Germany's COVID-19 death toll passes 100,000

FRANKFURT—Germany announced record coronavirus fatalities and infections Thursday as its total death toll passed 100,000, with its most severe virus wave yet breaking just as a new government prepares to take the reins.

Germany weathered earlier bouts of the pandemic better than many other European countries, but has seen a recent resurgence, with intensive care beds rapidly filling up. 

Europe's largest economy recorded 351 fatalities in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll since the start of the pandemic to 100,119, according to figures from the Robert Koch Institute, a public health agency. 

The weekly incidence rate also hit an all-time high of 419.7 new infections per 100,000 people, RKI announced. 

The escalating health crisis poses an immediate challenge to the new coalition government set to take over from Angela Merkel's cabinet next month. 

The spike in Germany comes as Europe has re-emerged as the pandemic's epicenter, with the continent battling sluggish vaccine uptake in some nations, the highly contagious Delta variant, colder weather moving people indoors and the easing of restrictions. 

Last week, more than 2.5 million cases and almost 30,000 COVID-related deaths were recorded in Europe, making it by far the region currently worst hit by the virus, according to AFP's tally. 

'ACUTE OVERLOAD'

In a sign of the severity of the virus wave hitting Germany, its health sector has had to call on hospitals elsewhere in the EU for help.

Some hospitals are already facing an "acute overload" that has made it necessary to transfer COVID-19 patients abroad, according to Gernot Marx, head of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine.

Germany last week announced tougher restrictions, including requiring people to prove they are vaccinated, have recovered from COVID-19 or have recently tested negative for the virus before they can travel on public transport or enter workplaces. 

Several of the worst-hit areas have gone further, cancelling large events like Christmas markets and barring the unvaccinated from bars, gyms and leisure facilities.

The spike has ignited a fierce debate about whether to follow Austria's example and make vaccination mandatory for all citizens.

Incoming chancellor Olaf Scholz has voiced support for compulsory vaccinations for health staff, and said that his government would "do everything necessary to bring our country safely through this time". 

"The situation is serious," said Scholz's Social Democrats after announcing a coalition agreement with the Greens and the FDP liberals on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, outgoing Chancellor Merkel, who is retiring from politics after 4 terms, summoned the new center-left-led alliance's top brass for pandemic talks. 

Scholz said his new government would invest one billion euros in bonuses for health-care workers on the frontlines of the pandemic. 

But his critics accused him of lacking the urgency needed to tackle the national catastrophe. 

"It sounded like he wanted to be the leader of the Hamburg health authorities," snapped Spiegel online. 

Germany's COVID-19 crisis has in part been blamed on its relatively low vaccination rate of about 69 percent, compared to other Western European countries such as France, where it is 75 percent.

The country has urged all inoculated adults to get a booster to combat waning efficacy after 6 months.

Agence France-Presse

More than 4.5 million dead, 216 million infected with COVID-19 worldwide

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 4,500,620 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1000 GMT (6 p.m. Philippine time) on Monday. 

At least 216,344,180 cases of coronavirus have been registered. 

The vast majority have recovered, though some have continued to experience symptoms weeks or even months later. The figures are based on daily reports provided by health authorities in each country. They exclude revisions made by other statistical organizations, which show that the number of deaths is much higher. 

The World Health Organization estimates that the pandemic's overall toll could be two to three times higher than official records, due to the excess mortality that is directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19. 

A large number of the less severe or asymptomatic cases also remain undetected, despite intensified testing in many countries. 

On Sunday, 6,952 new deaths and 446,872 new cases were recorded worldwide. 

Based on latest reports, the countries with the most new deaths were Russia with 792 new deaths, followed by Iran with 669 and Indonesia with 568. 

The United States is the worst-affected country with 637,539 deaths from 38,798,963 cases. 

After the US, the hardest-hit countries are Brazil with 579,308 deaths from 20,741,815 cases, India with 438,210 deaths from 32,737,939 cases, Mexico with 258,165 deaths from 3,335,700 cases, and Peru with 198,167 deaths from 2,148,419 cases. 

The country with the highest number of deaths compared to its population is Peru with 601 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Hungary with 311, Bosnia-Herzegovina with 298, Czech Republic with 284, Republic of North Macedonia with 282 and Montenegro with 273. 

Latin America and the Caribbean overall has 1,436,155 deaths from 43,158,763 cases, Europe 1,246,809 deaths from 62,896,600 infections, and Asia 775,755 deaths from 49,951,809 cases. 

