The Evening Report - May 3
Sweden and Finland inch closer to joining NATO. Denmark to destroy vaccine doses
🇺🇦/ 🇷🇺 War
🇫🇮 🇸🇪/ 🇩🇪 NATO
Any doubts left about whether Finland and Sweden will apply for NATO membership were further whittled down this week. The Finnish and Swedish Prime Ministers, Sanna Marin and Magdalena Andersson, paid Germany a state visit on Tuesday to discuss Ukraine and the European security situation. After the meeting, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin all but confirmed NATO membership was imminent.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed the security policy situation in such a way that there is no going back to the way things were. We now see more clearly where Russia wants to take us. Russia has made it very clear that it is not committed to the fundamental principles of European security nor international law. NATO has consistently reaffirmed its open door policy. Which continues to be a key element of European security. As Russia wrongfully claims the right to dictate choices for others, NATO’s open door policy is even more important for us all.”
Marin added:
“We have to decide on whether to apply for NATO membership or continue on our current path. That is the discussion we are having now in our national parliament."
Adding more fuel to the fire, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that both Sweden and Finland could count on German support should they apply for NATO membership.
For her part, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said her government is waiting for a review of her country’s security situation due to be tabled on May 13.
“The analysis includes future international defense partnerships for Sweden, including a discussion on NATO, and all options are on the table. While our respective security arrangements are of course decided nationally, we coordinate very closely with Finland.”
🇸🇪/ NATO
If Sweden and Finland apply for NATO membership, they will receive protection from alliance countries during the application process. That is according to Sweden’s Defense Minister in an interview with Swedish media publication SVT.
Peter Hultqvist was careful not to call it a security guarantee but instead referred to commitments from NATO countries as a “security insurance.”
“If we are to join NATO, it is very important that there is some form of assurance from countries within NATO that they are prepared to defend Sweden and Finland. This could mean in practice the presence of air combat forces in the area; it could be the presence of naval units; it could be troops that participate in various exercises.”
He was asked if that meant an increased military presence by NATO in both countries during the application process.
“It is what we expect in such a situation, that we get a higher military presence from countries we normally cooperate with and from the NATO side.”
That said, Hultqvist emphasized that this does not mean that Sweden will, or will not, apply to join NATO.
“As for the decision itself, I will tell you how we and we look at it once the decision has been made, what security policy choice we make.”
🇸🇪/ 🇺🇦
Sweden’s Foreign Affairs Minister Ann Linde said a fifth meeting took place this week between the Swedish parliamentary parties to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its impacts on the Swedish security situation.
“The fact that the government and the Riksdag have both been involved in the deliberations is a strength. The pros and cons of a possible Swedish membership in NATO were discussed.”
Linde is currently in the United States where she is meeting with American politicians about the Ukraine situation. Interestingly, included among the meetings she is having was time with Senator Joni Ernst, who sits on the Senate NATO Observer Group.
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Linde also announced this week that Sweden is also reopening its embassy in Kyiv. She says Sweden’s diplomatic presence will be back where it belongs.
🇩🇰/ 🇺🇦
On Monday, another 340 Danish soldiers deployed to Latvia, joining about 750 soldiers now stationed in the three Baltic states. The Danish Armed Forces confirmed the deployment calling it a deterrent mission against Russia’s aggression.
“Thus, the Armed Forces and Denmark contribute to the credibility of NATO Article 5 and send a clear signal of alliance solidarity: An attack on a member country is an attack on the entire NATO alliance.”
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Denmark’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jeppe Kofod was in Kyiv on Monday to see first-hand the damage Russia’s faltering invasion has inflicted.
“Horrible to witness the destructions here in the suburbs of Kyiv. Denmark firmly supports the work to investigate and prosecute those responsible for these attacks.”
While in Kyiv, Kofod also met with Ukrainian President Voldomyr Zelensky and reiterated Denmark’s support for Ukraine, its desire to keep shipping weapons to Ukrainians, and to help with the rebuilding process.
He also reopened the Danish embassy in Kyiv.
“An important step is that today we reopen the embassy after Russia's attack. Touching to meet both local employees and Danes who have been through here in the capital for the past two months.”
While in Ukraine the country’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, pressed Jeppe Kofod for Denmark’s support in Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union.
“As long as Ukraine remains outside the EU bloc, Putin will continue his efforts to retake Ukraine.”
Kofod responded by saying Ukraine deserves “all our support.”
“The fact that they want to be closer to the EU, have a partnership and be a candidate country, we must do everything we can to help them succeed in achieving their dream. That is our commitment to the rest of Europe.”
