The Evening Report - March 23rd
Germany, Norway, and Finland tighten restrictions as Denmark reopens
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Promising results from an U.S. AstraZeneca trial released yesterday are being questioned today.
The American National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases released an unusual statement just after midnight calling in to question the British and Swedish vaccine maker’s trial results. The panel of medical experts from the Institute said they were “concerned” by what they called outdated information used by AstraZeneca. It urged the vaccine maker “to review the efficacy data and ensure the most accurate, up to date efficacy data be made public as quickly as possible.”
The highly unusual display of friction between the oversight committee and the vaccine maker is the latest chapter in a tense relationship between American authorities and AstraZeneca.
The trial data released yesterday claimed AstraZeneca was 79% effective against COVID, a higher efficacy than seen in previous studies. It also claims to prevent more severe cases and hospitalization.
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“Calm down.”
That is the message from the Acting Director of the Danish Medicines Agency, Mette Aaboe Hansen, who tweeted in reaction to the latest twist in the AstraZeneca story.
“Many numbers are flying around now. Trial data from the company must first be submitted to the European Medicines Agency before we can see if there is any evidence of this.”
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Denmark’s Health Minister Magnus Heunicke says the coronavirus contact number (reinfection rate or R0) has risen slightly to 1.1 up from 1.0. He says “we still have control” of the U.K. COVID variant and a gradual reopening is still feasible.
The contact number is a way of measuring virus spread or reinfection. A contact number under one indicates a declining outbreak while anything over one indicates spreading infection.
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Denmark is reporting 754 COVID infections and one more coronavirus death in the last day. Yesterday 272,517 total corona tests were done (148,643 PCR and 123,874 rapid) for a positivity percentage of 0.28%.
COVID hospitalizations (214) have increased (+22) while the number of infected people in an ICU (46) also crept up (+4). The number of patients on a ventilator (27) has also gone up (+6).
On the vaccination front to date, 640,688 1st dose (11% of the population) vaccinations have been administered while 323,878 people (5.5%) are now fully vaccinated. Yesterday 11,834 total vaccinations were done, which remains a far cry from the 100,000 per day goal.
The reopening plan agreed to by a majority of Danish political parties is getting mixed reviews.
EjendomDenmark, an organization representing the Danish real estate sector, welcomes the clarity in knowing when and how things will reopen.
But CEO Jannick Nytoft adds some of the decisions just don’t make any sense, for example differentiating between large shopping centers and department stores and those with a floor space of 15,000 m2 or less.
“It is incomprehensible to us that the shopping centers cannot open earlier and thus help to take advantage of Easter shopping in a controlled and safe way.”
He says shopping centers and big departments stores, regardless of size, are in dire need of an economic shot in the arm.
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Denmark’s National Health Board is urging everyone to forego the usual Easter celebrations and limit gatherings to individual households or those within a small corona social bubble.
Unit Manager Niels Sandø says the infection risk is still significant and people need to stay the course with existing restrictions.
“Society is slowly starting to reopen, and spring is on its way. Easter stands for hope, new life and new beginnings. However, the time is not quite for large gatherings with family and friends, as many people tend to do at this holiday.
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As Denmark keeps expanding its COVID testing capacity to reach 400,000 per day, the number of testing sites across the country now exceeds 500.
You can go HERE to find one near you.
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Sweden has added 14,063 infections and another 53 corona deaths since its last update on Friday.
To date, 971,736 1st dose (11.9% of the population) and 414,239 2nd dose (5.1%) vaccinations have been administered.
As of March 25th, the Swedish Public Health Agency is introducing new social distancing restrictions for museums, art galleries, amusement parks, zoos, and theme parks. For zoos, amusement, and theme parks the health agency is mandating 20 square meters per visitor. Museums and art galleries must ensure 10 square meters. A maximum attendance must be determined and the number of visitors capped. Efforts must be made to prevent crowding in common areas and around rides. Hand sanitizer and hand washing areas must also be made available.
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Finland has registered 640 infections and one more corona death since yesterday’s update.
COVID hospitalizations (238) are down (-13). ICU numbers (64) are up (+11).
To date 742,812 1st dose (13.3% of the population) and 87,600 2nd dose (1.6%) vaccinations have been done.
The Finnish government is proposing to extend the closure of restaurants, bars, nightclubs, cafes and outdoor terraces in areas with high infection rates until April 18th. Take out is still allowed. It is also debating whether or not to impose restrictions on people’s movements in the two most populated areas, Turku and Helsinki.
