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The pandemic has killed at least 5.3 million people worldwide since the end of 2019, according to a report established by AFP.
The United States is the most bereaved country with 803,503 deaths, ahead of Brazil (617,395), India (476,478) and Mexico (297,187)
The WHO estimates, taking into account the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19, that the toll of the pandemic in the world could be two to three times higher.
EUROPE
Omicron variant spreads rapidly in Spain
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Spain, several local newspapers reported on Friday. The country is one of the main tourist destinations in Europe. In the Madrid region, this strain represents more than 30% of new infections, reports the daily El Pais. This rate is 25% in the tourist metropolis of Barcelona, regional Minister of Health Josep Maria Argimon told La Vanguardia newspaper. The Omicron variant should be dominant there by Christmas.
The same development is observed in other regions of Spain.
In the community of Navarre, in the north of the country, the incidence over seven days – which indicates the number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants – is the highest in Spain, with 720 cases. The national average is approaching 300.
More and more regions require a health pass as a condition of access to restaurants and leisure establishments.
Ireland introduces 8:00 p.m. curfew for pubs and restaurants
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin announced on Friday evening the establishment of a curfew at 8 p.m. for pubs, bars and restaurants until the end of January to combat the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. “All restaurants and bars (…) must close at 8:00 p.m.” from Sunday until January 30, the head of the Irish government said in a speech.
Germany must prepare for a “massive wave” of the Omicron variant
Germany, already affected by a significant rebound in coronavirus contaminations, must prepare for a new “massive wave” linked to the meteoric spread of the Omicron variant, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said on Friday. “We must prepare for a challenge that we have not yet experienced in this form; even a slightly smoother course (of the disease, editor’s note) would not make a difference (…)”, declared the minister at a press conference in Hanover.
The degree of dangerousness of the new variant remains difficult to assess, but even if the infections were less severe, it “would perhaps keep the number of deaths low for 2 or 3 weeks, while the growth in the number of cases would already have. consumed this advantage “, underlined the minister who considers consequently” inevitable “the difficult period to come.
Germany has been affected since the beginning of autumn by a virulent resumption of the epidemic linked to the Delta variant. The number of new cases has declined slightly since the return of many restrictions in daily life, but the level of contamination remains high.
The number of new cases over 24 hours exceeded 50,000 on Friday, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute for Public Health Surveillance (RKI).
This figure is not falling sharply and rapidly enough, given the still high load on intensive care units and the coming Omicron wave, lamented the RKI, which considers “the current development still very worrying”.
The restrictions must therefore be maintained, or even intensified, argues the RKI.
The rate of complete vaccination in Germany, still considered insufficient, reached this week the threshold of 70% of the total population.
Greece drops entry test requirement after EU criticism
The Greek government backtracked Friday on its plan to require a covid-19 test from EU travelers, even vaccinated, entering its territory, following criticism from leaders of other EU countries, Thursday at the Brussels summit . As of Sunday, December 19, anyone entering Greece had to either present a negative PCR test of less than 72 hours or a rapid test of less than 24 hours. This rule was supposed to last until January 10.
The government initially considered an even stricter rule requiring the PCR test to be valid for less than 48 hours before arrival.
But several EU heads of state and government, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, or Belgian Prime Ministers Alexander De Croo and Luxembourgish Xavier Bettel, have criticized this lack of coordination at scale. Union, since Greece, but also Ireland, Portugal and Italy, imposed tests even on vaccinated EU travelers.
Greece had justified this tightening by the identification on its territory of 17 confirmed cases of contamination with the new variant Omicron, which is more contagious.
Closure of cinemas, theaters and concert halls in Denmark
Denmark announced on Friday the closure of cinemas, theaters and concert halls and a new restriction on nightlife in an attempt to curb the record spike in cases of Covid-19 and the new variant Omicron.
The Scandinavian country has recorded a new all-time high of more than 11,000 cases in the past 24 hours, including a new high of more than 2,500 of the Omicron variant, the government said at a press conference.
“Theaters, cinemas, concert halls are going to have to close,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told a press conference.
“We need to limit our activity. We all need to limit our social contact,” she called.
Denmark, at the forefront of sequencing, is one of the countries in the world to have detected the most cases of Omicron on its soil and the authorities expect it to become the majority in the coming days.
