COVID-19 World News: Death Rates Increasing In Europe As Eurocron Variant Spreads Exponentially, China Enforces Phased Lock Downs For Shanghai
Source: COVID-19 World News Mar 28, 2022 2 years, 4 weeks, 1 day, 7 hours, 16 minutes ago
COVID-19 World News: As predicted, the BA.2 Variant surge is starting to gain momentum around the world just as there was a slight respite from the Omicron surge that started in December 2021.
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However unlike the Omicron surge, the BA.2 variant that is ever evolving and spawning newer subvariants with unique mutations is going to cause the coming global surge to be more deadly and also we are going to see a much longer time frame for this surge with ‘mini waves’ that constantly fluctuate as more BA.2 subvariants keep on emerging emerged cause re-infections even in those that already had the Omicron BA.1 or BA.1.1 variants or even the BA.2 variant itself!
The elderly, young children and those with existing comorbidities despite having prior natural immunity or even if vaccinated, will most likely be more vulnerable to the new BA.2 subvariants while the rest despite only experiencing very mild symptoms upon initial infection, will be at very high risk for fatal health outcomes in the weeks and months that follow as these new variants are able to “switch off” and dysregulate the human host initial immune responses and remain in the host and replicate in the host for a longer period of time while causing disruptions and damage to various cellular pathways and also causing damage to cells, tissues and organs.
COVID-19 World News expects that this new BA.2 surge will last till around July or August till a new lethal variant debuts.
Eurocron Hits Europe Causing Not Just An Increase In COVID-19 Infections, Hospitalizations but Also Deaths!
Countries in Europe like the United Kingdom, Italy, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland are all witnessing not only an increase in daily COVID-19 Infections and hospitalizations but also an increase in COVID-19 death rates.
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Source/Credit: Financial Times
The Eurocron variant aka BA.2.2 subvariant with the S:I120T is believed to be behind the high increase in both hospitalizations and deaths.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/eurocron-variant-ba-2-2-plus-si210t-mutation-fast-increasing-in-uk-and-europe-experts-need-to-focus-on-emerging-fast-evolving-ba-2-subvariants-globall
At the same time, researchers are also discovering many other new BA.2 subvariants that are also emerging in various parts of Europe such as Scotland, Ireland and even Denmark. Denmark despite juts only coming out of a BA.2 surge is expected to see a new rise in cases in coming weeks as newer BA.2 subvariants are starting to appear and gain community circulation.
In Scotland, two new BA.2 subvariants have emerged, one with the mutations Orf3a:A31T,Nuc:t21048C and the other with Orf3a:T9K.(more than 2,000 sequences of each so far)
href="https://github.com/cov-lineages/pango-designation/issues/486">https://github.com/cov-lineages/pango-designation/issues/486
It was reported that COVID-19 cases have climbed by a million in a week in the UK, data from the Office for National Statistics reveals. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/25march2022
It was also reported that swab tests suggest about one in every 16 people in UK is infected, as the contagious Eurocron variant continues to spread.
This is just under 4.3 million people, up from 3.3 million the week before.
The figures for the week ending 19 March, are thought to give the most accurate reflection of what's happening with the virus in the community.
Rates were up in England and Wales, and Scotland reached a new high.
However, it should also be noted that the UK government data is not reliable due to a concerted effort by the health authorities in trying to downplay the actual situation in the country.
Data from the ZOE COVID App which is more reliable is estimating about more than 351,000 new COVID infection in UK in the last 24 hours! https://covid.joinzoe.com/data
It should be noted that a high number of infections means the UK can expect COVID hospitalizations to rise too, although vaccines are still helping to stop many severe cases, say experts.
Updated data there were 19,620 patients in hospital with the SARS-CoV-2 virus on 25 March 2022! About 420 are in ICU needing ventilators.
China's Zero COVID Strategy Failing. BA.2 Variant Spreading Fast. Shanghai To Go Into Phased Lock Down.
It was reported in the last 12 hours that China’s biggest city: Shanghai will go into a phased lock down with its eastern half from Monday until Friday followed by a similar lockdown of its western side beginning on April 1.
The city of 25 million has in recent days become the leading hotspot in a nationwide outbreak that began to gain pace in early March.
Despite the fact that recent case numbers remain insignificant in a global context, they are China's highest since the first weeks of the pandemic, which first emerged in the city of Wuhan in late 2019.
Health authorities in China on Sunday reported more than 4,500 new domestically transmitted cases, down by more than 1,000 from the previous day but still far higher than the double-digit daily tallies usually seen over the past two years.
However conflicting reports from physicians and citizens creates a more realistic scenario that actual COVID-19 infections are far more higher that being reported.
Also, it is emerging that China’s Zero COVID-19 strategy might not just be workable with the more transmissible BA.2 variant and BA.2 subvariants. Numerous small clusters are emerging all over the country that is leading to fast community spreads.
As a result, millions of residents in affected areas across the country have been subjected to citywide lockdowns.
To date, Shanghai had thus far avoided a full lockdown, with officials saying it was imperative to keep the eastern Chinese port and financial hub running, for the good of both the national and global economies.
However, with case counts climbing, the city government said in a public notice that the two-part lockdown was being implemented "to curb the spread of the epidemic, ensure the safety and health of the people" and root out cases of infection "as soon as possible".
Shanghai’s sprawling eastern half, known as Pudong, which includes the main international airport and financial district, would be locked down for mass testing beginning Monday morning and ending April 1.
Subsequently, on April 1, the city's western half, known as Puxi and featuring the historic Bund riverfront, will lock down until April 5, the government added.
Locals in Shanghai were told to stay indoors during the lockdowns, and all business employees and government personnel not involved in the supply of essential services were advised to work from home.
Only those involved with providing vital services such as gas, electricity, transport, sanitation and the supply of food would be exempt from the stay-at-home order.
The official announcement said buses, taxis and the city's extensive subway system would cease operations, but made no mention of activity at its massive port, or any impact on air travel or rail service in and out of Shanghai.
Ironically, on Saturday, a member of the city's pandemic task force had vowed Shanghai would not shut down.
Dr Wu Fan, a medical expert on the task force during a daily virus press briefing held by the city government told local media, "If Shanghai, this city of ours, came to a complete halt, there would be many international cargo ships floating in the East China Sea. This would impact the entire national economy and the global economy."
The Chinese government had previously kept the virus under control nationally through strict zero-tolerance measures including mass lockdowns of entire cities and provinces for even small numbers of cases.
However, the Chinese authorities have watched nervously as a deadly Hong Kong BA.2.2 variant surge sparked panic buying and claimed a high toll of unvaccinated elderly in the southern Chinese city.
The BA.2.2 variant's subsequent spread in mainland China has posed a dilemma for authorities wrestling with how forcefully to respond, with the zero-tolerance approach increasingly being questioned amid concerns over the economic impact and public "pandemic fatigue", especially considering Omicron's less severe symptoms.
Initially, Shanghai had sought to ease disruption with a targeted approach to the current outbreak marked by rolling 48-hour lockdowns of individual neighborhoods combined with large-scale testing, but otherwise keeping the city running. However, the softer strategy has so far failed to dampen city case counts, and the localized lockdowns have provoked grumbling online and a run on groceries in some districts.
It is expected that China will lose the Zero COVID battle as the BA.2, BA.2.2 and other emerging BA.2 subvariants sweep across the country in coming weeks.
For the latest COVID-19 World News, keep on logging to Thailand Medical News.
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