16:24
France cancels Merck pill order
France canceled orders for the anti-Covi pill produced by Merck, following unsatisfactory data from the trial and hoping to receive the anti-Covid pill produced by Pfizer before the end of January. “The latest studies weren’t good,” Health Minister Olivier Veran explained to Bfm TV. The cancellation will not result in penalties for Paris, Veran added. France is the first country to publicly announce the cancellation of orders for the drug manufactured by Merck, after the pharmaceutical company released a series of data in November that indicate that the pill is less effective than previously estimated. . In high-risk individuals, the Merck Pill is believed to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by approximately 30%.
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16:21
In Emilia Romagna 2,068 cases and 22 deaths
In Emilia Romagna, in the last 24 hours, there have been 2,068 new cases out of a total of 44,415 swabs performed with a positive rate of 4.6%. There are 22 deaths
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16:12
Lazio, 2,497 new cases. D’Amato: “Rt sotto 1”
In Lazio, out of 23,265 molecular swabs and 37,439 antigenic swabs for a total of 60,704 swabs, 2,497 new positive cases are recorded (+212), 8 deaths (-5), 915 hospitalized (), 128 intensive care (). The ratio of positives to swabs is 4.1%. The cases in Rome city are at an altitude of 1,214. The rt value at 0.99 drops below 1, incidence increases to 260 per 100 thousand inhabitants. Seven out of eight deaths today were unvaccinated.
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16:11
Trentino: 392 new cases, 55% are No vax
“We can also say that mathematics is a coincidence, but I believe that the public administration has an obligation to say that the ‘randomness’ in hospitals block other treatments and bring the health system to its knees. Let’s look at the infections: out of 392 new positives, 55 percent concern people who have never been vaccinated. We are talking about 217 cases of which 72 over 40, those who think they can do it anyway. But then they are the ones who risk entering the hospital. They are people who evaluate risk in their own way, well. But when hospitals clog us up, it’s no longer good. Another 76 infections concern people who have been vaccinated but without the third dose which, as we know, is essential to restore effectiveness to vaccines. Only 25% of the new infections completed the full cycle. Looking at these numbers we would still be in the white zone “. This was stated by the president of the Province of Trento, Maurizio Fugatti, commenting on the 392 new infections from Covid recorded today in Trentino.
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16:08
WHO: “In 2021 3.5 million deaths from Covid. More than HIV, malaria and TB together “
“2021 was a year in which we lost 3.5 million people to Covid-19: more deaths than from HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined in 2020”. The director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at a press conference in Geneva, underlining that there is “no doubt that the unequal sharing of vaccines has cost many lives”.
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15:50
In Madrid 90% of cases are due to Omicron
“Almost 90%” of Covid cases recorded in the Madrid region, which has experienced a boom in infections in recent days, is due to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus: the Madrid councilor for health, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, announced it. Escudero added that it is an “extremely contagious” variant; but at the moment it is not reflected in a proportional increase in hospital admissions. On the other hand, the commissioner admitted, there is a “greater request for assistance” addressed to the basic health system (ASL) and the emergency room network, “mainly due to the need to undergo tampons”.
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15:22
The president of virologists: “Omicron prevalent in some areas of the Milanese”
Omicron runs in Lombardy: “In some areas of the Milanese it is already prevalent, over 50%, while in the Brescia area it is around 20%, but growing rapidly”. This is the snapshot taken by Arnaldo Caruso, president of the Italian Society of Virology (Siv-Isv), who in an interview with Adnkronos Salute promises “in a very short time a change in the dominant variant of Sars-CoV-2: in January Omicron will prevail over Delta throughout the region ”, estimates the expert, full professor of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology at the University of Brescia, director of the microbiology laboratory of Asst Spedali Civili. “By now – he specifies – the variants we find are two, Delta and Omicron, while the others have practically disappeared. Omicron grows fast, as was expected since this mutant is much more infectious than Delta and destined to supplant it ”.
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15:07
In Austria, the curfew returns from December 27th
Austria will apply a new tightening from December 27 to curb the spread of the Omicron variant. The curfew for bars and restaurants returns at 10 pm and some restrictions apply for events. The president of the national task force “Gecko”, chief medical officer Katharina Reich, has appealed to the Austrians to give up the New Year celebrations. “Celebrate outdoors, if possible, in a small setting and only with vaccinates,” Reich said.
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15:00
Germany, Omicron dominant in 1-3 weeks
The Omicron variant could become dominant in Germany within one to three weeks. This was stated by the head of the Robert Koch Institute (Rki), Lothar Wieler. “The trend is very clear”, “with a doubling time of about three days, the new variant could already be responsible for the majority of infections in our country in the next one, two, or at the latest three weeks”, he declared Wieler. He then called for caution before Christmas, saying “it shouldn’t be the spark that starts an Omicron fire,” and urged Germans to meet as few people as possible at Christmas and to refrain from unnecessary travel.
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14:56
Bergamo, no New Year’s concert and outdoor mask
“A little while ago I decided to cancel the New Year’s Eve concert in Bergamo. We have also decided to extend the obligation to use the mask outdoors to the whole city from Friday. The situation in hospitals is under control but we prefer to use caution ”. The mayor of Bergamo Giorgio Gori writes it on Twitter.
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