The Evening Report - April 7th
Denmark continues to register record testing numbers
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The European Medicines Agency has finished its investigation into cases of severe blood clotting among people who received an AstraZeneca vaccination. It has concluded “that unusual blood clots with low blood platelets should be listed as very rare side effects” of the vaccine.
The EMA investigated 86 cases of post-vaccination blood clotting, 18 of them fatal, and found “most of the cases reported have occurred in women under 60 years of age within 2 weeks of vaccination.” However, it also determined that due to differing ways in which the vaccine was distributed country to country, “based on available evidence, specific risk factors have not been confirmed.”
EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke.
“EMA’s expert committee on the safety of medicines has confirmed that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing COVID overall outweigh the risks of side effects.”
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The United Kingdom’s medicines regulator reported today that it is investigating 79 cases of severe blood clots and 19 deaths, all of which occurred after taking the AstraZeneca vaccine. More than two-thirds of the cases were women. The government's vaccine advisory group, JCVI, is recommending that people aged 18 to 29 be offered an alternative vaccine where available.
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A third case of a further mutated U.K. variant has been detected in Denmark. The evolving variant has the E484K mutation, the so called escape mutation because it helps the virus evade the body’s defenses. The further mutated variant was first identified in the United Kingdom.
The sequencing work done by the Staten Serum Institut indicates that the U.K. variant remains by far the dominant strain in Denmark, at 93% of all sequenced positive tests to date.
Denmark is reporting 614 COVID infections and three more coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours.
Yesterday a record 471,034 COVID tests were done, 186.275 PCR and another record high 284,759 rapid, for a (PCR only) positivity percentage of 0.33%.
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The Southern Denmark Health Region is reporting that a record number of tests were also performed in the region over the Easter holiday weekend. The health authority says the long weekend Monday was the busiest day to date with almost 95,000 COVID tests administered. The health authority notes the number doesn’t include testing at Billund Airport, land border crossings with Germany, and at the region’s hospitals.
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Denmark’s Justice Minister Nick Hækkerup says record high testing numbers are being matched with swift analyzing of tests to determine a positive or negative test result. He says just yesterday 450,000 tests were analyzed.
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COVID hospitalizations (237) went up (+18), the number of those in an ICU (34) declined (-4), and the number of people on a ventilator (22) also fell (-6).
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On the vaccination effort to date, 805,236 1st dose vaccinations (13.8% of the population) have been administered while 415,394 people (7.1%) are now fully vaccinated.
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A Copenhagen based start up by team of Danish doctors, medical engineers and industrial designers have engineered a way to draw a seventh dose out of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine vials. The company, RobinTech, estimates it could increase Denmark’s supply of vaccine doses by 270,000 in just April and May alone.
The patent pending system utilizes a vaccine container, a syringe, and smartphone to draw the extra dose out of the vial.
RobinTech is in negotiations with Staten Serum Institut and at least one health region to possibly role out its method across the country.
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The Danish Agency for Patient Safety says COVID contact tracing teams have managed to get hold of all but 2.95% (the light blue bar below) of those infected to get crucial contacts information.
According to information gathered by the contact tracers, 63.8% know with some level of certainty how they were infected or who they were infected by, while 36.2% don’t know the infection source. The top three infection sources reported to contact tracers are being infected at home, by friends or family, or at work.
According to the agency, 1.9% of those contacted in the last seven days days say they were infected while traveling.
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Sweden has added 6,814 infections and another 45 corona deaths since yesterday’s update.
To date, 1,274,352 1st dose (15.6% of the population) and 540,929 2nd vaccination doses (6.6%) have been administered.
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The latest survey by the Swedish Public Health Agency found a majority of people in Sweden are ready and willing to be vaccinated. 69% of respondents said they will definitely get the jab while 22% replied probably but they have some questions and concerns. 5% said no to getting vaccinated while 4% said they were undecided.
One of the biggest reasons to get vaccinated across all age groups was to protect others. The desire to protect oneself was highest among seniors.
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Finland has registered 348 infections and two more virus deaths since yesterday’s update.
COVID hospitalizations (250) have inched up (+1). ICU numbers (45) are unchanged.
To date, 993,227 1st doses (17.8% of the population) and 90,340 2nd vaccine doses (1.6%) have been administered.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin told reporters going into government talks today that she is optimistic that the outbreak situation is improving to such a degree that she is hopeful lockdown restrictions could be lifted in time for a ‘normal’ summer.
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Norway has added 1,032 infections and six more virus deaths since yesterday’s update. Total infections in Norway now exceed 100,000, becoming the 88th country on earth to do so.
COVID hospitalizations (305) are up (+12), ICU numbers (93) are also up (+3), and those on a ventilator (54) dropped (-5).
On the vaccination front Norway has surpassed 1,000,000 total vaccinations administered. 722,648 of those are 1st vaccination doses while 287,412 people are now fully vaccinated.
The Norwegian Public Health Institute reported today that 83% of those 85 years old and older are now fully vaccinated. 86% of those aged 75 to 84 years old have had a first shot. Just over half of employees in healthcare service have received a first dose and the highest proportion of vaccinated people is found among ambulance personnel and doctors.
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Yesterday Canada reported 6,520 new infections and another 23 coronavirus deaths as the upward infection pressure continues.
To date, 6,009,140 1st vaccination doses (15.81% of the population) have been administered while 730,373 people are now fully vaccinated.
B.C. added another 140 cases of the dreaded Brazilian P1 variant as it continues to have by far the most cases of the corona variant than any other province.
Alberta continues to lead in cases of the U.K. corona mutation. It added another 676 variant infections today.
In Ontario, there are multiple reports across media that Premier Doug Ford’s cabinet has approved a province wide stay-at-home order. Sources say the order would also close all non-essential retail stores. It is expected to be officially announced today and come into force at midnight tonight.
Yesterday, Toronto Public Health closed all schools and moved students to online learning.
Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted, “Ontario is reporting 3,215 cases of COVID19 and nearly 49,900 tests completed. Locally, there are 1,095 new cases in Toronto, 596 in Peel, 342 in York Region, 225 in Ottawa and 187 in Durham. As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 2,726,221 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.”
Quebec reported 1,270 new infections and eight more deaths today. Yesterday the province tightened restrictions in so called red-zones in the province in an effort to curb rising infections.
In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia has six new infections. New Brunswick has three. Newfoundland and Labrador saw no new COVID activity.
There were 62 new infections and two more deaths in Manitoba yesterday.
Saskatchewan saw 217 infections and three more deaths yesterday. Regina continues to be a provincial COVID hot spot.
With variant infections soaring, Alberta brought the hammer back down yesterday, closing all indoor dining at restaurants as of Friday. As of today, retail stores have had capacity capped at 15% and team sports and group fitness activities are once again a no-no. Yesterday Alberta reported 931 new infections and three more deaths.
B.C. reported 1,068 new infections and three more deaths yesterday. Hospitalizations continue to increase with a record high 96 people in an ICU.
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According to a study published today in The Lancet, one in three people who have had COVID and survived are diagnosed with neurological disorders or other mental disorders within 6 months. According to the study, anxiety and mood swings are the most frequent diagnoses. It also found that the more severe the virus impacts, the more frequent the symptoms appear. But it is not clear how the virus is related to the mental disorders, the researchers behind the study write.
The study concludes by saying:
“The present data show that COVID-19 is followed by significant rates of neurological and psychiatric diagnoses over the subsequent 6 months. Services need to be configured, and resourced, to deal with this anticipated need.”
You can read the study HERE