The Evening Report - June 16th
Denmark donating huge amounts of masks and equipment to harder hit countries
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Midt of Vestjylland Police have cordoned off Hanstholm harbour and evacuated a 400-meter area around it after a “foreign” fishing vessel brought in an old WWII mine. Danish navy explosive experts are on scene and police say they have found the mine does have a functioning explosive charge and detonator. The plan is to tow the mine out into the ocean and blow it up. The harbour will be cleared once that is done.
Picture courtesy of @MVSJPoliti
Police are also investigating if “anything criminal” has been done by the fishing vessel who brought the active mine in and unloaded it in the harbour.
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Region Hovedstaden (Metro Copenhagen) is opening up vaccinations for anyone born in 1983 or older and anyone born in 1995 and younger. The health authority says you can book a vaccination appointment at vacciner.dk even if you haven’t received an invitation in your eBoks.
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Since Denmark has abolished most mask mandates this week, the country has suddenly been awash in more masks than it can use. Anders Ladekarl, the General Secretary of the Danish Red Cross, says 10 million masks have been donated since Friday by companies across Denmark. He says they will be “soon on their way” to countries where the COVID pandemic is “raging with undiminished force.”
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Denmark has reported 353 COVID infections and no new coronavirus deaths in the last day.
Yesterday there were 409,572 total corona tests done, 95,770 PCR and 313,802 rapid, for a (PCR only) positivity percentage of 0.37%.
It is interesting to note that daily testing numbers are dropping from over 700,000 per day to now around 500,000. The infection decline is one factor but the bigger one is that as more people get vaccinated the need for testing will diminish.
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COVID hospitalizations (93) have fallen (-8) while the number of infected people in an ICU (20) has inched up (+1) and of those the number on a respirator (14) has also risen slightly (+2).
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On the vaccination front, to date 2,838,236 1st vaccination doses (48.5% of the total population) have been administered while 1,542,215 people (26.4%) are now fully vaccinated.
Yesterday 79,037 total vaccinations were done.
Region Syddanmark says it has received 80,410 vaccine doses this week again, almost all of them are Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine doses. The doses on hand will go to the target groups currently on deck. The region is working through sending invitations out, or getting first doses to those aged 16 to 24 years old and the 40-to 74-year-old age group. It says young people turning 16 years old this year will be invited to get vaccinated “on an ongoing basis.”
The Southern Denmark Health Region is also warning about a slow down of vaccinations in July due to fewer vaccine doses coming to Denmark next month. It says the National Health Board “expects everyone to be offered vaccination during September.” Another health region, Region MidtJylland, has already warned it doesn’t expect to finish vaccinations until the end of September. So it is likely the vaccination calendar will be delayed again.
To date, in Southern Denmark, 577,985 people (47.2%) have had one dose and 321,224 (26.2%) are now fully vaccinated.
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Denmark’s Health Minister Magnus Heunicke says the alternate vaccination scheme, run by a private contractor, Practio has administered over 35,000 doses of the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Heunicke says there is no longer a queue to get vaccinated using Practio. Initially, over 20,000 people in Denmark had signed up to a waiting list to get access to the two vaccines shelved by the Danish Health Board before Practio began operations a few weeks ago.
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The impact of the vaccination campaign continues to be reflected in the number of new infections by age group in the last seven days. Infection numbers are falling like a rock for those 50 years old and older. For those over 70, new COVID cases have almost vanished.
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As infections decline and hospitalizations drop, Denmark has decided to send surplus protective equipment and medical equipment to Nepal as it battles a Delta variant-driven infection wave.
Section Leader of the Danish Emergency Management Agency Brian Thøste Christensen spoke to DR:
“It is a big task that has been set in motion. A task force under the ministries finds out what we can contribute, what is needed in Nepal and what we can do without here in Denmark.”
Protective equipment, masks, ventilators, and other equipment will be flown from Billund to Nepal.
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As expected, the Swedish Public Health Agency says there will not be an update on COVID numbers today, nor will there be any new updates for the “next few days.” This is due to its infectious disease database SmiNet, which stores coronavirus case information, being offline. The database was taken offline on Sunday due to “a possible security flaw.” As for when COVID updates might resume, the agency says “updated statistics are expected to be published within a few days.”
The health agency also says that it will provide an update on COVID variants, including the Delta variant, at a press conference set for Thursday. Earlier this week, a Delta variant outbreak was declared in two Swedish regions.
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Sweden is updating vaccination stats still. To date there have been 4,243,415 1st doses (51.8% of the population) and 2,293,934 2nd vaccine doses (28%) administered.
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The Swedish Public Health Agency has extended General COVID guidelines until at least September 30. The guidelines are basically recommendations for how people should behave to reduce infection spread. The recommendations cover things like social distancing, working from home when ever possible, avoiding crowds, and staying home if you have any coronavirus symptoms, etc.
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Norway has added 245 infections and one more corona death since yesterday’s update.
COVID hospitalizations (47) and those on a ventilator (10) remain unchanged while ICU numbers(15) have crept up (+1).
To date 37.21% of Norwegians have one vaccine dose and 25.32% have had both.
