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Due to the corona pandemic, Pope Francis celebrates the traditional Christmas mass in private. This stems from a verbal note sent by the Vatican Secretariat of State to the ambassadors to the Holy See. It was not initially clear to what extent believers can participate in the Christmas Eve service.
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Already at Easter, in view of the Crown crisis, the Pope held services attended by tens of thousands with only a few clergymen, religious and Vatican employees. Francis gave the blessing “Urbi et orbi” in the empty Basilica of Saint Peter. Usually, the Pope also delivers a speech on Christmas Day from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica and donates the blessing “for the city and the world.”
Belgium: doctors and nurses work despite corona infection
Dozens of doctors and nurses at fully overloaded clinics in the Belgian province of Liège are on duty despite being infected with the corona virus, according to unionists. “We have to choose between a bad and a very bad solution,” Philippe Devos of the Belgian Federation of Medical Unions said Tuesday. The very bad solution is not to treat patients at all.
Devos himself runs the intensive care unit at a clinic in Liège, in the French-speaking part of the country. Doctors and nurses who worked despite the corona infection had no symptoms, he said. Certainly, there are more than 100 infected nurses on duty in hospitals in the region. Devos emphasized that they only care for infected patients. They also wore the best masks available. There is a separate room for them to eat. All conditions are such that the risk of infection is very low.
According to the EU epidemic authority (ECDC), Belgium is the country with the highest number of corona infections per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days; this value was 1390.9 on Tuesday.
Hospitals in the Liège province in particular, but also in other regions, are overloaded. More recently, the patients were transferred to other Belgian regions and, in some cases, across the German border to Aachen. Last week, according to authorities, an average of 500 infected people came to the hospital every day, an increase of 88 percent compared to the previous week.
Regarding the situation in the hospitals in Liège province, Devos said: “We have run out of space in intensive care units, we have no more space outside of intensive care units.” Patients arriving in the emergency room would be stabilized and then transferred to hospitals in Flanders. This will be done until all hospital beds in Belgium are occupied. Then the quality of care will be reduced and, for example, fewer nurses will be deployed per patient. The number of infected people per 100,000 inhabitants in Liège was 2,610 in the last two weeks.
Violence again during protests in Italy
Protests against strict measures to contain the coronavirus in Italy have turned into violence in some cases. In Turin, Milan and other cities, people took to the streets on Monday night to protest against the early closure of restaurants and cafes, as well as cinemas, gyms and other facilities. Shop windows were destroyed and smoke bombs detonated.
Bottles were also thrown at the police in Piazza Castello in Turin, according to the RAI television station. A photographer was injured by a bottle. The police used tear gas against the protesters. Some 300 taxis had previously lined up in the same square, whose drivers wanted to draw attention to their economic losses due to the extensive elimination of tourism and workers in city centers. Violent soccer fans known as ultras were responsible for the outbreak of violence in Turin, according to the LaPresse news agency. Five were arrested. In Milan, the police also used tear gas against protesters.
The Italian government stipulated on Sunday that bars, cafes and restaurants must close at 6 pm for the next 30 days. The background is a renewed increase in the number of coronaviruses. By Saturday, Italy had recorded more than half a million infections since the pandemic began. Since most Italians don’t eat dinner before 7:30 pm or later, the arrangement is disastrous for restaurant owners. However, they may also be available to go and deliver later.
Virus paralyzes UN headquarters
Because at least five employees of a delegation tested positive for the corona virus, all personal meetings of various agencies at the United Nations headquarters in New York were canceled for Tuesday. This stems from an internal letter from the President of the UN General Assembly, Volkan Bozkır. Sessions will be suspended until contact tracking is complete.
According to diplomatic circles, this is an outbreak in Niger’s representation at the UN. The African country is a member of the United Nations Security Council, in which Germany also participates. However, the most powerful UN body held the latest meeting on Monday digitally as scheduled. Only on Tuesday should there be another face-to-face event.
