LONDON (AP) – Despite growing access to vaccines, January looks bleak across the globe as the coronavirus resurfaces and reshapes from Britain to Japan and California, filling hospitals and threatening new livelihoods as governments they close companies and run to find solutions.
England returned to confinement. Mexico City hospitals receive more patients with viruses than ever before. Germany has recorded one of its highest daily death rates to date. South Africa and Brazil are struggling to find space for the dead. Even the pandemic success story Thailand is battling an unexpected wave infections.
And as doctors face or prepare for the increase in the number of patients with COVID-19 after the holidays, more and more countries are reporting cases of a new, more contagious variant that has already spread across Britain. .
January will be “difficult,” said Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization. “This idea that seems to be ‘Ah, we’re all tired of it. We want to look at something else. Oh, that doesn’t apply to me ‘… it has to go. It really is all hands on. “
Although Britain launched a second vaccine this week and some US states are starting to deliver the second round of vaccines, access to vaccines worldwide is quite uneven. The supply is not even remotely close to meeting the epic demand needed to defeat an enemy that has already killed more than 1.85 million people.
“We are in a race to prevent infections, reduce cases, protect health systems and save lives by launching two highly effective and safe vaccines for high-risk populations,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “This is not easy. These are the difficult miles.”
England faces a third national blockade that will last at least six weeks, while authorities struggle to contain an outbreak of COVID-19 infections and rescue hospitals, where some patients wait in ambulances in a parking lot to access overcrowded wards.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the difficult new home order for England, valid at midnight on Tuesday. It will close schools, restaurants and all non-essential stores and will not be reviewed until at least mid-February. Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon imposed a blockade that started Tuesday.
The two leaders said the restrictions are necessary to protect the National Health Service amid the emergence of the new variant that has been increasing daily infections, hospitalizations and deaths.
The NHS “is probably going through the most difficult time in memory,” said Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at the King’s Fund research institute.
Elsewhere in Europe, Italy and Germany have extended their Christmas blocks, Spain is restricting travel and Denmark has reduced the number of people who can meet in public from 10 to five. France is expected to announce tougher measures on Thursday, and Ukraine is closing schools and restaurants as of Friday.
In Latin America, some warn that the worst is yet to come.
“The momentum we are experiencing here in Brazil is much more serious than it was months ago,” said Domingos Alves, an adjunct professor at the University of São Paulo.
The number of intensive care patients in Brazil reached its highest level since August, as the country reopened stores and offices after the holiday season – and the vast country has not yet approved or received vaccines. Some Brazilian hospitals reinstalled refrigerated containers outside to contain the corpses of the victims of COVID-19.
Mexico’s capital has more patients with viruses than at any point in the pandemic and is bringing doctors from less affected states. Its beach resorts are gearing up for more cases after thousands of American and European tourists visited them during the holidays.
“Probably in the third week of January, we will see the system more stressed, that there will be more outpatient cases and cases that require hospitalization,” said Dr. Mauricio Rodriguez, from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He attributed the increase to fatigue to social detachment, confused messages from public figures and Mexicans who let their guard down during the holidays.
Zimbabwe reintroduced curfew, banned public meetings and indefinitely suspended the opening of schools. In South Africa, which is seeing yet another variant of the rapidly spreading virus and is the hardest hit nation on the continent, authorities imposed a curfew, banned the sale of alcoholic beverages and closed most beaches.
South African morticians are struggling to cope with the increase in deaths, SABC’s National Association of Funeral Professionals, Muzi Hlengwa told state broadcaster SABC.
“It is something you have never seen before. … We ran out of coffins, we ran out of space in the morgue, ”he said. “We usually have cremations during the day, but now we have cremations even at night.”
The pandemic is reaching even countries that appeared to have the virus under control.
Thailand is facing an increase that has infected thousands of people in recent weeks, due to complacency and inadequate planning. The government is closing large parts of the country, including the capital, Bangkok, and considering tougher measures.
Japan is preparing to declare a state of emergency this week, tightening border controls and accelerating vaccine approval after a spike in cases on New Year’s Eve.
And the holiday worries are not over now that 2021 has arrived.
Pope Francis abandoned an annual baby baptism ritual in the Sistine Chapel linked to Wednesday’s Epiphany holiday. Orthodox Christian countries like Russia and Greece may face more infections after the celebration of Christmas on Thursday. And China is closing schools before the Lunar New Year holiday next month, telling migrant workers not to return home and tourists to avoid Beijing.
Vaccinations are starting slowly in many places. In the United States, where more than 350,000 people died, some states are struggling to secure enough vaccines and vaccines. The Netherlands has come under heavy criticism for being the last European Union nation to start vaccines, which you’ll do on Wednesday. Australia is not planning to do this until March. And most of the poorest countries are even further behind.
Opposition politician Geert Wilders called the Dutch government “Europe’s village idiot”.
However, India offers a glimmer of hope. Its infection rate has dropped significantly since the peak of September, and the country is starting one of the largest inoculation programs in the world, with the goal of vaccinating 300 million people by August.
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AP reporters around the world contributed.
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