International COVID-19 Megathread

[Tender Branson]

Austria - 9:30am update:

11.348 positive cases (yesterday 9:30am: 10.923, +3.9%)
  1.074 hospitalized (1.057, +17) - of which:
     245 in ICUs (227, +18)
     168 dead (158, +10)

  2.022 recovered (1.749, +273)

98.343 tests performed

https://www.bmi.gv.at/news.aspx?id=4A7171477A51625143334D3D

[T'Chenka]

Austria - 9:30am update:

11.348 positive cases (yesterday 9:30am: 10.923, +3.9%)
  1.074 hospitalized (1.057, +17) - of which:
     245 in ICUs (227, +18)
     168 dead (158, +10)

  2.022 recovered (1.749, +273)

98.343 tests performed

These infection and death numbers are VERY comparable with Canada's numbers at the moment. We don't have as much data on hospitalizations and ICU but I would imagine it's around the same.

You guys are locked down right? Our (center-left) Prime Minister said last night "we're not quite there yet" on MANDATORY stay at home orders. We're "supposed to" be home but many don't care. Our province's (right wing) premier said very recently that a mandatory lock down is "the last thing we want to do".

If Austria minimizes deaths better than Canada from this point on where our numbers are almost identical, we will know that our leaders allowed those extra people to die.

[Tender Branson]

"Patient Zero" at the Ischgl ski resort (where tourists from Germany and Scandinavia infected themselves) was determined to be a Swiss waitress bringing the virus with her from Switzerland to Austria in early- to mid-February already.

Either it was her, or 2 Norwegian Erasmus students who brought the virus with them from Bologna (Italy) on their ski trip in Ischgl in mid-February. It is possible that they infected their whole plane full of people to Norway later on.

Link

[Tender Branson]

These infection and death numbers are VERY comparable with Canada's numbers at the moment. We don't have as much data on hospitalizations and ICU but I would imagine it's around the same.

You guys are locked down right? Our (center-left) Prime Minister said last night "we're not quite there yet" on MANDATORY stay at home orders. We're "supposed to" be home but many don't care. Our province's (right wing) premier said very recently that a mandatory lock down is "the last thing we want to do".

If Austria minimizes deaths better than Canada from this point on where our numbers are almost identical, we will know that our leaders allowed those extra people to die.

More or less, yeah:

You are only allowed to leave the house for A) unavoidable system-critical work (but some construction sites are still open, as are some other businesses). Or B) for grocery shopping (now with mandatory mask-wearing !). Or C) if you want to take short walks (but with a 2 meter distance to other persons and alone, unless you are walking with the person in your own household, partner, kids). Or D) if you need to help relatives in need, such as delivering their groceries to their front door.

Violations observed by police patrols result in fines of several thousand Euros.

(Tyrol state and some cities in the West have a total lockdown, with police stops at every entry and exit. Zell am See has it since Wednesday midnight. You can only leave your town with a paper permit from the police and enter back with that permit, only for work or medical reasons.)

[Tender Branson]

The Austrian Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP) has unveiled camouflage-style masks for Army members, which they are now wearing:

Image link

Armed Forces now with camouflage masks from their own production

The Austrian army is now sewing too: the military's mouth-and-nose protection is camouflaged and has already been tried by Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP). Most of the masks are sewn in the home office by the seamstresses of the Federal Army. The production of 2,000 to 3,000 masks per day is planned. Each soldier should get three masks.

For the production of the masks, a uniform fabric is used that comes from a trial phase. It is a particularly resistant and tearproof cotton-polyester blend. With the existing fabric, around 130,000 masks can be produced. The mouth-nose mask is washable at 60 degrees, said the army.

The Army Armed Forces Clothing Institute in Brunn is responsible for the manufacture of the mouth-nose masks. A special laser cutting system is used here. This produces up to 700 cuts per hour. It cuts with millimeter precision and ensures uniform cuts.

Link (Source: derStandard.at)

[T'Chenka]

These infection and death numbers are VERY comparable with Canada's numbers at the moment. We don't have as much data on hospitalizations and ICU but I would imagine it's around the same.

You guys are locked down right? Our (center-left) Prime Minister said last night "we're not quite there yet" on MANDATORY stay at home orders. We're "supposed to" be home but many don't care. Our province's (right wing) premier said very recently that a mandatory lock down is "the last thing we want to do".

If Austria minimizes deaths better than Canada from this point on where our numbers are almost identical, we will know that our leaders allowed those extra people to die.

