The Evening Report - Aug 24
Good News/Bad News on Denmark’s COVID front
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The good news is that Denmark now has a “slightly declining epidemic” situation, according to Health Minister Magnus Heunicke. The COVID contact number (reinfection rate or R0) has dropped to 0.9 after four weeks at 1.0. Anything over one means degrees of a spreading outbreak.
Heunicke credits the vaccination effort for the R0 dropping under one. He says the major vaccination push announced yesterday will continue to help as long as people choose to protect themselves and those around them by getting vaccinated.
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The bad news is that Denmark has reported its highest number of daily infections today since May 21, with 1,340 new COVID cases. It also saw another coronavirus death.
Yesterday there were 179,145 total corona tests done, 87,540 PCR and 91,605 rapid, for a (PCR only) positivity percentage of 1.53%.
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The number of Danish kommunes with COVID incidence rates abide 100 per 100,000 residents is staying steady at 41 but the number of municipalities with incidence rates above 200 has grown to 13.
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COVID hospitalizations (131) stayed put day to day (0) while the number of infected people in an ICU (20) edged upward (+2) and of those the number on a ventilator (6) inched downward (-2).
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The Danish government is reportedly planning on the AdaptVac COVID vaccine to be a long-term booster dose. It has bought a major stake in the vaccine. The deal announced yesterday saw Denmark invest 800-million Danish kroner into Bavarian Nordic, which has the licensing rights to the vaccine, in return for royalties, a cut of the profits, and vaccine doses. Some of the vaccine production would also happen in Denmark.
Adam Sander Bertelsen, Ph.D. and associate professor specializing in vaccine development at the University of Copenhagen, spoke to DR:
“We have a high vaccination rate, so the way Bavarian Nordic has chosen to proceed with developing the vaccine is to test it specifically as a booster vaccine. The inspiration for making this new vaccine technology has been the presumption that it provides a long-lasting response. This is because it basically has the same structure as the HPV vaccine, which we can see today has a very long lasting effect.”
AdaptVac still has to go through stage three clinical trials and, if successful, then apply to the European Medicines Agency for use in Europe. This is not expected to happen until late in 2022.
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On the vaccination front, it continues to be a game of inches now with 74.8% of the total population with one dose and 69.4% who have had both shots.
Yesterday there were 35,521 total inoculations done and of those 5,358 were 1st doses. The number of vaccinations continues to remain sluggish, and with much fewer first doses it will mean an imminent further slowdown in the number of second shots being administered as well.
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Region Syddanmark is preparing a major scaling back of its vaccination facilities as demand wanes. As of October 1 the Southern Denmark health region will close all 25 of its vaccination sites in smaller communities. Instead, vaccines will be offered at fixed sites in its seven largest cities. The rest of the region’s vaccination effort will be done using mobile units operating pop-up sites in schools, colleges, and universities along specific areas seeing lagging vaccination rates.
The seven cities retaining fixed vaccination sites are Odense, Svendborg, Kolding, Vejle, Esbjerg, Sønderborg, and Aabenraa / Rødekro.
In a release Chairman of the Syddanmark Health Committee Poul Erik Svendsen said:
“We have experienced a very nice vaccination uptake in the Region of Southern Denmark, especially among the oldest citizens in the region. Right now we do a lot with drop-in vaccination options to increase vaccinations among people who have been invited to get vaccinated but have not yet done so. But it is our expectation that far fewer citizens will be vaccinated after October 1, and therefore it is necessary to adapt the vaccination strategy that the region has built on since December last year.”
The downsizing will mean Region Syddanmark will lower its weekly vaccination capacity from the current 147,000 doses down to 2,400 as of October 1. The region also adds if a booster shot campaign is launched in Denmark, it can quickly ramp its vaccination abilities back up.
In Southern Denmark, more than 75% of those 12 years old and up have had a first done and 68% are fully vaccinated.
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Region Nordjylland says it has the highest vaccination uptake of any of Denmark’s five health regions. In North Jutland, 88.6% of people have a first vaccine dose and 82.8% have had their second shot. The region says this is something to be proud of and they want Northern Danes to give each other a celebratory elbow bump.
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TV2 is reporting that a Danish choir with 31 members, 30 of them fully vaccinated and the one who had a single dose, went to Italy and came back with COVID. 22 members of the choir tested positive with varying degrees of illness
Choir leader Torben Svendsen spoke to TV2:
“We were vaccinated, and we were a small group in our own bubble, we actually felt incredibly safe about it.”
Svendsen says the virus had varying degrees of impact among the choir. He says in one case a person had a bad bout of COVID.
“I feel relatively convinced that my course has been milder because I have been vaccinated.”
COVID vaccines are not 100% effective and slightly less so again against the Delta variant. Denmark’s Staten Serum Institut the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine offers 79% protection against the Delta variant and Moderna 88%. However, being fully vaccinated offers a high degree of protection against serious illness, hospitalization, and death.
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Sweden has added 2,774 infections and two more corona deaths since its Friday update.
The Swedish Public Health Agency says there are 37 people in an ICU across the country, a number that hasn’t changed from Friday’s update.
