The Evening Report - July 2
Delta variant concerns rise in Denmark as does the variant numbers
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As of “early July” the Delta COVID strain will be the dominant variant in Denmark, eclipsing the Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant. This is according to a note from the Staten Serum Institut sent to the Danish parliament’s health spokespersons and posted on the SSI website.
In part it says:
“The infection pattern with the Delta variant has in recent weeks shown that over the summer it can be expected to cause major outbreaks, where there will be a need for extensive efforts across the authorities to break the infection chains.”
The SSI warns that infection numbers will increase as restrictions are lifted and society reopens. The Institut has already warned the variant could be 90% more contagious than the Alpha variant. Other studies have it pegged between 40% to 60% more contagious.
SSI Director Henrik Ullum says we are in a race.
“There is great global concern about the clearly more contagious Delta variant, and we are now seeing an increasing number of cases infected with this variant. Our strategy has been to delay the emergence of the Delta variant as much as possible, and spend time getting as many people vaccinated as possible. So it's a bit of a race.”
Today’s variant update from the Staten Serum Institut says another 94 cases have been confirmed to be Delta variant infections. That pushes the total to-date number to 664. The latest chart showing the variant’s share as a percentage of all sequenced positive tests is alarming.
Aalborg University Professor, and co-founder of DNASense Mads Albertsen is adding his voice to those warning about the rising Delta variant. Albertsen heads up the team doing the sequencing work of positive COVID tests in Denmark. He tweeted numbers today showing that Delta variant growth is absolutely exploding.
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The Director of the Danish Medicines Agency, Tanja Lund Erichsen, says they have seven new reports of inflammation of different parts of the heart after receiving a COVID vaccination. She says of the seven, the agency has determined four cases of peritonitis and myocarditis “may have a possible association with a vaccine.”
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Region MidtJylland says it is ramping up vaccination capacity ahead of an influx of extra Pfizer doses obtained from Romania by Denmark. The health authority says it will have 146,000 doses for vaccinations next week.
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Denmark is reporting 326 COVID infections and one more coronavirus death in the last day.
Yesterday, there were 333,234 total corona tests done, 94,356 PCR and 238,878 rapid, for a (PCR only) positivity percentage of 0.61%.
The Staten Serum Institut is now tracking the positivity percentage of each PCR COVID testing center in the country. It says this is a better way to track potential infection areas with a more fluid population due to summer tourism and people in Denmark staycationing around the country.
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COVID hospitalizations (48) have dropped again (-4) while the number of infected people in an ICU (11) and of those on a ventilator (10) are both down (each -1).
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On the vaccination front to date, 3,375,550 1st-dose vaccinations (57.7% of the population) have been administered while 2,005,331 people (34.3%) are now fully vaccinated.
Yesterday, there were 72,010 total inoculations done.
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Danish Foreign Affairs has made some changes to its colour-coded COVID risk assessment of countries in and outside the European Union. In all cases, the changes take effect at 4pm Saturday afternoon.
In the EU.
Latvia, the Netherlands, Estonia, and Hungary all become near normal ‘Green.’ The Spanish regions of Navarre and the Basque Country join them.
Becoming low risk ‘yellow’ is Cypress along the the Spanish regions of Catalonia, Melilla, and Valencia.
Outside the EU.
Becoming low-risk ‘yellow’ are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jordan, Kosovo, Moldova, and Montenegro.
Going medium-risk ‘orange’ due to there infection situation or due to having significant entry restrictions on travelers from Denmark are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Brunei, and Qatar. Canada is also included on this list, but it has always been assessed as being ‘orange.’
Joining India, Brazil, South Africa, and some surrounding African nations in the high COVID risk ‘red’ group are Russia, Chile, Suriname, Uruguay, Columbia, Paraguay, Argentina, Costa Rica, Panama, and Namibia. Also ‘red’ United Kingdom regions of Scotland and the English regions North West, North East, and Yorkshire, and The Humber.
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Sweden has added 327 infections and one more corona death since yesterday’s update. The Swedish Public Health Agency is STILL warning of a reporting lag.
To date 4,999,452 1st dose (61% of the population) and 3,169,215 2nd vaccine doses (38.7%) have been administered.
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A portal used to process all COVID testing results was hacked in Sweden, compromising the personal information of 103 people. The hacker behind the intrusion contacted Swedish authorities, saying the effort was done to reveal shortcomings in the system’s security, according to reporting by Sydsvenskan. Swedish authorities say the affected people have been contacted. This may explain the most recent issues with the infectious disease database and major security update that is responsible for a COVID numbers reporting lag.
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Region Stockholm says all but one municipality has now reached a first -dose vaccination coverage rate of 80% or more. The only district left is Rinkeby-Kista, which is reporting 78.6% 1st-dose coverage.
In Region Stockholm, 87.8% of those over 64 years of age have at least one dose and 79.8% are fully vaccinated.
Vaccine Coordinator Magnus Thyberg:
“Vaccination coverage continues to increase throughout the county in all age groups. It provides some protection against serious illness and hospital care, but to get full protection, it is absolutely crucial to also take the second dose. We see a great interest in getting vaccinated, even in areas where coverage increases somewhat more slowly, and most people want to get vaccinated and get protection against COVID.”
