BOCHNIA, Poland (AP) – European countries scrambled on Monday to ease a surge in COVID-19 cases and drive up vaccinations, hoping to spare hospitals from being overwhelmed by the latest deadly wave of pandemic infections .
The loss of coronavirus patients was merciless for hospitals in Poland, where daily new infections have reached records of more than 35,000 in recent days and the government has imposed new restrictions to prevent large gatherings during the long Easter weekend. The French health minister has warned that the number of patients with an intensive care unit could be the same as a year ago.
But in a sign of the differences between countries, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that barbers, gyms and outdoor bar and restaurant patios will be able to open next week after the country reported progress with vaccinations and its recent closure. Meanwhile, the U.S. vaccination campaign has continued to accelerate, with 40 percent of the country’s adult population receiving at least one dose.
On Sunday, coronavirus patients filled almost all of the 120 beds in Bochnia County Hospital, 40 kilometers east of the southern city of Krakow. One patient, 82-year-old Edward Szumanski, has expressed concern that some people are still refusing to consider the virus that has killed more than 2.8 million people worldwide. About 55,000 of the deaths occurred in Poland.
“The disease is definitely there, and it’s very serious. “Those who have not been through it, those who do not have it in their family, may be deceiving themselves, but the reality is different,” he said.
The more contagious and more aggressive virus variant identified in Britain is leading to the increase in Europe. Meanwhile, voters in many countries are angry at the European Union’s strategy, but also at the handling of the pandemic by their own governments and the failure to prevent recurrent infections.
French Health Minister Olivier Veran warned on Monday that the number of COVID-19 patients in the country’s intensive care units was in line with the level of the first crisis a year ago. On TF1 television, he said the country could approach the ICU saturation levels of April 2020, when French ICUs had more than 7,000 virus patients, many of whom were in temporary facilities because of the demand for the country’s ICP capacity before the pandemic. surpassed.
Veran expressed hope that France’s new infections could peak this week thanks to new partial closure measures. After a long resistance to the calls for a new lock, the French government closed schools and closed all non-essential shops nationwide and imposed travel restrictions for four weeks.
“We’ll be fine,” Veran said.
The British government announced on Monday that all adults and children will be able to do routine tests for coronavirus twice a week to eliminate new outbreaks. The tests are being introduced as Johnson announces the next steps in the country’s roadmap from its three-month closure.
Britain has recorded nearly 127,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest toll in Europe. But both infections and deaths have dropped sharply during the exclusion and since the start of a vaccination campaign that has so far given a first dose to more than 31 million people, or 6 out of ten adults.
Authorities in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, have imposed stricter closure restrictions following a recent increase in virus cases. All schools in the city of 3 million people will be closed for the next two weeks, and only people with special passports will be allowed on public transport.
“The hospitals are almost full. The situation is difficult, “said Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Elsewhere, northern Macedonia has delayed mass vaccination amid a shortage of vaccines, as hospitals are full after the record of new COVID-19 infections and deaths last week.
In Greece, which is struggling to recover from a deep recession, most stores have been allowed to reopen Monday despite a steady increase in COVID-19 infections. Closing measures have been in place since early November, although shops opened briefly during the Christmas season. The prolonged closures have put the economy under pressure.
Serbia has also facilitated measures against the coronavirus, despite the large number of infections and a slowdown in vaccinations. The government on Monday allowed pubs and restaurants to serve guests outside with limited capacity and subject to rules for social distance.
In the US, a top public health official said young people have the latest increase in COVID-19 effects, as the increasing vaccination rate among older Americans is the most serious cases among the elderly.
Dr Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cites the increasing prevalence of variants as well as an increase in youth sports and extracurricular activities as factors contributing to the gradual increase in cases over the past four weeks.
But Walensky pointed to positive developments among seniors, who are the most vulnerable age group. Senior virus deaths have dropped to their lowest level since early fall. More than 75% of those 65 years or older have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine nationwide, and nearly 55% have been fully vaccinated.
“What we are seeing is a decrease in visits to emergencies as well as hospitalizations related to the demographics,” she said Monday.
More than 23% of all adults in the US are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Many states make vaccines available for younger demographics. As of Monday, any adult in Florida can receive the vaccine. In addition, the state has announced that 16- and 17-year-olds can also get the vaccine with parental consent.
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Charlton reported from Paris. Associated Press Writer Michael Kunzelman in College Park, Maryland; Jill Lawless in London; Zeke Miller in Washington; Yuras Karmanau in Kiev, Ukraine; Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia; Konstantin Testorides in Skopje, Northern Macedonia; Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece; and Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki, Greece, contributed to this report.