The Overseas Report 16 November 2021 by Mike Evans
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/weekly-trends/#countries
https://www.dw.com/en/covid-in-germany-incidence-rate-passes-300-for-first-time/a-59818681
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02398-9/fulltext
The past week has seen a rise in infections across many parts of the world. Leading this rise is Europe where we are seeing large increases in new infections across many countries with some bringing back lock down restrictions in the hope of keeping the rates low enough to allow citizens to enjoy the Chritsmas celebrations.
In this report we are looking at what countries are seeing large increases and where new restrictions are being introduced.
If we look at the date from Worldometer.info we can see that across the world the number of new infections increased across the world by 5% compared to the previous week. This was mainly driven by the countries of Europe where collectively they have seen a rise of 12% in the past seven days.
In terms of actual numbers, The United Kingdom, Russia and more recently Germany lead the way with the highest numbers. Germany has seen a 46% rise in new cases in the past week alone.The number of new coronavirus cases over the past week has reached a new record as infections continue to surge throughout the country.The number of new cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days hit 303, the latest data from the Robert Koch Institute of infectious diseases (RKI) showed.
It is the first time the rate has surpassed 300 since the pandemic began and comes just one week after an unprecedented jump to over 200.
Only 67.5% of Germany’s population is fully vaccinated. The highly contagious delta variant has run rampant through the unvaccinated population as the temperature drops and people stay indoors.
The number of cases increased by 23,607 over the past 24 hours. The total number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic passed the 5 million mark on Sunday.
The RKI recorded 43 new coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, up from 33 from last Monday. The overall COVID-19 death toll in Germany now stands at 97,715.
While the number of infections have broken record after record in the ongoing fourth wave, the rate of hospitalization has yet to reach the level seen in the earlier stage of the pandemic. The high levels of infection vary greatly across Germany, with several regions in eastern and south eastern Germany reporting more than 1,000 new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days.
The incidence rate was more than seven times higher in the eastern state of Saxony than in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, for example. Saxony has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.
German doctor and vice president of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, laid the blame at the feet of lawmakers, telling the Rheinische Post newspaper that measures against the virus had been “too late, too half-hearted, too varied.” He added that promises that there would be no mandatory vaccinations or any further lockdowns came from a lack of understanding regarding the virus.
Montgomery called for mandatory vaccination everywhere where people have a duty towards those they are protecting, such as in nursing homes, hospitals or in schools. Whoever refuses, cannot work there.”
The chairwoman of the Margburger Bund doctors’ union, Susanne Johna, also criticized political failings, saying that warnings of a surge in infections made in summer had been ignored. “Warnings were dismissed as scaremongering. Urgent advice was ignored during the election campaign because it was obviously not politically desirable,” she told public broadcaster Tagesschau.
Meanwhile their close neighbour Austria has imposed a lockdown on non vaccinated citizens.Anyone over the age of 12 who has not been double-jabbed is now only allowed to leave their homes for work, school, exercise and buying essential supplies – with the lockdown affecting about two million of Austria’s 8.9 million population. The revised restrictions came into force on Sunday at midnight and will remain for 10 days before being reviewed.
The country’s health minister said further measures are being considered, including a 10pm night-time curfew for everyone regardless of their vaccination status. Wolfgang Mückstein said a decision would be made on Wednesday,adding: “We’re all in the same boat.”Mr Mückstein also justified the new lockdown because of the “dramatic situation” in Austria’s ICUs.
Europe is now accounting for more than half of the average seven-day cases worldwide and around half of latest deaths – the highest levels since April last year when COVID-19 was at its initial peak in Italy.
Austria followed The Netherlands which on Friday last week became the first western European country to impose a partial lockdown since the summer, introducing strict new measures from Saturday in the face of record numbers of new Covid-19 infections.
The restrictions, announced by the caretaker prime minister, Mark Rutte, on Friday, will last at least three weeks and include the closure of bars, restaurants and essential shops from 8pm, with non-essential retail and services such as hairdressers to close at 6pm.
Gatherings at home would be limited to a maximum of four guests, all amateur and professional sporting events must be held behind closed doors, and home working was advised except in “absolutely unavoidable” circumstances, Rutte said.“We must reduce the number of contacts and infections as fast as possible,” Rutte said, calling the measures “unavoidable”. The healthcare system was already under such heavy pressure that knee, hip and even heart operations were being postponed.