Sweden’s vaccination campaign has administered 6,640,460 1st doses (81.1% of the adult population over the age of 18) and 5,320,342 2nd vaccine doses (65%).
Sweden counts inoculation efforts among those 16 to 17 years old separately, and so far there have been 164,033 1st doses (46.7%) and 9,796 2nd doses (2.8%) done.
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Region Stockholm says the number of COVID infections last week increased again from the week previous, but only by 34 cases. Hospitalizations also increased, with 79 people being treated currently, an increase of 17 since last Tuesday. Of those, 11 are in intensive care.
Acting Director of Health and Medical Care Johan Bratt:
“It is worrying that now more people need hospital care. About 92% of those we have seen in our hospitals have not received both doses of vaccine. Vaccinations are the single most important measure to reduce the risk for the county's residents to become so ill that they need hospital care. As many as possible must be vaccinated as soon as possible with both doses of vaccine.”
The region continues to caution that there is a lag in reporting.
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In Southern Sweden Region Skåne continues to see its infection numbers rise.
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Sweden’s Higher Education Minister is tying vaccination rates directly to the degree a college or university can operate with as few restrictions as possible. Speaking to TT Minister Matilda Ernkrans says vaccination rates among the student population will be key especially with Sweden’s Public Health Agency warning of increasing infection numbers in the fall.
“It is of course worrying. But the Public Health Agency still assesses that it is possible to return to campus during the autumn but with adaptations to avoid congestion and large groups. All universities and colleges will inform students, and with special focus on exchange students, about the importance of getting vaccinated and where they can do it. The vaccination coverage will be decisive for the rate and extent to which the higher education institutions can open.”
As a college and university students return to class in Sweden, the majority have yet to be vaccinated.
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Norway has added 1,047 new infections and had no new virus deaths since yesterday’s update.
COVID hospitalizations (52) have crept up (+1) while the number of infected people in an ICU (16) has risen (+4) and if those the number on a ventilator (7) is unchanged day to day.
To date, 70.60% of Norwegians have had one vaccine dose and 48.40% have had both doses.
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Finland has registered 644 infections since yesterday’s update.
On the vaccination front 3,952,860 1st vaccine doses (70.7% of the population) have been administered while 2,590,952 people (46.4%) now have both doses.
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Finland is still trying to decide whether to use a COVID pass as a requirement to attend some events and activities. The Finnish government is currently gathering feedback on the idea that its Nordic neighbours have been using for quite some time. According to a report from YLE, the City of Helsinki gave the COVID pass a trial run at a recent event attended by city officials and representatives from the event and hospitality sector.
Helsinki’s Head of Enterprise Services Jani Moliis told YLE using a coronapas may not be necessary if vaccination rates are high enough. But he also noted it would not hurt to have the idea on standby if the infection situation gets worse or a new, more vaccine-resistant variant appears.
"In that situation, it would be good that we have a COVID pass in the toolbox, so that we no longer have to return to such drastic restrictive measures as before.”
Finland was the last of the Nordic countries to introduce the EU COVID digital certificate, but it is used almost exclusively for travel purposes.
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Health Minister Jens Spahn says a fourth infection wave continues to build in Germany.
“How high and dangerous it becomes is still in our hands: every additional vaccination helps to flatten the wave.”
Spahn says to date, 53.4 million people (64.2%) have one vaccine dose and 49.2 million (59.2%) are fully vaccinated.
Spahn called Germany’s latest infection wave “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.” He warned, with vaccination rates well below where they should be Germany’s hospitals risk being overrun in the fall and winter months. He is urging people to do their part and go get vaccinated.
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Canada has reported 2,034 new COVID infections and another 18 coronavirus deaths yesterday.
So far, the Canadian vaccination campaign has administered 27,671,933 1st vaccine doses (72.68% of the total population) while 24,922,187 people (65.45%) are now fully vaccinated.
In Ontario today there were 486 new infections and of those 372 were among people who were not vaccinated or who had one dose, and 114 were people with both doses. There are 295 people in hospital, with 268 of them either not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated. In provincial intensive care units there are 155 people, with 149 of them unvaccinated or with just one dose.
Quebec reported 345 new COVID cases and three more deaths. 102 people are in hospital, including 29 in an ICU.
In Atlantic Canada, New Brunswick has 15 new cases. Newfoundland and Labrador had two. Nova Scotia registered 11.
Manitoba saw 40 new corona cases today and no new deaths
There were 318 infections and six deaths in Saskatchewan over the last 48 hours.
Alberta logged 1,972 infections and another five fatalities over the last three days. The province says there are 244 people in hospital; of those, 82.1% are unvaccinated or partially vaccinations, and of the 54 in an ICU, that number rises to 96.4%.
B.C. recorded an average of 570 new infections on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, an increase from the weekend previous, along with 16 more corona deaths. ICU numbers are also up with 80 people in intensive care. The province announced today it is reintroducing an indoor mask mandate as well as making masks mandatory for students in grades four through 12.
There was also this from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
The Northwest Territories is experiencing the largest outbreak of the pandemic yet with 220 active cases as of yesterday. It also recorded its first ever COVID death today.