International COVID-19 Megathread

[Tender Branson]

Austria now allows travel to and from Spain again.

Sweden, Portugal, the UK, the US and Russia (among many others) are still banned.

[Tender Branson]

This virus is certainly nasty and won’t go completely away ...

Here in Salzburg City, a new small cluster emerged yesterday with 5 active cases after contact tracing. Therefore, Salzburg state now has 8 active cases again (the other 3 cases are in the suburbs. No active cases in the 3 mountain districts).

There is also a new cluster in Styria, where a Chechen family spread the virus from Vienna to the state. Therefore, active cases in Styria are up from 2 to more than 30 as of today.

On the other hand, Tyrol is down to 3 cases. It would be hilarious if Tyrol would be declared virus-free as the first state in Austria, after their initial record outbreak.

The State of Salzburg has announced that the local cluster involves 2 employees in the state government, specifically the office of state government member Maria Hutter (ÖVP).

[Tender Branson]

This virus is certainly nasty and won’t go completely away ...

Here in Salzburg City, a new small cluster emerged yesterday with 5 active cases after contact tracing. Therefore, Salzburg state now has 8 active cases again (the other 3 cases are in the suburbs. No active cases in the 3 mountain districts).

There is also a new cluster in Styria, where a Chechen family spread the virus from Vienna to the state. Therefore, active cases in Styria are up from 2 to more than 30 as of today.

On the other hand, Tyrol is down to 3 cases. It would be hilarious if Tyrol would be declared virus-free as the first state in Austria, after their initial record outbreak.

The State of Salzburg has announced that the local cluster involves 2 employees in the state government, specifically the office of state government member Maria Hutter (ÖVP).

Late last night, the state announced 6 more infected persons, which probably means 14 active cases right now.

More than 100 people have been put under quarantine after contact tracing.

It is expected that more test results will come today, resulting in more active cases.

The state also said that an event held on Monday was very likely the common cause for this cluster, as several people have attended it.

[Tender Branson]

460 active cases in Austria as of today.

That is ca. 80-100 more than a week ago, a reversal of the month-long trend downwards.

And the summer tourism season etc. is only starting ...

[CumbrianLefty]

460 active cases in Austria as of today.

That is ca. 80-100 more than a week ago, a reversal of the month-long trend downwards.

And the summer tourism season etc. is only starting ...

You really seemed to have this beat a week or two ago.

[Tender Branson]

A week ago, a 25-year old came back from Pakistan and travelled home to Tyrol by train.

He now tested positive.

That leaves a bunch of people in the plane, train, Innsbruck and his city (Telfs) who could be infected now ...

https://tirol.orf.at/stories/3054086

Only a matter of time until cases are starting to explode again, now that everything is open again.

[Silent Hunter]

I note that he was swabbed at the airport and tested negative, then tested positive a few days later; it's difficult to know whether he was truly negative on arrival of course.

You've going to get a lot of this over the next few months or even years.

[Middle-aged Europe]

So far there have been 1,029 positive COVID-19 tests at the Tönnies meat company in the county of Gütersloh in NRW, making it the worst post-lockdown outbreak in Germany.

To put that into perspective: That's about the three times the number of daily new infections we had recently nationwide. So the county of Gütersloh is essentially Germany multilplied by three. Authorities are debating if this outbreak can be contained as it is or if a regional lockdown will be necessary.

The coronavirus' basic reproduction number for the entirety of Germany is still stable below 1.0.

[Silent Hunter]

Regional lockdowns will make more sense going forward. If the fire is on the seventh floor, you don't put the sprinklers on for the second.

[Lechasseur]

So far there have been 1,029 positive COVID-19 tests at the Tönnies meat company in the county of Gütersloh in NRW, making it the worst post-lockdown outbreak in Germany.

To put that into perspective: That's about the three times the number of daily new infections we had recently nationwide. So the county of Gütersloh is essentially Germany multilplied by three. Authorities are debating if this outbreak can be contained as it is or if a regional lockdown will be necessary.

The coronavirus' basic reproduction number for the entirety of Germany is still stable below 1.0.

When you say regional lockdown, how do you define "region"?

[Middle-aged Europe]

So far there have been 1,029 positive COVID-19 tests at the Tönnies meat company in the county of Gütersloh in NRW, making it the worst post-lockdown outbreak in Germany.

To put that into perspective: That's about the three times the number of daily new infections we had recently nationwide. So the county of Gütersloh is essentially Germany multilplied by three. Authorities are debating if this outbreak can be contained as it is or if a regional lockdown will be necessary.

The coronavirus' basic reproduction number for the entirety of Germany is still stable below 1.0.

When you say regional lockdown, how do you define "region"?

NRW minister-president Laschet hasn't really defined it... probably the entire county. Don't know whether it would include any adjecant counties, I guess it depends on the spread patterns.

