Overseas Report – Friday 29th January 2021
“Four steps to achievement: Plan purposefully. Prepare Prayerfully. Proceed Positively. Pursue Persistently.” – William A Ward
As Portugal is recording its highest number of cases and deaths it is an opportune time to look at how other countries have handled the pandemic. To do this l have gone to a lesser known Index called the Covid Performance Index.
The Covid Performance Index, compiled by the Lowy Institute of Australia, evaluated how 98 countries and territories have handled their own Covid-19 outbreaks based on the availability of data across six indicators: confirmed cases, confirmed deaths, confirmed cases per million people, confirmed deaths per million people, confirmed cases as a proportion of tests and tests per a thousand people.
While New Zealand took the top spot with 94.4 scores in total, Vietnam arrived second with an average score of 90.8 over 100, followed by Taiwan, Thailand and Cyprus. The U.S., the world’s largest pandemic hotspot, was the fifth worst performing country.
Mainland China was not included in this ranking due to a lack of publicly available data on testing.
Brazil was at the bottom of the table preceded by Mexico and Columbia.
We are fairly well versed in how New Zealand handled their cases but perhaps not as so with Vietnam.
In a country of 98 million people and with borders to three sides, they are very different from the island culture of New Zealand.
Vietnam, despite sharing a 1,200-km border with China, has stood out among those success stories, having recorded only 1,414 cases and 35 deaths.
The story of Vietnam’s successful Covid-19 fight is hardly a miracle however: what it did was take some simple and straightforward measures like imposing travel restrictions, contact tracing and social distancing. But what made them work were the government’s effective leadership and social unity and cohesion.
Even before the first coronavirus case was recorded in the country, the government did a risk assessment starting in early January, soon after China started reporting cases in December. Visitors’ temperature was checked along the border, and any suspected cases were singled out and isolated.People were also advised not to be in contact with anyone having respiratory symptoms and to maintain personal hygiene.Despite its best preventive efforts, Vietnam recorded its first case in Ho Chi Minh City on the 23rd January. Two Chinese people were then quarantined in a hospital. By the 1st February the government had stopped all flights to and from China. Over the next week or so any national returning from China had to go into a 14 day quarantine. If there were multiple cases, the government had no hesitation to lockdown a town or city, which happened on a number of occasions. In March they stopped issuing visas to tourists which meant no one could get into the country unless they were residents.
With cases still rising, the whole country went into a lockdown on the 1st April for three weeks and the country enjoyed a number of months Covid free until they were hit by a second wave in July. With another semi lockdown in place it was not until the end of July that the country recorded its first death from the virus.
Since then 34 more deaths were recorded across the country, many of them being elderly patients with 
underlying conditions. The final case of community transmission at the time was recorded on September 3rd, marking the end of the second wave of Covid-19. However, in late November a Vietnam Airlines flight attendant in HCMC contracted the ‘new’ coronavirus from a colleague returning from Romania after breaching quarantine protocols. His infection was confirmed on November 29th, but by then he had infected three others, breaking the country’s streak of nearly three months without community transmission. The man now faces possible charges of “spreading dangerous infectious diseases in humans” which carries a jail term of up to 12 years.. Since December Vietnam has recorded just 251 new cases and since the start of the Pandemic just 35 people have died as a result of the virus in a country of 98 million, the last person died back in September 2020.
The pandemic, arguably the biggest world-changing event of the 21st century, has had a massive impact on Vietnam with regards their economy and the job market.Their GDP growth is just 1.38%; the lowest in a decade. Some 1.2 million people are expected to file for unemployment benefits this year, with over 983,000 already doing so in the first 10 months, a 32.5 percent increase year-on-year from 2019.
As with many countries around the world, the worst hit sectors have been aviation, tourism, hospitality, entertainment, and food and beverages.
So why has Vietnam been so successful in beating the virus? In a report by the United Nations Development Program and the Mekong Development Research Institute, some 89 percent of respondents said they supported the government’s target of saving lives even if it means the economy might take longer to recover. Globally, only 67 percent of people agreed the government should prioritize lives over the economy. The country’s coronavirus success has been attributed to its early and proactive response, extensive, transparent public communication and rigorous, aggressive testing, contact tracing and quarantine measures.
As we enter another two weeks of the State of Emergency, perhaps we should all look at this and see what more we can do to stop the spread of the virus. I saw a post on Facebook recently which said something along the lines : Covid-19 cannot move around like humans can, so if we stop moving then the virus will stop and eventually die out – Just a thought to end this report with.
Stay Safe and Stay Home as much as possible – until the next time.
Total number of cases worldwide – 101,683,723
Total number of deaths worldwide – 2,190,768
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 73,510,490
Active cases – 25,978,987
Closed cases – 75,704,736
Information and statistics from:
https://www.worldometers.info/
https://e.vnexpress.net/news
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/
https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home.html
Overseas Report – Wednesday 27th January 2021
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein
As the total number of reported cases of Covid-19 reach over 100 million and the number of reported deaths reach over 2 million, there is some reason for hope if you look at the statistics for the past two weeks.
Worldwide, the 7-day average of reported cases has dropped by 19%. While there is normally a lag in how the number of deaths correlates with the number of cases, the 7-day average of deaths has actually increased by 6% worldwide.
It is still too early to factor in the vaccine programme which is happening now across the world but the signs are that the latest surge has seen its peak and we can all hope that this will be the start of a decline in cases.
In the USA reported cases for the last two weeks have been showing a steady decline. The latest 7-day average is now 175,021 cases compared to 254,214 two weeks ago. A drop of over 30%. The previous lowest 7-day figure happened in early December 2020. Reported deaths have also shown a slight decrease in the past two weeks to 3,228 per day. With the vaccine programme now getting more focus with the new administration, there is hope that this will help get the number of infections down across the states.
Meanwhile in Europe, our nearest neighbour Spain has seen their case numbers go in the opposite direction. The latest figures show that their 7-day rolling average figure for cases is 36,705 cases per day. This has increased from the 11th January figure of 23,729 – an increase of over 50%. However, on the plus side, their 3-day moving average is down by 27% at 32,675 cases per day. A similar picture on deaths shows that the 3-day average is dropping by 39% while the 7-day average has risen by over 65%. What this shows is that the infection rate has fallen over the past few days and we can assume that the death rate will follow in a couple of weeks time.
In Italy, where the original virus devastated the country, making it one of the most infected in Europe at the time, the virus has, from a peak in November with over 35,000 cases per day on average, reduced to a 7-day moving average of 12,181. A reduction of over 200%. With regards to the number of deaths, the 7-day moving average has reduced from 716 back in November to the current rate of 476 deaths per day.
Finally, to end this report, l bring you news of what the future could hold for some of us! They say that one man’s rubbish is another’s pot of gold. Since the start of the pandemic there have been a lot of people who have seen an opportunity and have been very successful.
There is one company in Hong Kong who think they have the next big “thing”. The product is called Sophia and she is a robot. Launched for the first time in 2016, Sophia – a humanoid robot – has gone viral. Now the company behind her has a new vision: to mass-produce robots by the end of the year. Hanson Robotics, based in Hong Kong, said four models, including Sophia, would start rolling out of factories in the first half of 2021, just as researchers predict the pandemic will open new opportunities for the robotics industry.
“The world of Covid-19 is going to need more and more automation to keep people safe,” founder and chief executive David Hanson said, standing surrounded by robot heads in his lab.
