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Pedestrian walkway in London (symbol picture): Despite drastically increasing numbers, Great Britain does not want to tighten the corona measures for the time being
Photo: Alberto Pezzali / AP
Hospitals on the verge of congestion, a high number of new infections and deaths: the corona situation is currently worsening dramatically in several countries. Doctors in Great Britain, among others, are now calling for new measures to stop the rising corona wave. British Health Minister Sajid Javid also warned in a press conference that the number of new infections every day could even rise to 100,000. Nevertheless, he believes it is still too early "at this point in time" to justify a return to the corona rules that were abolished in July in most of England, the minister said.
Most recently, up to 50,000 new infections were registered daily in the United Kingdom.
The number of daily hospital admissions is almost 1000. The death rate on Tuesday, with 223 reported cases, was last seen in March.
The so-called Plan B of the British government includes measures such as the wearing of masks or the obligation to provide evidence of vaccinations at major events.
Despite demands from medicine and science, the decisive criterion of an unbearable pressure on the national health service NHS has not yet been reached, said Javid.
Instead, efforts should now be stepped up to vaccinate as many people as possible.
The British vaccination program is currently stalling, especially for young people and the elderly who are to receive a booster vaccination.
"Breaks through all forecasts"
The situation is currently worsening in other countries too: Poland's Minister of Health Adam Niedzielski has warned of a "peculiar explosion" of the corona pandemic in his country.
The number of new infections registered within 24 hours increased by one hundred percent on Wednesday compared to the week before.
On Tuesday, the value was 85 percent compared to the previous week, said Niedzielski in Warsaw.
Accordingly, the number of new infections doubles from week to week.
"If this situation continues, it will break all the prognoses that we have so far," says Niedzielski.
According to the Ministry of Health on Wednesday, there were 5,559 new infections within 24 hours, and 75 people died in connection with the virus over the same period.
Poland has around 38 million inhabitants.
In Poland, people over the age of 18 will soon be able to receive a booster vaccination against the coronavirus if the full vaccination was at least six months ago.
This will be possible in a few weeks, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Facebook.
Vaccination refresher has been available in Poland for all fully vaccinated persons over 50 years of age since the end of September.
Latvia goes into lockdown again
Latvia is also struggling with the rapidly increasing number of corona infections and is therefore sharply reducing public life for four weeks. The cabinet imposed extensive restrictions on Wednesday and a nightly curfew on November 15. This is intended to break the chains of infection and reduce the "terrible overload" of the health system, said Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins after the government meeting.
From October 21st, only shops for daily needs are allowed to remain open. Leisure, cultural, entertainment and sports facilities will also remain closed, and catering establishments are only allowed to sell outside the home. Events and meetings are prohibited. In addition, citizens are only allowed to leave their homes between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. with good reason. Most employees are required to work from home, and school operations will be switched to distance learning.
According to the health authority in Riga, 1,400.8 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants have been registered in the last 14 days - a high since the beginning of the pandemic.
Health Minister Daniels Pavluts said that the intensive care beds for treating seriously ill corona patients in several hospitals across the country are already fully occupied.
In Latvia, only a little more than half of the 1.9 million inhabitants are fully vaccinated against Corona.
"Testing is not a solution"
The Czech Republic is also reacting to the increasing number of infections by tightening the corona rules.
From next week onwards, an FFP2 mask must be worn at all indoor workplaces, as Health Minister Adam Vojtech announced after a cabinet meeting.
This does not apply to employees who sit alone in the office.
However, the outgoing government did not come to an agreement on the reintroduction of the mask requirement in classrooms.
The period of validity of antigen and PCR tests is shortened to one and three days, respectively, in order to create more incentives for vaccination.
"Testing is not a solution," said Vojtech.
In future, the health insurance companies will only cover the costs for the tests in adults on the recommendation of a doctor.
Within seven days, 117 people per 100,000 inhabitants in the Czech Republic were infected with the corona virus.
3246 new infections were registered within 24 hours - as many in one day as the last time in mid-April.
Week off work in Russia
The situation in Russia is similarly critical: In the past few weeks, new highs in the corona numbers have been recorded.
On Wednesday, the statistics showed 1,028 corona deaths within 24 hours - more than ever before.
In the same period, more than 34,000 new infections were counted.
President Vladimir Putin has therefore ordered a week off in his country from the end of October.
From October 30th to November 7th, workers across Russia should stay at home, but continue to receive their wages.
Regions in which the situation is particularly bad can therefore also extend the period.
ime / dpa / Reuters
