Health Alerts

Global COVID-19 case numbers rose above 40 million this week, led by surges in both the USA (31 states are now ‘red zone’) and Europe. The ECDC has published the first in a new series of weekly maps showing the 14-day notification rates of new confirmed cases at the sub-national level, weekly testing rates and test positivity. This comes as the region’s weekly cases spiked by 25 percent with an even higher increase in death rates. Read more in the Oct 18 WHO epi update.

In other news, Argentina has recorded a surge in daily incidence becoming only the fifth country with more than a million infections (from a population of only 45 million) after cases started to rise in regional areas, including Ushuaia. Meanwhile, Belgium, Iran and Russia have all recorded daily increases in cases in the past week. Read More

Related news:

-In planning for a safe resumption of normal activities, the Ministry of Health in Singapore is introducing a pilot program running through to December which will provide free ‘pre-event [antigen rapid] COVID-19 testing for larger-scale and higher-risk activities’, with events selected including ‘business-to-business events, wedding receptions, live performances, and sports events’.

-One news source has reported on extensive COVID-19 transmission that stemmed from a spin studio in Hamilton, Ontario despite the facility following Canadian public health protocols. Read more

-A COVID-19 case reported yesterday in Victoria (Australia), is ‘being regarded as a "reinfection of coronavirus" out of an "abundance of caution"’ as, at the moment, it cannot be confirmed ‘whether it's shedding or whether it's fresh, new [infection]’. Read more

THE INFLUENZA reporting season in Europe has begun and, along with the USA and Canada, flu activity is pegged as very low, low or below average. According to the WHO global flu update (data to Sept 29), only two countries reported increased influenza detections - Cambodia and Laos. CIDRAP reported on the southern hemisphere’s 2020 flu season, noting that Australia’s 315 cases in winter were ‘down 99.8% from the 130,000 cases seen in most years’. Read more