Hanson believes robotic solutions to the pandemic are not limited to healthcare but could assist customers in industries such as retail and airlines too. “Sophia and Hanson robots are unique by being so human-like,” he added. “That can be so useful during these times where people are terribly lonely and socially isolated. ”Hanson said he aims to sell “thousands” of robots in 2021, both large and small, without providing a specific number.
Products from other big players in the industry are helping fight the pandemic as well. SoftBank Robotics’ ‘Pepper’ robot was deployed to detect people who weren’t wearing masks. In China, robotics company CloudMinds helped set up a robot-run field hospital during the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.
The use of robots was on the rise before the pandemic. According to a report by the International Federation of Robotics, worldwide sales of professional-service robots had already jumped 32% to $11.2 billion between 2018 and 2019.
Some humans might be wary of putting robots in such sensitive roles. When asked whether people should fear robots, Sophia had an answer ready.
“Someone said ‘we have nothing to fear but fear itself’,” the robot mused. “What did he know?”
Until the next time Stay Home unless it is essential to go out and Stay Safe.
Total number of cases worldwide – 100,447,781
Total number of deaths worldwide – 2,154,100
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 72,471,796
Active cases – 25,819,441
Closed cases – 74,628,340
Information and statistics from:
https://covid19.who.int/
https://www.worldometers.info/
Overseas Report – Monday 25th January 2021
“A sense of humour helps us to get through the dull times, cope with the difficult times, enjoy the good times and manage the scary times.” – Steve Goodier
As I write this report the total world figure for Covid-19 cases is climbing closer to the 100 million mark, a figure which many would have thought fantasy just a year ago, when the city where the virus was purported to have emerged from went into a lockdown surprising the world.
Since that time we are all now aware that the world has grown used to the word ‘lockdown’ and it has now become regularly used in our vocabulary.
As l have written before, some countries have handled the virus differently from others; some with success and some with less success. Whatever your own thoughts on the success or failure of a country, it is worth looking at how 12 months on, with many countries experiencing a second wave of infections, what impact these lockdowns have on their citizens.
A year ago, on 23rd January 2020, the world saw its first coronavirus lockdown come into force in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the pandemic is believed to have started. At the time, the wider world was shocked by the harsh restrictions and rigid enforcement. From late January until June, the city was effectively sealed off from the rest of the country. So how did China tackle the outbreak?
On that day, two days before the country celebrated Chinese New Year, the streets of Wuhan fell silent. Some 11 million people were put under tight quarantine, and face masks and social distancing became mandatory. In an authoritarian country this was easier said than done and. as the outbreak got worse in those early days, authorities also sought to tightly control the spread of information – an issue which would crop up again and again over the next year. News outlets, which initially were allowed some room to report from Wuhan, faced a clampdown while citizen journalists who tried to report from the city were silenced. One of them received a four-year prison sentence. While China’s rigorous lockdowns may have initially struck observers as harsh and restrictive, the official data one year on appears to justify the measures, with a comparatively low death toll and caseload. Official data is the byword here, as we have no way of verifying this data.
One year on, life appears to be almost back to normal in the city. Last week the BBC drove to the city and spoke to people about what their lives are like now. However, censorship has made it difficult to get a full sense of how Wuhan, and other parts of the country, coped with the strict measures. What is certain is that this past year has taken a psychological toll, according to recent interviews with Wuhan residents, some of whom were worried about talking to international media. For others, there is now a greater sense of unity and connection. A Wuhan student, who only wanted to be known as Li Xi, said: “Before the pandemic, everyone seemed a bit grumpy, often rushed… but after the pandemic, they have become more grateful for life and much more warm-hearted.” “This kind of disaster has actually brought more people together,” said Han. “If people are there, the city is still there.”
Many countries have had lockdowns. When the first wave of infections happened many went into a lockdown for 3 or 4 weeks to start with and then extended them as the virus continued to infect its citizens. The problem with many of the lockdowns is that once it was lifted many people thought they could go back to their normal lifestyle.
In October 2020, Ireland became the first EU member state to enter a second lockdown. Originally meant to last 6 weeks, with some changes for the Christmas period, the country has been forced to continue the lockdown well into the New Year. In the days that followed, many other European countries did the same.
As is the case for many of these countries, the Irish restrictions are not quite as severe as during the first lockdown in March, as schools have remained open and larger numbers are permitted at funerals and weddings. Although serious, the situation in Ireland is different to how it was in spring. Far more testing is being done, including testing suspected cases with a wider range of symptoms, testing asymptomatic contacts, and mass testing of high-risk workplaces and care facilities. As in many countries, more cases are now occurring in younger people.
When the second lockdown started, the Republic had recorded 56k cases. Since then they have now recorded 186k cases, with deaths at just under 3000. From the start of the year infections have started to fall, so the recent announcement that the lockdown would continue until March was not good news for its citizens. There is a concern that the situation will impact on people’s mental health. The head of the Mental Health Commission has expressed concern about people, who are not properly trained or qualified, trying to support people online with their mental issues during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is, unfortunately, an issue which is happening worldwide with the pandemic and one which will have consequences long after the vaccines are given out and the virus is under control.
Governments across the world will have to address these mental health issues sooner rather than later if we are to get back to some sort of normality.
Until the next time Stay Safe and Stay Home unless it is essential for you to go out.
Total number of cases worldwide – 99,532,546
Total number of deaths worldwide – 2,134,302
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 71,536,933
Active cases – 25,860,922
Closed cases – 73,671,624
Information and statistics from:
ttps://www.worldometers.info/
https://www.irishtimes.com/
https://theconversation.com/
Overseas Report – Friday 22nd January 2021
“Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” ~ Carl Bard
It is exactly a year ago today that the USA announced their first case of Covid-19. No one would have thought that in the 365 days following this, the country would see over 415,000 of its citizens lose their lives and across 
the country over 25 million cases would be reported. Just one day after their new President, Joe Biden was sworn in, a number of things have happened which will be of interest to many outside of the country.
A day after President Biden reinstated American ties with the World Health Organization, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci told the organization that United States was committed to working closely with other nations to implement a more effective global response to the pandemic.
“Given that a considerable amount of effort will be required by all of us,” Dr. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said via video link during a meeting of the group’s executive board, “the United States stands ready to work in partnership and solidarity to support the international Covid-19 response, mitigate its impact on the world, strengthen our institutions, advance epidemic preparedness for the future, and improve the health and well-being of all people throughout the world.” Dr. Fauci said the United States would re-engage at all levels with the WHO and intended to join Covax, a program set up by the agency to distribute vaccines to poorer nations.
His comments, made exactly one year after the United States recorded its first Covid-19 case, underscored the alacrity with which the new administration is reversing both the substance and tone of the Trump administration’s approach.
“This is a good day for the WHO and a good day for global health,” the agency’s leader, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said, thanking President Biden for honouring his pledge to resume WHO membership and Dr. Fauci for his personal support to the body over many years ,as well as his leadership in America’s response to the pandemic.
Since virtually the moment Mr. Biden was sworn into office, he announced a series of actions to try to blunt the pandemic, including restoring the National Security Council’s Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, a group disbanded under Mr. Trump in 2018.