“Tonight we are bringing a very unpleasant message, with very unpleasant and far-reaching measures,” Rutte said.
“The virus is everywhere and needs to be combated everywhere. I want every Dutch citizen to be asking, can I do more? Can I do better? We had hoped with the vaccines we wouldn’t have to do this, but we see the same situation all across Europe.”
Schools, theatres and cinemas will remain open, as will conferences where the audience is seated, but public events such as trade fairs and exhibitions where the public can move around are cancelled from 6pm on Saturday.
The health minister, Hugo de Jonge, said the government would next week debate legal changes to allow “exceptionally busy” stores and hospitality venues to choose whether they would accept only people who were fully vaccinated or had recovered, rather than also allowing access to people with a recent negative test.
The lockdown is longer than the 14 days recommended this week by the government’s outbreak management team and comes as the number of new infections reaches record levels in the Netherlands.
Meanwhile across the Atlantic Ocean to South America where the rate of infection had been falling after the region was one of the worst hit at the start of the pandemic. Cases have been rising steadily in the past week with a 13% increase in infections recorded across the continent. Brazil saw an increase of 11% in new cases in the past week and there were also big increases from Chile, Columbia and Peru, although it must be noted that the actual numbers are by far smaller than we saw at the start of the pandemic for these three nations.
However, while the number of new cases is rising albeit in a much smaller number the death rate in the region continues to rise. Across the continent in the past week we have seen deaths due to Covid 19 rise by 8% compared to the previous week. Brazil leads the way with a rise of 13% compared to the previous seven days. The actual death figure for Brazil in the past week was 1,834, again way lower than we saw at the peak of the epidemic but still concerning for the citizens.
A senate investigation has recommended indictment of officials including President Jair Bolsonaro over the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lise Alves reports from São Paulo.
A Brazilian senate committee investigation approved on Oct 26 a 1200-page report that recommends the indictment of over 80 people and two companies on charges of inciting an epidemic, crimes of responsibility, delays in negotiating the purchase of vaccines, and marketing of dubious treatments that have no scientific backing. Among those charged are Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, three of his sons, and some current and former cabinet members.
According to the report, “the constant minimization of the severity of COVID-19, the creation of ineffective mechanisms for the control and treatment of the disease, the lack of political coordination, the lack of educational campaigns on the importance of non-pharmacological measures, personal behavior against these measures, and the omission and delay in the acquisition of vaccines were some of the conducts of the head of the Federal Executive Branch that unquestionably attacked public health and administrative probity.”
Whatever the outcome of the enquiry it remains to be seen if there will be charges filed.
No one should be in any doubt that this pandemic still has a way to go and across the world we must all remain vigilant and do all we can individually to stop the spread of this virus.
Until the next time stay safe.
Yesterday the USA finally opened their borders for Europeans and other countries citizens to travel to the US as long as they are fully vaccinated. The order signed by President Biden says, “Vaccination requirements are essential to advance the safe resumption of international travel to the United States,” the order says. “These policies aim to limit the risk that Covid-19, including variants of the virus that causes Covid-19, is introduced, transmitted and spread into and throughout the United States.”
Coronavirus infections in the Netherlands have been rising for a month after most social distancing measures were scrapped in late September, and reached their highest level since July in the past week. This has forced many hospitals to cut back on regular care again, to make room for urgent COVID-19 cases.
In the UK where they are finally seeing a drop in new cases, new research has shown that unvaccinated people are 32 times more likely to die from coronavirus than those who have been double-jabbed, according to the figures from the Office for National Statistics.
In the USA, There is a lot of resistance against the Vaccine mandate brought in by President Biden in September. In the mandate, it compelled public and private employees to get the coronavirus vaccine, requiring the majority of federal workers and contractors to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by Dec. 8, having completed either a one or two-dose vaccine regiment at least two weeks before the deadline. The requirements also direct the Labor Department to compel private sector companies with more than 100 employees to ensure workers get vaccinated or face weekly testing before going to work, which would affect around 80 million employees.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the requirement an “assault on private businesses,” while Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts called it a “stunning violation of personal freedom and abuse of the federal government’s power.” South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem tweeted that her state will “stand up to defend freedom,” telling Biden, “see you in court.” And Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said the group will sue the Biden administration “to protect Americans and their liberties.” But more employees are in favor of vaccine mandates than opposed. According to a recent Gallup poll, 56% of employees would support their employer imposing a vaccine mandate in the workplace, up from 46% in May.
