COVID-19 Impacts in Slovakia, Czech Republic & Germany --Low Vaccination Rates, Infections Soaring
Daily COVID-19 infections jump in Czech Republic, Slovakia
By KAREL JANICEK, Associated Press - Yesterday 7:30 PM
PRAGUE (AP) - Coronavirus cases soared to a new record high in Slovakia on Wednesday, with some hospitals having to move COVID-19 patients elsewhere in the country because they couldn't take any more. In neighboring Czech Republic, new infections jumped to levels close to record numbers seen during previous waves, authorities said.
The Slovak Health Ministry reported that the daily increase of new infections hit 7,055 on Tuesday, surpassing the previous record of 6,805 set last Thursday. The number of people needing hospital treatment rose to a total of 2,478, with 370 admitted this week, the ministry said. About 80% of the hospitalized have not been fully vaccinated. Slovakia has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the EU. Only 2.4 million people out of a population of nearly 5.5 million have been fully vaccinated.
In this May 10, 2021 file photo, woman lights a candle to commemorate victims of the COVD-19 pandemic at the Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic. Coronavirus infections in the Czech Republic have significantly jumped to the levels close to record numbers recorded at previous waves. The Health Ministry says the daily tally of new cases reached 14,539 on Tuesday, Nov. 9 about 4,500 more than a week ago and the highest number since March 12.
Some hospitals in western and eastern Slovakia say they have had to transport patients to other clinics in the country because they were unable to treat more patients in serious condition. “We’re facing a catastrophic development in hospitals," President Zuzana Caputova said. The vaccinate rate needs to “significantly speed up,” Caputova added.
Government officials were meeting later Wednesday to approve new restrictions such as limits on the movements of those who are unvaccinated.
In the Czech Republic, the Health Ministry said the daily tally of new cases reached 14,539 on Tuesday, about 4,500 more than a week ago and the highest number since March 12. The record daily high of 17,776 was registered on Jan 7. The country's infection rate rose to 558 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days, more than double the figure recorded in neighboring Germany.
“The situation’s not good,” Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Wednesday. “We again appeal to everyone to get vaccinated.” Almost 6.2 million people in the nation of 10.7 million have been fully vaccinated. That's below the average among the European Union nations.
The steep rise in new cases has been followed by a rise in patients needing hospitalization. A total of 3,295 patients with COVID-19 were treated in hospitals on Tuesday. That's almost double the figure since the beginning of November.
Authorities said all medical personnel in hospitals, nursing and pensioner homes will have to get tested on a weekly basis if they’re not vaccinated. All foreigners living legally in the country will be offered vaccination free of charge, Health Minister Adam Vojtech said. Babis said more measures will be approved by his Cabinet on Friday, but didn’t give details. However, he ruled out a strict lockdown.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia have both been among EU nations hardest hit by the pandemic.
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Follow all AP stories on the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
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Slovaks expand restrictions, plan more amid record surge
By KAREL JANICEK, Association Press - Monday
PRAGUE (AP) - Slovakia on Monday expanded strict coronavirus restrictions including hotel, bar and restaurant closures to almost a half of the country amid a record surge of infections.
Doctor Peter Sabaka, right, and Slovakia's Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky attend a press conference in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Slovakia has expanded tight coronavirus restrictions to almost a half of the country amid a record surge of infections. The government is expected to discuss further measures on Monday as the country’s health minister joined the medical personnel who treat COVID-19 patients in hospitals to call on the Slovaks to get vaccinated.
The government is expected to discuss additional measures as the country’s health minister joined medical personnel who treat COVID-19 patients in urging Slovaks to get vaccinated. “Only vaccination can take us through the pandemic,” Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky said.
The measures will affect 36 of the country’s 79 counties. Indicative of how fast infections are spreading, only five counties had imposed the measures three weeks ago, and another five a week later.
