Europe on alert for the seventh wave of coronavirus: cases increase in midsummer for the Omicron 5 variant

The official data is that the boom of the highly contagious variant Omicron 5 of the coronavirus brings the number of cases to one million. But Professor Carlo La Vecchia of the University of Milan, who specializes in health statistics, estimates that there are another two million unregistered cases. Three million infected, “5% of the Italian population, has contracted the virus”.

It is the seventh summer wave of the third summer since the infection began in Italy in February 2020, one of the most affected countries in Europe. with a total of 168,545 deaths.

Yesterday there were 71,947 new cases and 67 victims, but on Tuesday 5 the highest level was reached of 95 thousand infected. The spike is expected to peak at the end of the month and subside in August.

But Professor Walter Ricciardi, scientific advisor to the Minister of Health, believes that “the premises are not good” and that we must prepare for the arrival of a new onslaught of the virus, which with the BA5 variant has reached “the highest level of contagiousness” , while the defenses of over two years have fallen because vaccinated less than ever and the most immediate precautions have been abandoned, such as the use of masks in closed places where the virus circulates more than ever.

«We are already in crisis», the scientist Ricciardi regrets «and measures must be taken immediately. If not, when autumn arrives in September-October it will be too late “.

In therapy

The progression of admissions to hospital wards continues. Another 177 patients increased in the week ended yesterday with 1,680 infected, for a total of 7,212. There are 291 in intensive care. These are reassuring figures, but in hospitals they invite you not to get distracted.

Ministerial advisor Ricciardi predicts the virus will grow in the fall due to the slowdown in mass vaccinations. “80% of those over 80 years old did not receive the fourth dose which protects not so much from contagion as from the worst consequences of the disease ”, he explains.

“In September the lessons and the vicious circle of children returning home resume and infect parents, siblings and grandparents. “We have to vaccinate even the little ones and the elderly, use masks and again ventilate enclosed spaces as much as possibleespecially in schools ”, dramatizes Ricciardi.

The Italian experts invite you to observe the brilliant season that spreads hundreds of millions of tourists in Europe, with trips where there are no more restrictions, which facilitates the growing circulation of the more contagious Omicron 5. Nobody pays much attention and governments try to avoid ruining the summer season after two years of a few tourists. People want to feel free, be together and have fun.

In Italy it is estimated that three million people are infected and only a third is controlled. A similar number in Great Britain, which has nearly 200,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

In all countries the incidence is growing, reaching over 1,000 in Austria, Cyprus, which records the record of 1912, France, Germany, Luxembourg and remote Iceland. In Spain it is believed that the season will be fantastic, with the number of arrivals from abroad at a level of 90% compared to 2019, the year before the pandemic.

France surpassed 100,000 cases of daily infections last week, with an increase of 50% compared to the previous week. The government recommends the use of masks in all closed and crowded places.

Also in France, as in Italy, only 25% of the over 80s received the fourth dose. In Germany, the Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach, called on family doctors to administer antiviral drugs considered to be life-saving “that are used very little” more frequently to patients.

In European countries, all healthcare facilities estimate that the seventh summer wave with the formidable contagion power of Omicron 5, precedes an autumn with an even worse increase in infectionsalthough symptoms are milder than in other variants, such as Delta.

Omicron 5 possesses, in addition to its contagious power, another important characteristic, namely its ability to infect those who have already recovered from the infection. Patients have been recorded who have suffered three infections despite being vaccinated with different doses. Fortunately, the consequences are less lethal.

PB