There are close to 80 cases of the variant in South Africa and experts warn the strain is behind an explosion of new cases, with some regions seeing a six-fold rise in infections in a matter of days. Meanwhile, the new Covid variant has spread to Belgium and Israel after being found in Botswana, South Africa and Hong Kong.Ĭalled B.1.1.529, the bug has 32 mutations - twice as many as the Delta variant - and experts are cautioning that it could force countries back into lockdowns.īelgium said this afternoon it has detected the first announced case in Europe of the new Covid variant, in an unvaccinated person returning from abroad.Īnd the “horrific” mutation has also been detected in Israel today, with the country’s health ministry confirming that one person had tested positive with the strain. “We are now 10 days after the press conference and about nine days after the measures were announced, and we are still above 20,000 infections and a large number of admissions per day,” Mr Langenbach said. He told radio show NPO 1 doctors are already facing difficult choices on who to treat first, while branding restrictions “insufficiently coherent, insufficiently communicated, and insufficiently strict” as cases dramatically rise. Infection rates have skyrocketed across Germany in recent weeks, leading politicians to appeal yet again to those not vaccinated yet to do so.
It comes as hospitals in the Netherlands prepare for a “Code Black” situation as there could soon not be enough beds available for people struck down by Covid.ĭutch health minister Hugo de Jonge insisted the country is still “very far away” from Code Black - but Peter Langenbach, chairman of the board of the Maasstad Hospital in Rotterdam disputes this. Germany is even considering making vaccines compulsory amid warnings from Angela Merkel the coming winter will be “worse than anything we’ve seen”. Either we choose the road that leads to chaos and to a bad end or the one which unburdens the health system and maybe enables a peaceful Christmas.” “I expect right now for the decision-makers to trigger all measures in order that we can bring down the incidence rate together. “We need a massive contact reduction immediately,” he said.
Professor Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s federal disease control agency, says the nation is “at a crossroads”.
The surge has been blamed on the relatively low uptake of vaccines compared to the UK and a lag in deciding to give booster jabs.Īfter Germany yesterday passed the grim milestone of 100,000 Covid deaths, top health officials have tabled throwing the country back into lockdown to curb surging infection rates.ĭoctors believe such measures are needed to tackle the huge increase in the number of patients being admitted to intensive care and are the only way to avoid “the road that leads to chaos”. Infection rates are skyrocketing across the continent, causing some nations to plunge populations into lockdowns and impose fresh draconian restrictions. Germany is being urged to go into lockdown now amid spiralling Covid-19 cases as a horrifying fourth wave of the deadly bug strikes Europe.Īs hospitals become overwhelmed in Holland, the country is bracing for a “Code Black” scenario meaning medics may be forced to choose who lives and dies, while the new super strain has emerged in Belgium, The Sun reports.Īuthorities in Belgium today revealed an unvaccinated person has tested positive for the new variant, which experts have warned is the most evolved so far, and could be worse than Delta.