The Overseas Situation Report Tuesday 4 January 2022
by Mike Evans
“And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
A very happy new year to all our followers both on our Facebook page and on our website. We hope, despite the ongoing pandemic, that you were all able to enjoy the festivities with family and friends wherever you may be living.
As we enter a new year there are some signs that despite the onslaught that the Omicron variant has wreaked across the world there is evidence that this particular variant is not as deadly as those previous and that already in South Africa there seems to be a reduction in cases. However, this virus still has a long way to go before we can all say for sure that it is done with!
To start off the new year set of Overseas reports we will look at what has happened during the past week compared to the previous week around the world.
In the past week according to data from Worldometer.info there has been a 58% increase worldwide in new cases. In the week leading up to Christmas there were 5,803,843 new cases recorded across the world. In the past week, (up to 1/1/22) there have been 9,186,114 cases across the world.
Breaking down into regions we find that Europe was responsible for almost half of these with a total of 4,847,132 new cases, a rise of 58% on the previous 7 days. North America saw a 60% increase in cases with 2,768,645. In South America the number of cases in the past week more than doubled the previous week’s total with 401,469 new cases compared to 152,595 cases the previous week.
In Oceania, whilst the number of new cases is small compared to Europe this region still saw a 200% increase in cases to 140,068 compared to just 46,596 the previous week. Asia saw a change of 40% in cases this last week compared to before Christmas with 706,454 new cases compared to 503,424 the previous week.
Finally, in Africa, where many have suggested the new variant first appeared, the increase in new cases was just 2% over the previous week with a total of 304.346 new cases. The interesting statistic from Africa is that new cases in South Africa dropped by 48% in the past week. Across the world we are also seeing a drop in deaths with a 7% drop worldwide in the past week compared to the previous 7 days.
However, whilst Africa has seen a marked drop in infections the same cannot be said for deaths in the country. In the past week the number of people dying from Covid 19 increased by 7% which is a concern for their medical authorities.Coronavirus restrictions have been loosened in South Africa as case numbers wane in the country, though the government says that there is still reason for caution.
“All indicators suggest the country may have passed the peak of the fourth wave at a national level,” the government said in a statement Thursday, adding that the risk of infection remains “given the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant. “South Africa was the first country to detect the Omicron variant in November, and the subsequent wave drove the country’s seven-day rolling average of daily cases more than 70 times higher — from 327 on Nov. 17 to 23,437 a month later.
The government set an overnight curfew, restricted alcohol sales and capped public gatherings in an effort to slow the spread. When the government relaxed those restrictions Thursday, ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations, the rolling average of daily cases was down more than half from the mid-December peak — to 10,324 — and still trending downward in nearly every part of the country. South African researchers have found that those infected with Omicron in the country are, on average, less likely to end up in the hospital. They also appear to recover more quickly from illness, compared to the other variants. But it remains to be seen whether that will be the case in the rest of the world, as other countries begin to contend with their own Omicron surges.
Experts believe that because of South Africa’s past dramatic spikes and relatively low vaccination rate — less than a quarter of the population when the Omicron wave began — most South Africans had probably already been exposed to the coronavirus and had some amount of immune protection.
To look at some more of the details, let’s look at Europe. Despite many countries announcing new restrictions for the holiday period the rise in infections has continued unabated or so it seems. France has in the past week, seen new cases more than double with over 1 million new infections reported. The UK follows closely with a 51% increase in new cases to 1,096,712, Italy has the third highest new cases in the last week with 644,509, an increase of 150%.
More concerning for France and the UK is the fact that deaths are increasing as well. In France 1,305 people lost their lives to covid in the past week compared to 1,128 the previous seven days and in the UK, there was a 35% increase in deaths in the past week with 921 people losing their lives. As with the rest of Europe as we move into the colder weather there is the fear that this figure along with the rise in cases will increase even more over the next few weeks. We can all but hope this is not the case.
Other notable increases in new cases are Greece with a massive hike in cases in the past week with 170,029 compared to 39594 the previous week, Portugal saw a 148% increase in cases in the past week compared to the previous 7 days with 136,883 new cases. Whilst deaths in Portugal remain relatively low there is evidence to suggest that more people are dying from Covid now than they were previously. In the past week there has been a 6% increase in deaths compared to the previous week. Whether this is due to the cold spell or the fact that the elderly are also prone to other infections like pneumonia could also be a factor.
In Europe deaths have dropped by 6% in the past week and most of the countries showing increases are from the North or east of Europe. Portugal stands alone in being the only southern European country with an increase in the past week.
Across the Atlantic the USA saw a rise of 54% in new cases in the past week with a total of 2,469,121 new cases compared to 1.598,175 the previous week. The good news is that deaths in the USA are down by 7% in the past week.
In Canada there was a doubling of new cases in the past week with over 240,000 cases compared to 103,242 in the week up to Christmas. However, more concerning is that deaths in the past week have gone up by 87% with 193 people succumbing to the disease compared to 103 in the previous week. Several provinces have again set new highs in COVID-19 cases, reporting on the first day of 2022 that the highly transmissible Omicron variant continued to drive up infections across Canada.
Ontario on Saturday reported 18,445 cases, an increase from 16,713 new cases reported on New Year’s Eve. Infectious disease experts have said for several days that the actual number of new cases is likely far higher than those reported each day because many public health units in Ontario have reached testing capacity. The provincial public health department said 12 more people have died due to the virus and 85 more people were in hospital.
Quebec reported 17,122 new cases, marking the fifth straight day a record number of new infections have been reported in the province. It also recorded eight additional deaths.
Outdoor New Year’s Eve celebrations in the province were prohibited as of 10 p.m. ET because a curfew, lasting until 5 a.m., went into effect on Friday. The curfew is Quebec’s second of the pandemic. A previous curfew, announced in early January 2021, was in place for nearly five months. New restrictions also include banning nearly all indoor gatherings and the closing of restaurant dining rooms. Indoor gatherings involving more than one household bubble have been prohibited.
Records were also set on Saturday in Nunavut, which reported 50 new cases, and Newfoundland and Labrador, which logged 442 new infections.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, Health Minister John Haggie said he had tested positive for COVID-19 and was isolating with cold-like symptoms. The province’s surge in cases will affect health-care services in St. John’s. Eastern Health says non-urgent services will be temporarily scaled back as of Tuesday to allow for a greater focus on booster vaccine clinics and testing for COVID-19. The health authority says it plans to focus on urgent or emergent acute care services within the city. However, prenatal appointments will continue, as will those for cancer treatment. The medical imaging program will be performing exams on a priority basis, and those patients will be contacted only if their appointment has been cancelled, Eastern Health said in a statement issued Friday. All non-urgent appointments have been cancelled, it said.
Boosting vaccination efforts is one of the country’s top priorities as 2021 turns to 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in his year-end statement on Friday. Trudeau said Canadians will need to continue working together to end the pandemic, adding that the “strength, determination and compassion” they’ve demonstrated over the past year will “keep inspiring and guiding us in the new year.”
Until the next time Stay Safe.
Total Cases Worldwide – 289,818,031
Total Deaths Worldwide – 5,458,811
Total Recovered Worldwide – 254,311,371
Total Active Cases Worldwide 30,047,849 (10.4% of the total cases)
Total Closed Cases Worldwide – 259,770,182
Information and Resources:
https://www.worldometer.info/coronavirus/
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/weekly-trends/#countries
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/coronavirus-covid19-canada-world-jan1-2022-1.6301813