International COVID-19 Megathread

[Red Velvet]

Big stuff going on in Paraguay.

People going to the streets to demand the ousting of their president due to his reckless behavior in regards the COVID-19 pandemic. Strong police response against the protesters.

[CumbrianLefty]

Big stuff going on in Paraguay.

People going to the streets to demand the ousting of their president due to his reckless behavior in regards the COVID-19 pandemic. Strong police response against the protesters.

In what sense, another Bolsonaro type?

[Tender Branson]

Things are very stable here in Austria, despite an opening of retail/services industry/schools etc. a month ago.

The positivity rate hovers around 6%, but the media and "experts" are alarmed (!!!) because now there are twice as many daily cases than in January before the opening.

But there are also twice as many tests performed now ...

ICU is going up slightly, but that was to be expected after the opening. So far, no big increases in ICU and it remains at a low level.

[Tender Branson]

2 female nurses (30 & 49) in Lower Austria have died after being vaccinated with AstraZeneca:

https://www.oe24.at/coronavirus/krankenschwester-49-starb-nach-corona-impfung/467927050

Both developed a pulmonary embolism.

[Tender Branson]

10.000s of people demonstrated in Vienna today against the Corona policy of the government:

Rightwingers marched together with Leftwingers and other crazy people.

[Tender Branson]

During this week, 314.968 PCR tests were conducted in Austria, of which 15.630 were positive (= 4.96% positive rate).

The week before, 265.045 PCR tests were conducted in Austria, of which 14.066 were positive (= 5.31% positive rate).

Positivity rate is going down, despite the number of tests up by 20%.

People in the ICU have increased from 279 last Sunday to 314 today.

---

Germany had 1.135.355 tests and 69.265 positive results (positive rate: 6.10%)

So, per capita, Austria tests 3x as many people as Germany right now.

[CumbrianLefty]

Schools in the UK "officially" reopen tomorrow.

[Mike88]

Portugal update:

The media is leaking some measures, they say, the government is planning to announce next Thursday, 11 March:

- Shops could start opening on 17 March, but hairdressers will not be authorized to open;
- Students untilthe 6th grade will go back to school in April, while the rest until the 12th grade will only go back in May;
- Restaurants to reopen also only in May;

However, the government announced the purchase of 19 million euros worth of rapid tests for schools and kindergartens.

[President Johnson]

Johnson & Johnson vaccine has now been recommended for final approval by the European Medicines Agency. The EU itsself finally has to issue approval, which is expected to happen very soon. This vaccine has two major pros compared to others: just one shot is needed and it just needs fridge temperatures for storage/delivery.

Meanwhile, Denmark has stopped AstraZeneca vaccination to do research on a number of reported sideeffects.

[Mike88]

Portugal update:

The Prime Minister announced, this evening, the long awaited lockdown end plan. It's a plan that will last almost 2 months, with different parts of the economy opening up in different dates:

15 March:
- Opening of Kindergartens and 1st grade schools;
- Shops by the "the wicket";
- Hairdressers, manicures and similar businesses;
- Bookshops, car shops and real estate;
- Libraries and archives;

5 April:
- Opening of 2nd and 3rd grade schools;
- Handicap social services;
- Museums, palaces, monuments and others;
- Shops up to 200 square meters;

19 April:
- Opening of High-schools and Universities;
- Cinemas, theatres
- All shops and shopping malls;
- Restaurants, bars and cafes until 10pm on weekdays and 1pm on weekends;
- Gyms without group classes and outdoor workouts;
- Weddings and Christenings with 25% capacity;

3 May:
- Opening with restaurants, bars and cafes with no time limits;
- All outdoors activities;
- Gym classes;
- Big outdoors events;
- Weddings and Christenings with 50% capacity;

During the Easter period, it will still be forbidden to travel between municipalities on weekends.

[Tender Branson]

Austria is currently working on 2 versions of a Green Passport.

What's a "Green Passport" ?

A Green Passport is a (digital) document which shows if a person was vaccinated already and can access all forms of public life again such as restaurants, hotels, concerts.

In the case of Austria, the national health insurance picture-ID card (e-card), which 99.9% of people in the country have due to universal health insurance, will be updated to include vaccination status. Together with a new smartphone/tablet app.

This will allow hotels, restaurants etc. to check via a card-reader or a QR-code if a person is vaccinated and can be allowed in as guests or tourists. Alternatively, Austrians can print out a PDF at home and take it to a hotel etc. for proof.

This of course will only work for Austrians and foreigners with a main residence here with an e-card.

For foreign tourists, a smartphone/tablet app will come, with the same information on it. But for this, there probably needs to be a EU-wide database or bilateral agreements between Austria and Germany for example to share official data on the vaccinated to avoid fraud.

The FPÖ and others compare the new proposal to Jews having to wear the "Star of David" ...

https://orf.at/stories/3205092

[Tender Branson]

I find the idea with the e-card being turned into a vaccination passport pretty interesting, because every Austrian carries it with him/her in the wallet every day:



The e-card carries an official passport/Personalausweis/driving license photo of the owner and a signature on the back.

The data should be safe and is not complicated to use for elderly people, who have problems with apps and QR codes and might not have a smartphone either.

[Mike88]

Portugal: Rapid Covid tests will be up for sale on Pharmacies as of tomorrow:

https://twitter.com/dntwit/status/1370341436604915714

Rapid tests can be purchased at pharmacies starting on Saturday.

