Kristin Travis, a community outreach doula, holds a home COVID-19 test kit, Feb 3, 2022, while picking up supplies at Open Arms Perinatal Services before going out to visit some of her clients in Seattle. (TED S. WARREN / AP)
ATHENS / BERLIN / LONDON / SANTIAGO / VALLETTA / VIENNA – The coronavirus pandemic reached a grim new milestone in the United States on Friday with the nation's cumulative death toll from COVID-19 surpassing 900,000, even as the daily number of lives lost has begun to level off, according to data from John Hopkins University.
The latest tally marks an increase of more than 100,000 US COVID-19 fatalities since Dec 12, coinciding with a surge of infections and hospitalizations driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus.
The sheer volume of Omicron cases fueled a surge in hospitalizations that has strained many US healthcare systems to their limits in recent weeks
Preliminary evidence has shown that Omicron, while far more infectious, generally causes less severe illness than earlier iterations of the virus, such as Delta. But the sheer volume of Omicron cases fueled a surge in hospitalizations that has strained many US healthcare systems to their limits in recent weeks.
Experts have said the bulk of Omicron patients requiring hospitalization were unvaccinated individuals and people with other underlying chronic health conditions.
Data also suggests that Omicron may have hit the United States harder than other countries with younger overall populations, such as in Africa.
As of Friday, according to Reuters' running tally of state-reported data, the total number of American lives lost to COVID-19 since the first US cases were detected in early 2020 has reached at least 904,067, more than the entire population of South Dakota.
That tally is the highest number of COVID-19 deaths reported by any nation, followed by Russia, Brazil and India with more than 1.8 million deaths combined. In terms of coronavirus fatalities per capita, the United States ranks 20th, well below the top two – Peru and Russia.
Nevertheless, the US COVID-19 death rate appears to be slowing as the Omicron surge wanes, Reuters' figures show. The seven-day average fell for two days in a row to 2,592, compared with a peak average of 2,674 in the current wave of infections. By comparison, the peak during the Delta wave in January 2021 was an average of 3,300 deaths a day.
Some public health officials have said that as the Omicron outbreak recedes and hospitalizations decline, the pandemic may enter a new phase in the United States and elsewhere.
Nationally, confirmed COVID-19 cases are now averaging 354,000 a day, half of what was reported less than two weeks ago and down from the peak of nearly 806,000 infections a day on Jan 15. Many infections, however, go uncounted because they are detected by home-testing kits and not reported to public health authorities, officials say.
Over the past seven days, the states reporting the most new cases per capita were Alaska, Kentucky, Washington state, South Carolina and North Dakota.
Current US COVID hospitalizations stood at 117,000 compared with a peak of nearly 153,000 on Jan 20.
Austria
An Austrian law making it compulsory for adults to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, the European Union's first such sweeping COVID-19 vaccine mandate, was promulgated on Friday and will go into force on Saturday.
Roughly 69 percent of Austria's population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, one of the lowest rates in western Europe, which the conservative-led government says justifies the measure and its fines of up to 3,600 euros ($4,109) for breaches.
"The law is unconstitutional and not proportionate," Herbert Kickl, leader of the far-right and anti-vaccination Freedom Party, the only party in parliament to oppose the bill, said in a statement after Van der Bellen signed it.
Kickl has pledged to fight the measure in the courts. There are also weekly protests on Saturdays in Vienna against restrictions including the mandate, often attended by tens of thousands of people.
The mandate will be implemented in phases. There will be no checks until March 15, when police will start verifying the vaccination status of people they stop in their regular patrols. More thorough checks will begin at a later, unspecified date in a third phase once a vaccination register is up and running.
A shopper wearing a face mask to curb the spread of coronavirus walks out of a Marks and Spencer store on Oxford Street, in London, Jan 27, 2022. (MATT DUNHAM / AP)
Britain
There is a realistic possibility of large waves of COVID-19 infection in the future in Britain and such waves might even be considered likely, epidemiologists who model the COVID-19 pandemic to inform government advice have said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ditched legal restrictions in England, saying that, while the pandemic was not over, Britain needs to learn to live with COVID.
The Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, Operational sub-group (SPI-M-O) said the emergence of new viral variants was the biggest unknown factor in the medium-to-long term, along with waning population immunity and changes in mixing patterns.
"Large future waves of infection that need active management to prevent detrimental pressure on the health and care sector are, at least, a realistic possibility (high confidence) or likely (medium confidence)," SPI-M-O said in a consensus statement published on Friday.
Britain has reported 157,730 deaths from COVID-19, the seventh highest total globally, and Johnson has faced heavy criticism for his handling of the pandemic, which has seen three national lockdowns.
READ MORE: WHO: Huge volumes of COVID hospital waste threaten health
The Omicron variant fueled a spike in infections to new highs at the end of last year, prompting Johnson to reintroduce some limited measures, but deaths did not rise at the same pace.
England returned to Plan A last week, and the chair of SPI-M-O told Reuters that while each year should see the COVID situation improve, there may be times where the government has to go backwards and introduce measures. "The next few years will be highly uncertain, and future outbreaks and waves will likely be noisy as things settle down," the SPI-M-O statement said.
Chile
Chile set a new record for daily COVID-19 infections, after registering 37,468 cases in 24 hours and topping 37,000 for the first time, for a total of 2,296,712 infections, the Ministry of Health said Friday.
It also announced that in the same period, 43 deaths associated with COVID-19 were reported, bringing the death toll to 39,867.
The 24-hour COVID-19 positivity rate was 23.92 percent nationally, and 23.95 percent in the Santiago Metropolitan Region.
People wait for coronavirus antigen rapid tests in Duisburg, Germany, Jan 25, 2022. (MARTIN MEISSNER / AP)
Germany
Germany's daily COVID-19 infections reached a new all-time high, with 248,838 new cases registered within 24 hours, the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases said on Friday.
The country's seven-day COVID-19 incidence also continued to rise and hit a new record of 1,349.5 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the RKI.
So far, more than 74 percent of Germany's population had been fully vaccinated. A slight majority of Germans, or 53 percent, continued to be in favor of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for all adults, according to a DeutschlandTrend survey published by broadcaster ARD on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser said Friday that the government had made contact to the top management of the international messaging service Telegram to discuss hate speech on the platform.
Greece
Greece will allow tourists with a European vaccination certificate to enter the country without having to show a negative test for COVID-19 from Feb 7, the tourism and health ministries said on Friday.
The Mediterranean country, which relies heavily on tourism, has been gradually easing travel restrictions initially imposed to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Under the rules now in force, air passengers, including children above the age of five, have to show a rapid antigen test taken 24 hours before arrival or a PCR test no more than 72 hours old to enter Greece.
But a valid digital European Union vaccination certificate will suffice from Feb 7, Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias said, adding that the country expects summer tourists to start arriving from March 1, earlier than in past years.
"Greece has shown remarkable resilience sending a message of safety to our country's visitors in the past two years. It will do the same this year," said Kikilias.
Random tests are conducted at airports and if the test result is positive, travelers must quarantine for five days.
Portugal also announced on Thursday it will drop a requirement for a negative test for travelers.
Malta
Malta will continue to ease its COVID-19 restrictions next Monday, and the country plans to lift nearly all coronavirus measures by the beginning of summer.
The four-household indoor gathering rule will be removed from Monday, and the quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated close contacts of COVID-19 cases will be reduced by half to seven days, said Health Minister Chris Fearne on Friday.
From Feb 21, this mandatory quarantine period will be five days only.
The quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated arrivals from countries listed as dark red will also be reduced to ten days from 14 as from Feb 14.
Fully vaccinated children aged between five and 11 years will no longer be required to take a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test prior to travel, he said.
The rules on vaccine certificates will also be changed next Monday. Such certificates will no longer be required for entry to restaurants, bars and clubs.
However, certificates will continue to be needed for entry to mass events, sports events, gaming halls, nightclubs and for travel.
With fewer than 3,000 active cases in the country and a stable situation in hospitals, Fearne said the "exit roadmap" could continue.
On Friday, the health authorities reported 214 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of active cases to 2,675. The virus claimed one more victim, raising the COVID-19-related death toll to 560 in the country.
