The Evening Report - July 14
A concerning new COVID variant arrives in Denmark
🦠Pandemic🦠
🇩🇰
The Danish Health Ministry has confirmed that another new and very concerning COVID variant has arrived in Denmark. The ministry said on Thursday, that sequencing has identified the BA.2.75 variant in Denmark. This is the variant that has exploded in India and that epidemiologists are watching with concern.
The Statens Serum Institute says the infected person is a Danish citizen who returned to the country from a holiday in Greece where it believes he became infected.
“BA.2.75 is a subvariant of BA.2 and has received much international attention due to nine defining mutations/reverse mutations in the Spike protein that distinguish it from the preceding Omicron variants. Mutations in the Spike protein may affect the ability of the virus to infect cells in the body and evade immunity.”
The SSI says a joint variant risk assessment group is also now working to assess the new variant.
The Sundhedsministeriet cautions there are a lot of unanswered questions with this new variant. Will it out-compete the now dominant BA.5 strain? Is it more contagious? Does it evade vaccine and antibody immune protections to any greater extent? Does it cause more severe infections? These are important questions that need answers. As with all other variants, it is going to take some time to fill in the blanks. The ministry says it is closely following the situation.
The Danish Agency for Patient Safety is also busy doing contact tracing on anyone who may have been in contact with the person.
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Denmark’s COVID numbers continue to rise as the BA.5 infection wave builds. In its latest weekly pandemic snapshot, the Statens Serum Institute says infection cases increased by 22% last week. The positivity percentage also rose last week going from 23% to 25%. This while the number of PCR tests also climbed by 10%. The fact the positivity percentage is still increasing even as more testing is being done is a bad sign.
Denmark’s capital region (Metro Copenhagen) has the highest COVID incidence rate, with 315 per 100,000 people. It is followed by Region Sjælland with 310. The COVID incidence rate also increased in two of the other three Danish regions. The lone exception was Region Syddanmark, where there was a slight decline. It is the same story for the positivity percentage, which rose in every region except Southern Denmark. Region Nordjylland has the highest positivity percentage, with 27.4%.
Looking at the infection incidence rate and positivity percentage by age group and it was the same story for both. There were increases almost across the board. The only exception was among those 70 to 79 years old, where there was a decline. The incidence rate per 100,000 people was highest among those 50 to 59 years old, with a rate if 404. That age group also had the highest positivity percentage, with 30%.
New COVID hospitalizations rose by 18% last week to 589. Seniors aged 70 to 89 years old continue to make up the largest group among new admissions. Intensive care patients increased to 14 last week. The proportion of people hospitalized due to an infection rather than being infected and being admitted for a non-pandemic reason continues to rise. 62% of admissions are now directly because of a severe infection.
There were 35 coronavirus fatalities in Denmark last week, which is the same number if lives lost as the week before.
Among vulnerable seniors in care the number of infections increased slightly going from 104 cases to 112 from one week to the next. While the positivity percentage remained stable at 3.7%. However, fatalities among elderly seniors in care doubled from six to 12 from week to week. Region Midtjylland, Region Nordjylland, and Region Syddanmark saw infections rise in senior care homes while the other two regions saw numbers drop. Hospitalizations of seniors in care have jumped going from 18 to 30 week to week. Most of those, 18 patients, were in Metro Copenhagen.
Infections are also rising among staff working in senior care homes and healthcare staff in hospitals. Among social services staff, both testing numbers and the positivity percentage increase (17.9% to 19.1%). While healthcare workers saw a drop in testing but an increase in the positivity percentage (25.2% to 26.3%).
The BA.5 variant is king in Denmark accounting for 85% of all sequenced positive test results last week. The number of BA.4 cases was stable at 7.5%.
Looking at COVID wastewater surveillance and virus activity increased at the national level and in all five Danish regions.
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COVID hospitalizations (423) are increasing again (+39) while the number of severe infection cases in an ICU (19) have crept up (+3) of those the number on a ventilator (6) also inched up (+1). Infection admissions to a psychiatric ward (45) dipped slightly (-1).
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Denmark has reported 2,498 COVID infections (underreported), including 538 reinfections, and 13 more coronavirus deaths in the last day.
Yesterday there were 10,841 PCR tests taken equaling a positivity percentage of 23.04%, over 7 days it is 25.64%. The daily positivity percentage has decreased a tiny bit day to day, but the 7 day rate has increased slightly.
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Vaccination rates continue to tread water in Denmark ahead of another fall inoculation campaign to come. To date, 81.7% of the total population have one vaccine dose, 80.3% have two, 61.8% have a booster, and 0.7% have a 2nd booster.
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A study conducted by the Statens Serum Institute and the Danish Medicines Agency has found that mixing and matching vaccines, combining two different vaccines, does not increase the risk of a severe infection.
