Europe

Heatwave brings health warnings as extreme weather grips globe Temperatures were expected to reach record highs in Italy on Tuesday and the World Meteorological Organization warned of an increased risk of deaths as heatwaves and extreme weather gripped parts of Europe, Asia and the United States. Angelo Amante,Emma Farge Reuters

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Predicting COVID-19 Incidence Using Wastewater Surveillance Data, Denmark, October 2021–June 2022 Predicting COVID-19 Using Wastewater Surveillance Emerging Infectious Diseases journal

Analysis of wastewater is used in many settings for surveillance of SARS-CoV-2, but it remains unclear how well wastewater testing results reflect incidence. Denmark has had an extensive wastewater analysis system that conducts 3 weekly tests in ≈200 sites and has 85% population coverage; the country also offers free SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests to all residents. Using time series analysis for modeling, we found that wastewater data, combined with information on circulating variants and the number of human tests performed, closely fitted the incidence curve of persons testing positive

Germany on track to bin 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses The total waste is likely to run into the billions of euros. POLITICO

Germany has thrown out 83 million doses of coronavirus vaccines at a rough cost of €1.6 billion and has 120 million more doses sitting unused in stock, even as it is set to receive more jabs at a time when vaccination has flatlined.

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