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The UK set an all-time record for new SARS-CoV-2 infections on Monday. Health authorities have announced no less than 41,000 new cases in 24 hours. Experts say that the basis of this balance Impressive is the new strain of the virus and, worse still, that this record can be broken in the next few days.
In UK hospitals More than 20,400 COVID patients are being treated, up from the previous peak in April, when there were 19,000 patients in hospitals.
Meanwhile, nstrain the eggs From great britain reached and in Finland. Helsinki authorities say that two people have been identified as carriers of the new viral variant. One of them traveled to the UK for Christmas. A third person is infected with the South African strain. Until now, Finland was the only Nordic country where the British strain had not yet reached.
Belgium has started vaccinating people in nursing homes
On the other hand, Belgium is studying the possibility of changing its vaccination strategy against COVID-19, due to the new strain discovered in the United Kingdom and the insufficient number of vaccine doses. The proposal being considered is that the first dose of vaccine be administered to as many people as possible and that the administration of the second dose be postponed.
“We have asked our vaccination strategy working group to study this from a medical point of view,” Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said in an interview with VRT on Monday.
A possible change in the vaccination strategy foresees a more severe transmission of the new coronavirus due to the strain identified in the United Kingdom, which is more contagious than the previous ones and is already circulating in Belgium, also given the insufficient quantity of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. . , so far the only one approved in the European Union.
The European Commission has contracted 200 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on behalf of the EU member states, with an option for another 100 million doses. The 200 million doses will be delivered in September 2021. They will be enough to vaccinate 100 million of the almost 450 million people in the EU.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is given in two doses, with the second dose 21 days after the first.
Belgium has started the vaccination campaign with the elderly in nursing homes, where more than half of the more than 19,200 deaths associated with COVID-19 have been registered in this country. According to the plan established by the Belgian authorities, the vaccination of this vulnerable group could take until the end of February. Then, from March, the vaccination of medical personnel will begin, and from May, people from the other risk groups, respectively, the chronically ill and the age group over 65 years will be followed.
Editor: Luana Pavaluca
