In 'Covidified' World, Germany, New Zealand Open Up But Tonga Shudders as Volcano Hastens Virus Wave

The World Health Organization chief said Tuesday that 90 million cases of coronavirus have been reported since the omicron variant was first identified 10 weeks ago amounting to more than in all of 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With many countries easing their restrictive measures amid public fatigue about them, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyeus cautioned that omicron should not be underestimated even though it has shown to bring less severe illness than earlier variants and cited “a very worrying increase in deaths in most regions of the world.

We are concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines and because of omicrons high transmissibility and lower severity preventing transmission is no longer possible and no longer necessary, he told a regular WHO briefing on the pandemic.

WHO said four of its six regions worldwide are seeing increasing trends in deaths. Many European countries have begun easing lockdown measures, including Britain, France, Ireland and the Netherlands. Finland will end its COVID-19 restrictions this month.

On Tuesday, Denmark’s government scrapped most restrictions aimed at fighting the pandemic, saying it no longer considers COVID-19 a socially critical disease. The nation of 5.8 million has in recent weeks seen more than 50,000 new cases a day, but the number of patients in intensive care units has declined.

A Look at What’s Happening Round the World

United States

The US Army announced Wednesday it will begin discharging soldiers who refuse to comply with a mandatory Covid-19 vaccination rule.

“Unvaccinated Soldiers present risk to the force and jeopardize readiness,” Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said in a statement.

“We will begin involuntary separation proceedings for Soldiers who refuse the vaccine order and are not pending a final decision on an exemption.”

More than 3,000 soldiers could be discharged, according to the statement. The army had 482,000 active duty personnel at the end of 2021.

As of January 26, six high-ranking officers — including two battalion commanders — had been removed from their posts for refusing to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

The army has issued written “reprimands” to 3,073 soldiers who have also refused to get vaccinated.

United Kingdom

Britain reported 534 deaths within 28-days of a positive COVID-19 test on Wednesday, the highest daily figure since late February 2021.

The government data also showed 88,085 new cases of COVID-19, in line with recent numbers.

Whilst Wednesday’s number of deaths was the highest in nearly a year, the total for the last seven days was down slightly on the previous seven-day period.

France

France says it will start administering Pfizers coronavirus antiviral drug this week, the first pill for treating COVID-19 approved in the 27-nation EU.

The country is still reporting among the world’s highest per-capita daily infections, but virus-related critical care hospitalizations are easing, and the French government on Wednesday started lifting restrictions related to the surge in omicron cases.

Masks are now no longer required outdoors in France, large crowds are again allowed in concerts and sports venues and a government order to work from home part-time has been lifted.

Meanwhile, France has received its first 10,000 doses of the Pfizer drug Paxlovid and they will be available in pharmacies starting Friday, the Health Ministry said Wednesday. It says it’s the first European Union country to start providing the treatment since it won regulatory approval last week.

Germany

Germany on Wednesday reported 208,498 new coronavirus infections within 24 hours, a record high since the COVID pandemic began some two years ago.

Experts say that the actual number of infections could be considerably higher, with many cases going unreported partly owing to shortfalls in testing capacity in many places, Deutsche Welle reported. A number of cities and districts have also been reporting difficulties in passing on statistics to the public health agency, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), in the past few days.

Canada

In a scene at odds with Canadians reputation for niceness and rule-following, thousands of protesters railing against vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions descended on the capital over the weekend, deliberately blocking traffic around Parliament Hill.

Some urinated and parked on the National War Memorial. One danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A number carried signs and flags with swastikas.

In the aftermath of Canada’s biggest pandemic protest to date, the demonstrators have found little sympathy in a country where more than 80% are vaccinated. Many people were outraged by some of the crude behavior.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the Ottawa protesters a fringe minority” and said they reflected the proliferation of “disinformation and misinformation online, conspiracy theorists, about microchips, about God knows what else that go with the tinfoil hats.

New Zealand

After nearly two years since the start of the pandemic, New Zealand will reopen its border to visitors in phases. First, it will open for vaccinated New Zealand citizens and visa holders coming from Australia, then from the rest of the world, and finally to all other vaccinated visitors.

Tonga

The Pacific island nation of Tonga has gone into lockdown after reporting its first community cases of Covid-19, weeks after a massive volcanic eruption and tsunami devastated parts of the archipelago.

Two positive cases were discovered among front line workers at a port in the capital Nuku’alofa, where aid continues to flow in to help with recovery efforts, Tonga’s Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni announced in a press conference, according to local media Matangi Tonga.

Tonga was one of only a small number of countries not to report a single Covid infection, having closed its borders in March 2020. In November, 2021, a traveler flying from New Zealand tested positive but was picked up in the country’s quarantine hotel system. Still, Tonga went into lockdown following that case.

Tonga’s health minister Saia Piukala said on Tuesday the two men showed no Covid symptoms and were found following increasing testing of frontline workers at the port, Matangi Tonga reported.

(With agency inputs)

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