Berlin, January 4, 2021 – The pandemic does not stop: the cases of Coronavirus globally they have exceeded the threshold of 85 million, according to the counts of Johns Hopkins University: the infections are currently 85,122,080, including 1,843,135 deaths. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 47,860,306 people have healed around the world.
The situation in Europe is worrying: in Great Britain The third general lockdown was announced, with schools closed to cope with the surge in infections. There Germany extends tough restrictions until the end of the month, the Spain fears the arrival of a third wave of Covid, in Ireland hospitals are collapsing and eliminating non-urgent interventions while the Poland lives the scandal of celebrities who jump the queue to get the vaccine. On the dropper vaccination in France, Macron convenes a meeting at the Elysée.
Meanwhile, on the vaccine front, the EMA announced in a tweet that “the discussion” on the “Moderna vaccine against Covid-19 did not end today “, but” it will continue Wednesday January 6, 2021 “.
Italy, the bulletin of January 4, 2021
Gb, national lockdown
The British premier Boris Johnson announced tonight, in a televised speech to the country, a third national lockdown extended to all of England to cope with the new exponential surge in Covid cases recorded across the Kingdom and fueled by the new variants of Coronavirus. Stay at home and save the NHS“, said the premier. Johnson called the so-called English variant” alarming “. more contagious “50% to 70%” of the previous strain and spoke of a increase in hospitalizations in the hospital of 40% greater than in the first wave of April.
From tomorrow, Johnson announced, the schools elementary, secondary and universities will switch to distance learning, with the exception of students who are children of workers working in key sectors and students who are most vulnerable from a social point of view. There vaccination campaign, with the adoption of the AstraZeneca vaccine, “it is accelerating,” the premier said. Starting from mid February, “if things go well”, the government expects to have given the first dose of the vaccine to all citizens who belong to the four priority categories. “Now more than ever,” Johnson stressed, it is imperative to follow the rules, which will become law in the early hours of Wednesday.
In UK the cases of the new positives in the last 24 hours have reached altitude 58.784, on a number of tampons which rose to almost yesterday 430.000. For the fifth consecutive day, Great Britain exceeded 50,000 infections.
Germany: lockdown until the end of the month
The federal government and those of the 16 German Länder would have reached a agreement to extend the lockdown until January 31, writes the Bild, even if the final decision will be taken tomorrow by the chancellor Angela Merkel and by the 16 prime ministers. Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia – which currently have a particularly high number of new cases – have strongly supported the extension to the end of the month of the blockade, in force since 16 December and which provides for the closure of schools, bars, restaurants and many shops.
Meanwhile, Germany, after Great Britain, is also considering postponing, in the people who have already received the first dose of vaccine against Covid-19, the moment of recall in order to try to reach more people with the available doses. According to Der Spiegel, an attempt is made to increase the proportion of those received at least one first dose in the country, where the number of vaccines available, according to many, is scarce.
The government also proposes to standardize the practice of getting six doses from each container – theoretically intended for five – because the vials have been shown to have been filled with more than needed.
Spain fears the third wave
Cases of covid-19 are increasing again in Spain. In the first week of December there was a collapse in infections after the second wave of October and November, but since then the curve has risen, writes El Pais.
Many experts they already speak of the third wave: the holidays have reduced the number of tests performed and, therefore, the cases diagnosed and the incidence. In the week of December 21-27, the communities performed 843,330 PCR and antigen tests, 124,000 fewer (a reduction of 12.8%) than those performed a week earlier. “All the indicators are distorted these days of holidays”, admits Clara Prats, researcher in Computational Biology at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC): “They hide what is happening, they make the RT (the basic reproduction number instantaneous) more unstable and the incidence lower than it actually is “.
In France 4,022 new cases
The France has registered 4,022 almost of infection from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. The Paris government reported today. Yesterday there were 12,489 more cases, but it is common that on Monday the detection of infections is lower due to the closure of the laboratories.
Use: One death every 33 seconds
The United States has had an average of one death related to Covid-19 every 33 seconds last week. This is what CNN reports, which analyzed data from Johns Hopkins University. There were 18,462 deaths from December 28 to January 3, with an average of over 2,600 deaths per day. December was the month with the most deaths in the United States: 77,572 in total, averaging over 2,500 per day.
At least 210,479 infected from the coronavirus in the United States in the past 24 hours. The victims related to Covid-19 were instead 1.394. The total toll of the pandemic in the country, according to the same source, is now 20,636,663 infections e 351,580 dead. Meanwhile, at least 13,071,925 doses of the vaccine have been distributed across the country and at least 4,225,756 have been administered, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ireland: hospitals in collapse
Irish hospitals are unable to handle the pandemic and this week will cancel most non-urgent operations and care to create as much space as possible for coronavirus intensive care. “There are no more adjectives to define the gravity of the situation. The current numbers are not sustainable. We are literally going back to where we were in March and April, “said country hospital chief Paul Reid.
Until recently, Ireland had one of the lowest infection rates in Europe, but now the 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 people has more than quadrupled in the past two weeks.
English variant in 37 countries
The coronavirus variant first discovered in the UK – also known as B.1.1.7 – has been confirmed in at least 37 countries around the world, as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan, according to a count made by CNN. This is the list of countries: United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Luxembourg, Holland, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United States, Vietnam.
Poland: VIPs and politicians skip the queue for the vaccine
The Polish Ministry of Health has launched an investigation after it emerged that several celebrities had an unwarranted priority to receive coronavirus vaccination. Poland started its program on December 27 and it was explained that health workers would be vaccinated first. But on December 30th to eighteen `vip` – including numerous actors and a former prime minister – a dose was administered at the Warsaw Medical University Hospital. Most of the actors who received the administration were between the ages of 60 and 70; 75-year-old former prime minister Leszek Miller explained that otherwise the vaccines would be wasted. However, discontent and anger is spreading among health workers, many of whom have not yet been vaccinated, and Health Minister Adam Niedzielski did not hesitate to describe himself as “disgusted” by the scandal. The hospital said it will carry out an investigation this week, as ordered by the health ministry.
© All rights reserved
–
–
