MILAN (AP) – The virus swept through an nursery school and an adjoining primary school in the suburb of Bollate in Milan with incredible speed. Within days, 45 children and 14 staff members tested positive.
Genetic analysis has confirmed what officials have already suspected: The highly contagious variant of the coronavirus first identified in England was chased by the community, a dense city of nearly 40,000 with a chemical plant and a Pirelli bicycle tire factory 15 minutes drive from the heart of Milan.
‘This is the demonstration that the virus has a kind of intelligence, even if it is a unicellular organism. We can set up all the obstacles in the world and think it works, but in the end we adapt and push through, ”laments 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 the mutant versions that, according to the World Health Organization, are now causing 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% increase from the previous week and a turnaround that ended a six-week decline, 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 in Europe, said: “also the opening up of society if it is not done in a safe and controlled way.”
The so-called British variant spreads significantly in 27 European countries monitored by the WHO and is dominant in at least ten of the agencies: Britain, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Israel, Spain and Portugal.
It is up to 50% 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.
“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 spring boom in Italy, intensive care units are filling up again, as more than two-thirds of the new positive tests are of the British variant, health officials said this week.
After two provinces and about 50 towns were shut down in an amended manner, the regional governor of Lombardy on Friday announced stricter restrictions and closed classrooms for all age groups. Cases in schools in Milan alone rose by 33% 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 in hospital at COVID-19. Poland is opening temporary hospitals and setting up a partial exclusion because the variant has grown from 10% of all infections in February to now 25%.
Kluge cited the experience of Britain as a reason for optimism, noting that well-thought-out restrictions and the introduction of the vaccine have helped to reduce the variants there and in Israel. Vaccination of vaccines in the European Union, by comparison, has lagged 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 since fallen, from about 60,000 a day at its peak in early January to about 7,000 a day.
A study still shows that the pace of decline is slowing, and the government says it will act cautiously with plans to facilitate 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 closures in the city of Nice and the northern port of Dunkirk in the French Riviera, the variant first detected in South Africa appeared to be the most common in the Moselle River. region, bordering Germany and Luxembourg. It represents 55% of the virus that spreads there.
The South African variant is also predominant in a district of Austria stretching from Italy to Germany, with Austrian officials intending to vaccinate most of the 84,000 inhabitants to limit its spread. Austria also requires motorists along the Brenner Highway, an important north-south truck route, to deliver 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 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 offer to be too strict at present.
Bollate has recorded 3,000 positive cases and 134 deaths – mostly among the elderly – since Italy was hit a year ago. It got heavy in November and December, in the autumn revival, and was caught completely off guard when the variant arrived, chasing children of school-going age 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.
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AP correspondents Jill Lawless in London, Karel Janicek in Prague, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Jovana Gec in Belgrade contributed.
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