Great Britain exceeds 100 thousand deaths from Covid. Johnson: “Pain difficult to express.” In Germany 902 victims. Merkel: “The British variant is a powder keg”

The wave of deaths gives coronavirus that overwhelmed the Great Britain. And today the government found itself having to announce that, since the beginning of the pandemic, the victims of the virus are over 100 thousand. A number never reached in Europe and which was made official in the evening by the prime minister, Boris Johnson: is “A pain difficult to express”, he declared giving “condolences” to all those who have lost loved ones, often “without even being able to say goodbye, in the greatest crisis” faced “by the Second World War”. Prime Minister Tory then pledged to honor in the future, when the pandemic is over, all the victims and those who “heroically” sacrificed themselves to save lives, but also to “reflect” to “draw lessons” on the errors that come charged to his government. Furthermore, the country is preparing to impose new restrictions for those arriving from abroad. Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours the number of victims has risen again: they are 1,631.

Infections are still falling in Germany, falling below the level that yesterday set the record from October. But in the face of 6,408 new cases of coronavirus, the number of deaths is high (but is still decreasing): they are 902 people who died in the last 24 hours. There are about 251,100 cases of Covid-19 active now in country while they rise to 2,148,077 i infected, where 52,990 lost their lives. The chancellor Angela Merkel, who has always been cautious about easing restrictions and particularly worried about the developments of the pandemic, during last Sunday’s video meeting with the leaders of the Union countries, stated that the British variant is a “powder keg”. All statements reported today by the tabloid picture.

“The thing slipped out control“, he would have said Merkel, complaining that, faced with the goal of reaching a weekly incidence of 50 new infections per 100 thousand inhabitants, we are currently already happy if the figure remains below 200. Merkel also said she continually wonders why people can’t be prevented from traveling: “We have to make sure that movement of aircraft is so limited that we can no longer go anywhere “, quotes the tabloid, while announcing checks on the matter by the Ministry of the Interior. The reopening of February – in Germany which extended the lockdown until 2/15 and currently keeps everything closed (including shops, restaurants, schools and kindergartens) – they can’t be safe. In the face of numbers visibly best, with a sharp decline in infections, victims and patients in intensive care, in Germany the possible effects of the mutation originating from the Great Britain, which could spur the curve, frustrating efforts and even exacerbating the situation. Then there is the uncertainty linked to vaccines: with the delays of BioNtech-Pfizer, and doubts about AstraZeneca that for picture it would be less than 10% effective on the elderly (Handelsblatt yesterday spoke of 8). Data that was rejected by the manufacturer.

The Spain extended the no arrivals from the UK, by sea and by air, until mid-February. Only citizens with Spanish nationality or residents of Spain will be admitted. The same rules apply to the microstate of Andorra. So far in Spain, 200 cases of contagion of the new English variant have been detected and among health professionals there is a fear that this strain could spread and become the most widespread by March.

The government ofIreland extended the lockdown. Until then, the prime minister announced Micheal Martin, the Irish will have to stay at home as much as possible and not go further than five kilometers. Most of the shops, the schools e i restaurants. Who comes from Brazil e South Africa will have to remain in quarantine for 14 days and undergo the Covid test.

UK – Is ready to announce changes to the rules of quarantine and, among these, there is the extent to which those arriving in the country must spend ten days in a hotel at their own expense. The responsible for vaccines, Nadhim Zahawi, he said there will be an “announcement on this issue later today”. The British government has re-examined its policies quarantine amid concerns about new coronavirus variants. It is unclear whether the changes will be universal and will apply to all who arrive, including the British citizens, or only to arrivals from other high-risk countries. Zahawi he told Sky News that “as we vaccinate more adult populations, if there are new variants like South African or Brazilian, we need to be very careful.”

Belgium – The average number of Sars-Cov-2 it is increasing in Belgium, with 2,119 new cases per day registered in the period from 16 to 22 January (+ 5% compared to the previous period). THE hospitalizations, up 17%, they are on average 135 per day between January 19 and 25, according to provisional data from the Sciensano Institute of Public Health released this morning. The number of people currently hospitalized due to Covid-19 is 1,958 (+ 2%), of which 324 are in intensive care (+ 1%). From 16 to 22 January an average of 49.9 people per day died from the coronavirus (-3.6%), for a total of 20,814 since the emergence of the virus in Belgium. In addition, nearly 42,600 tests were performed per day, with a positive rate of 5.6%. The incidence from 9 to 22 January is 252.6 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants (+ 14%), while the reproduction rate is 1.08. Since the onset of the pandemic in Belgium, 694,858 cases of coronavirus have been detected. To date, 192,100 people have received the first dose of the vaccine.

Usa – The first case of the Brazilian variant has been identified, sequenced in a swab made last January 9 to a resident in Minnesota recently returned from a trip to Brazil. The number of deaths caused by the coronavirus in the United States has exceeded 420 thousand. In the last 24 hours there have been 1,758 deaths caused by the disease, 147,254 new infections. The total number of infections thus rises to 25,293,295. So far at least 41,418,325 doses of vaccines have been distributed in the US and at least 22,734,243 have been administered.

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