The Evening Report - May 27th

Danish football celebration linked coronavirus outbreak continues to grow.

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We should get more information about the Danish coronapas app soon. Finance Minister Nicolai Wammen has called a press conference for Friday afternoon at Copenhagen Airport to discuss the digital vaccine passport. Also attending are Health Minister Magnus Heunicke and Transportation Minister Benny Engelbrech. Judging by the location and inclusion of Denmark’s transportation minister there will probably be a large focus on the travel aspect of the coronapas system.

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The Danish Agency for Patient Safety says the number of confirmed COVID infections from Monday’s big football win and subsequent celebrations at Brøndby Stadium has now risen to 17. Yesterday it said the infected people covered a broad spectrum from people in the stands watching the game and those who showed up afterwards to celebrate the big win. The agency says anyone at the game or who was celebrating in the streets afterwards should get tested immediately and then get another coronavirus test two days later. 

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A new study seems to indicate Denmark’s approach to battling the coronavirus has paid off. The scientific journal BMJ looked at excess death rates in 2020 across 29 high income countries and found that there were 979,000 more deaths last year than in previous years before the pandemic. 

While excess death rates in some countries were 114% higher than any previous year in 2020, three countries saw no increase at all. They are Denmark, Norway, and New Zealand.  

Roskilde University Epidemiology Professor Lone Simonsen old Netavisen Pio that the measures taken by Denmark to combat COVID virtually wiped out the influenza season - meaning there were almost no flu deaths last year. 

"It is part of history that Denmark's excess mortality due to corona is difficult to measure unless you correct for how many fewer people have died from the flu.” 

Excess deaths are one way of measuring the true death toll of the COVID pandemic. The researchers concluded that many countries have far underreported the number of COVID deaths. They estimate on average that the death rate worldwide is at least 1.6 times higher than reported. Over 3.5 million deaths have been reported around the world to date which puts the estimated ‘true’ coronavirus death toll at around 5.6 million. 

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The Danish Health Authority says people recovering from COVID are at an increased risk of complications from surgery. The agency says “new knowledge” has shown that people infected with coronavirus are particularly at risk of surgical complications in the first six weeks of recovery. 

Unit Head Bolette Søborg:

“For operations that are not acute, we recommend that the doctor makes a concrete and individual health professional assessment of whether the operation can be postponed until 7 weeks after the infection. For some patients, the risk of postponing the operation will be greater than the risk of being operated on, and then of course you have to have the operation as planned.” 

It has also updated guidelines for vaccinated health care workers who are at increased risk, including pregnant women. They shouldn’t work in areas where there is a high probability of close contact with infected people. They are otherwise okay to perform their jobs as usual, including being in contact with patients. 
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Denmark is reporting 1,119 COVID infections and no new coronavirus deaths in the last day.

Yesterday there were 562,266 total corona tests done, 150,549 PCR and 401,717 rapid, for a (PCR only) positivity percentage of 0.70%.

The number of kommunes with COVID infection incidence rates exceeding 200 per 100,000 people continues to decline. Currently there are just six, with all but one of them being in the Metro Copenhagen area.

There is good news on the variant front. Denmark is not seeing explosive growth of any of the variants of concern currently confirmed in the country. The number of confirmed case of the very concerning India variant sub-type B.1.617.2 is at 84 while there are 27 confirmed infections of its parent variant B.1.617. 

The number of confirmed cases of the further mutated UK variant continue to creep upward. As of May 21st there are now 235 confirmed cases of the variant with the added E484K ‘escape’ mutation.
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COVID hospitalizations (149) have inched up (+1) while the number of infected people in an ICU (36) and of those the number of people on a ventilator (22) remain the same..

On the vaccination front to date, 1,984,642 1st dose vaccinations (33.9% of the population) have been administered while 1,217,971 people (20.8%) are now fully vaccinated.

Yesterday there were 60,113 total vaccinations done.

Practio, the company contracted to administer shelved AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines though the optional vaccination scheme, has opened its first clinic. The clinic at the DHI byen in Copenhagen opened its doors this morning and the first vaccinations under the alternate scheme were administered. Practio says the waiting list for the two shelved vaccines now exceeds 27,000 people. It will soon open up other vaccination centers in Roskilde, Odense, Aarhus, and Aalborg. The Aarhus clinic opens tomorrow.