On top of the hotel, bar and restaurant closures, people will be allowed to only buy takeout meals. Fitness, wellness and aquatic centers also have been shuttered. The maximum number allowed at public gatherings has been reduced to 100 fully vaccinated people. Face masks are compulsory indoors and outdoors.
Slovakia, which has a population of nearly 5.5 million people, is one of the countries in the European Union that have been hardest hit by the pandemic. It has registered around 457,431 cases and 12,917 deaths.
Slovakia's Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky speaks during a press conference in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Slovakia has expanded tight coronavirus restrictions to almost a half of the country amid a record surge of infections. The government is expected to discuss further measures on Monday as the country’s health minister joined the medical personnel who treat COVID-19 patients in hospitals to call on the Slovaks to get vaccinated.
Daily infections have set three new records within last week, with the most recent of 6,805 cases being set on Thursday. The government’s advisory group of health experts has proposed new restrictions such as limits on the movements of the unvaccinated in a bid to forestall a potential collapse of the health system. About 80% of the 2,108 people who currently need hospitalization in Slovakia were either partially vaccinated or haven’t received a shot at all. Many hospitals have started to only treat COVID-19 patients.
Slovakia has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the EU. Less than half, or 2.41 million people, have been fully vaccinated. “The vaccination could have prevented most of the deaths,” a petition signed by some 1,300 medical personnel and the health minister said. “Amid worries that the worst is yet to come, we are asking you to get vaccinated.”
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German Christmas markets face second year of closures as Covid rates soar
Kate Connolly in Berlin - 6h ago
Soaring coronavirus rates in Germany are threatening plans for a rollout of the country’s famous Christmas markets, due to open in about a week’s time. There had been considerable fanfare over municipalities’ plans to stage the markets this year after they were called off a year ago.
Hopes that the vaccine campaign - which started in Germany on 27 December last year - would have been enabled markets to go ahead have been thwarted by a low uptake rate - only about 67% are fully vaccinated - and the spread of the more infectious Delta variant.
On Wednesday, Germany registered a record number of cases for a third day in a row, with just under 40,000 new infections, predicted to reach 100,000 in the next 10 days, while 236 deaths were registered, and hospital authorities warned intensive care units were in danger of reaching capacity before Christmas.
Berlin’s Charité hospital announced it was cancelling all-non urgent operations in order to free up beds for a growing number of Covid-19 patients.
With tens of thousands of Germans expected to travel at Christmas time, the fear is that case numbers will increase further over the holiday period.
Politicians have been under mounting pressure to announce the pandemic is nearing an end after an optimistic few months over the summer and autumn. The reopening of the markets is part of that narrative, even as data shows the health emergency is far from over.
Tighter controls had been announced to allow the markets to go ahead, with organisers expected to monitor visitors’ entry in some cases by putting fencing around venues, and with many markets due to insist on vaccine certificates or proof of recovery from coronavirus. Market stalls are to be erected with more distance between them, and the numbers allowed in are to be restricted. Organisers and health authorities have issued appeals for visitors to use common sense, keep their distance from other market-goers and to wear masks.
But now authorities from Bavaria in the south to Saxony and Thuringia in the east have begun announcing the cancellation of many scheduled markets, saying a rising infection rate means it would be irresponsible for them to go ahead.
Berlin’s Charlottenburg Palace market was cancelled after its operator said enforcing mask wearing, as well as an alcohol ban in place owing to its location in a public park under the German capital’s infection protection law, made the event impossible to hold. The market’s Tommy Erbe told German media: “Once again, politics has failed to create clear and real conditions for organisers in time.”
The Charlottenburg Palace market in 2019. Photograph: Hayoung Jeon/EPA
Nuremberg, one of the most popular markets, is due to go ahead but its opening ceremony will only take place online. Other cities such as Dortmund have cancelled their Christmas lights ceremonies, arguing that health and safety regulations had made events too costly to hold.
