WARSAW, POLAND (AP) – Hospitals in Turkey and Poland are filling up quickly. Pakistan restricts domestic travel to contain an increase in coronavirus infections. Even Thailand, which has weathered the pandemic much better than many nations, is now struggling to contain a new rise in COVID-19.
The only exceptions to the deteriorating world situation are countries that have advanced vaccination programs, especially Israel and Britain. Even the U.S., a world leader in vaccination, is experiencing a small increase in new cases and the White House announced Friday that it would send federal aid to Michigan to control the state’s worst transmission rate.
The World Health Organization said Friday that it is concerned about rising infection rates in all regions of the world, driven by new virus variants and that too many countries are coming out of the blockade too soon.
“We have seen rises (in some cases) around the world for six weeks. And now, unfortunately, we are seeing an increase in deaths over the last three weeks, “said WHO spokeswoman Dr Margaret Harris at a briefing in Geneva.
In its latest weekly epidemiological update, the WHO said more than 4 million cases of COVID-19 were reported last week. New deaths rose 11% from last week, with more than 71,000 reported.
Rising infections, hospitalizations and deaths are spreading to countries where vaccinations are finally gaining strength. This leaves even more bleak prospects in much of the world, where large-scale vaccination programs remain a more distant perspective.
In Turkey, which is among the most affected countries, most new cases of the virus can be found in a variant first found in Britain.
Ismail Cinel, head of the Turkish Intensive Care Association, said the increase was beginning to strain the country’s relatively advanced health system and that “alarms are sounding” for intensive care units, which are not yet in place. full performance.
“The mutant form of the virus is causing more damage to organs,” Cinel said. “Even though 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 restrictions on COVID-19 in early March to minimize pain in his nation’s economy. The new rise forced him to announce new restrictions, such as weekend closures and the closure of cafes and restaurants during Ramadan, which begins on April 13th.
Turkish medical groups say the reopening in March was premature and the new measures did not go far enough. They have been calling for complete closures during the holy Muslim month.
In the U.S. capital, President Joe Biden’s administration explained how the federal government planned to help Michigan better administer the doses already allocated to the state, as well as expand testing capacity and drug availability. The effort will not include any additional doses of vaccine, as requested by government Gretchen Whitmer.
Currently, doses are allocated to states proportionally by population. Whitmer has called for additional doses to be moved to states like his that are experiencing a sharp increase in cases.
The death toll in Iran is also rising, causing new restrictions that will take effect for 10 days in 257 cities starting Saturday. They involve the closure of all parks, restaurants, confectioneries, beauty salons, shopping malls and bookstores.
Pakistani authorities, which is in the midst of a third rise in infections, are restricting long-distance transport on weekends from midnight on Friday as part of measures aimed at limiting coronavirus cases and deaths.
Elsewhere in Asia, Thai authorities on Friday ordered new restrictions to try to contain a growing outbreak of coronavirus just days before Songkran’s traditional New Year’s Eve party, when millions of people travel.
Meanwhile, Japan announced tougher measures ahead of the Summer Olympics.
In Germany, Poland and other European Union countries, which has 27 members, vaccination programs are finally intensifying after a slow start during the first three months of the year due to shortages of delivery .
Thousands of German medical offices joined the vaccination campaign this week. This helped Germany reach its second consecutive daily record of nearly 720,000 doses administered on Thursday, meaning that 14.7% of the population has received at least one dose and 5.8% have received both vaccines.
However, German health officials warn of a sharp rise in intensive care patients and call for stronger action to contain the infections.
Lothar Wieler, head of Germany’s Disease Control Center, the Robert Koch Institute, said nearly 4,500 COVID-19 patients receive intensive care, up from 700 last week, up 20%.
Neighboring Poland is also experiencing a dramatic increase in deaths and hospitals have been forced to divert cancer and other patients as COVID-19 patients take the ICU and other hospital beds. Hospitalizations of patients with viruses have increased by 20% in the last two weeks.
Harris, of the WHO, said the world knows how to fight these rises. He cited good news from the UK, where new coronavirus cases fell 60% in March amid a strong vaccination program, “but we have to do it all.”
“We must maintain social distance. We must avoid full interior configuration. We have to keep using the masks, even if we are vaccinated, ”he said. “People are misunderstood, they seem to think that vaccination will stop transmission. It’s not like that. We need to reduce transmission while giving vaccination the chance to stop serious illness.”
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Associated Press writers from around the world contributed to this report.
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