Rapid antigen tests for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 will be able to be purchased, as of Saturday, in pharmacies and places of sale of non-prescription drugs, according to an ordinance published this Friday in Diário da República.

Signed by the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, the ordinance establishes "an exceptional and temporary regime for the performance in self-test of rapid antigen tests, intended, by its manufacturers, to be carried out on samples of the internal anterior nasal area".

According to the diploma, the rapid antigen tests covered by the exceptional regime, which lasts six months, can be made available to the units of the health system, for sale in pharmacies and authorized non-prescription drug stores and in other locations to be defined by order of the Ministry of Health.

This approach has also been adopted by other countries, namely Austria and Germany.
(...)

[Silent Hunter]

Austria is currently working on 2 versions of a Green Passport.

What's a "Green Passport" ?

A Green Passport is a (digital) document which shows if a person was vaccinated already and can access all forms of public life again such as restaurants, hotels, concerts.

In the case of Austria, the national health insurance picture-ID card (e-card), which 99.9% of people in the country have due to universal health insurance, will be updated to include vaccination status. Together with a new smartphone/tablet app.

This will allow hotels, restaurants etc. to check via a card-reader or a QR-code if a person is vaccinated and can be allowed in as guests or tourists. Alternatively, Austrians can print out a PDF at home and take it to a hotel etc. for proof.

This of course will only work for Austrians and foreigners with a main residence here with an e-card.

For foreign tourists, a smartphone/tablet app will come, with the same information on it. But for this, there probably needs to be a EU-wide database or bilateral agreements between Austria and Germany for example to share official data on the vaccinated to avoid fraud.

The FPÖ and others compare the new proposal to Jews having to wear the "Star of David" ...

https://orf.at/stories/3205092

This might be handy for me. I'm planning a visit to Bavaria in October and am planning to pop over to Salzburg for a day trip.

[Tender Branson]

Austria is currently working on 2 versions of a Green Passport.

What's a "Green Passport" ?

A Green Passport is a (digital) document which shows if a person was vaccinated already and can access all forms of public life again such as restaurants, hotels, concerts.

In the case of Austria, the national health insurance picture-ID card (e-card), which 99.9% of people in the country have due to universal health insurance, will be updated to include vaccination status. Together with a new smartphone/tablet app.

This will allow hotels, restaurants etc. to check via a card-reader or a QR-code if a person is vaccinated and can be allowed in as guests or tourists. Alternatively, Austrians can print out a PDF at home and take it to a hotel etc. for proof.

This of course will only work for Austrians and foreigners with a main residence here with an e-card.

For foreign tourists, a smartphone/tablet app will come, with the same information on it. But for this, there probably needs to be a EU-wide database or bilateral agreements between Austria and Germany for example to share official data on the vaccinated to avoid fraud.

The FPÖ and others compare the new proposal to Jews having to wear the "Star of David" ...

https://orf.at/stories/3205092

This might be handy for me. I'm planning a visit to Bavaria in October and am planning to pop over to Salzburg for a day trip.

Not sure if this will already be in place by then (Austria tends to be pretty slow when it comes to implementing digital innovations), but good if you come for a day trip where you don’t need to check in at a hotel.

[President Johnson]

We're running straight into the third wave of infections while vaccination is way too slow and ill managed.

https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1370701422757482499

[Beezer]

I don't see the issue. Even during the 2nd "wave" Covid patients only made up fewer than 20% of all ICU patients. https://interaktiv.morgenpost.de/corona-deutschland-intensiv-betten-monitor-krankenhaus-auslastung/

[Silent Hunter]

Focussing solely on case numbers is misleading - hospital admissions are a better indicator.

[Samof94]

Why is Brazil doing so horribly these days??? Even with a President worse than Trump and the severe poverty, I didn’t think it’d ever get this bad. Hospitals are running out of oxygen.

[Pericles]

Focussing solely on case numbers is misleading - hospital admissions are a better indicator.

Hospitalisations are a lagging indicator though, case numbers almost always lead to a rise in hospitalisations in the next few weeks. Waiting for deaths and hospitalisations means being behind the curve, and is more costly on every measure.

[Tender Branson]

Böhmermann trolls Ischgl on the 1-year-anniversary:

Bestest video ever.

[Tender Branson]

Weekly Austria update:

In the past week, there were 18.5k new cases from 325k PCR tests (positive rate: 5.8%)

The previous week, there were 15.6k new cases out of 315k PCR tests (positive rate: 5.0%)

The number of hospitalized and in ICUs went up slightly, but nowhere near critical levels.

Weekly deaths went from 152 to 160 - almost unchanged from a statistical perspective.

It seems there's a 3rd mini-wave, but nothing spectacular so far.

[Silent Hunter]

Focussing solely on case numbers is misleading - hospital admissions are a better indicator.

Hospitalisations are a lagging indicator though, case numbers almost always lead to a rise in hospitalisations in the next few weeks. Waiting for deaths and hospitalisations means being behind the curve, and is more costly on every measure.

Hospital admissions are very much dependent on who is getting the virus in the first place. If you're jabbing the people most likely to go to hospital, then there will be less pressure on hospitals.

[Tender Branson]

More and more EU countries are suspending the AstraZeneca vaccine, after numerous cases of embolism/strokes/aneurysms after vaccination.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Bit of an abuse of the word 'numerous' there.