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Busy day today for health staff in Region Sjælland. Teams were out in Holbæk, Næstved, and Slagelse getting shut-ins and those with mobility challenges vaccinated in the comfort of their own homes. Another group jumped the ferry to Femø to get island residents inoculated against COVID. 

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Sweden’s Public Health Agency says an IT issue is impacting today’s COVID numbers reporting. With that in mind, Sverige added 1,366 infections and another 15 corona deaths since yesterday’s update.

To date, 3,628,841 1st dose (44.3% of the population) and 1,281,966 2nd vaccine doses (15.7%) have been administered.

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The Swedish Public Health Agency is providing more details on the IT issue impacting today’s reporting of COVID numbers. The agency says its SmiNet system, used to store infectious disease reports, including case files on coronavirus infections, was subject to data breach attempts. It says “It is still unclear whether unauthorized persons may have accessed sensitive information.” The database has been temporarily shut down. 

The agency has notified the police and Swedish Privacy Protection Authority and is now investigating to see if any sensitive data was accessed. “There is still no indication that any information has fallen into the wrong hands, but the investigation is still ongoing.” 

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Sweden will begin gradually easing COVID restrictions beginning on June 1st. Currently while infection numbers are decreasing there is still a high infection spread and the health care system across the country remains strained. The Swedish Public Health Agency says its modeling is forecasting that “the spread of COVID19 is expected to end in early autumn 2021.” 

Agency Director General Johan Carlson: 

“We will be able to return to a normal situation, but it is still very important that everyone contributes to reducing the spread of infection. Together, we can reduce the infection until more people have been vaccinated.” 

In the first phase of easing restrictions on June 1st:

• Camping activities for youth can resume, as can small scale sporting events, and competitions.

• The number of athletes competing in sports competitions is capped at 150. 

• Capacity limits at amusement parks, for religious services, cultural, sporting events, and public markets will be increased. For indoor events with assigned seating attendees are capped at 50. For outdoor events without seating attendance is capped at 100, and if there is seating the cap is 500. 

• Restaurants and other eateries can stay open until 22:30.

The health agency says the restrictions around private parties and other social gatherings remain in place. As does the ban on renting venues for private parties of more than eight people. 

Provided the COVID situation continues to improve and vaccinations remain on track, a phase two of easing restrictions will happen “later this summer.” 

Among the restrictions to be further eased then:

• Attendance caps for sporting, cultural, and religious events will be further increased. 

• The number of athletes allowed to compete in an tournaments and competitions will also rise to 900. 

• Attendance caps for private parties will also increase to 50. 

• Opening hours for restaurants will be either extended or restrictions abolished entirely. 

• The restrictions on the number of people per square meter for indoor and outdoor events will be removed. 

• Limits on passengers and mask mandates will be scrapped for long distance buses and trains 

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The Swedish Public Health Agency says students and teachers in universities, colleges, folk high schools, polytechnics, and municipal adult education programs can begin gradually returning to class as of June 1st. 

Agency Department Head Britta Björkholm:

“In-class learning is important for knowledge acquisition and also for health in both the long and short term. We know that students 'and students' mental health has been negatively affected during the pandemic.” 

However, recommendations for school staff to work from home whenever possible will remain in place. 

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Finland registered 98 infections and had no new virus deaths since yesterday’s update.

COVID hospitalizations (99) are down (-2), ICU numbers (19) are up (+1).

To date 2,375,612 1st dose (42.6% of the population) and 435,057 2nd vaccine doses (7.8%) have been administered

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In its latest weekly assessment, the Finnish Institute for Health says the pandemic situation remains stable. However, it is warning about the threat of more transmissible variants and increasing social contacts as restrictions are eased. 

It pegs Finland’s COVID contact number (R0 or reinfection rate) at 1.15, a slight increase from last week. 

Last week infections decreased slightly from the week before (-100) while the incidence rate and positivity percentage were both a little lower. Importantly, the health agency notes infection cases dropped week to week among those under the age of 20. 6.9% of all infection activity last week was travel related. 