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The Norwegian Institute of Public Health says it is growing more concerned about the Delta COVID variant (B.1.617.2). There have been 139 confirmed Delta variant infections in Norway, and, the NIPH notes “an increasing proportion of viruses that are sequenced are the Delta variant.” The institute is forecasting that the variant will spread further in Norway “and may eventually become the dominant virus strain.”
Department Director Line Vold:
“The Delta variant causes more serious disease than the Alpha variant and is more easily transmitted. Vaccination with only one dose protects a little less against disease caused by this variant. Fortunately, it seems that the protection against serious illness, even with just one vaccine dose, is very good. We follow the situation closely. We expect that the epidemic can still be kept under control with effective implementation of current measures and continued rapid vaccination of as many as possible.”
The agency is not yet hitting the alarm bell and will maintain a 12-week interval between first and second vaccine doses.
Looking to its Nordic neighbours the health agency notes Denmark has been able to keep a lid on its Delta infections but “Finland and Sweden, have reported major outbreaks with Delta in recent weeks.”
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Finland has registered 103 infections and had three coronavirus deaths in its once a week major update.
COVID hospitalizations week to week (43) are down (-15) ICU numbers (12) are up (+5).
To date 2,896,238 1st doses (51.9% of the population) and 747,607 2nd vaccine doses (13.4%) have been administered.
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Finland’s BTI is reporting that the Finnish government will announce a partial reopening of its borders tomorrow. BTI says restrictions on cross-border traffic for commuters coming from Estonia, Sweden, and Norway will be eased, effective next week.
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Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn says about 170,000 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years old have had a first vaccine dose. For the population as a whole 40.7 million people in Germany y (48.9%) have one vaccination dose and 23 million (27.6%) are fully vaccinated.
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The latest assessment from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control warns EU member nations to be cautious when easing COVID restrictions. It says that a “large proportion of the population across Europe” remains vulnerable to the coronavirus.
While the ECDC’s newest assessment marks a decrease in the overall pandemic situation across Europe, it emphasizes the dangers of potential super spreading events like UEFA EURO 2020, especially if games with large crowds take place without sufficient mitigation measures.
The agency remains concerned about the Delta variant due to it’s transmissibility and potential to cause a more serious course of the disease, resulting in increased hospitalizations. It also notes the variants “slight to moderate reduction in vaccine effectiveness” especially with just one dose.
“Modelling suggests that a significant increase in COVID-19-related cases in the EU/EEA remains possible when NPIs (Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions) are rapidly relaxed or vaccination rollout delayed.”
It encourages EU member nations to prioritize and accelerate vaccination campaigns while providing access for vulnerable, hard-to-reach, and hesitant populations. To date in the EU, 46.2% of three adult population has one dose and 22.3% are fully vaccinated. Uptake is the highest among seniors 80 years old and older (80.5%/66.3%) and health care workers (87%/65.2%).
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The Civil Liberties Union for Europe says its worst fears about privacy concerns and COVID infection detection and contact tracing apps did not materialize. The watchdog group says, surprisingly, we have big tech companies to thank. The report says Apple and Google pushed back against the idea of EU countries storing contact tracing and other data on central servers. Instead opting, for a system where people’s data never left their device.
Senior Advocacy Officer Orsolya Reich:
“It’s ironic that citizens have Big Tech companies to thank for protecting their privacy with these contact-tracing apps, particularly given how these companies have been pioneers in monetising people’s data and creating online commercial surveillance in the first place. Our elected, democratic governments, who have an obligation to protect our privacy, were interested in creating central databases of people’s data, which could have allowed governments easy access to the social networks of their citizens. Thankfully, this didn’t happen.”
Reich says EU countries pushed for these apps with varying degrees of success, without much transparency, and often outside normal procurement rules. Croatia saw the poorest rate of use for contact tracing apps, with just 2% of the population downloading it. The EU countries with the highest download rates were Ireland, Finland, Denmark, and Germany.
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New infections in the UK breached 9,000 today for the first time since February 25th as the Delta variant continues to push up the infection curve. Over the last week infections and hospitalizations continue to increase while fatalities are now treading water.
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Canada’s infection numbers continue to fall like a rock with just 809 infections reported yesterday however the country still suffered another 30 coronavirus deaths.
The Canadian mass vaccination campaign has administered 24,683,643 1st dose inoculations (64.95% of the population) while 5,239,604 people (13.79%) are now fully vaccinated.
In Ontario today Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted “Ontario is reporting 384 cases of #COVID19 and nearly 28,100 tests completed. Locally, there are 71 new cases in Waterloo, 60 in Peel, 54 in Toronto, 23 in Middlesex-London and 21 in Ottawa. As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 11,732,414 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered. This includes 202,984 doses administered yesterday, a new record!” Over 75% of Ontario’s adult population has now had one vaccine dose. There were also 12 more deaths.
Quebec reported 153 infections and another virus death.
In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia has eight new infections. Newfoundland and Labrador had one. New Brunswick has yet to report.
Manitoba saw 115 new infections and two more virus fatalities.
There were 47 infections and another four deaths in Saskatchewan yesterday.
Alberta recorded 127 infections and four more corona deaths yesterday.
B.C. registered 108 infections and had no new coronavirus deaths over the previous 24 hours.