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EURO2020

Three spectators at Denmark-Belgium match test positive for Delta variant

Danish authorities have asked 4,000 football fans to get tested for Covid-19 as soon as possible, after three spectators at last week's Belgium match tested positive for the infectious Delta variant.

Published: 24 June 2021 09:59 CEST
Three spectators at Denmark-Belgium match test positive for Delta variant
Three of the fans who watched the Denmark-Belgium match at the Parken stadium have tested postive for the Delta variant. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau ScanpixMads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The Danish Patient Safety Authority on Wednesday evening asked all those who were sitting in six sections of the C stands at Copenhagen’s Parken stadium for the match last Thursday to go and get a PCR-test “as soon as possible”, saying that “several spectators have tested positive for the Delta variant”. 

“These three people who were infected during the match, as well as their close contacts and the close contacts of their close contacts have been informed,” Anette Lykke Petri, director of the Danish Agency for Patient Safety, said on Thursday. 

She said the three supporters were infected independently of each other at the game at Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium on June 17.

“The three infected people all independently point out that the place of infection has been the match,” Petri told Danish station TV2. “We would like to have screened everyone,” she added. 

Denmark’s health minister, Magnus Heunicke, tweeted only minutes after the Patient Safety Authority,  revealing that the 4,000 fans had been in the six sections judged to be at risk. 

The Delta variant is more infectious than even the Alpha variant which originated in the UK and then went on to become dominant in Denmark. Since 1 April, there have been 235 cases of the Delta variant in Denmark, with it now accounting for about 5.5 percent of all positive cases. Danish health authorities expect it to become the dominant variant within a few months. 

The Danish Patient Safety Authority said at a press conference on Tuesday that there had so far been only 29 coronavirus infections linked to the three Euro2020 matches played on Danish soil, against Finland on June 12th, against Belgium on June 17th, and against Russia on Monday night.  

The World Health Organization on Tuesday said it was concerned about the easing of Covid-19 restrictions by nations
hosting Euro 2020 matches, noting that some were already seeing rising cases.

“WHO is concerned about easing of restrictions in some of the host countries,” Robb Butler, an executive director at WHO’s Regional Office for Europe, said in an emailed statement to AFP.

“A few of the stadiums hosting the tournament are now increasing the number of spectators allowed,” Butler said.

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COVID-19

Germany’s weekly Covid infection rate rises above 500

Germany recorded a weekly Covid incidence of more than 500 per 100,000 people on Monday as health experts warn that the fifth wave of the pandemic has only just begun.

Published: 17 January 2022 13:09 CET
Bar in Berlin's Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district, which has the highest incidence in the country.
People sit outside bars in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, where incidences are currently the highest in the country. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christophe Gateau

On Monday, the 7-day incidence of Covid infections per 100,000 people stood at 528, up from 515 the day before and 376 a week ago. 

Infections have been rising rapidly as the highly transmissible Omicron variant tightens its hold in Germany. Monday marked the fourth day in a row in which the country posted record incidences.

Since the first incidence of the variant was discovered in the country around seven weeks ago, Omicron has swiftly taken over as the dominant variant in Germany.

It currently accounts for around 73 percent of Covid infections and is expected to almost entirely replace the Delta variant this week. 

Though Omicron generally causes a less severe illness than Delta, experts are concerned that deaths and hospitalisations could remain high due to the unprecedented number of cases Germany could see.

Unlike Delta, Omicron has a large number of mutations that allow it to evade previously built up immunity through vaccinations and illness. 

The World Health Organisation has warned that half of all Europeans could be infected with the virus by spring. 

“After the temporary decline in case numbers, severe disease courses and deaths towards the end of 2021 in the fourth wave, the fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has begun in Germany with the dominant circulation of the omicron variant,” the Robert Koch Institute wrote in its weekly report on Thursday.  

Since the first Omicron case was discovered in Germany, there have been 191,422 suspected or proven cases of the variant.

As Welt data journalist Olaf Gersemann pointed out in Twitter, the number of Omicron cases has increased sixfold within a fortnight. 

Increase in hospitalisations

Before this weekend, Germany had hit its previous peak of infections back in November, when the country posted a 7-day incidence of 485 per 100,000 people at during the peak of the fourth wave.

Since then, Covid measures such contact restrictions and blanket 2G (entry only for the vaccinated and recovered) or 2G-plus (vaccinated or recovered with a negative test) have been relatively effective at turning the tide. 

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For the past few weeks however, infections have been on the up once again as the Omicron fifth wave begins.

The incidence of hospitalisations in the country appears to also be on the rise again after a few weeks of decline. On Friday, the 7-day incidence of hospitalisations stood at 3.24 per 100,000 people, up from 3.13 the day before.

Over the weekend, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach warned that Omicron could place additional pressure on the general hospital wards as fewer people end up in intensive care. 

“Depending on how things develop, we may face shortages not only in the intensive care units, but also in the normal wards. There is a threat of entire departments being closed,” he said.

“Rapid spread of the virus would mean hundreds of thousands will become seriously ill and we will have to mourn many thousands of deaths again.” 

Karl Lauterbach

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) speaks at a weekly press conference on Friday, January 14th. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Kay Nietfeld
 

Northern states post record incidences

Since the start of the Omicron wave, northern Germany has been disproportionately affected by the virus.

As of Monday, the city-state of Bremen had the highest incidence in the country, with 1389 new cases per 100,000 people recorded in a week.

This was followed by Berlin, which currently has a 7-day incidence of 948, and Hamburg, which recorded a 7-day incidence of 806. The district with the highest incidence in Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, which posted a weekly incidence of 1597 on Monday. 

In contrast to the fourth wave, the lowest Covid incidences were recorded in the eastern states of Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony. 

On Monday, Thuringia had a weekly incidence of 198 per 100,000 people, while Saxony’s incidence was 249 and Saxony-Anhalt’s was 280.

Somewhat inexplicably, the incidence has been declining in Thuringia in recent weeks, though there is speculation that this could be to do with the fact that Omicron has not yet spread in the state.

Nine of the sixteen German states have incidences of more than 500 per 100,000 people. 

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