Holger Zastrow, the head of the Augustustmarkt in Dresden, due to open on 24 November, said he remained optimistic it would go ahead. “At 500 metres' long, our market has the longest promenade of any in Germany, and we will open,” he told German media. “Everything is so spread out that it is not necessary to carry out controls, whether of tests or vaccine passports.”
Germany’s Weihnachtsmärkte do not just contribute to the seasonal spirit - offering families and parties of office workers up and down the country the chance to get into the Christmas mood with everything from Glühwein and roast chestnuts to a range of arts and crafts and fairground amusements - they are also huge business. Typically they attract more than 150 million visitors a year, including many tourists from abroad, and generate about €3bn (£2.6bn) in revenue annually. They normally open from mid- to late November until just before Christmas.
Visitors stroll among stalls at the annual Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin in 2019.
The virologist Christian Drosten, a leading German voice throughout the pandemic, warned in his regular podcast on coronavirus on Tuesday, in an episode titled SOS - Iceberg Ahead, that Germany faced an escalation that would be hard to control and lead to tens of thousands of additional deaths if authorities did not reintroduce tighter measures, including contact restrictions. “We need to be able to control infection activity again, and testing is not an adequate way of doing that. The tests are viewed as an emergency brake, to break the wave, but there is no way they will do that.”
Previous waves, Drosten said, had shown that the only way to lower the incidence rate was a change in the behaviour of the entire population. “When people change their behaviour and take the threat more seriously, that has an effect,” he said. “We are in an emergency situation.” He said the most effective way of ending the pandemic was for the entire population to have received three vaccination shots, though he admitted it was an unrealistic prospect.
There has been much focus in Germany in recent days on neighbouring Denmark, which had announced its pandemic was over last month but which has reintroduced restrictions this week over a rise in cases, and on Austria, which has managed to considerably boost the number of people willing to receive a vaccine by introducing strict so-called 2G rules, meaning that only those who are vaccinated or recovered can take part in many activities such as visiting cinemas or hairdressers. Germany is also debating a mandatory vaccine for people working in certain fields such as care homes and hospitals.
By KAREL JANICEK, Associated Press - Yesterday 7:30 PM
PRAGUE (AP) - Coronavirus cases soared to a new record high in Slovakia on Wednesday, with some hospitals having to move COVID-19 patients elsewhere in the country because they couldn't take any more. In neighboring Czech Republic, new infections jumped to levels close to record numbers seen during previous waves, authorities said.
The Slovak Health Ministry reported that the daily increase of new infections hit 7,055 on Tuesday, surpassing the previous record of 6,805 set last Thursday. The number of people needing hospital treatment rose to a total of 2,478, with 370 admitted this week, the ministry said. About 80% of the hospitalized have not been fully vaccinated. Slovakia has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the EU. Only 2.4 million people out of a population of nearly 5.5 million have been fully vaccinated.
In this May 10, 2021 file photo, woman lights a candle to commemorate victims of the COVD-19 pandemic at the Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic. Coronavirus infections in the Czech Republic have significantly jumped to the levels close to record numbers recorded at previous waves. The Health Ministry says the daily tally of new cases reached 14,539 on Tuesday, Nov. 9 about 4,500 more than a week ago and the highest number since March 12.
Some hospitals in western and eastern Slovakia say they have had to transport patients to other clinics in the country because they were unable to treat more patients in serious condition. “We’re facing a catastrophic development in hospitals," President Zuzana Caputova said. The vaccinate rate needs to “significantly speed up,” Caputova added.
Government officials were meeting later Wednesday to approve new restrictions such as limits on the movements of those who are unvaccinated.
In the Czech Republic, the Health Ministry said the daily tally of new cases reached 14,539 on Tuesday, about 4,500 more than a week ago and the highest number since March 12. The record daily high of 17,776 was registered on Jan 7. The country's infection rate rose to 558 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days, more than double the figure recorded in neighboring Germany.