The United States and Canada has reported 664,439 deaths from 40,288,517 cases, Africa 194,830 deaths from 7,748,732 cases, Middle East 180,936 deaths from 12,181,513 cases, and Oceania 1,696 deaths from 118,249 cases. 

As a result of corrections by national authorities or late publication of data, the figures updated over the past 24 hours may not correspond exactly to the previous day's tallies. 

Agence France-Presse

Global coronavirus deaths fall, as rate of new cases worldwide stays steady

The number of deaths due to COVID-19 dropped by seven percent around the world over the past week, although the rate of new cases remained stable, according to AFP data.

Here is the state of play worldwide:

- Deaths drop -

The number of COVID deaths decreased by seven percent to 62,055 over the past week, an average of 8,865 per day.

The decrease took place mainly in North America, where the number of deaths dropped by a fifth, to 12,282. In Asia, the number of victims decreased by 18 percent to 3,666, while in Africa the figure dropped by 14 percent, for a total of 2,151 deaths. Europe, which mourned the most deaths in the world at 22,795, nevertheless also saw a decrease of four percent in its toll.

The good news was tempered by a nine percent increase in deaths in the Middle East (1,824) and a three percent climb in Latin America and the Caribbean, where there were 19,425 deaths.

- Less than 400,000 daily cases -

With 382,983 new cases recorded every day on average this week, the infection rate is stable compared to the previous week. Last week, it had risen after the number of cases was cut in half between mid-January and mid-February, according to an AFP tally to Thursday.

The number of confirmed cases only reflects a fraction of the actual number of infections, as different countries have varying counting practices and levels of testing.

- North America down, Europe up -

The number of new cases decreased in particular in North America, with 20 percent less, or 61,608 cases per day. It also decreased by six percent in Africa (9,426) and in Asia (minus four percent, 31,406 cases). 

But the number of new cases increased by 10 percent in the Middle East (31,324), eight percent in Europe (157,760 cases) and three percent in Latin America (91,409). 

The United States remains the country with the most cases in the world with 28,827,140 as well as the most deaths at 520,356.

- Steepest falls -

For the fourth week in a row the biggest drop in new cases took place in Portugal, with 36 percent less, or 815 new cases per day, as a lockdown decreed in mid-January bore fruit.

The United Kingdom followed with 34 percent less, or 6,685 cases, then Spain with 25 percent less, or 4,487 cases, Indonesia (25 percent less, 6,636) and Malaysia (minus 24 percent, 2,035).

- Biggest spikes -

With an 86 percent increase in its number of new cases (5,433), Hungary is the country in which the pandemic has picked up most speed, among nations that recorded more than 1,000 daily cases over the past week. The country had already seen a 69 percent increase the previous week.

Among the other territories which recorded big increases are the West Bank (48 percent, 1,563 daily cases), Estonia (44 percent more, 1,502), Jordan (plus 41 percent, 4,726 cases) and Poland (plus 32 percent, 11,058 cases).

Agence France-Presse

Mexico's coronavirus deaths surpass 100,000

MEXICO CITY - Mexico said Thursday its coronavirus death toll had risen above 100,000, becoming the world's fourth country to pass the grim milestone.

"Today in Mexico we have 100,000 people who have lost their lives due to COVID-19," deputy health minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell told a news conference.

The health ministry announced 576 more deaths in its daily update, taking the total to 100,104, behind only the United States, Brazil and India.

The overall number of infections registered now stands at 1,019,543 in the nation of more than 128 million, up 4,472 from the previous day.

While the number of daily infections has begun to rise again in recent weeks, the authorities say that deaths remain on a downtrend.

"There are infections, but fortunately... there are fewer deaths and that's the aim," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said this week.

But Malaquias Lopez, an epidemiologist and former health ministry official, said it was unclear if the situation was improving.

"We're at a point where we don't see a clear phase of descent. We don't know where it's going," he told AFP.

The government says poor diets and health problems including obesity, hypertension and diabetes are partly to blame for the high death toll.

"These conditions increase the possibility of a patient dying, it's true, but in Mexico they're almost a death sentence," said Lopez, who thinks the authorities have used the risk factors to deflect criticism of their handling of the pandemic.

Half of Mexico's workforce is in the informal sector and if they become sick they cannot afford to self-isolate, he said.

The government says the high number of deaths reflects its large population.

When it comes to deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, Mexico is in 11th place worldwide, based on official data.

The authorities acknowledge that the real number of coronavirus deaths is higher than the official toll due to the low level of testing.