Slovakia wants almost the entire population to be tested
The government of Slovakia He wants almost the entire population of the country to be tested for the corona virus in the next two weekends. Prime Minister Igor Matovič announced that Corona’s national crisis team had approved the plan after a pilot phase had been successful over the weekend. The founder of the populist-conservative electoral platform “Common People and Independent People” (OĽaNO) announced the plan just a week ago. From Friday to Sunday, four areas of the Polish border that were particularly affected by the pandemic were tested.
In the next two phases, all residents over the age of ten in the rest of the country will undergo a rapid antigen test within four days, on Saturdays and Sundays. The fact that Fridays, which were also initially planned, were canceled is obviously related to the staff shortage that health experts had warned about. Health Minister Marek Krajčí said it was easier to find enough helpers on the two days off than on Friday.
On Sunday, Defense Minister Jaroslav Naď, head of the organization, did not rule out the possibility that the tests of almost five million people would have to be canceled due to lack of personnel. Matovič hoped that the project would be an example for all of Europe. Chancellor Angela Merkel also showed great interest in speaking with him, the head of government reported.
WHO chief warns of overload of intensive care units in Europe too
In view of the rapid increase in the number of infections with the coronavirus, the head of the World Health Organization is faced with an overload of intensive care units, especially in Europe and North America warned. “Many countries in the Northern Hemisphere are currently experiencing a worrying increase in hospital admissions and cases,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva. In some places, intensive care units filled up quickly.
The WHO chief also vehemently contradicted a White House statement that the corona pandemic could not be controlled. Giving up on virus containment is dangerous, Tedros warned. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows had said the day before that US authorities could not control the coronavirus because it was “a contagious virus like the flu.” The WHO agrees with the United States’ priority of protecting the most vulnerable from Covid-19. But stricter measures are needed to stop the virus, Tedros said. Both governments and citizens must do their part to contain the pandemic.
Tedros expressed his understanding that many people experience a certain “pandemic fatigue.” The psychological and physical stress of working from home and the distance with friends and family are high. Still, people shouldn’t give up now. However, above all, health systems and the people who work for them must be protected. The head of the WHO asked people to take all precautions to avoid contagion. This is the only way to avoid further crashes.
France registered more than 50,000 new infections for the first time
In France For the first time, more than 50,000 new corona infections were recorded in 24 hours. The health authority reported 52,010 new infections registered on Sunday night. This again set a one-day record since extensive crown trials began in France.
The crown’s situation has dramatically worsened in the country of 67 million people for weeks. Authorities reported new highs multiple times in the past week alone. On Friday night, the million cases reported since the start of the pandemic were surpassed. More than 34,700 people in the country have already died in connection with the Covid 19 disease. About 17 percent of corona tests are positive, according to Sunday. Since Saturday, the night curfew has been in effect for around two-thirds of the country’s residents in France. The curfew applies to 54 departments and the French overseas territory of French Polynesia. During the night, people can only go outside if there is a valid reason.
too Italy recorded a new high. The number of new infections in one day exceeded the 20,000 mark for the first time in 21,273. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 525,782 confirmed infections with the Sars-CoV-2 virus in the Mediterranean country. The death toll related to a corona infection increased by 128 to 37,338.
Starting this Monday, restaurants and bars across the country must close for guests at 6 pm In addition, cinemas, theaters, gyms, swimming pools, ski resorts and concert halls are no longer allowed to open. The measures should initially apply until November 24.
Additionally, classes must be conducted online for at least 75 percent of high school students. The government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also urgently recommends that you refrain from receiving guests at home and from non-urgent travel.
In terms of population, EU countries are small Czech Republic (10.7 million inhabitants) and Belgium (11.5 million inhabitants) the most affected. The number of infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, according to the European disease authority ECDC, was almost ten times higher than in Germany (83 million inhabitants). Over the weekend, the Czech Republic reported highs of more than 15,000 infections in a single day, in Belgium, the number from Tuesday last week was corrected to more than 18,000.
