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The World Health Organization (WHO) describes the increase in corona infections in Europe as a “red flag”. In line with this, several European countries are tightening their measures in the fight against a second wave.
In Europe, where the WHO has 53 countries, including Russia, nearly five million cases of corona have so far been recorded. More than 227,000 people died as a result of the viral disease. According to the WHO, between 40,000 and 50,000 new infections are detected every day. For comparison: the United States recorded about 45,000 cases on Thursday.
However, not all of Europe is equally affected. There are exceptions such as Italy, where the number of cases has increased only moderately compared to the first wave; Italy currently has an average of 1500 cases per day. This also fits with the fact that the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), unlike Spain, France, the Czech Republic, Austria or Belgium, has not identified a risk zone there.
Germany is also doing well compared to the pandemic’s European hotspots. The number of new infections is around 2000 and a total of around 268,000 people were infected during the pandemic. The positive rate of testing, however, is only about one percent in Germany, and there has been an average of only about 24 cases per 100,000 residents in the last two weeks. Only in a few areas is the situation really dire.
For comparison: in Europe there are currently eleven countries in which there have been more than 80 cases of corona per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days. And among these 14 there are five countries where the infection rate is currently particularly dynamic. Here is an overview with the most important key figures about the pandemic:
Spain: Clinics are filling up, especially in the Madrid region
On Thursday, authorities registered around 11,200 new cases in Spain. The positive rate is alarming: Between September 7 and 13, of around 650,000 PCR tests, 13.1 percent were positive.
Currently, the numbers are increasing dramatically in the Madrid region, accounting for around a third of the new cases registered. One out of every five beds in the clinics in the capital region is now occupied by a patient suffering from Covid-19, as reported this Friday by the newspaper “El País”.
Individual clinics are already postponing operations that are not necessary due to the increased number of people infected with corona. In total, there are currently more than 400 corona-infected people in intensive care units in the Madrid region, significantly more than in the whole of Germany, where just over 200 people are currently being treated in intensive care. Compared to Germany, Spain currently has more than ten times more cases of corona per 100,000 inhabitants.
Currently, around 1,300 people are being treated in intensive care units across Spain, and around 10,000 people are hospitalized for Corona. There were 162 deaths related to the coronavirus on Thursday.
France: more people in hospital, more in intensive care units
France has seen a dramatic increase in registered corona cases for several weeks. While in the week of September 7 to 13 the authorities registered a total of almost 60,000 new cases, in the second week of August 10 to 16 there were still 17,200 cases. On Thursday alone, the number rose to just under 10,600 new cases in 24 hours.
One of the reasons for the high number of cases is the increase in the number of tests performed, but not only. Around 1.1 million people were tested in France in the second week of September, compared with 550,000 in the second week of August. That is, when the number of tests doubled, the number of cases at least tripled.
The fact that the increase in the number of cases is not only due to the increased number of tests is also reflected in the rate of positive tests. It is currently 5.4 percent, in the week of August mentioned above at 3.1 percent. After all: the positive rate did not increase further in the course of September.
But two more figures are worrying those responsible: every day, around 600 people enter clinics because of Covid disease. Almost 6,000 people are in French hospitals because of Corona. The number of corona patients in intensive care units rose from 424 in early September to 800 on Thursday. The number of Covid deaths is increasing slightly again.
Czech Republic: high number of active cases in relation to the total number
The authorities in the Czech Republic are currently warning of the “great danger” of exponential growth. The neighboring German country surpassed the 3,000 mark for the first time on Thursday with 3,130 new cases, according to data from the Health Ministry on Friday. That’s more than a thousand new infections than in Germany, although around eight times fewer people live in the Czech Republic with 10.7 million inhabitants.
The number of active corona cases is particularly high relative to the total number of people infected since the beginning of the pandemic. Slightly less than half of the 44,155 people infected since February were added in the past two weeks. The positive rate of testing is also comparatively high and increasing. Out of about 1.1 million tests, more than 3.9 percent were positive. Currently, 413 people infected with corona are being treated in the hospital.
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Belgium: more deaths per crown than in Germany
With 1,625 new cases, Belgium registered only around 300 fewer cases than Germany on Thursday. In recent weeks, there were an average of around 1,000 new people infected each day. That’s half the current German average: Germany has almost seven times as many inhabitants. Belgium currently has around 98,000 cases in total since the pandemic began. More than 10,000 people have already died from Corona, a few hundred more than in Germany.
The absolute numbers of new infections are not quite at the level of the Czech Republic, but the positive rate of the tests is constant at 3.5 percent and therefore only slightly below that of the eastern neighbor of Germany. The number of patients treated in the hospital is equally high, 371. Another 69 infected people are currently in intensive care in Belgium, 39 are civil servants.
Austria: positive rate significantly higher than in Germany
In Vienna there is talk of a “catastrophe”. However, this only indirectly has to do with the number of people infected. Vienna has been declared a risk zone by the RKI, so Austria fears a drop in tourism.
725 new cases were registered in Austria on Thursday. This is significantly less than in Belgium and, of course, significantly less than in Spain, France or the Czech Republic. The positive test rate is still above one percent in Germany. 2.6 percent of corona tests were positive in the last few days. In Austria, 334 patients with Covid-19 are treated in the hospital, 62 in the intensive care unit.