Study researchers compared 137,495 people who had mixed vaccinations to 2,688,142 people who were vaccinated with the same vaccine. Those who mixed and matched generally had one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and a second dose of a mRNA vaccine. Each person was followed using the vaccination register through their 2nd and 3rd vaccine dose. This was then compared to positive test results and severe infection cases after vaccination. The end result was that the risk of becoming infected and then having a severe case of COVID was the same for both groups, very rare.
Study First Author Dr. Niklas Andersson:
“Our study is one of the first studies internationally that comprehensively maps and compares the safety of different vaccination procedures. This is clearly the most relevant question right now within vaccine safety.”
The study can be found in full in the British Medical Journal HERE.
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Denmark’s sentinel monitoring found 53.2% of all test results in week 26 came back as a respiratory infection. The three most common infections among them were rhinovirus, parainfluenza, and of course coronavirus.
🇸🇪
Sweden has added 4,762 infections (wildly underreported) and another 59 corona deaths (also underreported) over the last week.
The Swedish Public Health Agency hasn’t updated vaccination statistics since June 23rd.
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Sweden’s BA.5 driven infection wave may be slowing down according to the Swedish Public Health Agency’s latest weekly pandemic assessment. Last week, it recorded just over 4,200 confirmed infections, which is a 7% increase in cases compared to the week before, and we’ll below the increase of cases in the weeks prior. However, case numbers should be taken with caution as Sweden restricts PCR tests to just seniors in care and people being hospitalized.
The agency says the BA.5 variant is dominant in Sweden, making up more than 50% of all sequenced positive test results. It adds that it is keeping an eye out for the new BA.2.75 variant, but it has yet to be confirmed in the country. Again, Sweden’s lack of testing/sequencing kneecaps its ability to be absolutely sure the new variant is or is not in the country.
Unit Head Moa Rehn:
“Both vaccination and having survived an infection provide very good [antibody] protection against serious illness and death. There is no indication that BA.5 would cause any more severe infection, but it is important to vaccinate oneself and receive the recommended booster doses.”
Last week, there were 21,000 tests taken, an increase of 10% week to week, with a positivity percentage of 19%. That is two percentage points lower than the week before.
Rehn says that is an “extensive” amount of testing.
“We have an increasing infection spread in society, but since we also have a high vaccination coverage and a high immunity after a recent infection, we believe that the population is largely protected against severe infections. If you have symptoms that might be COVID, you should stay at home so as not to infect others.”
Intensive care admissions remain fairly steady, with an average of seven in weeks 23 through 26. Last week, there have, so far, been six confirmed ICU admissions. The agency notes “some regions” have been reporting increasing hospitalizations, but it doesn’t provide any context or specifics.
Sweden continues to struggle with a backlog of reporting COVID fatalities and in week 25, the latest week it is supplying numbers for, there have been 26 fatalities. That is more or less in the same neighborhood as the four weeks previous.
While it hasn’t updated its COVID vaccination statistics on its main page since June 23rd, the Swedish Public Health Agency, in its weekly update, is providing some numbers. Of those 18 years old and older, 66% have had a 3rd dose. For people 80 years old and older, 78% have a 4th dose. While among the 65-to-79 year old age group, 69% have had a 2nd booster shot.
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There has been alleged data breach of Sweden’s national vaccination registry according to the Swedish Public Health Agency. It says it has called in the police for a “high priority” investigation. The agency says the information of roughly 800 people may have been compromised. It adds that it has also been made aware that the vaccination information for some children under the age of 12 “has been published on a website.”
Department Head Lisa Brouwers:
“We take this very seriously. We are now investigating the incident, in collaboration with other authorities, to find out what has happened. Right now, and as long as there is pre-trial secrecy, we can not say much more than that information has been disseminated incorrectly. We are handling the incident quickly and with urgency.”
The agency is also now reviewing the safety of all of its online systems. It has also called in the National Cyber Security Center and another agency, MSB CERT-SE, which is charged with investigating IT incidents.
🇳🇴
Norway has added 194 infections (underreported) and no new pandemic deaths in the last day.
In the last week there have been 307 COVID hospital admissions (-48 from the week before).
To date, 80.5% of Norwegians 12 years old and older have one dose, 75.1% have two, and 56.5% have a 3rd.
🇫🇮
Finland has registered 12,549 infections and 71 more virus deaths in the last seven days.
COVID hospitalizations (654) have jumped (+171).
To date, 80.3% of the total population have one dose, 77.2% have two, 53.6% have a booster shot, and 6.4% have a 2nd booster dose.
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The Finnish Institute for Health is considering accelerating the schedule for administering a second booster dose among people 60 years old and older. This while the political pressure builds.
