The German seven-day COVID-19 incidence rate continues to increase since setting a record and rising above 200 for the first time on Monday. Early on Wednesday, data compiled by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) showed that the rate, which measures the number of people infected per 100,000, has risen to 232.1 to reach its highest level since the pandemic began. The nationwide death toll increased to 96,963 in the meantime, with another 236 fatal outcomes attributed to the virus, while the total number of infections rose by 39,676 to 4,844,054.
The number of deaths caused by COVID-19 registered daily in Russia reached a new record-high of 1,239 on Wednesday, taking the total tally of fatalities observed since the start of the pandemic to 250,454. In the meantime, the country’s health authorities noted 38,058 new infections in the previous 24 hours. The figure for total cases recorded since the beginning of the contagion thus now stands at 8,911,713. The count of people that recovered from the disease so far rose to 7,654,161. Meanwhile, a total of 60,004,358 persons received the first dose of a vaccine against the virus, and 57,256,745 got both shots.
Hungary adds most daily virus cases in 7 months
The number of COVID-19 cases in Hungary has increased by 8,434 during the last 24 hours, the country’s health authorities unveiled on Wednesday. The increase marks the sharpest jump in single-day infections since early April, while the number of fatalities attributed to the virus came in at 98. There was also a rise in hospitalizations that reached 4,830, with 463 people in intensive care, according to the data.
Ukraine breaks another record for the number of daily deaths from coronavirus
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine on Tuesday set another record for the number of daily deaths from coronavirus amid a surge in infections caused by population reluctance to receive the vaccine. The Ministry of Health reported 833 coronavirus deaths in the last day, surpassing the previous high of 793 over the weekend, bringing the country’s total confirmed deaths from COVID-19 to 73,390. In a country of 41 million people, 18,988 new infections have been reported daily over the past day. Although there are four vaccines available in Ukraine – Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Sinovac – only 18% of the population is fully vaccinated. This is the second lowest indicator in Europe after Armenia. In an effort to expedite the introduction of the vaccine, authorities have demanded that teachers, government employees and other workers be fully vaccinated by November 8 or have their salaries suspended.
China reports 89 COVID cases as outbreaks grow
China reported 50 new local Covid-19 infections on Saturday, as authorities said stringent curbs will remain to disrupt the virus’s domestic transmission. Hebei province, which is close proximity to Beijing, reported 21 new cases, the National Health Commission said on its website. Infections have risen steadily in recent days, with authorities reporting 36 new cases on November 5 and 28 cases a day earlier. Mainland China had 97,823 confirmed coronavirus cases in total as of November 7. More than 800 locally-transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms have been reported since mid-October in 19 province-level regions, prompting a flurry of curbs on tourism and leisure businesses under Beijing’s zero-tolerance policy.
South Korea urges COVID-19 booster shots, as severe cases hit record
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea encouraged its citizens to take COVID-19 booster shots on Wednesday, as more of the elderly fell ill and reported vaccine breakthrough infections, driving serious and critical cases to a record.
Severe coronavirus cases jumped from the mid-300s in October to 460 on Wednesday, official data showed. Of the severely ill patients, more than 82% were aged 60 and older.
Son Young-rae, a senior health ministry official, told a news conference that the increase is not posing a threat to the country’s healthcare system yet, as there are nearly 500 ICU beds available. He said the speed of the rise in severe cases and the size of total infections, especially among the unvaccinated, are the major points to consider in deciding its future response to the healthcare system. South Korea’s overall rate of vaccine breakthrough infections remains low at 85.5 people per every 100,000 inoculated. But it has steadily risen in recent weeks, led by the elderly, as vaccine protection wanes over time and the group’s weaker immune system makes them more vulnerable to infections. Of the total serious and critical patients with vaccine breakthrough infections in the past eight weeks, 93% were from those aged 60 and above, according to the government data. The country has inoculated 640,232 people with a booster shot, since the programme began last month, mainly using vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. South Korea started a gradual easing of COVID-19 restrictions this month, as it has fully vaccinated nearly 90% of its adult population, or 77% of its 52 million people. The authorities have said a circuit breaker will be issued when there is a major strain on the number of hospital beds to treat serious cases, but have not revealed the exact threshold. The country reported 2,425 new cases for Tuesday. It has recorded a total of 385,831 infections, with 3,012 deaths so far.
Greece is experiencing a fourth wave of COVID, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned Tuesday as daily infections hit their highest since the pandemic began, with hospitals starting to buckle under the pressure of rising infections. The country notched up a record 8,613 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, the National Organisation of Public Health said, after cases more than doubled in less than a fortnight.Forty-six people died of the disease on Tuesday, after 65 a day earlier. “We are facing a fourth wave,” which “mainly concerns the unvaccinated,” Mitsotakis said Tuesday evening after talks with his visiting Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte. He said the government was “focused on increasing vaccination numbers” and “taking measures without resorting to a lockdown”. The north of the country, where inoculation rates are lower than in other regions, has been the worst hit in recent days. In the second city of Thessaloniki, management at a key hospital fighting COVID said it was overwhelmed with patients. Nikos Kapravelos, head of the emergency department at the Papanikolaou Hospital, at the weekend warned against a new spike similar to during the second wave in November last year. Health authorities on Friday made COVID passes mandatory for open-air restaurants and cafes, as well as indoor public spaces. Face masks are still mandatory indoors and at large outdoor gatherings.
However, in several regions, the measures are not being respected, especially in some Orthodox churches where images in the media have shown maskless worshippers kissing icons and not observing social distancing.
Father Timotheos, spokesman for the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, on Monday claimed on Mega TV that “sacred icons do not transmit the virus or disease”. Senior health ministry official Marios Themistokleous on Monday warned cases were on the rise in Greece, even if 61.2 percent of the population had received two vaccination jabs. He said appointments for a first dose of the COVID vaccine had increased sharply in recent days.