Luis Vargas, a doctor working at a coronavirus testing site in Mexico City, said that recently people seemed to have become more nervous because a relative or friend had caught the virus.

He fears that many shoppers neglected to follow sanitary measures during the country's equivalent of the Black Friday sales this month.

"I think the number of cases is going to increase," he said.

Eighteen-year-old Aaron Romero, who was waiting to be tested and has symptoms of Covid-19, said his family had agreed not to get together at Christmas this year.

"It's strange and difficult, but it's for the best," he said.

Agence France-Presse

WHO fears spike in deaths after global COVID-19 surge

As ICUs see more patients, deaths may follow

GENEVA/ZURICH - The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday warned against any complacency in the coronavirus death rate, saying with the increasing number of cases, mortality would also rise.

New cases are hitting 100,000 daily in Europe. Nearly 20,000 infections were reported in Britain, while Italy, Switzerland and Russia were among nations with record case numbers.

While deaths globally have fallen to around 5,000 per day from April's peak exceeding 7,500, WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said caseloads were rising in intensive care units.

"Mortality increases always lag behind increasing cases by a couple of weeks," Swaminathan said during a WHO social media event. "We shouldn't be complacent that death rates are coming down."

More than 38 million people have been reported infected globally and 1.1 million have died.

Despite the global push for a COVID-19 vaccine, with dozens in clinical trials and hopes for initial inoculations this year, Swaminathan reiterated that speedy, mass shots were unlikely.

Two candidates, from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca's U.S. trial, are paused on safety concerns, while manufacturing billions of doses of an eventual successful vaccine will be a colossal challenge demanding hard decisions about who gets inoculated first.

"Most people agree, it's starting with health care workers, and front-line workers, but even there, you need to define which of them are at highest risk, and then the elderly, and so on," Swaminathan said.

"A healthy young person might have to wait until 2022."

The WHO has said letting infection spread in hopes of achieving "herd immunity" is unethical and would cause unnecessary deaths. It urges hand-washing, social distancing, masks and -- when unavoidable, limited and targeted restrictions on movements -- to control disease spread.

"People talk about herd immunity. We should only talk about it in the context of a vaccine," Swaminathan said. "You need to vaccinate at least 70 percent of people … to really break transmission." 

-reuters-

India coronavirus deaths hit 50,000: health ministry

NEW DLEHI - India's death toll from the coronavirus hit 50,000 on Monday, with more than 900 new fatalities reported in 24 hours, health ministry data showed.

The country last week overtook Britain with the world's fourth-highest number of deaths, behind the United States, Brazil and Mexico, and has recorded 2.6 million infections.

India's death toll from the pandemic now stands at 50,921, an increase of 941 from the previous day, according to the health ministry's website.

The world's second-most populated country, home to some of the world's biggest cities and largest slums, is already the third-most infected nation behind the US and Brazil.

Many experts however say the real numbers may be far higher due to low levels of testing and because deaths are often not properly recorded in India's chronically under-funded health system.

Despite the rising death toll, the health ministry tweeted on Sunday that India's virus mortality rate was "one of the lowest globally" at below two percent.

"Successful implementation of testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively and treating efficiently through a plethora of measures have contributed to the existing high level of recoveries," the ministry said in a statement.

Experts say India needs to ramp up testing further to get the virus under control as it spreads to rural and regional areas where healthcare systems are particularly fragile or not easily accessible.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said trials and tests on three potential vaccine candidates were being carried out in India and that his government was preparing to produce huge numbers of doses if any are found to be viable.

"Once we get a green signal from our scientists, we will launch massive production of the vaccine. We have made all the preparations," Modi said in an Independence Day speech on Saturday.

"We have drawn an outline to ramp up the production of the vaccines and to make it available to each and every person in the shortest possible time."

LOCKDOWN MISERY

Modi's government imposed in March one of the world's strictest lockdowns.

It dealt a heavy blow to Asia's third-biggest economy and caused misery for the country's poor, with tens of millions of migrant workers left jobless almost overnight.

Vast numbers trudged back penniless to their home villages from cities including New Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, many of them on foot. Some died on the way.

The lockdown has since been steadily eased but many sectors complain that they are severely short of workers. 

State and local governments across the country have meanwhile reimposed lockdown measures as the virus has spread to smaller cities and rural areas, where around 70 percent of Indians live.

In many rural regions however, anecdotal evidence suggests that measures to stop the spread such as masks and distancing are widely ignored.

In addition, a lack of public awareness has contributed to those with the virus being ostracized, making people more reluctant to get tested.

Agence France-Presse