Covid-19: Russia records record for deaths and Germany has ‘dramatic’ situation

Europe is going through a new wave of Covid-19, a moment that made the World Health Organization (WHO) once again point to the continent as the epicenter of the pandemic. Countries like Austria, Holland and Denmark are taking new measures of social isolation and encouragement of vaccination – the refusal to vaccinate part of the population of these countries has been identified as one of the main reasons for the new growth.

Covid-19’s situation in Germany is dramatic, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday, asking for an effort to deliver booster doses more quickly and calling on vaccination skeptics to change their minds.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Robert Koch Institute reported that confirmed cases had increased by 52,826 as the fourth wave of the pandemic gathers steam in Europe.

“It’s not too late to opt for a first shot,” she told a conference of German city mayors. “Everyone who is vaccinated protects himself and protects others. And if enough people are vaccinated, that’s the way out of the pandemic,” she said.

Merkel added that there needs to be a “national effort” to achieve mass distribution of booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines, as the protection offered by vaccines begins to wane six months after the second dose is given.

Russian case increase leads to record deaths

Russia reported this Wednesday (17) a new record number of deaths in 24 hours – were 1,247 deaths by Covid-19, according to health authorities.

The country hits the mark after just over a week that most of its regions faced a week-long work stoppage lockdown to stem the spread of Covid-19.

The Russian government’s task force to contain the coronavirus also reported 36,626 new cases of Covid-19 nationwide in the past 24 hours, including 2,966 in Moscow.