This week, the total number of confirmed cases of new coronavirus pneumonia in the United States exceeded the 15 million mark, that is, 1 in every 22 Americans has been diagnosed. Moreover, the epidemic situation in the United States is still worsening at an unprecedented rate, with the daily increase in new cases in the past few days reaching as high as 200,000!
For the United States, there is no longer a “darkest moment”, only “darker”.
United States
The current situation in the United States The epicenter of the epidemic is California, the most populous state in the United States. In recent days, the number of confirmed cases has been increasing by leaps and bounds at a rate of more than 30,000 per day.
California will implement a three-week stay-at-home order starting from December 6. The maximum capacity of retail stores can only be 20%. Restaurants, bars, barber shops and other non-essential stores Everything is closed, outdoor dining is not allowed, only delivery and takeout are allowed, people must stay at home as much as possible, and are not allowed to meet with people other than family members.
This is the second time since March this year that California has implemented such a large-scale ban, and it has covered the Christmas holiday, which means that Christmas is not even celebrated. So when this ban came out, everyone was outraged. Merchants complained that this was a life-threatening situation, and even some police officers did not support it. They simply said that they would not arrest anyone who violated the regulations.
But considering the standards for the implementation of this ban, you will find it excusable – if the ICU ward capacity in a certain area is less than 15%, the ban will be triggered. The number of patients admitted to ICUs in California has increased by 68.7% in the past two weeks. As of December 8, the spare ICU capacity in San Joaquin Valley dropped from 6.3% to 5.6%; the spare capacity in Southern California dropped from 10.9% to 10.1%.
The director of the California Department of Public Health said that if the situation does not improve, the lockdown may even be extended to 9 weeks, let alone 6 weeks!
Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the United States, said: “(When describing the epidemic) I don’t even discuss the ‘wave’ anymore. In my opinion, this is more like a new wave. At a high level, it is composed of multiple waves superimposed on each other, rather than ‘one wave flat and then another.'”
According to his prediction, in January next year, the situation in the United States will be Worse. Because during Thanksgiving, Americans have learned lessons from large-scale travel that triggered the outbreak of the epidemic. Christmas and the Jewish Hanukkah in December will undoubtedly bring another wave of new infections. After all, they don’t listen to advice and don’t want to stay at home.
Fauci is still earnestly admonishing Americans. He said that when the epidemic develops so seriously that even the hospital’s treatment capacity is at the critical point, there are still so many Americans who do not need it. Believing in the existence of the new coronavirus, as a medical adviser who has advised six U.S. presidents, he has “never encountered this situation before.”
He persuaded Americans that by wearing masks, maintaining social distance, washing hands frequently and other anti-epidemic measures, Americans can still make a difference in reversing the epidemic, but this requires everyone to abide by it. It plays a role, but some people ignore the epidemic and go their own way, which is “extremely disappointing” and also has a “serious impact” on epidemic prevention and control.
The incoming quasi-president of the United States, Biden, said that the first thing he will do after taking office is to require all Americans to wear masks for 100 days. He said that wearing a mask is patriotic.
Europe
The comprehensive counterattack of the epidemic in Europe is even more fierce than the wave in the spring. European Disease Prevention and Control The Center (ECDC) pointed out that among the 27 EU countries, the number of deaths from the epidemic in the autumn has exceeded that in the spring in 17 countries. In the past week, new cases in Europe accounted for nearly 40% of new global data, but the spread of the virus has stabilized.
Currently, there are two countries in Europe with more than 2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, namely Russia and France; more than There are 7 countries with 1 million people. In addition to Russia and France, there are also Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany and Poland. In addition, Ukraine is approaching 1 million.
The first seven countries hardest hit by the epidemic are already familiar to everyone, but the eighth place, Ukraine, is unexpected. It is currently deteriorating at a rate of 10,000+ new cases per day. , the new cases are mainly concentrated in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, Odessa, Zaporozhye and other places. However, Ukraine’s quarantine control measures will not officially start until January, and will be implemented from January 8 to 24 next year.
