MILAN (AP) – The virus moved at astonishing speed through a kindergarten and an adjacent primary school in the Milan suburb of Bollate. In just a few days, 45 children and 14 staff members had tested positive.
Genetic analysis confirmed what officials already suspected: The highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in England raced through the community, a densely packed town of nearly 40,000 residents with a chemical factory and a Pirelli bicycle tire factory 15 minutes’ drive from the heart from Milan.
“This is proof that the virus has some kind of intelligence, even though it is a unicellular organism. We can put up all the barriers in the world and imagine them working, but eventually it adapts and gets through ”, complained Bollate mayor Francesco Vassallo.
Bollate was the first town in Lombardy, the northern region that was the epicenter of each of the three peaks in Italy, which was cut off from neighbors due to mutant versions that the World Health Organization says now allow a new increase in infections across Europe . The variants also include versions first identified in South Africa and Brazil.
Europe registered 1 million new COVID-19 cases last week, an increase of 9% from the previous week and a reversal that ended a six-week decline, WHO said Thursday.
“The spread of the variants is driving the increase, but not only,” said Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, citing “also opening up society, when not done in a safe and controlled manner. . “
The so-called British variant spreads significantly in 27 European countries controlled by the WHO and is dominant in at least 10 according to the agency’s census: Great Britain, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France, Netherlands, Israel, Spain and Portugal.
It is up to 50% more transmissible than the virus that rose last spring and again in the fall, making it better at thwarting measures that were previously effective, WHO experts warned.
“That’s why health systems are struggling more now,” said Kluge. “It is really at a turning point. We must keep the fort and be very vigilant. “
In Lombardy, which was most affected by the spring wave in Italy, intensive care units are again filling up, as more than two-thirds of the new positive tests are of the British variant, health officials said this week.
After the Lombardy regional governor closed two provinces and about 50 cities in a modified way, he announced tougher restrictions on Friday and closed classrooms for all age groups. In schools in Milan alone, the number of cases rose 33% in a week, the head of the provincial health system said.
The situation is dire in the Czech Republic, which registered a record number of nearly 8,500 patients in hospital with COVID-19 this week. Poland is opening temporary hospitals and imposing a partial lockdown as the variant has grown from 10% of all infections in February to 25% now.
Kluge cited the British experience as a cause for optimism, noting that deliberate restrictions and the introduction of the vaccine have helped reduce the variants there and in Israel. In comparison, the roll-out of vaccines in the European Union is lagging behind, mainly due to delivery problems.
In Britain, the rise of the more transmissible tribe caused cases to skyrocket in December and trigger a national lockdown in January. Since then, cases have fallen sharply, from about 60,000 a day at the peak of early January to about 7,000 a day.
Still, a study shows the pace of the decline is slowing, and the government says it will be cautious about plans to ease the lockdown. That process will start on Monday with the reopening of schools. Infection rates are highest in people ages 13 to 17, and officials will keep a close eye to see if the return to class is causing a spike in infections.
While the British variant is dominant in France, enforcing lockdowns in the city of Nice on the French Riviera and the northern port of Dunkirk, the variant first discovered in South Africa has emerged as the most common in the Moselle region, which borders Germany and Luxembourg. It represents 55% of the virus circulating there.
The South African variety is also predominant in a district of Austria stretching from Italy to Germany, where Austrian officials announced plans to vaccinate most of its 84,000 residents to stop its spread. Austria is also demanding that drivers along the Brenner highway, a major north-south route for trucks, produce negative test results.
The South African variant, which is now present in 26 European countries, is particularly concerned because of doubts as to whether the current vaccines are fully effective against it. The Brazilian variant, which appears capable of re-infecting humans, has been found in 15 European countries.
WHO and its partners are working to strengthen the genetic surveillance needed to track variants across the continent.
The mayor of Bollate has appealed to the regional governor to immediately vaccinate all 40,000 residents, although he expects to be told that the supply is currently too tight.
Bollate has recorded 3,000 positive cases and 134 deaths – mainly among the elderly – since Italy was hit a year ago. It took the brunt in November and December, during the fall resurgence, and was completely caught off guard when the variant arrived, racing past school-aged children before hitting families at home.
“People are getting tired that after a year there is no light at the end of the tunnel,” said Vassallo.
AP correspondents Jill Lawless in London, Karel Janicek in Prague, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Jovana Gec in Belgrade contributed.
Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak