International COVID-19 Megathread

[Middle-aged Europe]

Germany has started to undergo an accelerated erosion of COVID restrictions, it seems.

Within the federal government, the pro-restriction camp of SPD and Greens and the restriction-critical FDP are sparring with each other with an increasing intensity - considering the limited powers of the federal level on disease control it is a largely symbolic battle that has recently been fought over the question whether the President of the Robert Koch Insititute (Germany's version of the CDC), Lothar Wieler, should be fired.

Meanwhile, the states have taken matters in their own hands. The first thing to go or to be loosened is entrance restrictions for the retail sector and attendence caps for large-scale events. In 11 out of 16 states, unvaccinated/untested people are either allowed into shops and malls again or at least will be allowed soon. In addition, Saxony and Thuringia also allow unvaccinated people if they're tested. Only North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saxony-Anhalt are the remaining holdouts to exclude the unvaccinated.

At the same time, former extreme lockdown hardliner Markus Söder (CSU) stays true to his opportunistic self and continues his mindboggling u-turn on COVID restrictions. This time he refuses to implement the vaccine mandate for medical and nursing personnel in his state Bavaria - a move some experts consider unconstitutional considering it is a federal law he refuses to obey. Nevertheless, this doesn't stop leading CDU figures like new party chair Friedrich Merz lend their support to Söder, despite the fact that the very same vaccine mandate had been originally passed with the CDU/CSU's votes in December. If the vaccine mandate for medical and nursing personnel falls, the planned general vaccine mandate could fall too.
(Opponents of a vaccine mandate perhaps shouldn't be too enthusiastic about the whole development considering that Söder would probably return to being a lockdown hardliner in a heartbeat the minute he senses that public opinion shifts in support of tighter restrictions again. He's basically Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis merged into a personality-split body, depending on the polls. In fact, back in November Söder had been one of Germany's first politicians to come out in favour of a vaccine mandate.)

As always, federal health minister Karl Lauterbach seems a bit of a lone voice in cautioining against loosening restrictions too fast. While I still respect his expertise as an epidemiologist and think that past many attacks of anti-vaxxers etc. on him were unfair, I tend to disagree with him on this one. I mean, it is by now basically his stated goal to safe the lives of people who didn't want to get themselves vaccinated. He can of course try to do that, but maybe he should leave me out of it.

[CumbrianLefty]

UK government has announced most remaining restrictions are to be lifted sooner than planned.

[Middle-aged Europe]

The article on tagesschau.de tries to analyse and explain Markus Söder' erratic behaviour on COVID restrictions:
https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/soeder-impfpflicht-101.html

I don't really know what's there the analyse. t's by now a well-established fact that every couple of years Söder completely reinvents himself. First he was the immigration hardliner. Then he tried to become greener than the Greens. First he was a lockdown hardliner, now he's Germany's Ron DeSantis. He probably even read about DeSantis on the news: "Cool, I try that one too and see what it does to my approvals."

And a new opinion piece by Sascha Lobo for spiegel.de is probably the most anti-restriction thing I read so far from someone who isn't an anti-vaxxer. The bottomline is, even if tighter restrictions were instituted again, he wouldn't obey them anymore, because with masks and vaccines everyone who wants to protect him/herself against COVID has now the opportunity to do so: https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/coronavirus-angekommen-in-der-inneren-endemie-kolumne-a-9adaca52-b684-4fdd-a8ab-3e3f2163cb67

[Meclazine for Israel]

Western Australia had 37 cases detected in the community today, the highest number in two years.

1 person is in hospital.

37 New Community Cases

https://youtu.be/MB9GYi0MNhc

Total panic stations, masks everywhere or you get arrested.

You are not allowed into any shops or restaurants without a digital vaccine certificate showing evidence of double or triple vaccination.

Man arrested, charged and faced Court yesterday for using a jpg if a friends certificate.

[Middle-aged Europe]

A new front in Germany's battle over ending COVID restrictions has been opened it seems.

The current legal basis for most COVID restrictions in Germany, Article 28 of the infection protection law, will expire on March 19. The law in its current form does contain a stipulation for an one-time extension of three months if the Bundestag decides to invoke it.

The FDP and certain representatives of the CDU oppose an extension, essentially pushing to make  March 20 Germany's "Freedom Day". On the other hand, a number of state minister-presidents, ranging from the CDU to the Left, are asking Chancellor Scholz to extend Article 28 for another three months even if it only contains restrictions in a form that has been watered-down further. For such a compromise to arise the FDP would need to back down from its current stance on the issue though.

[WMS]

Official COVID death toll: 5.8 million

Economist estimate of actual deaths: 14 million to 23.1 million, highest-confidence in 19.5 million.

Updated numbers.

[GregTheGreat657]

Western Australia had 37 cases detected in the community today, the highest number in two years.

1 person is in hospital.

37 New Community Cases

https://youtu.be/MB9GYi0MNhc

Total panic stations, masks everywhere or you get arrested.

You are not allowed into any shops or restaurants without a digital vaccine certificate showing evidence of double or triple vaccination.

Man arrested, charged and faced Court yesterday for using a jpg if a friends certificate.

Seems about right for the place that tried to ban dancing

[Middle-aged Europe]

The next meeting of the German federal and state governments on COVID is scheduled for Wednesday. On the table is a proposal that would see a repeal of most of the restrictions in three phases, beginning now and ending on March 20. Beyond March 20, only few COVID rules would remain, specifically the mask mandates. Keep in mind that this is just a propsal and basis of discussion for the upcoming meeting.

