Infection is increasing in Europe - despite high vaccination coverage

Germany reported on Monday the highest number of new cases since the pandemic broke out.

According to the infection control authority RKI, the so-called incidence, the number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants is 201. The burden on care is said to be very high and there are alarms that care places in certain regions are about to run out.

- In over 90 percent of the cases, these are patients who had the chance to be vaccinated, but refused, says Klaus Holetschek, Minister of Health in the state of Bavaria.

Swedish strategy

Although the vaccination rate is about the same in Germany and Sweden (according to ECDC 80 percent of adult Germans compared to 82 percent of Swedes), the situation differs between countries.

According to Matti Sällberg, vaccine researcher and professor at Karolinska Institutet, the explanation may be the more extensive testing in Germany and that previous closures have been lifted.

- Swedes are more used to being out in the community, they have learned to keep their distance and be a little more careful, Matti Sällberg tells TT.

In Western Europe, it is in the Netherlands and Belgium and Austria, where the incidence approaches 600, that the spread of infection increases the most.

In Denmark, the number of infected people exceeds 2,000 for the fifth day in a row and the number of hospitalized people with corona has tripled in one month.

The Folketing is now considering reintroducing restrictions.

In most parts of the West, the spread of infection has so far not been followed by a corresponding increase in the number of deaths.

Then it looks worse in parts of Eastern Europe where vaccine coverage is significantly lower.

In Bulgaria, the Baltics and Croatia, both the spread of infection and the number of seriously ill people are rising alarmingly fast.

In Romania, the pressure on intensive care has now become so strong that patients have had to be moved to Denmark and soon also to Sweden.

Vaccine crucial

And in Russia, the infection curve and the death curve follow each other quite exactly, and there just over 30 percent of the population is vaccinated.

According to Matti Sällberg, this shows how effective vaccine roll-out has been in the countries that have had access to doses and a population that has been ready to receive them.

- The spread we see seems to be driven by the more contagious delta variant.

If you have since a lower vaccination coverage combined with a certain distrust of authorities, had strong lockdowns and now opened up, all this together can mean that you get a completely different spread than in Sweden.