The Evening Report - June 9th
Denmark’s pandemic situation officially in decline
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Denmark has tightened COVID travel restrictions for anyone coming from the UK due to Delta variant (B.1.617.2) fears. As of midnight Thursday (Thurs/Fri) everyone coming from the UK must have a negative COVID test no more than 48 hours old, to board a plane to Denmark. The regions of Bedford, Blackburn with Darwen, Bolton, and Rossendale in Great Britain have also been declared COVID red zones. All travel to those regions, including for business, is strongly discouraged. Travelers from those specific regions face mandatory testing and quarantine upon arrival in Denmark.
The United Kingdom is categorized as an orange country, the requirement for a recognizable purpose as well as testing, and subsequent isolation for 10 days upon entry into Denmark applies. Fully vaccinated travelers remain exempt.
The restrictions will stay in place until at least June 26th.
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The Staten Serum Institut says it is keeping a close eye on concerning Delta variant developments in England. The SSI says the B.1.617.2 variant is now the dominant coronavirus strain in the UK and is estimated to be 50% more contagious than the Alpha (B.1.1.7) strain.
Here in Denmark, the agency says so far they are not seeing any aggressive growth of the variant. To date, there are 114 confirmed Delta variant infections. It says vaccinations and a robust testing and contact tracing regime have helped to keep the variant at bay.
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Huge news. Denmark’s COVID contact rate (reinfection rate or R0) has fallen to 0.8. It had been treading water at 1.1 for the five weeks previous. Anything over one means degrees if a spreading outbreak, while anything under one means declining infections.
On Twitter, Health Minister Magnus Heunicke says “Friends, it seems that we have a declining epidemic in Denmark.” He attributes the drop to the “seasonal effect” warmer weather and more people outside, where the virus has a harder time spreading, as well as Denmark’s vaccination efforts.
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The number of kommunes across the country with infection rates exceeding 200 per 100,000 residents has fallen to just one, Aalborg.
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Denmark is reporting 904 COVID infections and had no new coronavirus deaths in the last day.
There were 881,771 total corona tests done, 700,832 rapid and 180,939 PCR, for a (PCR only) positivity percentage of 0.50%. (I am not sure if the number of tests is just yesterday or whether there is a catch up element from the previous two days.)
COVID hospitalizations (122) declined slightly (-2) while the number of infected people in an ICU (27) is unchanged and of those the number on a ventilator (17) also edged downward (-2).
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On the vaccination effort, to date there have been 2,497,930 1st dose vaccinations (42.7% of the total population) while 1,414,966 people (24.2%) are now fully vaccinated.
Yesterday, there were 77,886 total vaccinations administered. This is the second day in a row where daily vaccinations exceeded 70,000 as a June vaccinations surge arrives. We still haven’t hit the 100,000 vaccinations per day we were promised would happen long before now.
The Danish National Health Board says in the next two weeks, first vaccination invitations will go out to those 25 to 29 and 35 to 39 years of age. It will also continue to vaccinate the last age group that was called on deck those aged 20 to 24 and 40 to 44 years old.
The vaccination impact and perhaps the seasonal effect, are being reflected in the number of infections over the last seven days, by age group. New infection among those over the age of 60 has almost vanished. New corona cases is staying concentrated in those under 60, especially people 10 to 29 years old.
Region Syddanmark has released its weekly vaccination update. The health region received 80,540 vaccine doses this week. Again, most of them are from Pfizer/BioNTech. The 8,000 Moderna doses will continue to go to healthcare workers who have had AstraZeneca as their first dose. The health authority has sent out first invitations to those aged 20 to 24 and 40 to 44 years old.
To date, 515,792 people (42.1%) who live in Southern Denmark have had one vaccination-dose, while 295,443 people (24.1%) are fully vaccinated.
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The Staten Serum Institut says a major technical issue preventing the coronapas from updating recent test results has been fixed. Everything should be working normally again today. It advises anyone who may still be having any issues to reboot the app.
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Sweden is reporting 1,165 infections and another 16 corona deaths since yesterday’s update. The Swedish Public Health Agency still says to take numbers “with caution” due to SmiNet issue of almost two weeks ago.
To date 3,995,634 1st dose (48.8% of the population) and 1,892,613 2nd vaccine doses (23.1%) have been administered.
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Region Stockholm reports today it has 96 COVID patients in the region’s hospitals, marking the first time since October 23 of last year that hospitals have seen fewer than 100 corona patients. Of the 96, there are 28 in ICU.
The region saw 33,000 vaccinations yesterday, with Acting Director of Health and Medical Care Johan Bratt saying “it is important that we get enough vaccines to be able to keep this high pace over the summer.”
