Abstract
Many countries around the world are seeing cases surge while others are having fresh outbreaks, reports Clare Wilson
CORONAVIRUS infections are on the rise in many countries around the world, with cases soaring in some nations and fresh outbreaks in several places where the virus was previously thought to be under control.
This week, England and Scotland began new lockdowns, joining Wales and Northern Ireland, which already had similar restrictions in place.
Without such action, the countries' chief medical officers warned that hospitals would become overwhelmed within 21 days. Hospitals in England are treating 40 per cent more covid-19 patients than during the peak of the first wave. Elsewhere in Europe, several countries, including Greece and Germany, are extending existing lockdowns.
The US is seeing recorded daily cases surge to their highest levels in the pandemic so far, at times over 250,000 a day, with California among the hardest hit. Some hospitals in the state are making plans for how to ration care, if needed.
Even nations regarded as managing the pandemic well and keeping case numbers low are seeing infections reach their highest levels yet. Thailand, which has recorded only 8900 cases of covid-19 so far, and just 65 deaths, has seen a rise in infections after an outbreak that reportedly started in a seafood market. New daily cases have reached a record high of over 800 and new restrictions have been imposed in over half of the country's provinces, including Bangkok.
Japan, which managed to contain its first and second waves, is now experiencing a third wave. On 5 January, it saw 8400 new cases, its highest daily total so far . The Japanese government is considering declaring a state of emergency in the Tokyo region, the worst hit area, which would involve new restrictions. It seems increasingly unlikely that Tokyo will be able to host the Olympics as planned in July.
Meanwhile, Australia has seen several small outbreaks in the past month, including clusters in Sydney and Melbourne totalling about 200 cases. The resurgence triggered strict new measures, including bans on travel between states.
Globally the outlook has worsened since the discovery of two variants of the coronavirus (see page 8). One was discovered in Kent in the UK, and seems to be much more transmissible than previous kinds. Because it causes more infections, this variant is likely to lead to more deaths.
The UK government failed to bring in restrictions in September and that led to the surge
“The [UK] government failed to introduce greater restrictions in September and that led to the surge in December, however, the new variant has clearly played a large role and that could not necessarily have been predicted,” says David Hunter at the University of Oxford.
Another fast-spreading variant was discovered in South Africa in December, and seems to be largely responsible for a second wave there. The country's daily cases topped 17,000 in December, higher than during its first wave in July.
The race is now on to vaccinate as many people as possible. The first immunisations using the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca began this week in the UK, the first country to administer the vaccine.
UK prime minister Boris Johnson said this week that if all went well, by mid-February the country should have immunised groups including those over-70 and those clinically extremely vulnerable, allowing schools to reopen.
Other nations have also been scrambling to deliver vaccines, after a slow start in several countries.
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