Coronavirus Intensive care units fill countries where the population has not been vaccinated – HS graphics now show the number of hospital patients in different countries

Are again on the eve of the new year, and the coronary pandemic will only continue. New variants are emerging, but they do not always pose a serious risk – at least to those who are healthy and vaccinated.

Indeed, experts have long emphasized that at this stage of a pandemic, it is worth focusing on monitoring the severity of people’s illness rather than the extent of the infection.

HS’s automatically updated graphs now show the number of coronary patients in hospital and intensive care in different countries. The data is displayed in proportion to the population.

The graphic below lists all the countries for which data is currently available. You can select the desired country for the graphic by clicking on the country name.

Some of them both hospital and intensive care data are available from the countries. You can switch between this information by clicking the buttons below the graphic.

The graphics use data collected by Our World in Data. Country data is updated at different rates.

For example, data for many European countries is updated once a week from the end of the week, making data for the previous calendar week available.

The latest In the light of the figures in the graph, Bulgaria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have the highest number of intensive care patients in relation to the population.

Patient numbers have also increased in other countries, such as France and Germany.

The most significant reason for the large number of intensive care patients is vaccinations, says the Director of Health Safety at the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). Mika Salminen.

“In Bulgaria and Romania, it is clear that the incidence is clearly higher than in other countries because vaccine coverage is so low. The situation is the same in Slovenia, but there are probably other explanatory factors behind it. ”

In any case, according to Salminen, it is clear from the curves that Finland has done well in the pandemic.

“In relation to the population, Finland’s hospital workload has been among the lowest in the EU throughout the pandemic.”

Neighboring Sweden In recent months, there have been fewer intensive care patients than in Finland, but on the other hand, Sweden has seen very large numbers of patients in the past. The current good corona situation may be partly due to the previous bad situation.

“In Sweden, so many people have the protection they need from the disease that it is likely to affect the morbidity rates of serious diseases together with vaccines,” says Salminen.

Curves when looking at it, it is good to remember that the figures for different countries cannot be compared directly. In one country, intensive care may be more difficult to access than in another, and countries may compile statistics on patients with different criteria.

“The comparison is challenging because the practices of different countries and also the definition of intensive care vary,” says Salminen.

“Surprisingly, reporting has not even been standardized in Europe.”

In a severe pandemic situation, the figures are also affected by the capacity of hospitals: there can be no more patients than there are places in intensive care. When the seats are filled, the number of patients in the intensive care units will remain the same, even if the number of seriously ill people continues to increase.

There may also be differences in the treatment criteria in different countries, ie who is admitted to hospital or who is admitted to the intensive care unit. In the worst of times, you may have to choose who has enough seats.

“In some countries, on the other hand, people are easily admitted to the hospital if they have a fever, for example,” says Salminen.

Eastern Finland Professor of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care at the University Matti Reinikainen According to Finland, an intensive care unit is a unit in which the invasive respiratory treatment required for the treatment of severe respiratory failure can be performed.

Elsewhere in the world, control units for slightly lighter care may also be counted as intensive care units.

Reinikainen also names vaccination coverage as the biggest factor explaining the number of intensive care patients at the moment. In addition, the number of hospital patients correlated strongly with the number of infections. Indeed, the curves were expected to rise towards winter in most countries.

“Patient numbers tend to follow a wave of time. Both summer 2020 and summer 2021 were peaceful. ”

Reinikainen shares Salminen’s view that the small hospital numbers in Sweden are partly due to those who have already suffered from covid-19.

“The good situation in Sweden is largely related to that. There is already a huge population affected by the disease. ”

According to Reinikainen, however, the number of patients is starting to rise in Sweden as well. Omikron may play a part in this.

“Omikron seems to take you to the hospital less often than other variants, but it has a better ability to infect those who have already had the disease once.”