He is requiring social distancing and the wearing of masks by federal employees, contractors and others on federal property, and is starting a “100 days masking challenge” urging all Americans to wear masks and State and local officials to implement public measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Meanwhile across the world, the reported number of cases is now close to 98 million with total deaths reported at 2,085,519 (at time of writing). Many countries are now seeing a second surge of infections. In Japan where they had the virus under control after their first lockdown, they have seen infections rise threefold since the start of November 2020. Since Christmas, the number of active cases jumped, which has forced the government to implement a second lockdown which is starting to have an effect. Since the 7th January, all drinking and dining establishments are asked to close by 8 pm, with alcoholic beverages served only between 11am and 7 pm. The government provides a subsidy of 60,000 yen, or roughly 580 dollars, per day for each establishment that complies with the request.Takeout and delivery can continue unrestricted. Establishments that don’t follow the request and have no reasonable explanation for doing so can be publicly named.
The declaration gives governors the authority to close prefectural high schools and make requests regarding private schools and elementary and junior high schools.The government is not requesting a widespread shutdown of schools, as such a decision would impact the progress of education, and the mental and physical health of students.That is in stark contrast to last spring when schools across the country were requested to shut during the first wave of the outbreak.
One country in Europe which has seen the reverse of the second surge is Denmark. Since they reported their highest daily cases on December 18th of 4,084, they have seen a steady decline in cases since and have a 3 day 
moving average of 806 cases per day. For a country with approximately half the population of Portugal it is worth comparing their total reported cases of 191,505 and deaths at 1,872. Compared to Portugal with 581,605 cases and 9,465 deaths. Denmark has also one of the highest testing regimes in the world, having carried out over 12.2 million tests on its citizens, which equates to each person being tested more than twice! Their death rate is also one of the lowest at 323 deaths per 1 million population. Again compared with Portugal at 930. One of the reasons behind their lower death toll could be to do with the fact that Denmark has a much younger average age of population than Portugal.
Despite the drop in infections, Denmark last week prolonged the current Covid-19 national lockdown until February 7th, but a further extension could already be on the way. The current restrictions include the closure of schools, universities and non-essential stores, as well as requiring most people to work from home where possible, public assembly limits of no more than 5 people and mandatory face mask use in indoor public areas.
These measures have been in full effect since December 25th and had already been extended once before the new deadline of February 7th was announced last week. During the party leader’s debate in parliament on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen suggested that the restrictions could last longer than the current timescale.“The situation is so serious that we can easily envisage a need to extend parts of the restrictions we have, even now, because we’re at a critical point.” Denmark is concerned about the variant Covid-19 strain first identified in the UK, which is more contagious and they have fears of it impacting Denmark, hence the continued lockdown.
On the vaccine front around three percent of Danes are now vaccinated with the first dose – that is the highest proportion in the EU.
Until the next time, stay safe and adhere to the requirements of the latest Government State of Emergency so we can help reduce the cases here in Portugal.
Total number of cases worldwide – 97,566,332
Total number of deaths worldwide – 2,089,475
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 70,072,499
Active cases – 25,404,358
Closed cases – 72,161,974
Information and statistics from:
https://www.nytimes.com/
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
https://www.thelocal.dk/
Overseas Report – Wednesday 20th January 2021
“I follow three rules: Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care”. – Lou Holtz
Today, as Portugal is entering its 6th day of another lockdown, we are looking at what other countries across the world are doing, whether the same or something different, to help combat the surge in Covid-19 cases in the past month.
We start with Canada, with a population of 38 million in a landscape which is one of the largest areas in the world, they have seen a surge in cases since their first case back in March 2020. Since the end of November 2020, their total cases have doubled to over 715,000, with deaths from the virus at 18,120.
Testing in Canada is not at the same levels of many European countries. A comparison is with Portugal who have tested 633,761 people per million while Canada has tested 438,038 per million, so the actual numbers of cases could be much higher than reported. With such a large landmass it is not surprising that 84% of all the known cases are in just three provinces. Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. In Ontario, with hospital intensive care units in some parts of the province reaching capacity due to Covid-19, a new hospital will open in Vaughan, Ontario, next month to help relieve pressure on other facilities in the Greater Toronto Area. The Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital, due to open in early February, will be a “dedicated resource to support the province’s Covid-19 response,” taking in critical patients from other hospitals.the province is also adding 500 additional surge capacity hospital beds in Toronto, Durham Region, Kingston, and Ottawa.
Canada’s vaccination efforts against Covid-19 took a notable step forward this week with the opening of mass immunization centres in Toronto and Brandon, Manitoba. This follows the opening of a similar immunization supersite in Winnipeg two weeks ago.
Meanwhile in Europe, Belgium is now reporting that the variant that first appeared in the UK is starting to take hold in the country. With a population of just over 11 million, the number of cases of Covid-19 have been very high in comparison with other similar sized countries. As a country which is traversed by travellers getting across Europe by road, it has seen large numbers of cases since the start of the pandemic.
The country has one of the highest rates of deaths per 1 million people in the world at 1,762. Only the tiny principality of San Marino in Italy has a higher death rate. In comparison to Portugal, they have recorded 679,711 cases and 20,472 deaths since the start of the pandemic, whilst Portugal’s numbers are 556,903 cases and 9,028 deaths. The number of tests carried out are of a very similar number. There has been some good news in the last few days. Generally, the increase in infections has slowed down, and both hospital admissions and deaths continue to decrease. However, around noon on Sunday, news broke that an outbreak of the UK strain had been detected in the commune of Houthulst, West Flanders, with 128 persons infected, 63 of them in a nursing home.
While only a minority of samples in Belgium have tested positive for the new strain, the number could shoot up, according to Van Ranst. “The figures have been increasing since New Year,” he said. “The British strain was already present, but we’ve noted an increase since the new year. And the movement of tourists has also contributed to its spread. We are going to see how the situation evolves in the coming days and weeks.”
As Belgium continues to be in Lockdown, it has emerged that the authorities crackdown on people not complying with the orders and these have been fined. More than 8,400 breaches of coronavirus measures were recorded between 22nd December and 3rd January, federal and local police said according to French-speaking media. Of the 8,412 reports written up, a total of 3,257 were for non-compliance with movement restrictions, which includes curfew, 27 for having organised lockdown parties, and 249 for having participated in a lockdown party, according to Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden. The fine for violating curfew (and for not wearing a face mask) is €250, while the fine for attending a lockdown party is €750, and organisers risk up to €4,000.
Across the world the number of deaths continues to rise. Since the start of October 2020 the total number of deaths due to Covid-19 have doubled across the world. To combat this rise many countries in the world have put their citizens in lockdown. In Europe most of the EU countries are in Lockdown until at least the end of January. For some, like Germany and Denmark, this has been extended to February. Many European countries have restricted travel by non EU and other foreign nationals into their territories. While Hungary has even banned EU citizens from entering the country.
What is obvious is that this pandemic is a long way from being beaten and whilst the vaccines being administered is good news for everyone lucky enough to be in a country where they are being rolled out, it will still be many months, if not the rest of the year, until we see some form of herd immunity come to the fore so that the life we once knew can come around again. Until then we must all be aware that the dangers of this virus are no less than when it first appeared. If anything, with the new variants it could be seen as being more dangerous than the original virus.
Until the next time. Stay safe and follow the rules.
Total number of cases worldwide – 96,643,566
Total number of deaths worldwide – 2,066,003
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 69,323,391
Active cases – 25,254,172
Closed cases – 71,389,394
Information and statistics from:
www.worldometers.info
https://www.cbc.ca/news
https://www.brusselstimes.com/news
Overseas Report – Monday 18th January 2021
“The tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.” – Benjamin Mays
With the world coming to grips with a number of new variants of the Covid-19 virus, this report is going to start with a look at the way countries are handling the delivery of vaccines to their citizens.
