WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Hospitals in Turkey and Poland are rapidly filling up. Pakistan restricts domestic travel to an increase in coronavirus infections. Even Thailand, which has endured the pandemic much better than many countries, is now struggling to contain a new COVID-19 peak.
The only exceptions to the deteriorating global situation are countries with advanced vaccination programs, especially Israel and Britain. Even the U.S., which is a global vaccination leader, sees a small increase in new cases, and the White House announced Friday that it will send federal aid to Michigan to control the state’s weakest distribution rate.
The World Health Organization said on Friday that it was concerned about infection rates rising in every region of the world, driven by new virus variants and too many countries coming out of closure too soon.
‘We’ve seen six weeks of global increases (in some cases). And now, unfortunately, we are seeing an increase in deaths over the past three weeks, ‘said Dr. Margaret Harris, a spokesperson for the WHO, said during an information session in Geneva.
In its latest weekly epidemiological update, the WHO said more than 4 million COVID-19 cases had been reported in the past week. New deaths increased by 11% compared to last week, by more than 71,000.
The increasing number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths extends to countries where vaccinations are finally gaining momentum. This leaves even gloomier prospects for much of the world, where large-scale vaccination programs remain a distant prospect.
In Turkey, which is one of the countries hardest hit, most new cases of the virus can be traced to a variant first found in Britain.
Ismail Cinel, head of the Turkish Intensive Care Association, said the boom was beginning to wreak havoc on the country’s relatively advanced healthcare system and “the alarm bells are ringing” for intensive care units, which are not yet at full capacity.
“The mutant form of the virus causes more damage to the organs,” Cinel said. “While 2 out of 10 patients died earlier, the number is now 4 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 to ease the pain in his country’s bad economy. The new peak forced him 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 do not go far enough. They called for full lock-up during Holy Muslim Month.
In the U.S. capital, President Joe Biden’s government outlined how the federal government intended to help Michigan better administer the doses already allocated to the state, as well as expand the testing capacity and availability of drugs. . The effort will not include any additional vaccine doses, prompting a move by government Gretchen Whitmer.
Doses are currently distributed proportionally according to population. Whitmer has called for extra doses to be shifted to states like hers that are experiencing a sharp increase in cases.
The death toll in Iran is also increasing, resulting in new restrictions that will take effect in 257 cities for 10 days from 25 Saturday. 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.
Elsewhere in Asia, authorities in Thailand on Friday ordered new restrictions in an effort to curb 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.
In Germany, Poland and other 27-member European Union countries, vaccination programs are finally increasing after a slow start in the first three months of the year due to delivery shortages.
Thousands of German medical practitioners joined the vaccination campaign this week. This helped Germany reach its second consecutive daily record of almost 720,000 doses, meaning that 14.7% of the population now received at least one dose and 5.8% received both shots.
Nevertheless, German health officials warn of a strong increase in intensive care patients and ask them for stronger action to contain infections.
Lothar Wieler, head of the German Disease Control Center, Robert Koch Institute, said nearly 4,500 COVID-19 patients received intensive care, with the number increasing by 700 over the past week – a 20% increase.
Neighboring Poland is also seeing a dramatic increase in deaths, and hospitals have been forced to turn away cancer and other patients as ICUs and other hospital beds are taken by COVID-19 patients. Hospitalizations of virus patients there have increased by 20% over the past two weeks.
Harris, of the WHO, said the world knows how to fight these congestion. She cites good news from the UK, where new coronavirus cases fell by 60% in March amid a strong vaccination program, “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 have been vaccinated, ”she said. ‘People misunderstand and seem to think that 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. ”
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Associated Press writers from around the world contributed to this report.
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