More or less, yeah:

You are only allowed to leave the house for A) unavoidable system-critical work (but some construction sites are still open, as are some other businesses). Or B) for grocery shopping (now with mandatory mask-wearing !). Or C) if you want to take short walks (but with a 2 meter distance to other persons and alone, unless you are walking with the person in your own household, partner, kids). Or D) if you need to help relatives in need, such as delivering their groceries to their front door.

Violations observed by police patrols result in fines of several thousand Euros.

(Tyrol state and some cities in the West have a total lockdown, with police stops at every entry and exit. Zell am See has it since Wednesday midnight. You can only leave your town with a paper permit from the police and enter back with that permit, only for work or medical reasons.)

We need that here.

We hate to admit it, but we're a lot like America up here. Sure, we are more like Europe than compared with the USA, but we are still too American in our cultural attitudes in some situations (like this one).

[Tender Branson]

The Austrian Parliament will be in session today, starting at noon.

They will pass the 3rd Corona law package today, such as more bailout money for companies (42% of Austrian companies only have liquidity for less than 2 weeks !), better protection for home-office work (now with accident insurance like at your regular workplace).

The SPÖ also wants to increase the net replacement level for unemployment money from 55% of your previous wage to 70%.

The government will also pass a law to stop any evictions for the time being.

Also, the parliament usually has 183 members, but will have only 96 today to allow for more space between each MP. Also, all members will wear masks at the session today to set an example for the population.

Image link
(SPÖ-leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner)

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

nice to see innovative policymaking from Osterreich in this time of uncertainty. Human ingenuity is needed to beat the virus.

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://www.dw.com/en/german-state-finance-minister-thomas-sch%C3%A4fer-found-dead/a-52948976

The body of a man identified as Thomas Schäfer, the finance minister of the German state of Hesse, was found on a high-speed train line in the town of Hochheim between Frankfurt and Mainz, police confirmed Saturday.

The presence of a body on the tracks was first reported by witnesses to paramedics, who were unable to initially identify the remains due to the extent of the injuries.

Investigators said an investigation on the scene confirmed the identity of the man as Schäfer and that the death was likely a suicide. Police did not immediately release further details of the case.

The politician apparently left a note before taking his own life, German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported, citing sources close to the investigation. The note, according to the report, referenced Schäfer's reasons for taking the step.

According to media in the state of Hesse, the 54-year-old regularly appeared in public in recent days, for example, to inform the public about financial assistance during the coronavirus crisis.

Schäfer had "considerable worries" over COVID-19

German suicidewatch:

Yesterday, a 41-year-old man from Dortmund (NRW) had killed his wife and his three children and then himself.

Today, a 36-year-old women from the county of Rosenheim (Bavaria) has killed her two children and then herself. Her husband survived.

[CumbrianLefty]

684 virus related deaths in the UK yesterday, another significant jump upwards.

[Meclazine for Israel]

.......more worried about the high number of cruise ships with infected passengers still sitting in Australia's waters......

I have never seen a political fuse lit quite like the one attached to the NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian.

Ben Fordham destroyed her live on radio over the explosion of COVID-19 cases since disembarking the ship:

https://www.9news.com.au/national/coronavirus-nsw-premier-gladys-berejiklian-2gb-radio-host-ben-fordham-clash-over-ruby-princess-blame-game/186d456f-c71c-45f6-8a45-cd13718ed1da

As each day passes, her decision to let 150 sick patients off that ship is looking exponentially worse, and now the families of the infected passengers in small country towns around Australia are getting sick.

Today, the media released the emails from the ship and The Australian newspaper will run those emails on Page 1 most likely. 60 Minutes will probably have a stab on Sunday night.

Channel 9 found the emails first allowing disembarkation of passengers with no regard for public safety, but Channel 7 are already on to it whilst it is a hot story this Sunday night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-wro3YtOJU

• The Dark Music
• The Red Graphics
• The Handsome Reporter
• The Slow-mo Black and White shots
• The Helicopter Flyover

When people start dying from community transmission related to those sick passengers, her interviews together with the NSW Minister for Health will be the most tense discussions on TV in Australia.

[parochial boy]

Pretty horrifying news out of the UK. Sounds like it could be turning into the next Italy or Spain. Possibly an even bigger display of political incompetence given they knew what was coming and yet still chose to sit on their hands for two weeks.