“The situation’s not good,” Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Wednesday. “We again appeal to everyone to get vaccinated.” Almost 6.2 million people in the nation of 10.7 million have been fully vaccinated. That's below the average among the European Union nations.
The steep rise in new cases has been followed by a rise in patients needing hospitalization. A total of 3,295 patients with COVID-19 were treated in hospitals on Tuesday. That's almost double the figure since the beginning of November.
Authorities said all medical personnel in hospitals, nursing and pensioner homes will have to get tested on a weekly basis if they’re not vaccinated. All foreigners living legally in the country will be offered vaccination free of charge, Health Minister Adam Vojtech said. Babis said more measures will be approved by his Cabinet on Friday, but didn’t give details. However, he ruled out a strict lockdown.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia have both been among EU nations hardest hit by the pandemic.
___
Follow all AP stories on the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
---------------------------------------------
Slovaks expand restrictions, plan more amid record surge
By KAREL JANICEK, Association Press - Monday
PRAGUE (AP) - Slovakia on Monday expanded strict coronavirus restrictions including hotel, bar and restaurant closures to almost a half of the country amid a record surge of infections.
Doctor Peter Sabaka, right, and Slovakia's Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky attend a press conference in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Slovakia has expanded tight coronavirus restrictions to almost a half of the country amid a record surge of infections. The government is expected to discuss further measures on Monday as the country’s health minister joined the medical personnel who treat COVID-19 patients in hospitals to call on the Slovaks to get vaccinated.
The government is expected to discuss additional measures as the country’s health minister joined medical personnel who treat COVID-19 patients in urging Slovaks to get vaccinated. “Only vaccination can take us through the pandemic,” Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky said.
The measures will affect 36 of the country’s 79 counties. Indicative of how fast infections are spreading, only five counties had imposed the measures three weeks ago, and another five a week later.
On top of the hotel, bar and restaurant closures, people will be allowed to only buy takeout meals. Fitness, wellness and aquatic centers also have been shuttered. The maximum number allowed at public gatherings has been reduced to 100 fully vaccinated people. Face masks are compulsory indoors and outdoors.
Slovakia, which has a population of nearly 5.5 million people, is one of the countries in the European Union that have been hardest hit by the pandemic. It has registered around 457,431 cases and 12,917 deaths.
Slovakia's Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky speaks during a press conference in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Slovakia has expanded tight coronavirus restrictions to almost a half of the country amid a record surge of infections. The government is expected to discuss further measures on Monday as the country’s health minister joined the medical personnel who treat COVID-19 patients in hospitals to call on the Slovaks to get vaccinated.
Daily infections have set three new records within last week, with the most recent of 6,805 cases being set on Thursday. The government’s advisory group of health experts has proposed new restrictions such as limits on the movements of the unvaccinated in a bid to forestall a potential collapse of the health system. About 80% of the 2,108 people who currently need hospitalization in Slovakia were either partially vaccinated or haven’t received a shot at all. Many hospitals have started to only treat COVID-19 patients.
Slovakia has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the EU. Less than half, or 2.41 million people, have been fully vaccinated. “The vaccination could have prevented most of the deaths,” a petition signed by some 1,300 medical personnel and the health minister said. “Amid worries that the worst is yet to come, we are asking you to get vaccinated.”
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German Christmas markets face second year of closures as Covid rates soar
Kate Connolly in Berlin - 6h ago
Soaring coronavirus rates in Germany are threatening plans for a rollout of the country’s famous Christmas markets, due to open in about a week’s time. There had been considerable fanfare over municipalities’ plans to stage the markets this year after they were called off a year ago.
Hopes that the vaccine campaign - which started in Germany on 27 December last year - would have been enabled markets to go ahead have been thwarted by a low uptake rate - only about 67% are fully vaccinated - and the spread of the more infectious Delta variant.
