The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) registers a particularly high number of corona infections among children and adolescents in individual regions of Germany. In eight districts, the seven-day incidence is currently more than 500 among 10 to 19-year-olds, the RKI tweeted on Thursday evening for an evaluation in the new Corona weekly report.
Nationwide, the seven-day incidence last week in the age groups under 20 years, however, fell slightly compared to the week before, according to the report. In contrast, the values for people over the age of 20 rose slightly. The RKI also spoke of 636 school breakouts transmitted for the past four weeks – due to possible late registrations, however, the past two weeks in particular cannot yet be assessed.
The virus is tested regularly in day-care centers and schools, but the vaccination rate for 12 to 17-year-olds is much lower than for adults. Children and adolescents are significantly less likely to get seriously ill with Covid-19 than older people, but there are still unanswered questions about long-term consequences. (10/14/2021)
WHO: Majority of infections in Africa go unnoticed
The World Health Organization assumes that almost 86 percent of all corona infections in Africa go unnoticed. The number of all infections on the continent is estimated at 59 million – that is seven times more than the over eight million reported cases.
The high number of unreported cases can be explained by the fact that health facilities have so far focused on testing people with symptoms of the disease, which has led to extensive underreporting, according to the WHO. “With limited testing, we are still flying blind in far too many communities in Africa,” said WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti. “What we are seeing may just be the tip of the iceberg.”
So far, only 70 million Covid 19 tests have been reported on the continent with 1.3 billion inhabitants, the WHO said. By comparison, the United States performed more than 550 million tests with about a third of the population, while the United Kingdom performed more than 280 million tests with less than ten percent of the population of Africa. In total, more than 8.4 million corona cases have been registered in Africa, including 214,000 deaths. (14.10.2021)
Thailand allows vaccinated Germans to enter without quarantine
Germans vaccinated against the corona virus will soon be able to travel to Thailand again without having to be quarantined there. Authorities in the country have confirmed Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s tourist opening plan. According to a spokesman for the Covid Crisis Center (CCSA), quarantine-free entry will apply from November 1 for fully vaccinated people from five countries. In addition to Germany, these are Great Britain, the USA, Singapore and China.
Holiday guests from these states then only need a negative PCR test for entry. Quarantine is no longer necessary. Further details on the exact rules have not yet been released. However, more provinces are to be opened to tourists from November onwards, including the capital Bangkok and the popular Krabi province with its islands and white beaches. The exact list is currently being drawn up, the newspaper reported Bangkok Post.
Prayut had announced the planned opening in a televised address on Monday evening and instructed the CCSA and the Ministry of Health to review the plan by the end of the week. On Thursday he reiterated that Thailand would be ready to open in two weeks. “Many countries want their citizens to visit Thailand,” he said. “It will be a small start so that people can earn a living again.”
At the same time, the authorities announced further easing of the measures currently still in force in many parts of the country. The night exit restrictions will be shortened from Saturday onwards: Instead of 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., they will then apply from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Restaurants and shopping centers can thus open longer again.
The tourism sector, which is extremely important for the country with 70 million inhabitants, has been almost completely on the ground for a year and a half. Since then, many people have lost their income. Last year, Thailand was still considered a model country in the fight against the pandemic – but since April the state has experienced its worst wave to date. The number of infections is now slowly falling. On Thursday, 11,200 new infections and 112 deaths related to Covid-19 were reported. (14.10.2021)
RKI: the incidence is 67
There is little dynamic in the seven-day incidence in Germany. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Thursday morning as 67.0. For comparison: the previous day the value was 65.4, a week ago it was 62.6 (previous month: 81.1). The health authorities in Germany reported 12,382 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. A week ago the value was 11,644 infections.
According to the new information, 72 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were 68 deaths. The RKI has counted 4,342,640 detected infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic. The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections are not detected. (10/14/2021)
Youtube blocks two # allesaufdentisch videos again
The video platform Youtube has deleted two more videos of the controversial campaign #allesaufdentisch. This was confirmed by a YouTube spokesman for the German Press Agency. The reason given was a breach of a company guideline relating to incorrect information about the corona pandemic. This means that a total of four videos of the campaign are currently deleted. Youtube had recently deleted three clips, but uploaded one of them again after checking it again.
The internet video campaign #allesaufdentisch, in which actors Volker Bruch and Wotan Wilke Möhring, among others, took part, started at the end of September. In many videos that were uploaded online, the Corona measures and the media reporting on them are criticized, among other things. Critics accuse the creators of using conspiracy-ideological narratives.
In an urgent decision, the Cologne district court ruled that two # allesaufdentisch clips that YouTube had removed should not have been deleted. It justified this with the fact that YouTube had not given the channel operators of the campaign specific enough information about which passages, in their opinion, violated which provision of their guideline. The decision will only take effect once it has been sent to YouTube, and the company can then also lodge an objection in an urgent procedure. So far, YouTube has not commented on legal issues when asked. (14.10.2021)
USA wants to open land borders with Canada and Mexico to vaccinated people
The US government wants to lift entry restrictions at the land borders with Canada and Mexico for corona-vaccinated people. The easing should take effect in November and also apply to ferry crossings, said the Ministry of Homeland Security. Anyone who can prove that they are completely vaccinated against the coronavirus can use it to travel to the USA for unnecessary purposes, such as visiting friends and family or for tourism.
In a further step, the regulation will also be extended to necessary trips from the beginning of January 2022; in these cases, too, full vaccination protection is a condition upon entry. Until then, affected people such as truck drivers, students and health care workers would have enough time to get vaccinated. The USA had already announced last month that it would lift the month-long entry restrictions on international air traffic for vaccinated people from the EU, Great Britain and other countries, among others. (10/13/2021)
Only few vaccinated patients without previous illnesses in intensive care units
According to doctors, there are almost no patients vaccinated against Covid-19 without a previous illness in the corona intensive care units in Germany. “The vast majority are not vaccinated at all or not completely,” said Gernot Marx, President of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Divi), the editorial network in Germany. The vaccinated minority consists largely of older patients whose second vaccination was a long time ago. “As a rule, these people also suffer from serious chronic illnesses.”
According to the Federal Ministry of Health, around every tenth patient treated for corona in intensive care units in August and September was fully vaccinated. This emerges from a response from the ministry to a request from the left-wing member of the Bundestag Sahra Wagenknecht.
The Divi President described the capacities for free beds in the intensive care units as currently relatively stable. “At the moment we are in a plateau phase, we are stagnating at around 1,300 Covid intensive care patients. The situation is under control,” said Marx. “We are now able to act and have an average of two free intensive care beds per location.” (10/13/2021)