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Norway has added 188 infections and had no new virus deaths since yesterday’s update.
COVID hospitalizations (29) are up (+3) ICU numbers (11) also crept up (+1) while ventilator numbers (4) are down (-3).
To date 50.65% of Norwegians have had one vaccine dose and 28.97% have had both.
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The Norwegian Institute of Public Health’s latest weekly COVID situation assessment says the infection situation has been fairly stable over the last three weeks. Two regions, Rogaland and Agder, have the most reported cases over the last week. While infection numbers dropped in Oslo, Innlandet, and Vestfold and Telemark.
Hospital admissions continue to ease down to just 29 in week 25, a drop from the 29 of two weeks previous.
The number of corona fatalities also continues to decline, with just two last week. Pandemic deaths have remained at six or under in each of the last eight weeks.
On the variant front, the NIPH continues to be concerned about the growth of the Delta variant. Confirmed Delta cases have shot up from 50 four weeks ago to 353 as of last week. As a percentage of positive sequenced test results, the Delta variant has risen from 1% to 6%. The agency says 16% of Delta infections have been travel-related with a full quarter of those linked to travel from Afghanistan.
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Norway’s Ministry of Health released a report today assessing the pandemic response. It gave the municipalities and regions high marks for working together and getting the job done so far. In its nine recommendations, the report urges the municipalities and regions to remain vigilant now and into the future. It advises they keep a sharp eye on the infection situation now and after the pandemic ends. They are urged to keep building relationships, work together on crisis response drills, and make sure that testing, infection detection, and quarantine capabilities are in a constant state of readiness. It also says “different measures” should also be ready if testing, infection detection, and quarantining infected people doesn’t slow the infection spread. Lastly, the report emphasizes, local governments have a responsibility, especially in a crisis, to keep their residents up to date on the infection situation, measures taken, and all other developments.
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Finland has registered 216 new infections since yesterday’s update. Hospitalization and fatality stats are only updated on Wednesdays.
Infection numbers continue to increase as Finland has recorded 1,797 new infections over the last two weeks. This is 616 more than the two week period prior.
To date 3,321,826 1st dose vaccinations (59.5% of the population) and 1,071,377 2nd doses (19.2%) have been administered.
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The Head of the Finnish Institute for Health is warning COVID restrictions could make a return. After thousands of football fans returned from a EURO 2020 game in Russia last week, they brought with them an explosion of infection cases. Institute head Taneli Puumalainen said today “we are now living in precarious times.” He says while the vaccination effort is going at a good pace “it is unlikely to prevent a [new wave] of the epidemic from rising.” The recent surge of COVID cases also has the health institute rethinking its plans to lift the mask mandate. It will push the decision off until later this summer, depending on the infection situation.
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The COVID situation in Southern Finland is deteriorating. YLE is reporting that the Kymenlaasko region has increased its COVID alarm level to its second-highest phase. The regions infection rate per 100,000 residents has risen from 13 in early June fo 31 in just two weeks.
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Germany administered almost half a million second-dose vaccinations yesterday. German Health Minister Jens Spahn says getting people fully vaccinated is vital to protect against the Delta variant. To date, 46.2 million people in Germany (55.6%] have one vaccine dose while 31.5 million (37.9%) have had both doses.
While the Alpha variant remains as the dominant strain in Germany, the Delta variant now makes 3% of all sequenced positive test results. If the trends revealed elsewhere hold, it will rapidly increase to become the dominant coronavirus mutation.
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Moderna said today that a manufacturing site contracted to produce its COVID vaccines in France has begun to churn out doses. The European Medicines Agency recently approved the use of the manufacturing site run by Recipharm. The plant is expected to help ramp up the availability of Moderna’s mRNA COVID vaccine within the European Union.
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Vaccine maker Johnson & Johnson said today the latest trial data from its one-shot vaccine showed a high immune response against the Delta variant. Johnson & Johnson will now submit the data as a preprint study to bioRxiv, an online archive of clinical studies awaiting peer review. Data from another study also showed the immune response from the J&J vaccine lasted at least eight months.
Studies have also shown vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, and AstraZeneca are largely effective against the Delta variant.
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The US Center for Disease Control is warning about the spreading Delta variant. It says the concerning strain now makes up 26% of all new COVID cases across the United States and is spreading quickly. The variant has also been detected in all 50 states.
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Canada is reporting 528 new infections while losing another 22 lives to the coronavirus yesterday.
The Canadian vaccination campaign has so far administered 25,763,926 1st dose vaccinations (67.67% of the population) while 12,080,469 people (31.73%) are now fully vaccinated.
In Ontario today there were 200 new infection cases and nine more corona deaths.
Quebec reported 69 infections and three more fatalities
In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia registered two new infections. Newfoundland and Labrador had one. New Brunswick had no new infections.
Manitoba saw 145 infections and seven deaths in numbers covering yesterday and today.
There were 34 infections in Saskatchewan yesterday.
Alberta recorded 76 infections and another two deaths yesterday on the same day it removed virtually all remaining COVID restrictions
B.C. logged 44 infections yesterday and saw no new deaths.