Angela Merkel has released a video on the internet in which she addresses the Germans for the last time as chancellor, a position she will leave within a few days after the formation of a new government. In the video, Merkel emphasizes that “every vaccine counts” in the fight against COVID-19, and highlights that, regardless of whether it is the first dose or the booster shot, “the highest vaccination rate possible helps us all to leave this pandemic behind as a country. “
– “We are in a very serious situation in the middle of the fourth wave of the pandemic. In some parts of the country, it is dramatic: overcrowded intensive care units, critically ill patients who have to be transferred to hospitals in other parts of the region … and a terrifyingly high number of people who lose their lives day after day. ”
The chancellor recalled that the more than 100,000 deaths recorded to date have left behind a trail of pain in family and friends “incredulous, confused, helpless” before a bitter event that “could have been avoided”: “with vaccines , effective and safe, we have the key “in our hands.
Before ending her speech, the Chancellor warned of the danger posed by “the new omicron variant”, which “seems to be even more contagious than the previous ones.”
Explosive situation in France
In some areas of neighboring France there are moments, such as in the intensive care unit of the Strasbourg hospital, where the admissions of COVID-19 patients multiply. Doctors describe the situation as “explosive”.
French authorities have detected a dozen cases of the omicron variant, which is much more contagious and potentially more resistant to vaccines, due to its many mutations.
Almost three million disbelievers in Italy
In Italy, this Saturday the mandatory use of masks has come into force in the most popular shopping streets of Rome. Surveys show a worrying fact, almost three million Italians, about 6% of the population, do not believe that COVID-19 exists. Many are in the ranks of those who regularly demonstrate in cities across Europe against restrictions linked to the pandemic.
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