The health institute says there are regional differences with the highest rates in the southern and south-western parts of the country. In Kanta-Häme, the epidemic situation has deteriorated. Another area of corona concern is northern Finland due to fears that increasing coronavirus activity in both Northern Sweden and Norway could cross the border into Finland. 

On a positive note, the institute notes the impact of the country’s vaccination campaign will help fight the virus. Also helping out is the change to warmer summer weather. With more people outside, the virus has a harder time spreading further helping to keep numbers down. It is already noting a decline in the use of intensive care. 

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Norway has added 436 infections and had no new corona deaths since yesterday’s update.

COVID hospitalizations (88) are down (-11), ICU numbers (35) are up (+2), and ventilator numbers (18) are down (-4).

To date, 29.89% of Norwegians have had one vaccine dose and 15.08% have had both.

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Several weeks ago Norway began targeting vaccine doses in areas with high infection activity at the expense of areas with lower corona activity. Today the Norwegian government put hard limits on how many vaccine doses municipalities and regions with low infection rates have to surrender. No more than 35% of each region’s or municipality’s supply of vaccine doses can be taken to be redistributed to COVID hot spots.
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Norway is closely monitoring vaccinations to gather as much data as it can on vaccine induced COVID immunity. It is already tracking a number of people between 30 and 80 years old. Now its looking for younger volunteers between 18 and 30 years old in Oslo to participate. Study participants answer questionnaires and get blood tests both before and after vaccination. 

Norwegian Institute of Public Health Project Manager Per Magnus:

“It is very important to monitor the population's resistance to coronavirus, and whether the vaccines we use in Norway actually provide good protection. We hope that those who are invited to participate in the UngVoksen study will participate in this work.” 

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the heads of the country’s 16 states have agreed children as young as 12 can be vaccinated as of June 7th. However, the decision is contingent on the European Medicines Agency approving an application from Pfizer/BioNTech to expand its mRNA vaccine to children. The agency has said a decision is coming in June but hasn’t yet mentioned a specific date. Other countries including Canada and the United States have already approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine for children as young as 12.

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The German vaccination campaign continues to have rocket boosters on it. Health Minister Jens Spahn says 1.135 million vaccinations were administered yesterday. Among them, he says, were the first Johnson & Johnson inoculations done by family doctors.

To date, 34.5 million people in Germany (41.5% of the population) have one dose while 13 million (15.7%) are fully vaccinated. 

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Germany has begun field testing its vaccine passport system. Called CovPass, the digital vaccination certificate should be fully implemented by the end of June.

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Canada recorded 2,594 infections while suffering another 38 coronavirus deaths yesterday as its latest infection wave continues to recede.

Hospitalization numbers also continue to decline nationally with decreasing numbers of hospital admissions, ICU beds used, and people on a ventilator.

On the vaccination campaign to date, 20,195,295 1st doses have been administered (53.14% of the population) while 1,743,426 people are now fully vaccinated.

As for Ontario today Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted, “Ontario is reporting 1,135 cases of COVID19 and over 37,700 tests completed. Locally, there are 316 new cases in Toronto, 271 in Peel and 75 in York Region. As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 8,530,698 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.” There were also 19 more deaths.

Quebec reported 436 infections and another ten deaths.

In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia saw 33 infections. New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador each had six new infections.

Manitoba recorded 312 infections as its health system continues to strain under the pressure of its latest COVID wave. At least a dozen patients have been evacuated to hospitals in other provinces. Today more will be taken out of province as Saskatchewan opens ICU space for its hard hit neighbour. Today Manitoba extended all coronavirus restrictions until at least June 12th.

There were 151 infections and one more virus death in Saskatchewan yesterday.

Alberta registered 390 new infections yesterday along with another six deaths. There are 548 people in hospital with 157 in an ICU. Yesterday the province tabled an ambitious reopening plan that would see a possible return to ‘normal’ in July. 

B.C. reported 250 infections and three more virus deaths yesterday. There are 296 people in hospital with 97 in an ICU.