Coronavirus (2021) thread

[M18CTID]

45,000 cases in France today, 225 deaths
23,000 in Italy, 460 deaths
22,000 in Germany, 205 deaths

 

[worsleyweb]

45,000 cases in France today, 225 deaths
23,000 in Italy, 460 deaths
22,000 in Germany, 205 deaths

that’s tragic. Europe third wave looks like it will be brutal.

 

[sky tot]

Number of patients in English hospitals:

25 March 2020 - 4402 (and rising)
25 March 2021 - 3763 (and falling)

Be interesting to know what it was 25th March 2019

 

[Invisible Man's Bandage]

Be interesting to know what it was 25th March 2019

Zero I'd assume as these numbers refer to Covid patients only.

 

[ayrshire_blue]

Zero I'd assume as these numbers refer to Covid patients only.

Indeed. Amended my post for accuracy.

 

[BlueHammer85]

45,000 cases in France today, 225 deaths
23,000 in Italy, 460 deaths
22,000 in Germany, 205 deaths

45k. Wow.

i remember when we was hitting that number. Awful.

 

[unicorn]

Zero I'd assume as these numbers refer to Covid patients only.

For context there's about 140,000 hospital beds in England; not sure how many non-Covid patients currently in beds but clearly the proportion that have Covid is small and rapidly declining (though still a stretch on NHS resource).

 

[ayrshire_blue]

45,000 cases in France today, 225 deaths
23,000 in Italy, 460 deaths
22,000 in Germany, 205 deaths

35,000 in Poland with 520 deaths.

Brazil with a record (I think) 93,000 cases as well with 2,375 deaths.

Apologies for the sombre post, but these are devastating figures and again worth highlighting the importance of the world getting vaccinated as quickly as possible and not just ourselves. We're doing well on that front, long may it continue.

 

[meltonblue]

Why does one have to wonder? The reason the Government gave those assurances was to get the development of the vaccines started as quickly as possible by giving extra confidence to investors and vaccine developers. That’s also partly why the AZ / Oxford vaccine is offered on a not for profit basis and is the mainstay of the global vaccine fund.

The indemnity was offered after the contracts, they were only able to give it from September onwards. Understand why they did it though.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Pointless using cases as testing increased so much over the period. Hospitalisations are a much better measure.

"Casedemic". Got it.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

The indemnity was offered after the contracts, they were only able to give it from September onwards. Understand why they did it though.

The indemnity may have kicked in then but assurances were given when scientists / Pharma and venture capitalists were round the table with Kate Bingham early in the year. A CEO of a pharma company confirmed this on BBC Radio 5 Live. Offering the indemnity after the contracts would have been close to pointless.

 

[Indaparkside]

45,000 cases in France today, 225 deaths
23,000 in Italy, 460 deaths
22,000 in Germany, 205 deaths

And people are crying about not being able to go abroad on holiday

 

[M18CTID]

And people are crying about not being able to go abroad on holiday

Yeah - it’s simply safer sticking to our own country at the moment until Europe gets things under control. Plus, as I said the other day, it would be somewhat unpalatable to go for a holiday in any of those countries while cases and deaths are so high, even if we were permitted to do so.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Yeah - it’s simply safer sticking to our own country at the moment until Europe gets things under control. Plus, as I said the other day, it would be somewhat unpalatable to go for a holiday in any of those countries while cases and deaths are so high, even if we were permitted to do so.

Especially when we (really the Kentish) have exported the killer variant to the continent.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

So the EU are reported to be warning Pfizer again. This might be legitimate. However, I struggle to believe so when several countries in mainland Europe have big stockpiles of AZ /Oxford vaccines and Pfizer escape any censure, even though Germany contributed to the development of the BioNtech jab.

I hope the vaccine roll out programmes in the rest of Europe (and across the globe) are accelerated and the populations get the protection they need.

 

[Gabriel]

So the EU are reported to be warning Pfizer again. This might be legitimate. However, I struggle to believe so when several countries in mainland Europe have big stockpiles of AZ /Oxford vaccines and Pfizer escape any censure, even though Germany contributed to the development of the BioNtech jab.

I hope the vaccine roll out programmes in the rest of Europe (and across the globe) are accelerated and the populations get the protection they need.

All about keeping the companies on their toes, presumably. It’s going to be a slow process at the current delivery rates. Last week, the Dutch received: ‘218,790 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, 44,880 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and 96,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine.’
There’s no stockpiling with such delivery rates, and with AZ already saying it’ll not hit its Q2 ‘promise’, it’ll be Q3 , maybe even early Q4, before Europe can feel more comfortable.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

All about keeping the companies on their toes, presumably. It’s going to be a slow process at the current delivery rates. Last week, the Dutch received: ‘218,790 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, 44,880 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and 96,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine.’
There’s no stockpiling with such delivery rates, and with AZ already saying it’ll not hit its Q2 ‘promise’, it’ll be Q3 , maybe even early Q4, before Europe can feel more comfortable.

If people are not being vaccinated then stockpiling is still going on mate, although the quantities are relatively low. There would be more pressure on the vaccine suppliers if the stocks had run dry, iMHO. Hopefully, availability of vaccines can be ramped up soon but it’s essential there is regulatory approval in the Countries that have put the block on the AZ vaccine and gone against the EMA.

it would be good to her from the EU about efforts to get bigger supplies from Pfizer too. Maybe that’s happening but we just aren’t hearing about it.

 

[RobMCFC]

And people are crying about not being able to go abroad on holiday

Just a couple of points to balance this out (although it's been well covered in the holiday thread).

1. Nobody is crying about not being able to go on holiday in March - which is a good 3 or 4 months before the core holiday season. It is too soon to make a judgement either way.
2. Not all countries have as poor case numbers as posted above. Spain's 7-day average is comparable to ours - 5000, and in the US, they are hoping to have all adults vaccinated by the end of May.

Things may change for the better or they may get worse, but either way, it's too early to make decisions - which is why the government aren't committing either way.

 

[M18CTID]

Just a couple of points to balance this out (although it's been well covered in the holiday thread).

1. Nobody is crying about not being able to go on holiday in March - which is a good 3 or 4 months before the core holiday season. It is too soon to make a judgement either way.
2. Not all countries have as poor case numbers as posted above. Spain's 7-day average is comparable to ours - 5000, and in the US, they are hoping to have all adults vaccinated by the end of May.

Things may change for the better or they may get worse, but either way, it's too early to make decisions - which is why the government aren't committing either way.

Yep, Spain's figures - and Portugal's too - compare very favourably to much of the rest of Europe. It's somewhat surprising that they've not seen the alarming spikes of others so far but if it continues then Spain and Portugal will probably be amongst the first countries to welcome UK holidaymakers.

 

[RobMCFC]

Yep, Spain's figures - and Portugal's too - compare very favourably to much of the rest of Europe. It's somewhat surprising that they've not seen the alarming spikes of others so far but if it continues then Spain and Portugal will probably be amongst the first countries to welcome UK holidaymakers.

Spain has had inter-region travel restrictions for some time. Although I haven't seen it stated anywhere, I suspect that they have learned from last year and want to put their country in the best possible position for the summer - like us.

I suspect the the key factors in keeping case numbers down will be get ensure more vaccinations and to only let people in who have been vaccinated or have had a negative test.

Also, allowing letting vaccinated/tested people to travel is far safe than a free for all in UK pubs and restaurants with lesser restrictions (IMO).