[Tender Branson]

Possible breakthrough in the hunt for an anti-Covid drug:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/trial-drug-covid-19-ubc-1.5519348

The team is led by an Austrian scientist at a Canadian university.

The University of British Columbia announced Thursday that an international team led by Dr. Josef Penninger has found a potential drug that helps block infection from the virus that causes COVID-19.

Penninger, a biomedical researcher from Austria, is a professor in UBC's faculty of medicine and director of the Life Sciences Institute there.

His study published April 2 in the peer-reviewed journal Cell focuses on a protein on the surface of human cells which is a key receptor for the spikes of glycoprotein characteristic in the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

[Florida Man for Crime]

https://twitter.com/MsMelChen/status/1245988321744084992

Singapore is finally going into lockdown. For a long time they seemed to have it fairly well contained without having to lockdown, through good public health measures, but apparently that was not enough, since cases had started going up more significantly over the past week or so. This is bad news for the idea that the virus can be permanently contained with only regular public health measures. That means it is more likely that even if a first wave is brought under control, future waves will eventually emerge and will require a temporary lockdown to contain.

In Hong Kong, there has also seems to have recently been a general up-trend similar to in Singapore, so they may also need to tighten their cuonter-measures sometime soon. Although it is seemingly spreading much more slowly in Singapore/HK than it has been in Europe/North America, it nonetheless appears to have an R_0 > 1 in those places with current measures, so it eventually spreads. In South Korea, it seems unclear, because they have been bouncing around ~100 new cases a day or so for a while - it appears R_0 is probably quite close to 1 there, but it remains hard to tell if it is slightly above 1 or slightly below.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Big news in Berlin today is that the Trump administration orchestrated the theft of 200,000 face-masks destined for the Berlin Police department from Thailand. Swift condemnation by the mayor of Berlin (see tweet below). The state interior minister called it an act of piracy.

https://twitter.com/RegBerlin/status/1246076088578502659

[parochial boy]

Big news in Berlin today is that the Trump administration orchestrated the theft of 200,000 face-masks destined for the Berlin Police department from Thailand. Swift condemnation by the mayor of Berlin (see tweet below). The state interior minister called it an act of piracy.

https://twitter.com/RegBerlin/status/1246076088578502659

I saw that too. Genuinely couldn't believe what I was reading. The French have actually been complaining about a similar thing today.

I think the absolute disgust that people have had towards the behaviour of the US during this crisis is going to have some rather interesting repercussions in regards to the US's global position and influence in the near future.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Possible breakthrough in the hunt for an anti-Covid drug:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/trial-drug-covid-19-ubc-1.5519348

The team is led by an Austrian scientist at a Canadian university.

It would be most appropriate for an Austrian to save the world for a change.

[Tirnam]

INSEE (French official institute for statistics) has published some data on mortality.
In March (until March 23), mortality is slightly higher than last year: 39,707 people have died between March 1 and March 23 this year compared to 39,141 in 2019. But it is down compared to 2018 (44,443 deaths - active flu season).
However, in some departments, where the virus first hit, mortality is much higher: +84% in the Haut-Rhin, +40% in South Corsica compared to 2019.
Of course, unfortunately, the epidemic accelerated at the end of the month, in some preliminary data we have an acceleration of deaths during the last week of March: up 60%-30% in the Paris region in one week.

[parochial boy]

Love the collective outrage in Germany about this one. We did the same thing to the Swiss and Austrians, and nobody cared. Actually what we did was worse, because we were stealing shipments intended from China to Switzerland, while the Americans stopped one of their own firms from exporting. Turns our if we ban exports, other countries will stop their companies from doing it too. Sad!

Ahem, I complained at the time, and I'm not any less digusted by this

Big controversy here yesterday as it was revealed that both France and Germany have blocked big orders of face masks from China as both countries are blocking all medical exports, apparently including goods in transit. Amazingly, it was the EU that actually came to the rescue, telling Merkel and Macron to sort themselves out and stop bullying landlocked neighbours.

Big difference is that that stuff was transiting through Germany, and in a somewhat unusual case of me defending your country, at least the German customs could make some sort of excuse about it being an honest mistake over the confusion over the export ban stuff that was going on at the time. And the stuff was actually released in the end - surprised credit to the EU on that one.

This looks like a much more straightforward case of abuse of power and theft. If you want control of medical supplies made by your companies then don't build them abroad. Especially when the actual manufacturer was almost certainly something like 3M Thailand Inc, and a company actually registered in Thailand.