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The Swedish Public Health Agency has released a study finding that people with “well-treated HIV infection” are not at any increased risk of COVID. The agency says there are just over 8,100 people in Sweden living with HIV and of those, 96% are considered to be “well-treated.”
Acting Head of Unit Desireé Ljungcrantz:
“Research from other countries gives an indication of the situation in Sweden as well. Our report shows that the risk factors for severe covid-19 are more common in the group with low so-called CD4 counts that indicate the status of the immune system. Therefore, an early diagnosis is important.”
But the agency has found that other factors like inequality, country of birth, and other underlying health conditions among those with HIV can increase the risk of COVID.
The agency has also identified that people with HIV are at an increased risk of depression. While it is not sure what the exact connection is, it is looking to increase social supports for that group.
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Finland has registered 126 new infections and 5 more virus deaths since yesterday’s update.
COVID hospitalizations (58) are down (-14) ICU numbers (7) also down (-7).
To date 2,691,057 1st dose (48.3% of the population) and 640,334 2nd vaccine doses (11.5%) have been administered.
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The Finnish Institute for Health is citing new studies from Spain, Germany, and the United Kingdom in saying there is no danger or efficacy concerns in switching from AstraZeneca to an mRNA vaccine between a first and second dose. The studies, which aren’t yet peer-reviewed, found protections against COVID remained high even when switching vaccines. The institute says “The so-called cell-mediated immunity, which prolongs the duration of protection and strengthens the body's ability to fight particularly severe coronavirus disease, was also at a good level.”
Chief Physician Hanna Nohynek:
“These results support our previous assessment that the administration of two different vaccine products is both a safe and a good protective option. It was previously suspected that combining vaccine products could produce more transient side effects such as fever and muscle pain than when the same vaccine product was given. The results of the present study do not support this suspicion, as those who received two different products have not experienced significantly more adverse effects than those who received one product.”
Finland still uses the AstraZeneca vaccine in its immunization program, but offers people who have had a first dose the option of changing to either Pfizer or Moderna for their second shot. The institute says about 100,000 people have opted to switch vaccines for their second dose.
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Norway has added 231 infections and another five coronavirus deaths since yesterday’s update.
COVID hospitalizations (59) are down (-3) while the number of infected people in an ICU (17) also dipped (-4) and of those the number on a ventilator (9) is also down (-1).
To date 34.31% of Norwegians have one vaccine dose and 22.44% have had both.
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The Norwegian Institute for Public Health says 90% of those who had AstraZenecaas a first done have now taken an mRNA vaccine as their second dose. Efforts are now being made to get the last 10% fully vaccinated.
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The Norwegian Institute for Public Health says the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is now available outside the national immunization program. It says anyone interested in being vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson must see a doctor, get a risk assessment, and then have the vaccine prescribed and administered by their doctor.
Norway removed the one-shot vaccine from their vaccination program due to concerns about rare but potentially deadly side effects.
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There were over a million vaccinations administered in Germany yesterday according to the country’s Health Minister Jens Spahn. He says there are 38.6 million people in Germany (46.5% of the population) with one vaccine dose and 19 million (22.8%) who are now fully vaccinated.
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All tiger reserves in India have been ordered closed after COVID outbreaks in zoos and reserves around the country. A lioness who tested positive for the coronavirus died a few days ago. The move is being made not to protect tourists but the tigers, who are an endangered species. According to the World Wildlife Federation, there are fewer than 4,000 left on earth.
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Canada is ending the required stay in quarantine hotels and other restrictions for fully vaccinated Canadian citizens (not tourists) who are fully vaccinated. But they will still face mandatory testing upon arrival and “must have isolation plan in place until the test result comes back.” The change is expected to come into force in July.
Exemptions for fully vaccinated travelers are also expected to be built into a reopening of the US/Canada border, which is expected to happen in phases.
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Canada has reported 1,268 new infections and suffered another 30 deaths. Infection rates in Canada are now at the lowest point seen this year.
On the vaccination front in Canada to date 23,664,147 1st doses (62.27% of the population) while 3,178,886 people (8.36%) are now fully vaccinated.
In Ontario today Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted “Ontario is reporting 411 cases of #COVID19 and nearly 30,500 tests completed. Locally, there are 97 new cases in Toronto, 72 in Peel, 35 in Waterloo, 26 in York Region and 25 in Hamilton. As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 10,445,119 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, including 177,506 doses administered yesterday.“ There were also 33 deaths.
Quebec reported 178 infections and another eight deaths.
In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia recorded 13 infections. Newfoundland and Labrador had three. New Brunswick one.
Manitoba saw 237 infections and two more deaths yesterday.
There were 90 infections and another two deaths in Saskatchewan yesterday.
Alberta recorded 139 infections and another three fatalities yesterday.
B.C. reported 165 infections and had no new corona deaths yesterday.