Germany experiencing ‘massive’ pandemic of unvaccinated
GERMANY,UK,US: Germany is experiencing a “massive” pandemic of the unvaccinated, Health Minister Jens Spahn said Wednesday, calling for curbs targeting those not inoculated to tame a resurgence in Covid cases.
The fourth wave is raging “with exceptional force”, Spahn said.
“We are currently experiencing mainly a pandemic of the unvaccinated and it is massive,” he told reporters, warning that “in some regions in Germany intensive care beds are running out again.”
Germany, the EU’s most populous country of some 83 million people, has been grappling with a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases in recent weeks that has pushed up the seven-day incidence rate to highs not seen since May.
The country added 20,398 cases over the past 24 hours, according to the Robert Koch health institute, while another 194 people died.
Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has called the coronavirus trend “very worrying”, signalled she was in favour of stricter curbs focussed on the unvaccinated.
“If the pandemic situations in hospitals worsens… then further restrictions for unvaccinated people are possible,” Merkel said through her spokesman Steffen Seibert.
More than 66 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, but a recent survey showed that the vast majority of Germany’s still unvaccinated adults have no intention of getting inoculated against COVID.
Meanwhile, Christmas may be difficult as the COVID-19 pandemic is not over, England’s deputy chief medical officer warned yesterday, urging people to behave with caution and come forward for booster shots.
Britain reported 293 deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, the highest daily figure since March, and there have been an average of around 40,000 new cases each day in recent weeks.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson lifted restrictions in England in July, and has said he plans to cope with Covid over the winter by relying on vaccinations rather than mandating masks or lockdowns.
Meanwhile, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is stepping up efforts to address a looming deficit of syringes for COVID-19 vaccine shots, providing about US$4 million (S$5 million) to help Kenyan manufacturer Revital Healthcare more than triple production.
Shortages of syringes and other supplies are threatening to complicate the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines just as shipments to lower-income nations begin to pick up after months of delays. Lack of funds, transportation and training are also among the delivery challenges that could slow distribution.
Narrowing a glaring gap in access to COVID-19 vaccines remains the top concern, especially in Africa, where just 6 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated.
Although UNICEF has tripled orders, further steps are needed. The United Nations child health programme has estimated a potential shortfall of as many as 2.2 billion syringes for COVID-19 vaccines and routine immunisations in 2022.
Meanwhile, A large number of white-tailed deer were infected with the coronavirus in Midwestern U.S. state Iowa, reported The New York Times Tuesday, citing a new study.
Up to 80 percent of deer sampled from April 2020 to January 2021 in the state were infected, which was characterized by researchers and outside experts as a troubling development in the course of the pandemic, it said.
Widespread infection among this species could increase the difficulty of wiping out the pathogen, especially if they became a depository for mutations that eventually spilled back over to humans, said the report.
– FRANCE 24, INDIA TODAY, BLOOMBERG