🇩🇰( 🇮🇳 🇺🇦
For the first time in 20 years, an Indian Prime Minister paid Denmark an official state visit on Tuesday. Narendra Modi met with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday before attending a state dinner hosted by Queen Margrethe II.
Frederiksen posted to her social media channels that the two discussed several topics including a green strategic partnership. She said Russia’s invasion of Ikraine was also raised.
“Prime Minister Modi and I have today discussed the war in Ukraine. I have made it clear where Denmark and the EU stand. And I have emphasized that we would like India to use its influence over Putin.”
Europe is trying a charm offensive to entice Modi with economic opportunities to sway him away from Russia’s orbit. Modi has been not so quietly supporting Russia, including increasing imports of Russian oil, since the invasion began.
🇩🇪/ 🇺🇦
According to Germany’s Interior Ministry more than 400,000 Ukrainian refugees have entered the country since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
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According to a report from Die Welt the German government has decided to send seven Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers to Ukraine. The newspaper cites sources in reporting the story. Those howitzers are among the most powerful artillery weapons in the German inventory. They can hit targeted some 40 kilometers away. Further the newspaper reports that Ukrainians will be trained in Germany on how to use them.
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Germany is continuing its change of attitude towards Russia as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told German TV station that Russia will continue to face sanctions until there is peace.
“He (Putin) did not think that Ukraine would resist in this way. He did not think we would support them so they could endure this long. We will not remove the sanctions unless he reaches an agreement with Ukraine
Scholz says Putin has miscalculated if he is banking on conquering Ukrainian lands and then at the end expecting sanctions to just disappear.
🇪🇺/ 🇷🇺
According to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, the European Union will soon levy a sixth round of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
🦠Pandemic🦠
🇩🇰
Over a million COVID vaccine doses are about to be thrown away in Denmark. The Danish Statens Serum Institute says despite its best efforts to donate the surplus vaccines to developing countries, about 1.1 million Moderna doses will reach their expiration date within a few weeks. When they do the doses will be destroyed. Lots more vaccine doses could soon follow suit in the months ahead.
The SSI says, as in other countries, Denmark is dealing with a lot of surplus vaccine doses and very little demand. It says globally supply also vastly exceeds demand, making it challenging to find countries to donate surplus doses too. All told, the SSI says it reached out to more than 70 countries, the international vaccine collaborative COVAX, the EU’s vaccine task force, and even the manufacturers themselves with no luck.
The institute warns that in the coming months, if the vaccine surplus continues to exceed demand, even more vaccine doses will also have to be destroyed as they reach their best before dates.
So far, Denmark has donated a total of over 9.3 million doses of vaccines to 20 different countries. Of those, the vast majority were donated through COVAX.
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Denmark’s Health Minister Magnus Heunicke says for a second straight week Denmark’s COVID contact number (reinfection rate or R0) remains at 0.7.
“We therefore still see clear indications of a steadily declining epidemic.”
Heunicke says COVID wastewater monitoring also continues to show dropping virus activity across all five Danish regions.
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COVID hospitalizations (586) continue to fall (-45) while the number of severe infections in an ICU (5) also dropped (-3) of those the number on a ventilator (2) crept up (+1). #COVID admissions to a psych ward (186) dipped (-5).
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Denmark reported 993 infections (underreported), including 80 reinfections, and eight more coronavirus deaths in the last day.
Yesterday, there were 10,540 PCR corona tests taken equaling a positivity percentage of 9.42%. It is worth noting that the daily positivity percentage continues to drop.
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On the vaccination front, the numbers continue to tread water, with 82.1% of the total population with one vaccine dose, 80.7% with two, and 61.6% having a booster shot.
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Denmark’s Staten Serum Institute says mink farming can resume in the country, but only to a limited extent. The SSI says the risk of a dangerous COVID variant evolving in the farmed mink population is low. It deems that is due to the high level of protection against COVID due to vaccination and the saturation of Omicron infections and initially not having huge numbers of farmed mink. That said, the agency does caution in its assessment that if a new and more dangerous COVID variant evolves from the pool of farmed mink and jumps to humans, there would be major consequences.
In November of 2020, the Danish ordered the culling of the entire farmed mink population, around 17 million animals, after a concerning variant jumped from farmed mink to humans. The decision was later deemed to be illegal and is the current focus of a commission of inquiry into the government’s handling of the matter. The Danish government has also had to shell out billions of kroner in compensation to mink farmers who were suddenly stripped of their livelihood.
