Hospitals in Turkey and Poland are rapidly filling up. Pakistan restricts domestic travel to bring an increase in coronavirus infections under control. Even Thailand, which is enduring the coronavirus pandemic much better than many countries, is now struggling to contain a new Covid-19 boom.
Even countries where vaccination of vaccines is finally gaining momentum, infections, hospitalizations and deaths are increasing. And that leaves even gloomier prospects for much of the world, where large-scale vaccination programs remain a distant prospect.
The World Health Organization said on Friday that it was very concerned because infection rates were rising in all regions of the world, driven by new virus variants and too many countries and people coming out of the closure too early.
Full coverage of coronavirus outbreak
‘We’ve seen six weeks of global increases (in some cases). And now, unfortunately, we have seen an increase in deaths over the past three weeks, ‘said Dr. Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, said during a briefing in Geneva.
In its latest weekly epidemiological update, WHO said new Covid-19 cases had risen for a sixth consecutive week, by more than 4 million in the past week. New deaths increased by 11 percent compared to last week, by more than 71,000 reported.
Turkey is one of the countries hardest hit, and most new cases of the virus are detected after a variant first found in Britain.
Ismail Cinel, head of the Turkish Intensive Care Association, said ICU units are not yet at full capacity, but that the boom is beginning to harness the country’s relatively advanced healthcare system.
“The number of cases is increasing every day. Every day the number of deaths increases. The alarm bells are ringing for the intensive care units, ”said Cinel.
“The mutant form of the virus causes more damage to the organs,” he said. “While two out of ten patients died earlier, the number is now four out of 10. And if we continue like this, we will lose six.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan eased Covid-19 restrictions in early March, reducing the pain in his country’s bad economy. With this new rise, however, he had to announce renewed restrictions, such as the closure of the weekend and the closure of cafes and restaurants during Ramadan, which begins on April 13.
Turkish medical groups say the reopening in March was premature and that the new measures would not be far enough to curb the boom. They called for full lock-up during Holy Muslim Month.
In Iran, the death toll is also rising, resulting in new restrictions that will take effect in 257 cities from Saturday for 10 days. It involves the closure of all parks, restaurants, confectionery, beauty salons, shopping malls and bookstores.
Authorities in Pakistan, which is in the midst of a third outbreak of infections, are restricting transportation to the city on weekends from Friday to midnight as part of measures aimed at curbing coronavirus cases and deaths.
And elsewhere in Asia, authorities in Thailand on Friday ordered new restrictions in an effort to prevent a growing coronavirus outbreak, just days before the traditional New Year holiday in Songkran, when millions of people travel.
Japan, meanwhile, has announced tougher measures ahead of the Summer Olympics.
Vaccination increases
The only exceptions to the worsening situation are countries that have advanced vaccination programs, especially Israel and Britain. Even the US, which is a vaccination leader worldwide, is seeing a small increase in new cases.
In Germany, Poland and other 27-member European Union countries, vaccination programs are finally increasing after a very slow start in the first three months of the year due to delivery shortages.
In Germany, thousands of doctors practiced joining the vaccination campaign this week. This helped Germany reach its second consecutive daily record of 719,927 doses, meaning that 14.7 percent of the population now received at least one dose and 5.8 percent received both shots.
Nevertheless, German health officials warn of a sharp increase in intensive care patients and call for stronger action to contain coronavirus infections.
Lothar Wieler, head of Germany’s disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, said on Friday that “intensive care units are rapidly filling up” across the country. He said nearly 4,500 Covid-19 patients received intensive care, with the number increasing by 700 in the past week – an increase of 20 percent.
Neighboring Poland is also seeing a dramatic increase in deaths, and hospitals have been forced to turn down cancer and other patients as Covid-19 patients take ICUs and other hospital beds. Hospitalizations of virus patients there have increased by 20 percent in the past two weeks.
Harris, of the WHO, says the world knows how to fight these congestion. She said there would be good news from the UK – which saw new cases of coronavirus drop by 60 per cent in March amid a strong vaccination program – “that the vaccination programs have indeed averted a large number of deaths. But we have to do it all. ”
“We need to keep social distance. We need to avoid busy settings inside. “We have to keep wearing the masks, even if they are vaccinated,” she said. People misunderstand and apparently think that the vaccination will stop the transmission. That is not the case. We need to reduce the transmission while giving the vaccine the chance to stop the serious illness. ”