The measures announced on Friday have yet to be approved by parliament.
“Our goal remains to keep society as open as possible,” said Frederiksen, excluding lockdowns like the one decided in spring 2020 “because we have vaccines”.
The government will also demand the closure of other gathering places, such as amusement parks or convention centers, or even museums.
If the Christmas holidays have already been extended to counter the surge in cases, the executive still plans to return to school when the new school year begins on January 5.
Nightlife, already planed last week, will be further shortened, with bars and restaurants closing at 11:00 p.m., and the ban on serving alcohol after 10:00 p.m.
Almost a month after its identification, the Omicron variant appears very contagious and seems to escape vaccines in part, with however an unknown as to the severity of the infections.
France: “compelling reasons” for travel with the United Kingdom
France will restore overnight from Friday to Saturday the obligation of “compelling reasons” for travelers from and to the United Kingdom in the face of “the extremely rapid distribution of the Omicron variant” in this country.
The validity of tests departing from the UK is reduced from 48 hours to 24 hours. An isolation system on arrival in France is also in place.
On the other hand, France “does not plan to set up anti-Covid tests” for travelers coming from other EU countries, despite the rise of the Omicron variant, said Emmanuel Macron on Thursday evening afterwards. of a European council.
Omicron variant spreads rapidly in Spain
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Spain, several local newspapers reported on Friday. The country is one of the main tourist destinations in Europe. In the Madrid region, this strain represents more than 30% of new infections, reports the daily El Pais. This rate is 25% in the tourist metropolis of Barcelona, regional Minister of Health Josep Maria Argimon told La Vanguardia newspaper. The Omicron variant should be dominant there by Christmas.
The same development is observed in other regions of Spain.
In the community of Navarre, in the north of the country, the incidence over seven days – which indicates the number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants – is the highest in Spain, with 720 cases. The national average is approaching 300.
More and more regions require a health pass as a condition of access to restaurants and leisure establishments.
Europeans mobilized to speed up vaccine booster shots
EU leaders pledged to speed up anti-Covid vaccination and coordinate better in the face of the spread of the Omicron variant, during a summit Thursday in Brussels, where they also united in dissuading Russia from ‘an attack on Ukraine.
“The extension of vaccination to all and the administration of booster doses are crucial and urgent,” the heads of state and government said in their conclusions, as the spread of the new variant of the coronavirus worries the the end of the year holidays are approaching.
G7 Health calls for “cooperation” in the face of “current greatest threat to global public health”
G7 country health ministers on Thursday evening called for cooperation against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which they called “the current greatest threat to global public health.”
At the end of their last meeting on Thursday under the British presidency of the G7, the ministers of the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan said they were “deeply concerned. by increasing the number of cases “of the variant.
AMERICA
Washington has delivered more than 335 million doses of vaccine to 110 countries
Washington has so far delivered more than 335 million doses of anti-Covid vaccines to 110 countries, as many doses as there are people in the United States, a senior White House official told Friday. AFP. Responding to a request from President Joe Biden to speed up donations, the US executive has distributed 50 million doses over the past two weeks, he argued.
Biden predicts ‘winter of serious illness and death’ for unvaccinated
Joe Biden warned of a “winter of serious illness and death” for unvaccinated people, with the explosion of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, and called on Americans to get vaccinated, as all over the world restrictions are increasing.
“The only real protection is to receive your injection,” said the US president, insisting that the Omicron variant is “there” and will “begin to circulate much faster in the United States.”
US health officials recommend vaccination with Pfizer and Moderna rather than Johnson & Johnson
US health authorities on Thursday evening recommended that all adults be vaccinated against Covid-19 with Pfizer and Moderna rather than Johnson & Johnson, due to the risk of thrombosis linked to J & J’s vaccine.
The move, announced by the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), is a blow to the Johnson & Johnson cure, to which nine deaths have been attributed in the country.
Quebec reinstates gauges in restaurants and stores
Quebec will reinstate gauges in bars, restaurants and stores to limit the spread of the Omicron variant, the Premier of the French-speaking province François Legault announced Thursday, who spoke of a “critical” situation.
Brazil: green light for vaccination of 5-11 year olds with Pfizer
The Brazilian health regulator on Thursday approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 for children aged 5 to 11, as other countries around the world have recently done.
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