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The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) has decided to halve all public transport passenger capacity in Southwest Finland. This applies to passenger traffic moving by road or rail. The agency says the infection situation poses a threat to health and hospital infrastructure and steps need to be taken.
Director General Jarkko Saarimäki.
"The disease situation in the region of Southwest Finland is currently so serious that the last resort of the Communicable Diseases Act, ie. limiting the number of passengers, must also be introduced.”
The restriction does not apply to sleeping cabins on night trains being used by members of the same household.
The COVID incidence rate over the last 14 days in Southwest Finland was 250.8 per 100,000 inhabitants.
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Plans to ease COVID restrictions have been put on hold on in Norway and new national measures have been announced to try and bring down exploding infections numbers.
As of midnight Thursday..
Social distancing increases from one to two meters.
Guests in a private home are capped at two.
People in high infection areas should not travel or stay overnight elsewhere nor should have overnight guests.
Face masks are mandated in all public spaces where a two meter social distance cannot be observed.
Social contacts should be limited
People should only shop in stores and malls near their home
All unnecessary travel should be postponed. Exceptions for work, students coming home from school, and household trips to the family cottage.
University and college students move to online learning
Public alcohol sales are banned
Amusement parks, sports, leisure, and swimming facilities are to close. Exception for children’s swimming lessons.
People coming home from unnecessary trips abroad must quarantine in government isolation facilities.
Indoor events are capped at 20. Outdoor events and funerals are capped at 50.
Norway has added 1,592 infections and had no new virus deaths since yesterday’s update.
COVID hospitalizations (264) are down (-3), ICU numbers (71) are up (+3), while those on a ventilator (48) also inched up (+2).
To date, 770,894 1st dose vaccinations (9.42% of the population) have been administered while 169,370 people (4.88%) are now fully vaccinated.
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A study from Norway’s Institute of Public Health found people infected with the U.K. corona variant were more than two-and-a-half times likely to be hospitalized. The study falls in line with results of similar studies in Denmark and the U.K.
The institute says COVID hospitalizations “have increased sharply in recent weeks” with more hospitalized now than there was during the first wave in the spring of last year. This comes as the U.K. variant becomes the dominant coronavirus strain in Norway.
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Germany has slammed the brakes on easing COVID restrictions and has instead extended its lockdown restrictions until April 18th. It is also imposing an even stricter five day lockdown over Easter, from April 1st to the 5th, as infections rise.
Churches will be asked to hold Easter services online.
No more than five adults from two households will be able to meet over Easter
Public gatherings will be prohibited.
Virtually all shops and stores will be closed for the five days. Only grocery stores may open on Saturday, April 3.
Anyone from Germany holidaying abroad will have to be tested before boarding a flight back home.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned today that the country was in a very serious situation with “significantly more infectious and significantly more deadly” COVID variants creating “essentially a new pandemic.”
Today there were 4,241 infections and another 120 corona deaths.
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Yesterday, Canada recorded 4,934 new infections and another 40 corona deaths. However only 3,781 infections were from the previous 24 hour period with the remainder being three days worth of catch up data tabled by British Columbia.
On the vaccination campaign to date there have been 3,464,475 1st doses (9.12% of the population) administered while 633,459 people are now fully vaccinated.
COVID variants continue to spread across Canada. Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam reported another 244 U.K. variant and 20 P1 variant infections have been confirmed in the last 24 hours. Alberta has the most cases of the U.K. variant while B.C. has by far the highest number of P1 variant infections of all provinces.
Today, Ontario’s Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted, “Ontario is reporting 1,546 cases of COVID19 and nearly 32,600 tests completed. Locally, there are 465 new cases in Toronto, 329 in Peel and 161 in York Region. As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 1,603,699 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.” There were also nine more virus deaths.
There were 656 new infections and four more deaths in Quebec today.
In Atlantic Canada, Prince Edward Island reported two infections. Nova Scotia had one. For a fifth straight day Newfoundland and Labrador had no new infections. New Brunswick has yet to report.
There were 90 new infections and another seven deaths registered in Manitoba yesterday.
Saskatchewan recorded 178 new infections and one more death in yesterday’s report.
Corona numbers are rising in Alberta with 456 infections and five more deaths reported yesterday. 110 of those infections were “variants of concern,” which now make up 16% of sequenced positive test results. Even more concerning is that 88% of COVID patients in Alberta intensive care units are under the age of 65.
B.C. reported yesterday for the first time since Friday. It registered 1,785 total infections from Saturday to Monday. The rolling seven day average for infection cases is now around 600, the highest since mid-December. 16 more corona deaths were also reported.
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Another COVID wave continues to roll across India. It registered another 47,026 infections today as numbers climb.
