Europe stagnates as infectious variants that produce the coronavirus

The virus swept incredibly fast through a nursery school and an adjoining primary school in the suburb of Bollate in Milan. Within days, 45 children and 14 staff members tested positive.

Genetic analysis confirmed what officials had already suspected: The highly contagious variant of the coronavirus first identified in England was rushed by the community, a dense city of nearly 40,000 with a chemical plant and a Pirelli bicycle tire factory , a 15-minute drive from the heart of Milan. .

‘It shows that the virus has some kind of intelligence. “We can erect all the barriers in the world and think they work, but in the end they adapt and push through,” complained Bollate Mayor Francesco Vassallo.

Bollate was the first city in Lombardy, the northern region that was the center of each of the three congestions of Italy, which was shut down by neighbors due to virus variants that, according to the World Health Organization, cause another increase in infections in Europe. The variants also contain versions that were first identified in South Africa and Brazil.

Europe recorded 1 million new COVID-19 cases last week, a 9 percent increase from the previous week and a turnaround that ended a decline in six six-week infections, the WHO said on Thursday.

“The distribution of the variants drives the increase, but not only,” said dr. Hans Kluge, regional director of the WHO for Europe, said and also refers to the opening up of society if it is not done in a safe and controlled way. ”

The variant first found in the United Kingdom is widely distributed in 27 European countries monitored by the WHO and is dominant in at least ten countries: Britain, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Israel, Spain in Portugal.

It is up to 50 percent more transmissible than the virus, which increased last spring and again in the autumn, making it capable of thwarting measures that were previously effective, WHO experts have warned. Scientists have concluded that it is also more deadly.

“That’s why healthcare systems are struggling more now,” Kluge said. “It simply came to our notice then. We must keep the fort and be very vigilant. ”

In Lombardy, which was the heaviest for the Italian spring boom, intensive care units are once again filling up, with more than two-thirds of new positive tests than the British variant, health officials said.

After closing two provinces and about 50 towns in an amended manner, the provincial governor of Lombardy on Friday announced the tightened restrictions and closed classrooms for all ages. Cases in schools in Milan alone rose by 33 per cent within a week, the head of the provincial health system said.

The situation is dire in the Czech Republic, which this week registered a record number of nearly 8,500 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Poland is opening temporary hospitals and allowing a partial exclusion, as the UK variant has grown from 10 per cent of all infections in February to now 25 per cent.

Two patients from Slovakia were expected to arrive in Germany on Saturday for treatment, where authorities said they had offered to take in ten patients.

Kluge cited Britain’s experience as a cause for optimism, noting that widespread restrictions and the introduction of the vaccine have contributed to reducing the variants there and in Israel. The explosion of vaccines in the European Union is, by comparison, far behind, mostly due to supply problems.

In Britain, the rise of the more transferable type of business skyrocketed in December, causing a national exclusion in January. Business has fallen since then, from about 60,000 a day in early January to about 7,000 a day.

A study still shows that the pace of decline is slowing, and the UK government says it will act cautiously with plans to ease the closure. This process begins on Monday with the reopening of schools. Infection rates are highest in people aged 13 to 17, and officials will be keeping a close eye on whether returning to class leads to an increase in infections.

While the British variant is predominant in France, forcing blockages in the French river city of Nice and the northern port of Dunkirk, the variant first detected in South Africa appeared to be the most common in the French Moselle region, which bordering Germany and Luxembourg. It represents 55 percent of the virus that spreads there.

The Austrian health minister said on Saturday that the British variant was now dominant in his country. But the South African variant is also concerned in a district of Austria stretching from Italy to Germany, with Austrian officials intending to vaccinate most of the 84,000 inhabitants there to limit its spread. Austria also requires motorists along the Brenner Highway, an important north-south route, to show negative test results.

The South African variant, which is currently found in 26 European countries, is of particular concern because there are doubts as to whether the current vaccines are effective enough against it. The Brazilian variant, which is apparently capable of infecting humans again, has been detected in 15 European countries.

WHO and its partners are working to strengthen the genetic oversight needed to detect variants across the continent.

The mayor of Bollate has called on the local governor to vaccinate all 40,000 residents immediately, although he expects the vaccine supply to be too tight.

Bollate has recorded 3,000 positive cases and 134 deaths – mostly among the elderly – since Italy was hit a year ago. It cost the heaviest in the revival in November and December and was caught completely off guard when the British variant arrived, chased by school-age children before hitting families at home.

“People are starting to get tired that after a year there is no light at the end of the tunnel,” Vassallo said.