Whilst the virus doesn’t choose who to infect, the same cannot be said for the vaccine, in so far as if you are one of the poorer countries in the world the chances of getting the vaccine are a lot lower than if you are in Europe for example. While the UK has said it has already vaccinated over 4 million of its people, South Africa is still waiting for its delivery of the vaccine to arrive.
In the meantime, the country with the highest number of cases in the continent is having to deal with over 500 deaths each day since the start of the New Year. They are also having to deal with a new strain of the virus which is similar to the UK mutant strain, with both being able to infect more easily than the original virus. As a member of the Covax group of countries, a WHO initiative which allows smaller third world countries to procure the virus as part of a larger order, they expect to have enough vaccines in the first 6 months of this year to vaccinate just 3% of their population. The irony of this situation is that one vaccine is actually being bottled and shipped from South Africa to Europe, so they are helping to provide vaccines to Europe but wont have access to them themselves.
Meanwhile in Israel, the speed of their vaccination programme has stunned the world. Israel’s vaccination drive began on December 19th, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the first person to be vaccinated in the country. Priority has been given to people aged over 60, health care workers and anyone clinically vulnerable — reported to make up around a quarter of its 9 million population. It has raced ahead of other countries that have also started their vaccination rollouts. To date, and with a new lockdown in place amid a surge in coronavirus cases, around 2.2 million people in Israel (of a population of 8.6 million) have received their first vaccine shot, according to ‘Our World in Data’.
In the UAE, with a population of under 10 million, their vaccine programme didn’t start until the first week of January and already they have vaccinated over 1.8 million citizens. Since the start of the pandemic they have reported 253,261 cases, with deaths at a relatively low figure of 745. However, in the last week they have seen cases increase by an average of 3000 per day, mirroring countries in Europe who are now feeling the effects of a relaxation of measures over the Christmas and New Year period. Whilst the predominantly Arab population would not celebrate Christmas in the same way, they were in a place where many people from Europe went as a holiday destination.
The main thrust of the vaccination programme has been led by the bigger nations, with the USA having vaccinated 12.28 million people, followed by China with just over 10 million.
In Europe, where the EU was working to coordinate the vaccination process, some countries have decided to do their own thing as there was a feeling of the process taking too long. Both Germany and Italy have administered over 1 million doses of vaccine, whilst Spain has carried out over 750,000 doses. Meanwhile in France, where the government has come in for criticism over the speed of the vaccine roll out, they have administered 413,000 vaccines so far.
In South America, the vaccine programmes are very sporadic with the biggest country, Brazil, not even started a vaccine programme while their infections continue to increase and deaths continue to rise. To date, since the beginning of December, Brazil has seen an average of 50,000 new cases of Covid-19 every day. Since the start of the pandemic 209,350 people have lost their lives to the virus in Brazil. The Health Ministry has stated that they hope to start the programme of vaccination from the 20th January. However, there is doubt about the effectiveness of the Chinese vaccine they have bought, as it now seems to be only 50% effective in late-stage trials in Brazil, significantly lower than earlier results showed.
In Mexico the number of cases has increased dramatically since the turn of the year, with the latest 24 hour figure showing 21,366 when before Christmas they were getting around 10,000 a day. They started their vaccination programme on the 24th December and so far they have administered just short of half a million doses. Only Mexico, Argentina and Chile, of all the South American countries, have started a vaccination programme to date. With the latest variant of the virus coming from Brazil we should all hope that their programmes start to have an effect.
In the meantime stay safe and follow the rules of the current lock down.
Total number of cases worldwide – 95,190,015
Total number of deaths worldwide – 2,035,297
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 67,955,970
Active cases – 25,198,748
Closed cases – 69,991,267
Information and statistics from:
www.covid19.who
www.worldometers.info
Overseas Report – Friday 15th January 2021
“When life is like a slippery, downhill slope, go skiing and scream ‘Whee …….’ all the way down!!” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Winter has if anything bought even higher levels of infections for Covid-19 across most of the world. Currently affecting 219 countries in the World and cases increasing at 750,000 a day and deaths currently just under 2 million, the pandemic shows no signs of abating.
Where countries are dealing with winter, they also have to deal with the normal winter illnesses like flu and colds. Countries that are well known for winter sports activities have been very hard-hit by the pandemic.
In Europe, both France and Italy shut down their ski areas and they have still to re-open. This has been a massive hit on their economy. In Chamonix, France, business owners at France’s Chamonix ski resort, who have seen their earnings slashed because of the Covid-19 lockdown, are worried they might not be able to welcome back skiers at all before the snows melt and the season ends.
All French ski resorts were prevented from opening their cable cars and ski lifts at the start of the season, driving away the large portion of their visitors who come for downhill skiing. The French government had discussed the possibility of reopening the ski lifts in January. However last week it said that with virus cases still high, that would be premature. A decision is now due on January 20th, leaving little time before the season ends.
“If we have to close until the end of season, that’s going to cost us several billion euros,” said Mathieu Dechavanne, Chairman and CEO of Compagnie du Mont-Blanc, which operates cable cars in the region. “The economic impact will be catastrophic.”
France posted 23,852 new cases in the 24 hours up to the 13th January and have seen cases since the new year on a par with these figures. The country is currently in another lockdown to try and stem the rise in cases.
The French government provides financial assistance, but it does not cover all losses. At his ski equipment rental shop, co-owner David Pot said he and his partners had lost half their revenue since the pandemic began. He was angry, he said, because skiing did not expose people to a high risk of infection, yet government ministers still cracked down on ski resorts.
That statement is not entirely true. The Chic Swiss resort of Wengen is reeling from having the world famous Lauberhorn downhill ski race cancelled. A British tourist has been blamed for a spike in coronavirus cases that led officials to cancel this famous ski race. The resort of Wengen, where the race is held, had recorded only 10 cases of the virus by mid-December.
But the number soon began to rise and many cases have since been linked to the new highly infectious variant of Covid-19 first identified in the UK. At least 27 cases are connected to one British tourist, contact tracers say. The tourist stayed in a hotel in Wengen over the holiday period. This is not the first time British Skiers have been accused of spreading the virus. It was only last month that the vanishing Brits of Verbier, reportedly fled Switzerland rather than accept the government mandated quarantine, triggering a flurry of negative headlines.
Up until October 2020 Switzerland had not been affected to as large an extent as many countries in Europe. However, with the ski season starting and other European resorts closed the Swiss ski resorts became the “go to” place in Europe for many recreational skiers. This resulted in total cases at the start of October at just 53,800 and the latest figure is 490,358.
In the same way, deaths at the end of September from Covid stood at just under 2000. The latest figure shows deaths from Covid-19 at 8,521. Keeping Swiss resorts open throughout the winter has taken its toll but, to understand why, one must look at the economic reasons behind the government’s decision to go against what other countries in the region were doing.
