AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Netherlands started transporting COVID-19 patients across the border to Germany on Tuesday to ease pressure on Dutch hospitals, which are scaling back regular care to deal with a surge in coronavirus cases. The number of COVID-19 patients in Dutch hospitals has swelled to its highest level since May in recent weeks and is expected to increase further as infections jump to record levels. As of Monday, 470 of a total 1,050 intensive care beds in the Netherlands were being used for COVID-19 patients. Hospitals were already scaling back other procedures including cancer treatments and heart operations https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/facing-new-covid-wave-dutch-delay-care-cancer-heart-patients-2021-11-19, to make room. The Dutch health authority (NZA) on Tuesday said almost a third of all operating theatres in the Netherlands had been closed to limit the use of intensive care beds. Deadlines for critical operations can’t be met in about a fifth of all Dutch hospitals, the NZA said, while various types of care had been scrapped in 49 of the country’s 73 hospitals. German hospitals in total have offered 20 beds for patients from the Netherlands, after treating dozens during previous waves of the pandemic. Plans by the Dutch government to impose further curbs to contain the virus prompted three nights of rioting https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/dutch-pm-lashes-out-idiots-after-third-night-violence-2021-11-22 starting on Friday and more than 170 arrests in cities cross the country. Plans include limiting access to many public places to people who have been vaccinated or have recently recovered from COVID-19. It remains unclear whether the government will find a majority to enact the rules into law.
Germany considers more COVID-19 curbs, compulsory vaccines as cases soar
Spahn: Germans to be vaccinated, cured or dead by end of winter… European Commission appeals for calm…….Austria enters full lockdown….. Czechs, Slovaks target unvaccinated people in step behind Austria….. Protests erupt across Europe against new lockdown rules and mandatory vaccines….. Dutch anti-Covid unrest ‘pure violence’ by ‘idiots’: PM Mark Rutte…..
- Rage across Europe as Covid restrictions trigger riots
- Booster vaccines could be rolled out to all adults, says Sajid Javid
- Alan Cochrane: Scotland must look to England to escape Covid ghost
- Covid passports failed to persuade Scots to get vaccinated: Sturgeon’s adviser
- Comment: It’s a danger to the world that the precise origins of Covid remain a mystery
Germany’s acting health minister Jens Spahn has issued his strongest warning yet to the country’s vaccine holdouts as Europe’s largest economy desperately tries to avoid another lockdown. Continue reading “Spahn: Germans to be vaccinated, cured or dead by end of winter… European Commission appeals for calm…….Austria enters full lockdown….. Czechs, Slovaks target unvaccinated people in step behind Austria….. Protests erupt across Europe against new lockdown rules and mandatory vaccines….. Dutch anti-Covid unrest ‘pure violence’ by ‘idiots’: PM Mark Rutte…..”
France: Daily virus cases rise 56% Week over Week…. Germany’s COVID-19 incidence jumps to 372.7 to 19,749
The number of coronavirus cases in France rose by 19,749 in the last 24 hours, marking a 56% jump compared to the prior week’s figure, according to the data published on Sunday by the country’s health authorities. During the same period, there were 15 additional deaths attributed to the virus. France’s President Emmanuel Macron previously assured that a lockdown in the country will not be necessary due to the successful use of COVID passes
Germany’s COVID-19 incidence jumps to 372.7
Germany’s COVID-19 incidence rate reached a new record high on Sunday, according to data published by the Robert Koch Institute. The seven-day average of cases per 100,000 people jumped to 372.7 from the previous record high of 362.2. The number of infections in a 24-hour period fell to 42,727 since Saturday. Since the start of the pandemic, Germany has seen 5,354,942 coronavirus cases. There have been 75 deaths since the previous daily update, a significant drop compared to 248 on Saturday. The death toll now stands at 99,062.
Italy reports 49 coronavirus deaths, 11,555 new cases
ROME, Nov 20 (Reuters) – Italy reported 49 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday against 48 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 11,555 from 10,544.
WHO: Europe could see 500,000 deaths by March
(CNN)Europe is facing a potentially devastating winter that could see half a million people die with Covid-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Thursday, as it sounded the alarm over a surge in cases and bemoaned stuttering vaccination rollouts on parts of the continent. Much of Europe is battling spikes in infections, with Germany on Thursday reporting its highest number of daily new cases since the pandemic began. And in a dire new warning, WHO regional director Hans Kluge said the pace of transmission across the region was of “grave concern.” “We are, once again, at the epicenter,” Kluge said in a statement. “According to one reliable projection, if we stay on this trajectory, we could see another half a million COVID-19 deaths in Europe and Central Asia by the first of February next year,” he warned, adding that 43 of the 53 countries on his patch could also see high or extreme stress on hospital beds. Large swathes of the continent are battling to beat back surges of the Delta variant, which has complicated the relaxing of restrictions in many countries. Eastern Europe is particularly badly hit; cases are at record levels in Russia and now Germany, while Ukraine’s capital Kiev introduced strict new restrictions on Monday. Germany is experiencing a ‘massive’ pandemic of the unvaccinated, says health minister Many experts have expressed concern that further rises in infections, coupled with seasonal winter colds, could place health care workers under unmanageable pressure through Christmas and in the New Year. In its latest weekly update, WHO said Europe recorded a 6% rise in cases on the previous week. That was the highest of any global region, with every other region registering “declines or stable trends.” “We are at another critical point of pandemic resurgence,” Kluge said. He blamed two factors for the new wave; the relaxation of Covid-19 measures, and a lack of vaccination coverage in the Balkans and towards the east of the continent. “Hospitalization rates in countries with low vaccine uptake are markedly higher and rising more quickly than in those with higher uptake,” he said. Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn on Wednesday warned that stricter measures are needed for those who refuse to get vaccinated. Spahn also told reporters at a press conference on Thursday that he was asked for his vaccination certificate in Rome during the G20 more often in one day than in Germany in four weeks. He was responding to a dramatic rise in infections in the country; 33,949 new cases were registered on Thursday, breaking the previous record set in December 2020. Hospitalizations and deaths remain far lower than they were in that pre-vaccine peak. Spahn said Germany was experiencing a “massive” pandemic of the unvaccinated, adding: “The truth is that there would be far fewer Covid-19 patients in [intensive care] if everyone who could do it got a vaccination.”
