LIVE | Tanning salons will remain closed for the time being | Inland

• Spanish region discontinues AstraZeneca vaccine
• European regulator EMA will announce the AstraZeneca vaccine on Wednesday
• The Red Cross has already transported 2000 elderly people to vaccination locations

11.38 – Corona pandemic takes a bite out of European life expectancy

Life expectancy has dropped significantly since the arrival of the corona virus in Europe. In the Netherlands too, the average duration of a human life decreased by more than six months, according to the European statistics agency Eurostat. In many countries, that’s a break from decades of growth.

Life expectancy fell last year in almost all European countries for which Eurostat has estimates. For Spaniards this was even at 1.6 years, but Eastern Europeans in particular are hardly affected less. Only Denmark, Finland and especially Norway managed to escape the malaise.

Life expectancy fell slightly faster for men than for women. They were in better shape anyway, and so the difference has increased somewhat.

Since the 1960s, the number of expected years of life for a newborn European had steadily increased, as European Statistics Netherlands reminds.

Eurostat also notes that the figures do not mean that a baby born last year does indeed live so much less long on average than a European born in 2019. That would only be the case if conditions remained the same and, for example, the corona pandemic continued.

11.30 am – Corona helpline for young adults

There has been a national corona helpline for young adults since Wednesday. Everyone between 18 and 24 years old can use the Alles Oké? Support line to anonymously speak to a trained volunteer about mental complaints.

The helpline, an initiative of De Kindertelefoon, was set up because young adults are relatively heavily burdened by the corona measures. Research by the Social Cultural Planning Office (SCP) showed that young adults are less and less comfortable with themselves since the pandemic. While the proportion of students who experienced mental health problems in 2019 was still a quarter, last year it had already risen to a third. The SCP expects this to lead to an appeal to health care, but the waiting lists are long.

For the helpline, nearly a hundred volunteers received multi-day training. “They are trained in conversation techniques to be able to listen without judgment,” said a spokesperson for the helpline. The service is not intended to replace professional health care. “With the helpline we want to prevent mental complaints from getting worse. If our volunteers notice that a listening ear is not enough, we refer the young adult for specialist help. ”

The support line can be used to call (0800-0450) and chat (allesoke.nl).

03/11 – Spanish region stops administering AstraZeneca vaccine

The Spanish region of Castile and León is suspending the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The local authorities have decided because of concerns about blood clots and a reduced platelet count in vaccinees.

Castile and León, which has about 2.4 million inhabitants, wants to wait for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to issue a report on the safety of the vaccine.

Due to concerns about potential side effects, AstraZeneca vaccinations were temporarily halted across Spain and many other European countries last month. The vaccinations were resumed after a short time after the EMA again ruled that the drug was safe and effective.

10.53 – Tanning salons will remain closed for the time being

The tanning salons will remain closed for the time being. The government was allowed to choose to keep that sector closed when it relaxed some corona measures at the end of February, the judge in The Hague ruled. The solar studio industry had demanded that it be allowed to open in interlocutory proceedings and compared itself with the contact professions such as hairdressers and beauty salons that were allowed to open.

Trade association, Collaboration Responsible Sun (SVZ) had further argued that the sector could be opened safely. According to SVZ, hardly any contact is needed between staff and visitors to a tanning salon. However, according to the judge, that is irrelevant. The state has to make choices because not too much can be relaxed at the same time. Moreover, it can be safe in the tanning salon, but extra openings also lead to more trips and therefore more risks.

The solar studio brache is not the first professional group that fails to force reopening through the courts. Requirements from the catering industry and shops were previously rejected.

6:30 am – Brazil: Over 4,000 corona deaths in 24 hours for the first time

Brazil passed the grim milestone of more than 4,000 corona deaths in one day for the first time on Tuesday. 4,195 deaths from Covid-19 have been recorded in the past 24 hours, Brazil’s Ministry of Health reports.

The South American country with 212 million inhabitants has the highest number of corona deaths in the world after the United States; about 370,000. Brazil is also in second place after the US in terms of the number of infections. In total, the corona virus has already been diagnosed in more than 13 million people in Brazil. In the past 24 hours, nearly 87,000 were added.

The corona virus has been spreading in Brazil recently. One sad record after another has been broken in recent weeks. More than 15,000 corona deaths have been recorded in the last six days alone. This month there are an average of 2,757 per day.

Brazilian hospitals are now overcrowded in most places. In the metropolis of São Paulo, buses that normally serve for school transport are used to transport corpses. The cemeteries are so busy that there are also funerals at night to cope with the constant influx of the dead.

Populist right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who is regularly criticized for his chaotic policies towards the pandemic, regularly openly questions the measures announced by Brazilian mayors and governors.

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