Over 35% of Switzerland’s skiing income is derived from overseas visitors and this represents almost 1% of their total annual gross domestic product. Since December 19th, the Government has decreed that all restaurants and bars should be shut for a month. On January 13th, the government announced the closure of non-essential shops and mandatory teleworking as well as the extension, to the end of February, of restaurant and sports facilities closures in 
a move to drastically reduce coronavirus infections. The new measures come into effect from January 18th. Private gatherings are limited to five people. Where teleworking is not possible, masks must be worn at the workplace even if social distance is respected. Kiosks and petrol station shops are subject to a curfew of 7pm and will have to close on Sundays. Passengers on Swiss public transport have been obliged to wear face masks since July 6th and on flights since August 15th. On public transport, the mask requirement applies to everyone aged 12 or older travelling on trains, trams and buses, mountain railways, cable cars and on ships. Federal Railways conductors can ask anyone not wearing a mask to leave the train and anyone refusing will be fined. With the vaccination programme now being rolled out, they are banking on these measures and the vaccine to bring the virus down in the country. Chances are it will be too late for a lot of the ski resorts restaurants and bars.
Italy has pushed back the re-opening of its ski resorts to January 18th from a previously planned January 7th, the Health Ministry said on Saturday, indicating government concern over continued coronavirus infections. Like much of the rest of Europe, Italy shut down its ski slopes over the Christmas and New Year holidays, as part of a package of measures aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19. Although the number of daily cases has fallen from a high of around 40,000 in mid-November to just over 20,000 at present, the infection rate has started to edge higher in recent days, and many hundreds of people continue to die each day. Italy’s official death toll stands at over 80,000 — the second highest in Europe behind the UK and the 8th highest in the world.
With slopes shut across most other European resorts it looks like the skiing industry is in for a hard time over the next few months when in normal times they would be reaping the rewards of a good winter season.
Stay Safe.
Total number of cases worldwide – 93,040,666
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,992,794
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 66,515,972
Active cases – 24,531,900
Closed cases – 68,508,766
Information and statistics from:
www.worldometers.info
www.reuters.com
www.swissinfo.ch
www.bbc.co.uk
Overseas Report – Wednesday 13th January 2021
“No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away”. – Terry Pratchett
To start this report on a somewhat sombre note, we now know that by the end of this week the death toll from Covid-19 will have exceeded 2 million across the world. Whilst the number of cases recorded is over 91 million, it is reckoned that this figure is well below the actual number of infections across the world. A true figure is hard to assimilate but research done by the Royal Society reckons that this figure only takes in around 90-95% of the actual numbers. Deaths are also difficult to measure as many countries have different ways of registering death as a result of Covid-19. However we look at it we know that sadly this pandemic shows no sign of abating as we get into the new year.
The economic situation in most countries has become almost as bad as the actual pandemic itself, with many countries looking at long term recession for many years to come.
In Latin America, officials are struggling to contain a new surge in infections while millions are waiting on the vaccine to be rolled out. Health authorities are under fierce pressure to speed up the vaccine rollout in Brazil, for one. The second worst-affected country in the world has registered more than eight million coronavirus cases since the pandemic began and its death toll surpassed 200,000 last week. More than 1,000 Brazilians are dying from Covid-19 every day on average, but the country has yet to begin administering vaccinations against the disease, lagging behind Argentina and Mexico.
In Mexico, where last week they passed the grim milestone of over 133,000 deaths from Covid-19, 90 percent of hospital beds are now occupied and a surge in coronavirus infections is driving a scarcity of oxygen needed for treatment. The overall number of infections registered now stands at 1,543,049 in the nation of more than 128 million, up over 10,000 new cases from the previous day. While the number of daily infections has begun to rise again in recent weeks, the authorities say that deaths remain on a downtrend. But Malaquias Lopez, an epidemiologist and former health ministry official, said it was unclear if the situation was improving. “We’re at a point where we don’t see a clear phase of descent. We don’t know where it’s going,” he told AFP. The government says poor diets and health problems including obesity, hypertension and diabetes are partly to blame for the high death toll. “These conditions increase the possibility of a patient dying, it’s true, but in Mexico they’re almost a death sentence,” said Lopez, who thinks the authorities have used the risk factors to deflect criticism of their handling of the pandemic. Half of Mexico’s workforce is in the informal sector and if they become sick they cannot afford to self-isolate, he said.
The government says the high number of deaths reflects its large population. When it comes to deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, Mexico is in 11th place worldwide, based on official data. The authorities acknowledge that the real number of coronavirus deaths is higher than the official toll due to the low level of testing.
Back in Brazil, infections continue to increase with the latest figures showing an increase of 28,033 cases in a 24 hour period bringing a total number of 8,133,833 since the start of the pandemic. Deaths are now at a figure of 203,617, the second highest in the world behind the USA. Unlike many other countries which saw a drop in cases during the period June to September 2020, and with a slight decrease in cases logged in October, Brazil has seen infections rise on a daily basis since.
Despite the large death toll, many people still believe what the Brazilian President says “that the virus is not an issue”. While many countries imposed new restrictions to limit the spread of the virus in mid-December, the administration of Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro gave its blessing for holiday fun in the sun. Tourism Minister Gilson Machado told radio station Jovem Pan that gatherings of up to 300 people were perfectly acceptable. The decision to impose restrictions is the prerogative of local governments; some that did so saw their rules ignored. A prominent YouTuber organized a party near a river beach for hundreds of people in Alagoas state, in the country’s northeast region. Days later, local media reported that 47 people, among unmasked guests and staff, contracted Covid-19. At least two were admitted to intensive-care units.
Intensive-care units in many cities are once again slammed with Covid-19 patients. The mayor of Amazonas state’s capital Manaus — which one local study speculated may have reached herd immunity after its brutal first wave — declared a 180-day state of emergency Tuesday and suspended all permits for events. State authorities prohibited all nonessential activities for 15 days in most of the city. The city of 2.2 million has recorded 3,550 deaths since the start of the pandemic, and the number of Covid-19 burials has surged.
In Rio De Janeiro, the night before New Year’s Eve, thousands of revellers clad in their bathing suits crowded onto the iconic Ipanema beach to have some seaside drinks. It was one of many open-air parties occurring along Brazil’s vast coastline since the summer heat set in, and as the Covid-19 death toll climbed higher. Not all Brazilians feel the same way as their President. Dozens of protesters gathered outside Brazil’s presidential palace on Friday with a banner blaming President Jair Bolsonaro for the grim landmark. They also carried signs urging congress to remove him from office.
There is little chance of this happening at the moment. In the meantime across the world lockdowns are becoming the “norm” as the number of cases of Covid-19 rise.
As it looks increasingly likely that Portugal will once again soon impose firmer lockdown conditions to prevent the rising number of cases here, please remember the basics of protecting yourself and your family – wearing of masks, washing of hands and social distancing – we all need to play our part and take responsibility for our own actions.
Stay safe
Total number of cases worldwide – 91,607,396
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,960,646
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 65,520,154
Active cases – 24,126,596
Closed cases – 67,480,800
Information and statistics from:
www.worldometers.info
Overseas Report – Monday 11th January 2021
“Following the option of least risk is a good policy.” – Vincent Okay Nwachukwu
As we are in the midst of a very cold spell of weather here and across most of Europe, I thought l would take a look at what difference the various lockdowns across the world are having on individuals and their way of life.
Obviously the way of life we knew before the pandemic is very different to what we all do now but in some countries what used to be the norm is now completely changed. One country, our nearest neighbour, Spain has seen a massive change in its cultural identity with regards to their habit of eating out in restaurants.With cases of Covid-19 now over 2 million, the country has gone through a number of lockdowns both nationally and regionally. The pandemic has changed the very fabric of the culture in Spain. The Spanish like to do everything late – they stay out late, shop late and eat late. Its a fact that most restaurants don’t even open in the evenings until 8 pm, and if you do turn up then, you’ll most likely be the only customers there. The majority of Spaniards won’t eat dinner until at least 9 pm or 10 pm.
