Alarming spread of pandemic across countries raises concerns
OpenLife Nigeria has learned that there is exponential spread of COVID-19 in Germany even as India and Japan are contending with further spread of the pandemic.
According to informationon the alarming spread, Coronavirus infections are rising exponentially in Germany, an expert at the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases said on Tuesday, putting at risk plans to lift the lockdown and revive the economy.
The number of cases per 100,000 reported on Tuesday was 83.7, up from 68 a week ago, and the RKI has said that metric could reach 200 by the middle of next month.
Germany is definitely in a third wave of the pandemic, driven by the fact it has loosened restrictions in recent weeks just as a more transmissable variant has spread, Dirk Brockmann, an epidemiologist at the RKI, told Germany’s ARD television.
“It has been totally irrational to loosen up here. It is just fuelling this exponential growth,” he said.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders agreed a phased easing of curbs earlier this month along with an “emergency brake” to let authorities reimpose restrictions if case numbers rise above 100 per 100,000 on three consecutive days.
They are due to meet again on March 22 to discuss whether to allow any further relaxation of the rules.
The state government in the city of Berlin decided on Tuesday to put on hold any more easing, such as allowing restaurants or cinemas to open, the Tagesspiegel newspaper reported.
VACCINATION WOES
Germany’s decision on Monday to suspend AstraZeneca’s vaccine could delay progress in reaching herd immunity and postpone an economic recovery in the second quarter, analysts said.
The decision follows seven cases of thrombosis in Germany, including three deaths, and delivers a major setback to the country’s drive to speed up its sluggish vaccination campaign.
A planned meeting between Merkel and state leaders on Wednesday to discuss using family doctors to administer COVID-19 vaccines has been postponed until after the European Medicines Agency completes its review into the AstraZeneca shot.
AstraZeneca has said an analysis of its safety data covering reported cases from over 17 million vaccine doses given had shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or low levels of platelets.
The RKI’s Brockmann noted that 1,000 people in a million had died of COVID-19, compared to possibly 1 in a million from complications associated with the vaccine.
“In the risk groups, the risk of dying of COVID is much, much higher. That means it is probably 100,000 times more likely to die of COVID than because of an AstraZeneca vaccine,” he said.
In India however, world’s top vaccine maker is being criticised at home for exports as infections rise.
Accordingly, India’s main opposition Congress party on Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for exporting nearly twice the number of coronavirus vaccine doses than immunisations conducted at home, despite a surge in infections.
India, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, has gifted or sold here 59 million locally produced doses compared with 33 million doses given to its own people since its inoculation campaign began in mid-January.
While some rich countries such as the United States are being accused of vaccine nationalism, India is being lauded globally for sending shots to 71 countries, mainly the AstraZeneca vaccine as well as some of Bharat Biotech’s homegrown product.
Many Indians, however, now want the government to make vaccines available to more of its own people instead of only the elderly and those above 45 suffering from health conditions.
“The priority of the Modi government is not the state but foreign nations,” Congress said on Twitter, using the tag #IndiaNeedsMoreVaccines and accusing the premier of focusing on “PR over people”.
“The pace of vaccination in states is slow due to the centralisation in vaccine distribution,” it said.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan told parliament that vaccines were not being exported at the “expense of the people of India” and that a balance was being struck.
India’s immunisation drive has picked up significantly since Modi expanded it this month. Still, Bangladesh is vaccinating more people relative to its population using India-made shots.
India plans to vaccinate 300 million of its 1.35 billion people by August.
It reported 24,492 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the sixth straight day of more than 20,000 infections.
Total cases have now risen to 11.41 million, the highest after the United States and Brazil. Deaths increased by 131 to 158,856 in the past 24 hours, data from the health ministry showed.
The government has blamed crowding and a general reluctance to wear masks for the spike, ruling out mutations of the virus as a factor, unlike in the West.
India’s worst-affected state, Maharashtra, has ordered cinemas, hotels and restaurants to limit guests to half of capacity until the end of the month. Weddings and other social events will also have limited attendance.
Maharashtra has also locked down some districts.
Another western state, Gujarat, has decided not to allow fans into the world’s biggest cricket stadium hosting international matches here between India and England, after seeing a spurt in cases.
The initial matches were attended by tens of thousands of people sitting or standing shoulder to shoulder, with few wearing masks, leading to widespread criticism on social media.
In like manner, Japanese government has called for caution as daytime karaoke sessions spread coronavirus
According to available information, a rash of Japanese coronavirus clusters linked to daytime karaoke sessions by the elderly, including several linked to 93 cases in one prefecture, prompted a stern warning on Tuesday and calls for caution from authorities.
The recent clusters, which are spread across the country, come as the Tokyo metropolitan area is nearing the planned end of a state of emergency aimed at curbing the latest wave of coronavirus cases. The Olympics are set to begin in Tokyo in just over four months.
At least 215 people have recently tested positive in cases linked to daytime karaoke sessions, a pursuit especially popular with the retired and elderly, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Tuesday.
Ninety-three were in Saga prefecture in southwestern Japan, with ages ranging from the 50s to the 80s, but clusters were also found in Saitama and Chiba prefectures, still under a state of emergency set to end on March 21.
Many of Japan’s karaoke establishments feature small rooms lined with sofas in which groups can sing, eat and talk in privacy for hours.
“We realize that under normal circumstances, karaoke is almost a salon for older people to talk and enjoy themselves, but in the current situation of absolutely trying to prevent infection, these (venues) are rather confined,” Nishimura said.
“In my election district there are many places like this – narrow rooms where people are packed in and singing. They have to take thorough steps including putting up acrylic panels, good ventilation and disinfecting the microphones.”
He also called on those in areas still under the state of emergency to refrain from unnecessary trips out of their homes.
Roughly 448,400 people have tested positive in Japan and about 9,000 have died since the pandemic began.
Source: Reuters News
About Author