[CumbrianLefty]

Pretty horrifying news out of the UK. Sounds like it could be turning into the next Italy or Spain. Possibly an even bigger display of political incompetence given they knew what was coming and yet still chose to sit on their hands for two weeks.

Still a hope we might have locked down *just* in time to prevent total disaster. But yes, some of the decisions (or non-decisions) in the first half of March are looking more reckless by the day.

[Tirnam]

At least 6,507 people have died from Covid-19 in France, 5,091 in hospitals (+588 today), 1,416 in nursing homes (this number is still preliminary, not all of these people have been tested for Covid-19: as soon as a nursing home has a positive case of Covid-19 all people in that nursing home who died with symptoms of Covid-19 are suspected of having died from this disease).

Today 6,662 people are in intensive care (+263), 27,432 are hospitalized (+1,186). These numbers continue to slowing down.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I suppouse copyright rules no longer apply when you post pictures of Austrian politicians wearing masks. Three times in a row today.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Big difference is that that stuff was transiting through Germany, and in a somewhat unusual case of me defending your country, at least the German customs could make some sort of excuse about it being an honest mistake over the confusion over the export ban stuff that was going on at the time. And the stuff was actually released in the end - surprised credit to the EU on that one.

This looks like a much more straightforward case of abuse of power and theft. If you want control of medical supplies made by your companies then don't build them abroad. Especially when the actual manufacturer was almost certainly something like 3M Thailand Inc, and a company actually registered in Thailand.

Yes, Thailand, unlike Germany imo, does probably have a good case to be angry with the US (though one would hope that even Trump would not have done this without consulting them first). I think what I am tying to say, is my point is a rather general one (and this is an even more unusual case of me defending the US) about German double standards in this crisis when it comes to outrage about the US treatment of smaller countries, or "lack of solidarity", or protectionism and what not, and the inability to see that we are actually not much better when it comes to our neighbors, even if we put a nicer face and rethoric on it. Was quite startling to see how people here got furious about the US travel ban against Europe, but it was fine when we closed our Borders literally 3 Days later. Even the language of the media was unanimously so pointedly different (EinreiseVERBOT vs Einreisestopp). I remember reading an editorial like the day before we did it, chiding Denmark and Poland for trying to offer simple solutions or so because they closed their Borders. And tomorrow I expect to read again in the FAZ complaining about Trumps nationalism protectionism and whatnot, while we and the French were the first to start banning exports, while they applaud our government telling the Spain and Italy to get lost.      

Personally I agree with pretty much everything parochial boy said on the issue.

I think there's still a big difference between
a) Germany officially halting the export of masks to Switzerland and eventually backing away from that again in the end and
b) the U.S. covertly redirecting masks for themselves without any apparent likelihood hat they're going to change their minds on this and eventually return the masks (for that to happen they would need to admit first that it actually happened in the first place, something the White House apparently doesn't intend to).

That's just not a different rhetoric, but an entirely different modus operandi. This doesn't mean that the aforementioned actions of the German government were justified. But to use a virus analogy here - the get the common cold and to get the coronavirus both sucks, just on entirely different levels of severity.

[Meclazine for Israel]

OK,

Latest stats have been provided from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Growth in Active Cases for the following countries is provided:


 
United Kingdom




France




Germany




Spain




Italy




USA




Growth Lines Only in Active Cases




USA vs Europe (Spain + Italy + UK + Germany + France)


The growth in UK continues at a faster rate.

The recoveries are now coming in strong from the European mainland which makes the Active Case data more accurate for analysis.

France has had the flattest curve of the European countries in terms of Active Case numbers and has experienced a fall in the last two days in growth.

Italy appears to be past the worst of it and growth has tended downwards since March 21.

Germany has had two strong days in growth, whilst France has had a turnaround in Active Cases after growing strongly 5 days ago.

Spain numbers look particularly encouraging with the 4th successive drop in 'Active Case' growth meaning the worst appears to be behind it in terms of exponential spread. I am confident that the change in Spanish growth (blue line on the Spain graph) will continue to decline further on this graph tomorrow after peaking back on March 26.

US growth is the strongest with 32,000 'New Cases' reported in the last 24 hours.

The interesting thing about mainland Europe (neglecting Swiss, Portugal, Netherlands etc) is that the numbers appear to have peaked in terms of growth rates in Active Cases.

Only the UK continues to grow at a faster rate on its initial curve upwards.

Keep on keepin' on....

[afleitch]

Yeah. The UK's week to ten day delay to lockdown is starting to show.