Vacationers go to the Acropolis archaeological website in Athens, Greece, on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022.
Nick Paleologos | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
The emergence of the extremely transmissible omicron variant has seen instances of Covid-19 surge in international locations everywhere in the world.
Over the previous 28 days, the U.S. and the U.Okay. have recorded the best variety of new instances of the virus on the earth, in line with knowledge from Johns Hopkins College.
Nonetheless, there are a handful of nations with the next prevalence of Covid-19 than the U.Okay. and the U.S., which recorded 2,664 and 1,810 instances per million folks respectively for the week to Jan. 6, figures from Our World in Knowledge present.
Amongst these international locations are Eire, Greece and Denmark.
Eire
Within the week ending Jan. 6, Eire had a seven-day common of 4,020 instances of Covid-19 per million folks, in line with Our World in Knowledge. There have been 23,817 new instances confirmed within the nation on Thursday, in line with official authorities knowledge, marking the highest daily figure to date.
Within the week to Jan. 5, 40 deaths have been attributable to the virus in Eire. Regardless of instances reaching file highs over the previous week, Eire’s fatalities from the coronavirus are a far cry from the height of 220 deaths in April 2020. Nonetheless, hospitalizations and deaths are each on the rise as instances proceed to surge.
Authorities figures present that 2.3 million booster doses had been administered by Thursday, which means 55% of the eligible population has acquired three pictures of a Covid vaccine. In the meantime, 77% of the inhabitants is absolutely vaccinated with the preliminary two doses.
Irish well being officers announced on Thursday that the federal government wouldn’t be implementing additional restrictions to mitigate rising case numbers. The nation at the moment has a handful of measures in place, together with masks mandates, restrictions on giant indoor occasions and limiting in-home gatherings to not more than three households.
Again in December, Irish health officials revealed that the omicron pressure was now the nation’s dominant variant of Covid-19.
The Irish authorities stated in a press release on Wednesday that the epidemiological scenario “continues to provide rise to important concern,” however that the “fast tempo of the vaccination program has been central in offsetting the affect of the Omicron wave of the illness.”
Greece
Greece additionally has a excessive prevalence of the virus, recording a rolling 7-day common of three,468 instances per million folks within the week ending Jan. 6.
On Tuesday, the nation reported a file 50,126 new each day instances and 61 deaths, official figures present. By Thursday, that determine had declined barely to 33,716, whereas each day deaths rose to 70.
In Greece, 66.3% of the inhabitants is absolutely vaccinated, in line with the European Centre for Illness Prevention and Management.
In an interview with a neighborhood radio station on Friday, Greek Well being Minister Thanos Plevris stated provisional knowledge confirmed no sufferers with confirmed omicron had been intubated in hospital to date.
He added that steps have been being taken to make sure that Athens had sufficient hospital beds because the omicron variant elevated strain on hospitals within the Greek capital.
His feedback got here after officers introduced in a press briefing on Wednesday that greater than 90% of instances in Greece have been now the brand new, extremely transmissible omicron variant.
Though Plevris stated on Friday that omicron provisionally appeared milder than earlier variants, he cautioned: “Once we say that omicron is milder than delta, it doesn’t imply that it’s gentle.”
Thursday’s knowledge confirmed that 593 Covid-19 sufferers had been admitted to Greek hospitals over the earlier 24 hours.
Denmark
Elsewhere, Denmark recorded a 7-day common of three,334 Covid instances per million folks within the week to Jan. 6, Our World in Knowledge’s numbers confirmed.
On Friday, Denmark recorded a provisional 18,261 new constructive check outcomes for the previous 24 hours. A complete of 755 Covid-19 sufferers had been admitted to hospital, in line with official knowledge – one fewer admission from the day earlier than.
Ten new deaths from the coronavirus have been reported in Denmark on Friday.
Nearly 80% of the Danish inhabitants has acquired two doses of a Covid vaccine, with greater than half immunized with a booster dose.
On Friday, Danish authorities stated omicron now accounted for 90% of Covid-19 instances in Denmark.
It got here after Danish well being official Tyra Grove Krause told local media this week that omicron might assist the inhabitants return to regular life inside months.