The Minister of Internal Administration said yesterday that it was thanks to the initial muscular and effective intervention in the vast majority of cases, of the Fire Department, of the heli-transported teams of the Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) and of the Sapadores Florestais teams, that in more than 80% of the recorded occurrences, the burned area was contained to less than 1 hectare.
Well we had a taste of some bad weather recently with 5 days of rain in most areas of the mainland. The emergency services were out and about attending to over 1300 occurrences during this period. There were plenty of warnings beforehand and I hope that everyone took heed of these. However, some clearly did not do so and we saw from photos and reports of the number of cars damaged by fallen trees. The winter season officially starts at the end of this month and we can expect further rain and winds as is normal during this period.
Given our remit of safety and security, inevitably we have to sometimes deal with, and communicate, difficult and challenging topic, which do not always make happy reading. We are conscious of this and therefore, we try to balance this with positive and good news, which is important during challenging times. Some examples in the last two days were our posts concerning: the “Portuguese tradition to ask for Pão Por Deus”, and “Big wave surfing at Nazaré”, which have so far reached around 26,400 and 33,600 respectively, as well as the “1755 Tsunami Simulation post, with an engagement of nearly 3,000 reach over 17,000 so far”.
Lisbon, Nov 02, 2021 (Lusa) – The free and unlimited testing plan for covid-19 in Lisbon was extended until the end of the year, the City Council announced today, recalling that the program is open to the entire population, whether or not resident in the capital.
As long as the emergency plan is activated, the Paços do Concelho building is closed, with the suspension of face-to-face service, which will be carried out exclusively by telephone and digital means.
This “was not a strike associated with the visit of any minister to parliament, it was intended to convey to the Government and the country that public administration workers do not conform with the devaluation they have been subjected to nor with the degradation of public services that it was not started by the current Government, but continued by it”, said Mário Nogueira, at a press conference held this afternoon, after a meeting of the Fenprof secretariat that took place in the morning.
According to the same source, the unemployed population (331.3 thousand) increased by 1.9% in relation to the previous month and decreased by 6% in relation to the three months before and 18.2% in relation to the same month of the previous year.
On 
The vaccination campaign for the administration of the 3rd dose of the Covid-19 is underway. The 3rd dose of the Covid-19 vaccine is being administered to people aged 18 or older, who had been inoculated with the 2nd dose of the vaccine more than 6 months ago. No appointment is required. Anyone interested simply has to turn up at any vaccination centre.
On October 26th, the Regional Health Service (Serviço Regional de Saúde) received a shipment of 5,000 doses of the flu vaccine. This will enable the continuity of the the current flu vaccination campaign. The flu vaccine is being administered in vaccination centres (along with the Covid-19 vaccine) and in health centres. 
This graphic shows an approximate representation of coastal areas under a tropical storm warning (blue). The orange circle indicates the current position of the centre of the tropical cyclone. The black line, when selected, and dots show the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) forecast track of the centre at the times indicated.
Last weekend there were long lines of tourists at Faro airport, especially from the UK, a situation that had already occurred in October and which has now worsened due to the large influx of people, not only due to school holidays in that country, but also to the start of international sporting events.
In a statement, the GNR explains that the campaign, which runs until Sunday (7th), will give particular attention to the Algarve region and the Algarve International Autodrome, where the Moto GP Portugal Event will take place, and will alert drivers to the rules safety precautions that must be taken into account while driving.
The urban road transport workers in the city of Faro are today completing the first of four days of strike to demand wage increases and contractual changes, also promoting a plenary at the company’s premises.
Together, the United States, the European Union, Britain and Brazil — all upper-middle- or high-income countries — account for one-eighth of the world’s population but nearly half of all reported deaths. The U.S. alone has recorded over 740,000 lives lost, more than any other nation.
India’s coronavirus death toll could be up to 10 times higher than the nearly 458,417 fatalities reported by authorities, likely making it the country’s worst humanitarian disaster since independence, according to a US research group who reported back in July 2021.
In the U.S., for example, Covid-19 has taken an outsize toll on Black and Hispanic people, who are more likely than white people to live in poverty and have less access to health care.
Today, 92% of Bergamo’s eligible population have had at least one shot, the highest vaccination rate in Italy. The chief of medicine at Pope John XXIII Hospital, Dr. Stefano Fagiuoli, said he believes that’s a clear result of the city’s collective trauma, when the wail of ambulances was constant.