Before the pandemic, the buzzing Andalusian city of Seville, home to some of the country’s best tapas, would be packed with patrons dining out at 11 pm, and the clinking of glasses and clatter of forks would be heard well into the night. But the pandemic is forcing the Spanish to change their culture and eat dinner earlier, due to 
curfews and changing rules. Currently, there are a range of different curfews in place across the country; from 10 pm in Andalusia and in Catalonia, where Barcelona is the capital, to 11 pm in the Basque Country and Galicia in the north, and midnight in Madrid and Valencia.
This means people across the country must stay home during the time they would normally be out eating. These anti-Covid-19 measures have been tough on businesses and many have been forced to adapt or go under. It has been reported in Spain that already 15,000 bars and restaurants across the country have closed permanently and a further 25,000, or 15% of the total, will close if these measures continue.
In Andalusia, in the south of Spain, even though a 10 pm curfew is in place, bars and restaurants are only allowed to stay open until 6 pm, so even an 8 pm dinner here is not possible. This means that the famed Andalusian night-time tapas scene is non-existent right now and the once buzzing plazas of Seville are quiet and still. Pre-pandemic, restaurants opened for lunch around 1 pm and then closed around 4 pm, only to reopen again at 8 pm for dinner service. But if they want to survive now, these times must change. With many offering outside eating and drinking as a safer way of socialising, the latest cold weather is doing nothing to help the owners of these premises.
On the other side of the world is a city which has largely escaped the effects of Covid-19 and the pandemic – Perth Australia, a city the size of Philadelphia where the coronavirus pandemic has never really existed. For nine months, Perth has thrived behind its so-called “Pandemic Wall.” With its borders mostly closed even to other Australian states, it has now gone 250 days, as of this writing, without a community-based Covid-19 infection.
To be allowed into this city of 2.2 million people, you either must spend 14 days in hotel quarantine to prove you aren’t infected or be travelling from another Australian state which has no current Covid-19 outbreak. Essentially, Perth has been made airtight.
Few people have risked breaching the quarantine laws of Western Australia (WA), of which Perth is the capital, because the penalties are severe – up to 12 months in prison or a $38,000 USD fine. The WA government’s response to the pandemic was so swift and strict that it’s created a Covid-free bubble. Perth looks like a parallel universe where the virus never took hold. No masks, no social distancing, no lifestyle restrictions of any kind. To put the situation of Perth into context, on the 8th January when Portugal posted 10,176 on this one day the total number of cases, in Western Australia during the whole pandemic the total was 869.
The reason the state of Western Australia has been spared is that most of those 869 infections were identified in hotel quarantine. Anyone who flies into WA from overseas gets a police escort straight to quarantine, cannot leave their hotel room for the next two weeks, and aren’t let out until they test negative for Covid-19. This makes it nearly impossible for the virus to spread into the community. Anyone who brings it into WA is immediately isolated and treated. The strict rules don’t end there. For the past nine months, only Australian residents have been let into the country, and they have not been allowed to leave Australia unless it’s an emergency situation. These rules seem unlikely to change until Australia is well into its coronavirus vaccination programme, which is not scheduled to begin until March.
Over the recent festive season, Perth’s citizens were able to go out for dinner, celebrate at bars, attended parties, and joined the shopping centre crowds for Perth’s renowned Boxing Day sales. They also took advantage of the cloudless skies and mid-80 degree temperatures to swim at several of the gorgeous beaches that flank the city.
Two very different pictures that the Covid-19 pandemic has thrown up at the world. Lets all hope that the experiences of Western Australia are something we can all get to enjoy in the months to come.
Stay safe.
Total number of cases worldwide – 90,707,344
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,943,509
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 64,831,983
Active cases – 23,931,852
Closed cases – 66,775,492
Information and statistics from:
www.worldometers.info
www.fodors.com
Overseas Report – Friday 8th January 2021
“If you’re not making someone else’s life better, then you’re wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other lives better.” ~Will Smith
This report is a bit different from my previous reports in that l am not going to concentrate on the figures that come out of the WHO. This edition is all about how the pandemic is affecting people and how many are doing something to help combat the disease by helping others.
The coronavirus pandemic knows no borders. All of us have been affected by this global emergency but not everyone has been impacted in the same way. For the many people living in poverty, the Covid-19 crisis is just another crisis to contend with. Whilst we all feel the effects of lockdowns both physically and mentally, the poor in the world to a great extent have to try and carry on with their usual lives which, to us more well off people, is nothing like normal. In many parts of the world there are refugees in camps with little to protect themselves. Women who are forced to carry the burden of unpaid care work. Families who live with inadequate clean water and sanitation. Children who were struggling to access a quality education even before the closure of schools around the globe.
At the same time, in communities all over the world, people have responded to this human emergency with compassion, heart and generosity – reaching out to support others in amazing ways. This global crisis has prompted many of us to reconsider our connections with those around us, to reflect on what we value most in life and to think about how to create a fair and sustainable future for all.
As we watch the coronavirus pandemic play out on a global scale, it’s easy to feel helpless. But no matter who you are or what your situation, you can make a difference. Even if you’re quarantined at home, there are still many ways to get involved and give back, including donating money or supplies, volunteering virtually, and checking in on people who might need support.
There is always something you can do to help others. And by helping others you will also help yourself. Research shows that volunteering makes you happier and healthier. Especially now—with most of us isolated from others or confined to interacting with only those in our household— it’s a great way to reinforce your community ties and remind you that we’re all working towards a common goal. Finding ways to give back during Covid-19 will help lower your own anxiety and stress, boost your mood, and give you a sense of purpose during this difficult time.
So where should we start. Close to home in your own community is a good starting point. The easiest way to give back is by reaching out to the people you know. Neighbours, friends, co-workers, and relatives can all benefit from a friendly text or video call. It may seem like a small gesture, but don’t underestimate the positive impact of checking up on someone. Start with those who might feel vulnerable right now. This could be your elderly neighbour who is cut off from their social connections or your friend who suffers from anxiety and depression. Providing a touchstone for someone during this time is one of the best ways to be of service. And it will help ease your own anxieties as well and give you an emotional boost.
If you’re relatively young and healthy, another way to help is by running errands for those who are at higher risk of serious illness. Think of those in your local social circle who are elderly, disabled, or housebound. Reach out and see if they need help picking up groceries or prescriptions. You can leave bags outside their door to maintain a safe distance. Local social media groups or sites like Facebook or Nextdoor can help put you in touch with people in need in your area. While many people don’t have extra funds right now, if you’re one of the lucky ones who do, consider donating to an organization that’s making a difference during the pandemic. Some possibilities include hospitals and health centers or national and local charities that provide housing, financial assistance, or food.
Another possibility is giving to GoFundMe fundraisers for essential workers impacted by Covid-19 or families who are struggling following illness or death.
You can also help your favourite local businesses stay afloat during this time by purchasing gift cards that can be used later, ordering delivery from restaurants that are still open, and shopping from home if they’re still taking orders.