On Wednesday, Germany registered a record number of cases for a third day in a row, with just under 40,000 new infections, predicted to reach 100,000 in the next 10 days, while 236 deaths were registered, and hospital authorities warned intensive care units were in danger of reaching capacity before Christmas.
Berlin’s Charité hospital announced it was cancelling all-non urgent operations in order to free up beds for a growing number of Covid-19 patients.
With tens of thousands of Germans expected to travel at Christmas time, the fear is that case numbers will increase further over the holiday period.
Politicians have been under mounting pressure to announce the pandemic is nearing an end after an optimistic few months over the summer and autumn. The reopening of the markets is part of that narrative, even as data shows the health emergency is far from over.
Tighter controls had been announced to allow the markets to go ahead, with organisers expected to monitor visitors’ entry in some cases by putting fencing around venues, and with many markets due to insist on vaccine certificates or proof of recovery from coronavirus. Market stalls are to be erected with more distance between them, and the numbers allowed in are to be restricted. Organisers and health authorities have issued appeals for visitors to use common sense, keep their distance from other market-goers and to wear masks.
But now authorities from Bavaria in the south to Saxony and Thuringia in the east have begun announcing the cancellation of many scheduled markets, saying a rising infection rate means it would be irresponsible for them to go ahead.
Berlin’s Charlottenburg Palace market was cancelled after its operator said enforcing mask wearing, as well as an alcohol ban in place owing to its location in a public park under the German capital’s infection protection law, made the event impossible to hold. The market’s Tommy Erbe told German media: “Once again, politics has failed to create clear and real conditions for organisers in time.”
The Charlottenburg Palace market in 2019. Photograph: Hayoung Jeon/EPA
Nuremberg, one of the most popular markets, is due to go ahead but its opening ceremony will only take place online. Other cities such as Dortmund have cancelled their Christmas lights ceremonies, arguing that health and safety regulations had made events too costly to hold.
Holger Zastrow, the head of the Augustustmarkt in Dresden, due to open on 24 November, said he remained optimistic it would go ahead. “At 500 metres' long, our market has the longest promenade of any in Germany, and we will open,” he told German media. “Everything is so spread out that it is not necessary to carry out controls, whether of tests or vaccine passports.”
Germany’s Weihnachtsmärkte do not just contribute to the seasonal spirit - offering families and parties of office workers up and down the country the chance to get into the Christmas mood with everything from Glühwein and roast chestnuts to a range of arts and crafts and fairground amusements - they are also huge business. Typically they attract more than 150 million visitors a year, including many tourists from abroad, and generate about €3bn (£2.6bn) in revenue annually. They normally open from mid- to late November until just before Christmas.
Visitors stroll among stalls at the annual Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin in 2019.
The virologist Christian Drosten, a leading German voice throughout the pandemic, warned in his regular podcast on coronavirus on Tuesday, in an episode titled SOS - Iceberg Ahead, that Germany faced an escalation that would be hard to control and lead to tens of thousands of additional deaths if authorities did not reintroduce tighter measures, including contact restrictions. “We need to be able to control infection activity again, and testing is not an adequate way of doing that. The tests are viewed as an emergency brake, to break the wave, but there is no way they will do that.”
Previous waves, Drosten said, had shown that the only way to lower the incidence rate was a change in the behaviour of the entire population. “When people change their behaviour and take the threat more seriously, that has an effect,” he said. “We are in an emergency situation.” He said the most effective way of ending the pandemic was for the entire population to have received three vaccination shots, though he admitted it was an unrealistic prospect.
There has been much focus in Germany in recent days on neighbouring Denmark, which had announced its pandemic was over last month but which has reintroduced restrictions this week over a rise in cases, and on Austria, which has managed to considerably boost the number of people willing to receive a vaccine by introducing strict so-called 2G rules, meaning that only those who are vaccinated or recovered can take part in many activities such as visiting cinemas or hairdressers. Germany is also debating a mandatory vaccine for people working in certain fields such as care homes and hospitals.