With alarming figures, Europe asks to speed up vaccination campaign as coronavirus pandemic grows

The European Union launched on Wednesday an appeal to member states to speed up your vaccination campaigns against the coronavirus at a time when restrictions are widening and infections are on the rise.

The request was raised by the Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides. “It is important that we can move forward as quickly as possible in this huge vaccination exercise, and all countries must put their efforts into it,” the official said after a videoconference meeting of EU health ministers.

In addition, he asked avoid signing contracts for the purchase of vaccines outside the ward. “This could weaken the impact of the strategy, so we are confident that member states intend to stick to this agreement,” he said.

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The epidemiological situation in most of the Pact countries has worsened in recent weeks. Here is a summary of the health emergency facing the European continent.

Italy

• The country has passed 80,000 victims of the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. On Wednesday, the government announced that it would extend the state of emergency until April 30 while defining the details of a decree that will impose new restrictions from Saturday 16.
• The “state of emergency” allows borders to be closed and flights to and from countries that Italy considers to be at epidemiological risk to be banned.
• The government intends to confirm the ban on travel between the 20 regions of the country in the decree which will be known in the coming hours and will come into force next Saturday. As of Wednesday, the health ministry reported 15,744 new infections and 507 victims in the past 24 hours.

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Germany

• As of Wednesday, 19,600 new cases of coronavirus and 1,060 deaths were reported. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the government body in charge of the fight against infectious diseases, this figure is lower than the record of single-day deaths that occurred last Friday with 1,188 victims. The highest number of cases occurred on December 18 with 33,700 infections.
• The agency revealed that significant increases in contagion are being observed, especially in the younger age groups (between 15 and 39).
• In the country, there have been 1,953,426 confirmed cases of the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic with 42,637 deaths.

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United Kingdom

• The country has reported 1,564 deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest daily figure since the start of the pandemic. The record for infections was 68,053 on January 8.
• A total of 84,767 people have died in the UK from the coronavirus, according to official figures which only include patients who died within 28 days of testing positive. Although the number of daily cases fell slightly over the past week, the number of deaths has increased 54.7% in seven days.
• Hospitalized patients are also increasing, reaching 36,589, above the maximum peak of 21,684 recorded on April 12, during the first wave of the pandemic.
• Since January 4, the government has decreed strict confinement in England, where the population is only invited to leave their homes for essential reasons. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have also tightened their restrictions.

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Spain

• While the Spanish seem more concerned about the effects of a polar wave affecting the whole country, judge ordered elderly woman to be vaccinated with covid-19 living in a nursing home in the north-west of the country despite the refusal expressed by his daughter. In his ruling, the judge said the old woman “does not have the necessary powers to give adequate consent to medical action” and, although she understands her daughter’s doubts about the possible side effects of the drug, she claimed that vaccination presents a “less risk”.
• Spain started vaccination at the end of December and prioritized the vaccination of workers and inmates of nursing homes, where most of the victims are counted.

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Portugal

• The Portuguese are waiting to know the details of a second “general containment” deemed inevitable given the rebound of the pandemic after an easing of restrictive measures during the Christmas holidays.
• In this context, it is expected a new closure of non-essential shops, cafes and restaurants, which could start on Thursday. Kindergartens and elementary schools would remain open, unlike last spring’s lockdown.
• The country is also preparing for the presidential elections on January 24. The authorities have given the possibility to vote in advance this Sunday.

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Swiss

• He extended restrictions due to the pandemic on Wednesday and announced the closure of all non-essential businesses.
• After several weeks of analysis, the government indicated that companies should, as far as possible, send workers home to temporarily telework.
• The extension of the closure of restaurants and sports and cultural facilities has been announced. These restrictions will be in effect at least until the end of February. This is painful and sometimes causes anger. It is human nature, ”said Swiss President Guy Parmelin.
• However, most Swiss schools and ski slopes will remain open. The latest official report reported 3,001 new infections.

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France

• The scientific council which advises the French government revealed that the variant of the coronavirus detected in the United Kingdom represents “approximately 1%” of cases in France and will spread further “.
• The advisory group called for strengthening restrictive social distancing measures to “try to slow” the spread of this variant, which is more contagious. Otherwise, he warns, in early April, there could be “several tens of thousands“Cases throughout the country, said Wednesday the President of the Scientific Council, Jean-François Delfraissy in France Info.
• Further, the expert said “it is probably too late” to close the borders with Britain, although he called for “drastically restricting our relations with South Africa”, where another more contagious variant of the virus has been detected.