If you’re strapped for cash, there are ways to donate without spending money. With more people out of work, demand for food banks is expected to rise. At the same time, panic-buying and hoarding have reduced supplies. Supporting your local food pantry will help close the gap. While the best way to support food banks is through financial assistance so they can purchase what they need, you can also help by donating non-perishables like peanut butter, canned goods, pasta, rice, and beans.
In Naples, Italy, volunteers deliver shopping for those who struggle to do it themselves. The local authority gives the helpers concessions such as allowing them to skip lines at supermarkets and pharmacies so they can get deliveries to those who need it as quickly as possible.”Their needs are vital,” said one woman shopping.”It’s difficult for everyone, but let’s try to do it for those who need it most,” another woman added.
In Moscow, The City Hall has opened a hotline that allows pensioners to call in and leave orders. They still have to pay for their shopping, but delivery is free.The campaign is very much a top-down initiative rather than a grassroots one. The helpers are from the group Medical Volunteers.
These are just a couple of examples of people’s community spirit. This is happening all over the world so whilst we need to be safe we should also remember those a little less fortunate than us and how the pandemic is affecting them differently.
Until the next time, Stay Safe.
Total number of cases worldwide – 88,198,639
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,901,164
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 63,421,654
Active cases – 22,875,821
Closed cases – 65,322,818
Information and statistics from:
www.oxfam.org
www.helpguide.org
www.euronews.com
Overseas Report – Wednesday 6th January 2021
“Be still and calm, don’t fear your past but use it for our future..!” ― Nitesh Nishad
As we end the first week of the New Year, many parts of the world, including the UK have announced further lockdowns as the virus takes a hold for the second time. All over the world, with a few exceptions, countries are having to start the year with people staying home, industry at an all time low and although we now have two or more vaccines available the pandemic is showing no sign of abating.
The USA again hit the headlines with the number of cases reaching over 21 million and deaths have reached over 362,000. The State which currently is the epicentre of the pandemic and having the worst outbreak is California. One area which has been especially badly hit is LA County. Since the start of the pandemic this area has reported 827,498 cases of Covid-19. In addition they have lost 10,850 people to the virus. To put this into perspective against other countries they have a population of 10,490,000 which is almost the same as Portugal. The area is 4,084 square miles or 10,577 square kilometers. By comparison, Portugal is 92,912 square kilometers so the big difference is how condensed their citizens are compared to Portugal.
Another factor is that over 60% of the population is made up of Hispanics, Black or Asian origin people. Many of these people live in multi- generational families. This is one of the factors being cited as to the reason why the virus has been so prevalent in this county. The current cases per 1 million people is 80,005. Deaths are 990 per 1 million.
In comparing countries of a similar population, LA County is not the worst hit. Czechia in Europe has been hit worse with the number of deaths reaching 12,257 on the back of reported cases of 759,635. The number of tests carried out is just under 3.9 million.
Meanwhile elsewhere in Europe all the headlines are focussed on the UK and the new variant strain of Covid-19. The UK has posted over 50,000 new cases each day since the start of the year. The new variant is suspected to be up to 70% more contagious although it is not expected to be any more of a danger to people’s overall health. This has caused the UK to start a further lockdown starting this week across the whole of England. Scotland and Wales are already in lockdown and Northern Ireland has been in a lockdown since before Christmas, part of a 6 week measure to curb a surge in Covid-19 infections. All secondary and primary schools will close and children will revert to online e-learning.
Elsewhere in Europe, Italy’s government announced on Tuesday that most of the coronavirus restrictions imposed in the country during the Christmas break would be extended until January 15th. People in Italy will be allowed to visit friends only once a day, in meetings capped at a maximum of two adults. And according to a new government decree, travel between regions will be forbidden except for health or work reasons. Restrictions have also been imposed on the hospitality industry, with bars and restaurants only permitted to provide takeaway services.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet the 16 premiers of the country’s federal states on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of extending its current lockdown. The original German lockdown had been due to end on January 9th. One option under discussion would see it extended until the end of the month.
As the roll out of the various vaccines gets underway across the world there is already criticism of some governments about the time it is taking to get the programme under way. In Europe France has promised to ramp up their efforts as their countrymen are seen as the most sceptic of all European countries with regards to vaccine administering. So far they have only vaccinated a few thousand people while the UK has vaccinated over 1 million, although they did start earlier than the rest of Europe.
In the USA, as the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines gets underway, the country is confronting a major IT challenge: how to track distribution of the vaccines and determine who receives them. This is crucial to ensure individuals get the recommended number of doses, that guidelines determining who is next in line are followed, and that enough of the U.S. population — at least 60% to 70% — is vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.
Personal health information, including vaccination records with personal identifiers, is typically difficult for the U.S. government to access and to manage due to federal and state privacy rules or laws. This is made even more challenging by the lack of a single national identification system in the United States other than Social Security numbers. The United States has a fragmented system to track vaccine administration. States’ immunization information systems — centralized registries that have the capacity to electronically exchange data with clinical systems, including electronic medical records — play an important role in vaccine verification.
It is a fact that today only 60% of American adults are registered on immunization information systems (with large variations across states), and not all vaccinators have joined these registries: One study found that among those who administer vaccines, only 31.6% of clinicians and 38.4% of pharmacists submitted records to these registries.
Whatever happens the increase in cases and deaths make it imperative that they get the vaccine out to as many citizens in as short length of time as possible.
Until the next time, Stay Safe.
Total number of cases worldwide – 86,419,360
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,867,366
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 61,263,536
Active cases – 23,288,458
Closed cases – 63,130,902
Information and statistics from:
www.hbr.org
www.worldometers.info
www.bbc.co.uk
Overseas Report New Years Day – Monday 4th January 2021
“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose”. – Lyndon B Johnson
In many countries across the world,the Christmas and New Years holidays have produced a significant rise in Covid-19 infections, to the extent that many governments are starting to increase the levels of lockdown that have been in place up to the start of the holidays. It was always predicted by scientists that allowing people and families to mix during the holiday period would produce a spike in cases. Countries across the world tightened restrictions on their populations on Saturday (January 2nd) to fight a resurgence of Covid-19, as the European Union offered to help drug companies expand vaccine production to deal with distribution”bottlenecks”.
From local curfews to alcohol bans and complete lockdowns, governments are trying to tackle a surge in cases. Many experts fear the worst is yet to come, predicting a sharp rise in infections and deaths after weeks of holiday gatherings.
French police booked hundreds of New Year revellers on Saturday for flouting anti-Covid-19 measures at an illegal rave.
In Bangkok, the city’s nightlife shut down following a ban on bars, nightclubs and restaurant alcohol sales, among a raft of restrictions aimed at curbing Thailand’s rising virus toll. Public schools in the Thai capital are to close for two weeks. An outbreak last month at a seafood market has led to a resurgence of the virus in the kingdom, with infections detected in 53 of its 77 provinces.
In Tokyo, the city’s governor on Saturday asked Japan’s government to declare a new state of emergency as the country battles a third wave of Covid-19, with record numbers of new cases. Also, South Korea extended its anti-virus curbs until January 17th in the greater Seoul area, including a ban on gatherings of more than four people, which will be widened to cover the whole country.
In the USA new cases reported on the 2nd January were 232,227. Alongside this figure they also recorded 2,107 new deaths in one day. The USA now has around 23% of all the known cases in the world.
The UK has also had a big increase in cases over the holidays, recording over 50,000 new cases on four consecutive days since the 29th December. Deaths from a high of 964 on the 30th December have dropped significantly of late, although hospitals are coming under extreme pressure for empty beds. This is in part one of the reasons why the UK government is expected to significantly increase the level of lockdown in the coming days to try and bring the number of infections from the new mutant variant down.
