COVID-19 spread is accelerating in Europe: WHO

Medical personnel wearing protective equipment work with a coronavirus patient who will be transferred to another hospital in Germany, from in Liege in Belgium, on Tuesday. Pic/AP

The World Health Organisation says there has been a "further acceleration" in the speed of COVID-19's spread in Europe, which was responsible for about half of the globe's new cases reported last week.

The WHO on Tuesday said European countries also recorded a 46 per cent increase in deaths compared with the previous week. Although deaths also rose in the Americas, the rate of increase there was only 2 per cent. In Europe, France, Italy and the UK reported the highest numbers of new cases while Andorra, the Czech Republic and Belgium reported the highest rate per capita.

Record spike in Russia

Russian officials on Wednesday reported 19,768 new coronavirus infections and 389 new deaths, both the highest since the beginning of the pandemic. Russia's tally of confirmed cases - currently the fourth largest in the world - is nearing 1.7 million amid a rapid resurgence of the outbreak that has been sweeping the vast country since September. The government's coronavirus task force has also reported over 29,000 deaths since March.

Despite the number of daily new infections in Russia hitting new records every week this month, authorities have so far shunned imposing a second lockdown or shutting down businesses nationwide, insisting that the health care system is able to cope with the surge.

However, in recent weeks alarming reports have surfaced about overwhelmed hospitals, drug shortages and inundated medical workers, in a sign that Russia's health system is under a significant strain.

Hungary minister tests +ve

Hungary's foreign minister tested positive for the virus after arriving in Thailand for an official visit, Thai and Hungarian officials said on Wednesday.
Thai Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said Peter Szijjarto and his 12-member delegation were tested after their arrival Tuesday from Cambodia, but only FM Szijjarto was found to be infected.

UK expects vaccine trial results by early Dec

The chair of Britain's coronavirus vaccine task force says data evaluating the efficacy and safety of the two most advanced candidates should be available in early December. Kate Bingham said on Wednesday that data on the two vaccine candidates - developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and Pfizer and BioNTech - should be available by then. After that, the vaccine candidates will need regulatory approval, Bingham says. "If we get that, we have the possibility of deploying by year end," she says. Dr Robin Shattock, one of the scientists behind another vaccine developed by Imperial College London, says, "The first vaccines may reach the bar of preventing severe disease, but they may not necessarily block transmission."

S Korea OKs single test for COVID, flu

Health officials in South Korea have approved a new test that's designed to detect both COVID-19 and seasonal influenza from the same samples, which would help prevent disruption at hospitals as the pandemic stretches into the flu season.
The country has struggled to stem the spread of the coronavirus, which some experts say could spread more broadly during cold weather when people spend more time indoors.

Belgium virus crisis is 'slowing down'

Belgium, still the worst-hit nation in Europe, said on Wednesday there are increasing signs that a turning point in the crisis was drawing close. "The high-speed train is slowing down," said virologist Steven Van Gucht of the Sciensano govt health group. "The infection centre is stabilising and hospital admissions are increasing at a slower pace." Belgium has the highest proportional incidence of cases in the EU with 1,753 per 1,00,000 people.

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