[Continential]

Sweden recommends fourth vaccine shot for people who are 80 and older

[President Johnson]

The next meeting of the German federal and state governments on COVID is scheduled for Wednesday. On the table is a proposal that would see a repeal of most of the restrictions in three phases, beginning now and ending on March 20. Beyond March 20, only few COVID rules would remain, specifically the mask mandates. Keep in mind that this is just a propsal and basis of discussion for the upcoming meeting.

https://twitter.com/dw_politics/status/1493997463790931974

[It’s so Joever]

Western Australia had 37 cases detected in the community today, the highest number in two years.

1 person is in hospital.

37 New Community Cases

https://youtu.be/MB9GYi0MNhc

Total panic stations, masks everywhere or you get arrested.

You are not allowed into any shops or restaurants without a digital vaccine certificate showing evidence of double or triple vaccination.

Man arrested, charged and faced Court yesterday for using a jpg if a friends certificate.

This is not a sustainable strategy.

[Frodo]

https://twitter.com/axios/status/1494429566869377026

[Tintrlvr]

Western Australia had 37 cases detected in the community today, the highest number in two years.

1 person is in hospital.

37 New Community Cases

https://youtu.be/MB9GYi0MNhc

Total panic stations, masks everywhere or you get arrested.

You are not allowed into any shops or restaurants without a digital vaccine certificate showing evidence of double or triple vaccination.

Man arrested, charged and faced Court yesterday for using a jpg if a friends certificate.

I thought Australia had given up on this sort of thing and COVID was widespread? I guess Western Australia is still zero-COVID but the rest of Australia is lax?

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Western Australia had 37 cases detected in the community today, the highest number in two years.

1 person is in hospital.

37 New Community Cases

https://youtu.be/MB9GYi0MNhc

Total panic stations, masks everywhere or you get arrested.

You are not allowed into any shops or restaurants without a digital vaccine certificate showing evidence of double or triple vaccination.

Man arrested, charged and faced Court yesterday for using a jpg if a friends certificate.

I thought Australia had given up on this sort of thing and COVID was widespread? I guess Western Australia is still zero-COVID but the rest of Australia is lax?

Western Australia is so isolated geographically by desert that they've been able to largely maintain Zero Covid, even as the other states have started to accept it.  They'll have to give up sooner or later, though!

[CumbrianLefty]

I do wonder where the last Zero Covid holdout will be.

[T'Chenka]

I do wonder where the last Zero Covid holdout will be.

International Space Station

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/1495383320401698821

[T'Chenka]

https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/1495383320401698821

I can see why they're making it no longer illegal, but hopefully the government is doing something to tell people "just because it isn't illegal doesn't mean it isn't strongly recommended".

[Silent Hunter]

They've got that with face masks - advice is to consider wearing them in enclosed crowded spaces:

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

I doubt Transport for London will lift their requirement for them.

[Frodo]

Africa CDC to ask world to pause Covid-19 vaccine donations
The request marks a shift in the challenges Africa faces — from not having enough doses to not being able to quickly get those doses into arms.

The Africa CDC will ask that all Covid-19 vaccine donations be paused until the third or fourth quarter of this year, the director of the agency told POLITICO.

John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said the primary challenge for vaccinating the continent is no longer supply shortages but logistics challenges and vaccine hesitancy — leading the agency and the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust to seek the delay.

“It makes sense to say, ‘Look, let’s pause and avoid the risk of sending so much that it gets expired, and then clear this and put our efforts in taking these ones up so we can now see how many people have actually been immunized — and then maybe now you can look at the next wave of donations,’” he said.

The request marks a shift in the challenges Africa faces — from not having enough doses to not being able to quickly get those doses into arms.

“It’s not to say that donations are not important,” he said. “It’s just to say let’s not just do it at once.”

Nkengasong said the available dose supply is no longer the main barrier to immunizing the continent. As the supply of doses has become more predictable, African leaders have been able to better plan distributions and make sense of how many they need for a certain period of time.

[Frodo]

Finally a vaccine better suited to the developing world:

New Sanofi and GSK vaccine demonstrates strong protection against severe Covid-19 in clinical trials

The world could soon have another vaccine option in its fight against Covid-19.

European drug makers Sanofi and GSK announced positive results from late-stage clinical testing of a new vaccine that will be named Vidprevtyn, according to a Sanofi spokesperson. The companies plan to seek authorization for the shots in the US and Europe.

Vidprevtyn is a protein subunit vaccine, which means it uses harmless protein fragments that teach the immune system how to spot and fight off the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It's a more traditional type of vaccine than mRNA or adenovirus vector vaccines, which carry the genetic instructions for making the spike protein into cells, where they can then be built and displayed like mug shots for the immune system find and defend against.

These kinds of vaccines can be stored at refrigerator temperatures, making them easier to use in areas that don't have access to ultracold storage. Because they rely on more familiar technology, there's hope that people who've declined other kinds of Covid-19 vaccines may find these kinds of vaccines more palatable.

Emphasis mine. 

[Silent Hunter]

They've got that with face masks - advice is to consider wearing them in enclosed crowded spaces:

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

I doubt Transport for London will lift their requirement for them.

They dropped them as a condition of carriage today, still strongly recommended.

[Frodo]

I think now would be a good time to start focusing on vaccination rates in the developing world, being mindful of the fact that the COVID pandemic will never be truly over until most of the world has been vaccinated, especially in developing countries where new COVID variants are most likely to germinate.  

Are there fairly reliable international sources that can be used to help keep track?  

[icemanj]

Thought this was interesting
https://twitter.com/InfectiousDz/status/1499091943044919302

[CumbrianLefty]

Hard to believe how badly HK has messed this up given their previous experience.