Europe, the second region most affected by covid-19 after America, with more than 31 million infections and 689,000 deaths, is stepping up its mobility measures and recommends that no one speak on the subway to stop the pandemic, exacerbated by the proliferation of new strains such as the British and South Africans.
Alarms on the continent erupted again on Saturday after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson acknowledged on Friday that there was “evidence” that the variant identified in England “is associated with a higher level of mortality”, in addition to faster expansion.
Meanwhile, documents stolen in a cyber attack on the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and released online show that the European Commission has put pressure to give the green light to the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine before the United States and the United Kingdom do so. denies any political constraint on European scientists.
The disclosed documents do not dispel the doubt whether the EMA finally received answers to its doubts, but the truth is that it did not give the green light to Pfizer until December 21 – London did it on December 5 and Washington on December 11 – and its always make sure all your questions have been “answered”.
UK
The British Medical Association (BMA) has called on health officials to reduce the number of weeks between the first and second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTch vaccine, saying that this extension of the period to “cannot be justified”. vaccinate more people.
Faced with the high level of COVID-19 infections in the United Kingdom due to the emergence of a new variant of coronavirus in England, the British authorities decided that the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech should be given 12 weeks after the first, instead of three weeks, as recommended by the pharmacist and the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the latest official figures, 1,401 new coronavirus deaths were recorded in the United Kingdom on Friday.
FRANCE
European Union (EU) citizens traveling to France from this Sunday must isolate themselves for seven days upon arrival in the country after taking a negative PCR test and will have to make another diagnosis at the end of quarantine. Passengers arriving by car or train are exempt from this measure.
Foreign also states that “all passengers must submit a sworn statement that they have no symptoms” of covid-19, that they have not been in contact with a confirmed case in the fourteen days prior to the journey, and that they agree to isolate themselves. for seven days.once in the country and repeat the test after that period.
In addition, the French Academy of Medicine advises users of public transport who, in addition to wearing a mask, refrain from calling or talking to avoid infection and defend the effectiveness of tissue masks, despite the fact that the Executive has advised their use.
“The fact that everyone wears masks is much more important than their quality, because what we expect from them is to avoid the projection effect”, added the specialist, who specified that it is important that they are used correctly from this sanitary accessory, covering the nose and mouth.
On Friday, health authorities registered 23,292 new coronavirus cases and 323 deaths in France (and have already added more than 72,300 since March).
NORWAY
The Norwegian government on Saturday decreed the closure of economic activity and public life in the Oslo area for a week due to the outbreak of the British Sars-CoV2 mutation. The measures, which affect ten municipalities in the Norwegian capital region, will initially take effect from 11.00 GMT today until the 31st.
Authorities also recommend avoiding home visits, unnecessary travel and urging to work from home, complementing a package of tougher measures than the one implemented last spring at the beginning of the pandemic.
“It is a very serious situation and we must do everything we can to stop the outbreak. Let’s hope that everyone will be involved in this enormous show of force to defeat the mutation,” Health Minister Bent Høie told a news conference. .
Norway is one of the countries least affected by the pandemic in Europe, with 60,259 cases and 544 deaths (10.24 per 100,000 population), according to Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
GERMANY
German health authorities have reported 16,417 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, while the death toll has risen to 879, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute of Virology (RKI) updated at midnight last night.
The positive cases from the first contagion were announced in the country at the end of January last year, totaling 2,122,679, and that of deaths, 51,521. The number of patients with covid-19 in intensive care units on Friday rose to 4,768 -19 less in one day-, of which 2,692 -56% and 40 less than on Thursday-, they need assisted breathing, according to the data German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI).
As of December 26, the number of people who have already received the first dose of covid-19 vaccine in Germany has increased to 1,386,464, a share of 1.7%, while 115,175 people have already been vaccinated to the second time.
PORTUGAL
The Portuguese Minister of Agriculture, Maria do Céu Antunes, tested positive for coronavirus in the last hours and thus becomes the fourth member of the Government with the active virus, at a time when the authorities have detected the South African covid variant for the first time. .
Antunes, who is in prison at home, has no symptoms and will continue with his remote program, according to a statement from his office, which also indicates that he found the positive in a test before traveling to Brussels to chair the Council. Agriculture and Fisheries. The Minister of Agriculture joins a list that already has three other ministers who have given positive results in less than ten days: the Minister of Economy, Pedro Siza Viera; that of Finance, João Leão, and that of Labor, Ana Mendes Godinho.
Portugal records deaths (last Friday, with 234 deaths) and increased infections, reporting about 14,000 days. The authorities attribute this increase largely to the presence of the British variant, which already has a prevalence of 20% and is estimated to soon represent 60%.
In this context, the presence of the South African variant of covid has been confirmed in Portugal, which, as in the case of the British, is more contagious and of which only one case has been detected.
RUSSIA
Russia plans to vaccinate about 20 million people against COVID-19 in the first quarter of this year, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said on Saturday. “We estimate that if all goes well, we will involve about 20 million citizens in this process,” he said.
According to Golikova, the Russian government this week set a previous vaccination plan for the first quarter of 2021, “based on what will be sent to medical organizations, just over 17 million doses.”
Meanwhile, the number of infections in Russia, the fourth country in the world, behind the United States, India and Brazil, after the number of documented infections, continues a downward trend, 20,921 new cases were detected in the last day, which is the most small figure from November last year.
BALKANS
Along with the challenge of rapidly obtaining and administering millions of doses, several Balkan governments must fight with distrust or open opposition to the coronavirus vaccine.
In Romania, Archbishop Teodosie Petrescu of the Romanian Orthodox Church is one of the influential voices who is reluctant to receive the injection. Another skeptic is senator and lawyer Diana Sosoaca, belonging to the Alliance for Romanian Unity, who refused to be vaccinated on the grounds that she has “a very strong immune system” and that the vaccine has not been tested enough.
In Bosnia, the Muslim community has called for its publication if there are components of swine origin in vaccines, because the consumption of pork is banned by Islam.
In Catholic Croatia, opposition to the vaccine is led by Vigilare, a conservative NGO that considers abortion a crime and claims that vaccines are made from cells from aborted fetuses.
In Serbia, the standard bearer for vaccines is psychiatrist Jovana Stojkovic, who leads the “I live for Serbia” movement. Stojkovic opposed the use of masks and denounced the existence of a pharmaceutical mafia, the “pharmacomafia”, which takes advantage of the virus to do business.
Vaccine resistance in Hungary is led by Dr. György Gödény, who also denies that covid is a serious disease.