of 127,365 infections and 4,973 corona deaths on Saturday and Sunday. While infection rates soar, the country is seeing the highest number of virus deaths ever. In the last two weeks almost 24% of all global COVID deaths have been in Brazil.
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India’s infection curve is rising in an almost vertical line as coronavirus numbers explode across the country. Over the weekend, it reported 130,837 new infections on Saturday and Sunday while the virus claimed another 606 lives.
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Findings from a U.K. wide study have added to a growing pile of evidence that it is not as simple as surviving COVID or not, but rather best not to get it at all. The study followed 1,077 people who were infected with the coronavirus, hospitalized, and then discharged. When contacted five months later just 29% felt that they had fully recovered. Seven in ten were still battling at least one, if not more, symptoms months after being declared COVID free.
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Pfizer-BioNTech has joined Moderna and Johnson & Johnson in beginning clinical trials of its COVID vaccine on young children. The pharmaceutical company began administering doses to the study’s 144 participants a few days ago. It is testing different doses of the vaccine on children as young as six months old. The clinical trials will determine if the vaccine generates an immune response in children and determine the proper dose for children in three different age groups: 6 months to 2 years; 2 years to 5 years; and 5 years to 11 years.