Chief Physician Hanna Nohynek told Yle that a decision should be made in the next few days, adding that staffing, if there are enough bodies to administer inoculations, is a big part of the equation.
This while Family Affairs Minister Aki Lindén said a second booster dose for those 60 years old and older needs to begin as soon as possible. Ideally at the beginning of August. (SDP), said he would like to see the 60-plus age group to start getting their fourth shots at the beginning of August.
Lapland’s Hospital District Infectious Disease Chief Markku Broas says there is no time to waste in getting second booster shots done.
“Hospital workloads have recently increased due to coronavirus infections. A delay in vaccination can cause unnecessary serious illness and death.”
🇩🇪
Germany recorded 152,149 new infections and suffered another 145 pandemic deaths since its Wednesday update.
It added another 1,855 hospitalizations while ICU numbers (1,238) climbed (+25). As a percentage of all intensive care beds in the country coronavirus patients are using 5.8%.
So far, 77.8% of the total population has one vaccine dose, 76.2% have two, and 61.7% have a booster shot.
🇩🇪 🇫🇷 🇮🇹 🇯🇵
There were four countries in the world who registered more than 100,000 new coronavirus infection on Wednesday. Besides the United States, the other three are all in Europe. They are France, Italy, and Germany. Outside the EU, Japan is also seeing a marked increase in infection activity.
Caveat being low testing rates mean in all cases these numbers are likely underreported.
🇨🇦
The Public Health Agency of Canada updates COVID numbers once a week every Friday.
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Health Canada has approved a pediatric COVID vaccine from Moderna for kids from six months to five years old, the first coronavirus vaccine to be approved for infants and toddlers. The pediatric doses of the mRNA vaccine will be roughly one-quarter of an adult dose. The pediatric vaccine will be given in two doses about four weeks apart.
The Pfizer/BioNTech pediatric COVID vaccine is still under a Health Canada review.
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Random mandatory testing that has been paused for travelers arriving in Canada since June 11, will resume next at four airports. Beginning July 19, people arriving at international airports in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto may be selected for mandatory COVID testing even if they are fully vaccinated. However, the COVID testing will no longer be done in the airports but rather to outside locations. These will be official testing locations or select pharmacies.
Anyone testing positive must immediately go into a ten-day quarantine. The government does not detail how the logistics of that are to work or how it will be enforced.
Canada classifies someone as fully vaccinated if they have two vaccine doses from an approved vaccine, with the second dose being administered o less than 14 days prior to arrival.
All existing restrictions, 14 day quarantine and mandatory testing on arrival and on day eight of isolation, remain in place for all unvaccinated travelers. As does ArriveCAN obligations for all incoming travelers.
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos:
“As we have said all along, Canada's border measures will remain flexible and adaptable, guided by science and prudence. We need to keep border testing measures in place because that is how we track importation of the COVID-19 virus and of new variants of concern. We will keep adapting our border measures to balance the need to protect Canadians while supporting our economic recovery.”
For more information about rules for entering Canada, testing, and vaccination requirements you can go HERE.
🇺🇦/ 🇷🇺 War
🇪🇺 🇦🇿 / 🇷🇺
According to documents seen by Reuters, the EU Commission has proposed a draft deal with Azerbaijan to increase natural gas exports to Europe. The deal also includes plans to expand a pipeline to help with transporting the gas. This is another avenue that Europe is hoping will help it severe all reliance on Russia for its energy needs.
🇱🇻/ 🇷🇺
Latvia’s parliament has thrown its support behind implementing a full ban on all Russian gas coming into the country by January 1, 2023.
🇸🇪 🇫🇮/ NATO
Make it 13. Latvia, Luxembourg, and Bulgaria have all officially ratified the NATO applications for Sweden and Finland. They join Poland, Germany, Albania, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Estonia, who have also ratified the accession protocols. All 30 NATO member countries have to support the two applications for Sweden and Finland to become full members of the military alliance.
🇸🇪/ 🇺🇦
Sweden has transferred 577.7 million Swedish krona (about $71.6 million Cdn) to a special account at the National Bank of Ukraine opened to support the country’s armed forces. This is the second major deposit from Sweden in the Ukraine account after sending over 500 million krona in March.
🇪🇺/ 🇷🇺
As we wait to see what the European Union will table in its 7th round of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, it appears restrictions of Russian gas imports are off the table. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Reuters on Thursday that gas restrictions will not be in the latest sanctions package because too many EU countries “can’t adjust quickly enough.”
🇩🇰/ 🇷🇺
Danish giant LEGO has decided to sever all business ties in Russia. It had originally suspended supplies of LEGO products to Russia soon after the invasion of Ukraine. But now the corporation is taking it another step further, ending its partnership with the Inventive Retail Group, which manages LEGO stores in Russia.