Whilst these two countries seem to be the worse affected we must always remember that these figures are all based on the number of tests that are carried out. The UK is the country which has tested the most citizens per 1 million. They have so far tested 806,456 per 1 million which will inevitably show them with a large number of positive cases compared to other countries who have tested a lot less of their population.
If we look at Brazil for example, they have reported 7,716 million cases since the start of the pandemic. However they have tested just 134,068 people per 1 million so the number of cases could be much higher. Also the numbers reported over the holiday period is also very much dependent on the authorities getting the right numbers. We saw that after the Christmas period Brazil had three days of cases over 50,000. Then over the New Year this dropped to 24,000 and 15,000, which to many will seem unlikely. Time will tell as we get further into the new year if these figures stand up to scrutiny.
The French government, facing the threat of a new wave of Covid-19 infections, lengthened an overnight curfew by two hours in parts of the country to help combat the virus.The curfew will start at 6pm rather than 8pm in parts of France, mainly in the country’s east. Paris has, for now, been spared the additional restriction.The new French restrictions came as police booked more than 1,200 revellers on Saturday when an illegal rave in north-western France finally ended after more than two days of partying that saw clashes with police. Around 800 of them were booked for flouting anti-virus measures, and the regional health authority in Brittany noted a “high risk of the spread of Covid-19” at the event.
Spanish police broke up another gathering on Saturday near Barcelona, where 300 people had been partying for more than 40 hours.
With the news that there are now 2 vaccines approved by the UK and other countries, we see that Israel was quick off the blocks to start the vaccination process for its citizens.
Israel has administered more Covid-19 vaccinations than any other nation, with over 1 million people receiving jabs — a rate of 12.59 doses per 100 people, new data from an Oxford University-run tracking site shows. Israel is on its third national lockdown, with over 3,300 deaths from Covid-19 and 435,000 cases. But Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said the country “could emerge from the pandemic as early as February” as it delivers doses to some 150,000 people per day. To show the comparison, with say the USA, which has administered 4.23 million doses, a rate of 1.28 per 100 people as of Saturday.
In Russia, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said more than 800,000 people had received the domestically produced Sputnik V vaccine and that 1.5 million doses had been distributed throughout the country of around 147 million.However, it is not all bad news at the start of a New year. In Australia, the finishing touches were being put on a glitzy show at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday, as the venue prepared to host an opera crowd for the first time since March following a virus hiatus. We can but hope that this optimism is extended throughout the world in the coming months.
Stay safe and a very Happy New Year from us all at Safe Communities.
Total number of cases worldwide – 85,206,785
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,847,091
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 60,268,609
Active cases – 23,091,085
Closed cases – 62,115,700
Information and statistics from:
www.who.int
www.worldometers.com
www.channelnewsasia.com
Overseas Report New Years Day – Friday 1st January 2021
“This cannot be the year of talking. Of wishing. Of wanting. This has to be the year, you get it done!” – Eric Thomas
Welcome to a New Year of posts looking at Covid-19 from a worldwide perspective. As we enter 2021 I thought l would take a look at how countries around the globe have celebrated the New Year, or not!
Usually we are used to seeing the Sydney Harbour bridge lit up with a mega display of pyrotechnics, watched by thousands of people celebrating. This New Years Eve we saw the fireworks but, like millions of others, their citizens had to make do with watching it on the television. Only in Auckland, New Zealand were crowds allowed to mingle on the streets to see in the New Year.
In China, the annual New Year light show in the capital Beijing has been called off. Celebrations are being scaled down in cities across the country. Japan has cancelled a traditional New Year event at which Emperor Naruhito and other imperial family members were to greet people.
Meanwhile, closer to home, most countries in Europe have either stopped celebrations completely or have imposed big restrictions, as most countries are trying to combat the new wave of infections. France has imposed a curfew since Thursday evening and all bars and restaurants are closed until the start of the New Year. In the UK, 20 million people are now under the highest level of lockdown and are forced to stay at home with no mixing of households, and the usual fireworks display in London did not take place.
Ireland has also moved to its highest level of restrictions from Thursday, banning all travel beyond 5 km and closing all non essential shops.
Germany is currently under lockdown until 10th January. The government has banned the sale of fireworks and placed tight restrictions on the number of people who can gather in public. In The Netherlands there is also under a lockdown, which is set to last until 19th January. Its usual countdown will take place behind closed doors at a football stadium in Amsterdam.
In the US, officials have placed restrictions on festivities in many states and cities. In New York the illuminated Times Square Ball will be dropped during the traditional countdown to midnight, but the area will not be open to the public. Across the States many events and firework displays have been cancelled, including those in Las Vegas and San Francisco.
Meanwhile news coming out of Russia shows that their death toll for Covid-19 in 2020 could be more than three times higher than the figures they have released to the WHO. According to a recent report from the Russian statistics agency Rosstat it shows that the number of deaths from all causes from January to November had risen by 229,700, compared to the same period last year.
After the figures were released, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova was quoted by Russia’s Interfax agency as saying more than 81 percent of the increase was due to Covid-19 and consequences of the disease.
That means the virus-associated death toll is at least 186,000, or about three times previously reported. It would also give Russia the third-highest Covid-19 death toll in the world.
The country’s official death toll, reported on a cumulative daily basis by the government’s coronavirus centre, stood at 57,007 on Tuesday. The number of deaths has previously been questioned, as Russia has the fourth-largest caseload in the world, behind the U.S., India and Brazil, but its official death toll is substantially lower than in those three countries.
Russia has so far stayed clear of a nationwide lockdown despite reports that hospitals around the country are struggling with the influx of patients, as the Kremlin hopes that the rollout of its vaccine will help to keep the spread of infection under control.
The UK this past week has granted a licence to the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine. There will be 530,000 doses available from next week.The UK has ordered 100 million doses of the new vaccine – enough to vaccinate 50 million people. Eventually all over 50s and younger adults with health conditions will be offered a jab in the first phase of the rollout – more than 25 million people in total. The Oxford vaccine is easier to store and distribute, as it can be kept at normal fridge temperature, unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech jab that has to be kept at -70C.There is also more confidence about supply as it is UK-made, whereas the Pfizer-BioNTech jab has to be shipped in from Belgium. This all comes at a time when the UK posted their highest single day number of new cases since the pandemic started with 53,155 on 29th December and 50,023 on the 30th. At the same time deaths rocketed from 414 on the 29th to 981 on the 30th.
However, more good news released this week is that the Covax Facility, a WHO initiative to help the smaller less well off nations, are due to get 2 billion doses of the vaccines in the first half of 2021. I have written before about this organisation and there continues to be concerns as to whether there will be enough vaccine to give these poorer nations a decent supply to help stop the spread of the virus. Some of the wealthier countries like France and Canada have said they will help provide surplus vaccines but no time scale has been set yet. We will all have to wait and see how things progress on this front. I believe our headline is more apt than ever before as we enter a New Year with the virus still playing a major part in our lives.
Take care and stay safe.
Total number of cases worldwide – 83,848,186
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,826,530
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 59,355,654
Active cases – 22,666,002
Closed cases – 61,182,184
Information and statistics from:
www.who.int
www.nbcnews.com
www.worldometers.com
www.bbc.co.uk