Continue reading “WHO: Europe could see 500,000 deaths by March”
U.S. expands COVID-19 booster eligibility to all adults
Breakthrough infections raise health, death risk
Nov 19 (Reuters) – The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review. Breakthrough COVID-19 raises risk of health problems, death COVID-19 is generally less severe in vaccinated patients but that does not mean breakthrough infections will be benign, a large study shows. Researchers analyzed data collected by the U.S. Veterans Affairs Administration from 16,035 survivors of breakthrough infections, 48,536 unvaccinated COVID-19 survivors and nearly 3.6 million uninfected people. At six months after infection, after taking their risk factors into account, people with breakthrough infections had lower rates of death and long-term lingering health problems than COVID-19 patients who had not been vaccinated. But compared to people who never had COVID-19, those who had breakthrough infections had a 53% higher risk of death and a 59% higher risk of having at least one new medical condition, particularly problems affecting the lungs and other organs. Even when breakthrough infections did not require hospitalization, the increased risks of death and lasting effects were “not trivial,” the research team reported on Monday on Research Square https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-1062160/v1 ahead of peer review. “The overall burden of death and disease following breakthrough COVID-19 will likely be substantial,” the researchers conclude. Vaccine passports would allow infections to be missed “Vaccine passports” that exempt vaccinated people from regular COVID-19 testing would allow many infections to be missed, Israeli data suggest. Researchers analyzed infection rates in citizens returning to Israel through Ben-Gurion airport, for whom PCR tests upon arrival are required regardless of vaccination status. “Surprisingly,” in August 2021, the rate of positive tests among vaccinated travelers was more than double the rate among the unvaccinated, said Retsef Levi of the MIT Sloan School of Management, coauthor of a report posted on the SSRN server https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3963606 ahead of peer review. Travelers who had received the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine within the past six months or who had received a booster dose were considered vaccinated. The group considered to be unvaccinated included the never-vaccinated and those whose most recent shot was more than six months prior, given evidence of waning vaccine efficacy by then. In September, when the Israeli government was recommending booster shots for all adults, the positive-test rate dropped among vaccinated travelers and was about 3.5 times lower with vaccination than without. By October, the positive-test rate in the vaccinated group, while still lower, had started to climb again, Levi said. The data suggest that limiting frequent COVID-19 testing to unvaccinated people would “pose potential risks by reinforcing the misrepresentation that vaccinated individuals are protected from infections.” Masks, social distancing still worthwhile Mask wearing and physical distancing are tied to reductions in the spread of COVID-19 and should be continued, according to researchers who reviewed 72 previous studies. When they analyzed results from eight of the studies in detail, they saw a 53% reduction in the incidence of COVID-19 with mask wearing and a 25% reduction with physical distancing. There is not yet enough data to confirm the overall benefits of more stringent measures such as lockdowns, school and workplace closures, and border closures, the researchers reported on Thursday in The BMJ https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj-2021-068302. Very few of the studies analyzed were randomized trials, so they cannot prove the interventions directly reduced infection rates. Still, the researchers conclude, “It is likely that further control of the COVID-19 pandemic depends not only on high vaccination coverage and its effectiveness but also on ongoing adherence to effective and sustainable public health measures.”
Austria imposes full lockdown, Germany may follow, as COVID grips Europe……..Look them UP!!!!!!
VIENNA/BERLIN (Reuters) – Austria will become the first country in western Europe to reimpose a full COVID-19 lockdown, it said on Friday as neighbouring Germany warned it may follow suit, sending shivers through financial markets worried about the economic fallout.
A fourth wave of infections has plunged Germany, Europe’s largest economy, into a national emergency, Health Minister Jens Spahn said. He urged people to reduce their social contacts, warning that vaccinations alone would not reduce case numbers. Continue reading “Austria imposes full lockdown, Germany may follow, as COVID grips Europe……..Look them UP!!!!!!”
Austria’s focus shifts to full lockdown as COVID-19 cases keep rising
Continue reading “Austria’s focus shifts to full lockdown as COVID-19 cases keep rising”
Booster shot confusion as California goes against CDC and FDA reccomendations
EAGLE ROCK (CBSLA) – As families across the southland prepare to ring in a second holiday season during a pandemic, the state of California is now suggesting that everyone who is vaccinated against COVID-19 should also get a booster shot. “In the short run, I am worried that until we vaccinate more children and our behavior changes with the holidays coming that there’s going to be a spike in cases,” CBS Medical Contributor, Dr. David Argus said.
California is one of the states seeing the highest number of new COVID infections, promoting health officials to issue stern warnings. Continue reading “Booster shot confusion as California goes against CDC and FDA reccomendations”