According to data from the French public health department, the daily number of new patients in France last week remained at around 10,000. This number is higher than in Spain, where the epidemic curve continues to decline slowly, with about 8,000 new patients last week. In addition, the average daily increase in patients is 3,800 in Portugal, approximately 3,700 in Switzerland, and approximately 2,300 in Belgium. Countries with higher absolute numbers of daily increase in patients include the UK with about 14,500 cases, Germany with about 16,900 cases, and Italy with about 21,500 cases. But if you compare absolute figures with population, France is one of the European countries with the fewest new daily cases. In Europe, only Greece, Finland and Norway have lower figures than France.
On December 8, local time, the UK officially launched the new crown vaccination project, thus becoming the first in the world.�Countries with mass vaccination. A 90-year-old grandmother became the first person in the world to officially receive the Pfizer vaccine. She will celebrate her 91st birthday next week. She said: “Vaccines are the best birthday gifts.”
The priority for vaccination is those over 80 years old, as well as medical staff and nursing home workers. Personnel, a total of two injections are required, one month apart each time. A small card will be issued to those who have been vaccinated, which can be used as proof of travel and participation in activities.
Scientists’ prediction is that even if the UK starts vaccination, it will not be able to return to normal life until next autumn.
Asia
As the global new crown India, which has the second highest number of confirmed pneumonia cases after the United States, is also waiting for a vaccine. Travel agencies in India have received a large number of inquiries during this period, wanting to go to the UK to get vaccinated, and some travel agencies have launched vaccine travel packages. This is a bit of a trap for consumers, because the British vaccine is currently only starting to vaccinate the elderly and medical staff.
What is causing the Indian government even more distress is the ongoing nationwide general strikes by Indian farmers. Tens of thousands of Indian farmers have been camping on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi since November 27 to protest against the agricultural reform bill passed by the government. They said they would not go home unless the new agricultural reform laws were repealed, and even blocked roads in New Delhi. Indian media said this was the largest farmer protest in recent years.
As you can see from the photos of the scene, it is indeed a sea of people and excitement. In this case, it is very likely to further trigger the epidemic.
Another country with a sharp increase in confirmed cases is Turkey. Their current round of the epidemic is far more terrifying than the first round. Turkey changed the way the country reports data on November 25, adding asymptomatic confirmed cases to the data. After adopting the new statistical method, the country jumped from one of the countries less affected by the epidemic to one of the more serious ones.
Since November 30, the average daily number of new infections in Turkey has been around 30,000, which has basically reached the growth rate of India. Now, Turkey’s hospitals are completely full. A medical staff said: “Even the operating room has become an intensive care unit.” “You don’t know how desperate I am now.” The total number of confirmed cases in Turkey is now 1.74 million, while their population is only 83 million. Now Türkiye has begun a lockdown to control the spread of the epidemic.
Turkey previously signed an agreement with China Sinovac to purchase 50 million doses of CoronaVac (new crown vaccine). Only after CoronaVac arrives in Turkey on December 11, the Turkish Ministry of Health The vaccine will be granted early use rights and a national vaccination plan will be arranged later in December.
Our close neighbor Japan is facing the third wave of the epidemic. The virus is now spreading at a rate of 2,000+ new diagnoses every day. In this wave of the epidemic, severe cases and deaths have increased significantly, and hospitals across the country are in emergency, with many large-scale clusters of infections occurring within medical institutions. If the epidemic worsens, medical resources such as ambulance equipment and other medical resources in Japanese hospitals will be in short supply this winter and next spring.
At present, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Osaka, Aichi, Fukuoka, Chiba, Hokkaido, Kyoto, Kobe and Ishikawa are particularly serious. Japan’s three major metropolitan areas have been “lost” to varying degrees, especially the Tokyo metropolitan area.
The Olympics have been postponed to next year, and I really don’t know what the future will be like. </p