[Silent Hunter]

Germany is divided into 16 states, those divided into districts/counties of which there is a total of 402:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Landkreise,_Kreise_und_kreisfreie_St%C3%A4dte_in_Deutschland_2011-09-04.svg

There would be the option just to lock down Gütersloh county or the whole of North-Rhine Westphalia, depending on the situation in the wider area.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Germany is divided into 16 states, those divided into districts/counties of which there is a total of 402:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Landkreise,_Kreise_und_kreisfreie_St%C3%A4dte_in_Deutschland_2011-09-04.svg

There would be the option just to lock down Gütersloh county or the whole of North-Rhine Westphalia, depending on the situation in the wider area.

The whole of NRW (more people than in the Netherlands and Germany's fourth-, seventh-, ninth-, and tenth-largest cities) is probably too big too lock down, especially with a lockdown-reluctant MP like Laschet. Therefore "regional" lockdown most likely refers to "a region of NRW".

(Fun fact: The Landrat - the elected chief executive of a German county - for Gütersloh is the grandson of Konrad Adenauer.)

[Antonio the Sixth]

4 months after the first declared homegrown coronavirus case, and 17 days since the reopening of travel across regions, here's another update.

National totals, linear scale (cropping the cured patients off the chart to show the more important patterns):


Deaths
ICU
Other Hospitalized
Isolated Home
Cured

Hospitalizations+deaths figures by region, linear scale:


The total number of active cases continues to drop: we're down to just 21K. We have just 2626 people hospitalized, the least since March 5th. In other words, we're back to pre-lockdown numbers. Below the surface, though, there are some worrying signs. You really need to add active cases/hospitalizations to the death figures, since not doing so essentially means counting deaths as a "win". When you do that, the decrease looks a lot less steep (as you can see in the charts above). More importantly, in the last few days, it's almost entirely due to Lombardy. That's great news for the Lombards, who really deserve a break, but it does suggest that the other regions might be seeing the beginning of a new uptick. So far it's been more of a stagnation than an uptick, but remember that it's just barely been two weeks since the reopening of regional travel. I know I've been nervous about Italy's trajectory for a while, and so far things are still heading in the right direction (I'd certainly rather be in Italy than the US right now...), but still. I would still keep an eye on the numbers for another few weeks.

I think I'll make my next update in a month or so. Depending on how that goes, I might have another one a month after that. Let's see.

[Tender Branson]

15 active cases as of today here in Salzburg.

+3 compared with yesterday.

Some additional cluster testing will be done the next days, but it seems they have the situation under control.

[Tender Branson]

20 actively infected here in Salzburg in the evening update of the state.

+5 compared with yesterday.

Only 3 in need of hospitalization.

It also emerged that patient zero infected all the others at a so-called Rotary Club Meeting a week ago.

The Rotary Club seems to be some kind of networking/charity group.

[Mike88]

https://twitter.com/business/status/1275103212245266432

Portugal plans to tighten restrictions in some municipalities around Lisbon as the government tries to contain new clusters of the coronavirus outbreak in the city’s outskirts.

Stricter rules will come into force at midnight, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Monday after meeting the mayors of Loures, Odivelas, Sintra and Amadora. “There will also be a greater police presence in these municipalities,” he said.

Gatherings will now be limited to 10 people, down from 20 previously, and the government will approve rules on fines for individuals taking part in group gatherings. No drinking in public places will be allowed and stores in these areas will need to close by 8 p.m., Costa said.

Portugal reported 259 new coronavirus cases on Monday, and now has 12,310 active cases, Secretary of State for Health Antonio Lacerda Sales said at a press conference in Lisbon. Daily new cases have ranged between 192 and 421 in June, and the additional infections have mostly been recorded in the greater Lisbon region where authorities have increased testing after new clusters were identified.

[Silent Hunter]

The Rotary Club is a very well known group with a huge international presence; there are two clubs in my London Borough (Havering) alone.

The Austrian wing can be found here:

https://www.rotary.at/

[CumbrianLefty]

Only 15 new virus related deaths recorded in the UK today, the lowest for well over three months.

(though it could well be over 100 tomorrow, as we start weekday figures again)

[Middle-aged Europe]

After more than 1,500 Tönnies employees had been tested positive on COVID, the government of NRW has placed the entire county of Gütersloh under lockdown now.

[CumbrianLefty]

Lots of places (including pubs and hairdressers) are going to be allowed to open in the UK from early July. The small print behind the feel good headlines, however, shows "normality" is still a way off.

[Middle-aged Europe]

After more than 1,500 Tönnies employees had been tested positive on COVID, the government of NRW has placed the entire county of Gütersloh under lockdown now.

A lockdown for the county of Warendorf, adjacent to Gütersloh, has also been put in place now.

Warendorf is the German county with the third-most reported new infections per capita, following Gütersloh and Göttingen.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Germany's base reproduction number has spiked to 2.76 - a similar level as in March.

Nevertheless, the Robert Koch Institute says not to worry because the recent spike is a result of highly localized mass outbreaks in Gütersloh, Göttingen, and Berlin-Neukölln which are being contained and is therefore not associated with a nationwide rise in infection numbers.

[palandio]

A routine COVID-19 test at the Wiesenhof meat factory in Wildeshausen (county of Oldenburg, Lower Saxony) resuted in 23 positives out of 50 tested. Now all 1100 employees will be tested.

[Middle-aged Europe]

We need to shut down all meat factories until we can figure out what the hell is going on.