🇸🇪
Sweden only updates its COVID statistics once a week, every Thursday.
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The Swedish Public Health Agency has created a contingency plan in the event the COVID pandemic takes another nasty turn. While it didn’t reveal specifics about what the plan contains, the agency did say that it lays out pandemic advice, recommendations, and “other possible infection control measures” in the event of another major infection wave.
The agency is careful to specify that by filing this contingency plan with the government it is a case of being prepared for the worst, and should not be seen as a forecast of what it expects to happen.
It says the contingency plan also touches on critical infrastructure and how different agencies and businesses should maintain operations in the event large numbers I’d staff are out sick “and other disruptions.”
Director General Karin Tegmark Wisell:
“The most important thing right now is that everyone who has the opportunity gets vaccinated to protect themselves from severe infections. At the same time, the consequences for society are reduced, for example, the current burden on hospital care and work absences. The Swedish Public Health Agency recommends, for example, that everyone aged 65 and older take a fourth dose of the COVID vaccine.”
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The number of COVID hospitalizations in Sweden’s capital region continues to drop. There were 170 infected patients as of Tuesday, according to Region Stockholm, who said that was 17 fewer than at this point last week. It says about half of those are in hospital directly because of a severe coronavirus infection. The other half had been admitted for a non-pandemic reason but were also infected.
Chief Physician Johan Bratt:
“We do not see any signals of an increased spread of infection and the number of patients with COVID at our hospitals continues to decline slowly.”
Bratt says the region continues to hammer home the vaccination message.
“The vaccination work continues. It is particularly gratifying that in the past week, more than 2,000 people have chosen to start their vaccination by getting their first dose. Each vaccination is important and reduces the risk of becoming seriously ill and potentially being hospitalized.”
The region says it has confirmed 576 new infection cases in the last week. That number is a little more underreported than usual due to a technical issue preventing any testing results from senior care homes from being able to be reported.
The region also added at least another nine fatalities. Mortality statistics from senior care homes are included in the technical issue mentioned above. This is, of course, in addition to Sweden still struggling with a backlog of reporting pandemic deaths.
🇳🇴
Norway added 524 infections and reported no new pandemic deaths in the last 24 hours.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health no longer reports daily hospitalization numbers.
So far, 80.4% of Norwegians 12 years old and older have one vaccine dose, 74.8% have two, and 54.4% have a booster dose.
🇫🇮
Finland only updates its COVID statistics once a week every Thursday.
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The Finnish Institute for Health and the National Vaccine Expert Group will make a decision this week on whether eligibility for a second booster dose should, or should not, be broadened. At the moment, Finland only allows seniors 80 years old and older, seniors in care, and people who are immunocompromised to have a fourth dose.
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COVID hospitalizations edged upward in Finland over the weekend. The Finnish Institute for Health says as of Monday, there were 802 pandemic patients, which is 43 more than were reported on Friday. Of those, 25 were in an ICU.
🇩🇪
Germany recorded 113,522 new infections in the 24 hours since its Monday update while suffering the loss of 240 lives to the pandemic.
It added 1,553 COVID hospitalizations, while ICU numbers (1,323) dropped slightly (-16). As a percentage of all intensive care beds in the country, coronavirus patients are using 6.1%.
To date, 77.6% of the population have one vaccine dose, 75.8% have two, and 59.3% have had a booster dose.
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Germany has adjusted its COVID isolation recommendations. Anyone who tests positive must immediately isolate, but the quarantine can now be ended with a negative test or after five days of isolation.
🇨🇦
Hospitalization numbers continue to rise across Canada as another COVID wave rolls through. The total number of hospital beds used by coronavirus patients in the week ending April 25, increased to 7,008, which is 343 more than the week before. Regular hospital admissions rose from 6,550 to 6,891. While intensive care capacity numbers crept upward by two to 460 beds in use. The only statistic that continues to buck the trend is the number of people on a ventilator, which declined slightly to 188, six fewer than the week previous.
Canada reported 2,354 new infection cases on Monday (wildly underreported) while suffering four more coronavirus deaths.
The national positivity percentage over the last seven days was 14.5%.
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So far the Canadian vaccination effort has administered 32,989,602 1st vaccine doses (86.28% of the total population) while 31,265,209 people (81.77%) have two doses, and of those, 18,417,264 people are fully vaccinated with three doses. The vaccination campaign in Canada has been reduced to the same crawl as other countries with numbers now barely moving from one day to the next.
