Category: EU
The waxing and waning of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe shows new danger areas emerging
Europe has seen major changes in coronavirus case rates over the last two months. In many areas of Europe covid case rates have dropped sufficiently to allow restrictions to be eased, but there are notable exceptions. The Covid-19 rate in Spain now appears to be as bad, if not worse, than two months ago, and the Netherlands has seen a dramatic increase in numbers recently.
In the case of both Spain and the Netherlands, the rates increased following the decision to unlock their countries too quickly, and in both cases those decisions have had to reversed within weeks. Greece too appears to be seeing a new wave, and these areas now represent the largest threat to Europe’s strategy to keeping infection rates down.
Spain: 5th wave of coronavirus storms across the country, curfews set to be reintroduced
Netherlands: the reproduction R rate is now 2.17 – the highest since February 2020
Finland: more than 200 Euro football supporters travelled back from St Petersburg with #coronavirus – probably Delta
“There are more than 200 coronavirus cases traceable to St. Petersburg across the country – THL director urges returnees from St. Petersburg to go for corona tests instead of work”
Most of the coronary infections brought by St. Petersburg travellers are in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The likelihood that the infections are due to a susceptible delta transformation is high.
YLE.fi report (in Finnish)
Image by David Mark from Pixabay
Sars-Cov-2 #coronavirus for sale online in project financed by the European Commission
Wuhan Institute of Virology viruses for sale – Zika virus at just $500! Add them to your shopping trolley today if you are a “trusted partner”!
- Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus ($2,000)
- Zika Virus ($500)
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- Human Herpesvirus 1 & 2 ($2,000)
- Human enteroviruses ($2,000)
Available from other vendors:
- SARS-CoV Frankfurt 1 RNA ($500)
- SARS-CoV-2 isolates including B.1.1.7, B.1.351 etc ($2000)
EVAg – European Virus Archive – Global
EVAg is an infrastructure project financed by the European Commission.
Europe: EMA assessing reports of Guillain-Barre syndrome with AstraZeneca’s #coronavirus vaccine VaxZevria
“As part of the review of the regular pandemic summary safety reports for Vaxzevria, AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, the PRAC is analysing data provided by the marketing authorisation holder on cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) [1] reported following vaccination. GBS is an immune system disorder that causes nerve inflammation and can result in pain, numbness, muscle weakness and difficulty walking. GBS was identified during the marketing authorisation process as a possible adverse event requiring specific safety monitoring activities. PRAC has requested the marketing authorisation holder to provide further detailed data, including an analysis of all the reported cases in the context of the next pandemic summary safety report.”
European Medicines Agency Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) 3-6 May 2021
1: MayoClinic.org description of Guillain-Barre syndrome
Image courtesy of Doctor JanaDerivative: Momas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
