New measures, new reports and highlights: an update on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.
The situation in France
The executive is mobilizing this Monday to hasten the transformation of the health pass into a vaccine pass, but also to “reassess” now the situation created by the meteoric rise of the new variant. Saturday, for the first time since the start of the epidemic, the threshold of 100,000 new daily cases was crossed, after breaking previous records in the week.
The figure fell to 27,697 new cases in 24 hours on Sunday, a level linked to the closure of a very large number of pharmacies and testing centers on Christmas Day. The rise of this wave raises gloomy projections a few days before the transition to 2022. “The realistic scenario is that in mid-January we (either) have 200,000 contaminations a day”, estimated the infectious disease specialist Benjamin Davido on Friday.
President Emmanuel Macron will hold by videoconference a health defense council dedicated to Covid-19 at 4:00 p.m., one hour before the Council of Ministers which must adopt the bill establishing the vaccine pass. Initially scheduled for entry into force at the end of January, this text will be examined in committee at the National Assembly from Wednesday, before going to the Senate from January 5. Its implementation is scheduled for January 15, according to the bill consulted by AFP.
In detail, the text transforms the health pass into a vaccination pass “for access to leisure activities, restaurants and drinking establishments, fairs, seminars and trade shows or even interregional transport”, in particular rail. The only presentation of a negative test would however remain valid “for the access to establishments and services of health and medico-social”. On the health situation, government spokesman Gabriel Attal had specified that a “reassessment” was scheduled for Monday, while Omicron will undoubtedly become the majority in France this week.
New York Child Hospitalizations Rise
The Omicron variant continues to spread in the United States, where health officials in New York are seeing an increase in the number of children hospitalized in connection with Covid-19, while the White House on Sunday promised to quickly resolve the shortage of tests in the country. The New York State Department of Health “is closely monitoring an upward trend in pediatric hospitalizations associated with Covid-19,” according to a statement released Friday. “The largest increase concerns New York City with admissions which have quadrupled” between the week of December 5 and that of December 19, it said. Half of these admissions concern children under the age of 5, therefore who are not yet old enough to be vaccinated.
The number of Covid-19 cases in the United States continues to rise, with nearly 190,000 new cases daily over the past seven days on average, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University. The arrival of the new variant, and the end of the year celebrations, synonymous with travel and family reunion, have caused a rush on tests in the United States, where it is difficult in some places to get it.
Dr Anthony Fauci, senior White House adviser in the fight against the pandemic, assured that this shortage would soon be resolved. “One of the problems right now is that (the tests) won’t be fully available to everyone until January,” the epidemiologist told ABC. “But we are addressing the testing issue, and that, very soon, will be fixed,” he continued, also acknowledging his frustration with these supply issues.
President Joe Biden resolved last week to announce massive purchases of tests by the federal state: 500 million kits, which will be distributed free of charge to whoever requests them. But these tests will not be delivered until January, which fuels strong criticism against the White House, whose strategy to fight Covid-19 has for weeks been mainly focused on vaccination. US executive spokeswoman Jen Psaki was questioned on December 6, days after Omicron was first detected in the United States, about the difficulty of accessing tests in the country. She just ironed, “We should send all Americans a free test, right?” Dr Fauci also spoke on the question of the Omicron variant and its dangerousness. Recognizing how Omicron is “extraordinarily contagious”, however, he praised data from studies in South Africa and the United Kingdom which seem to indicate a lower dangerousness of the cases. “When you have such a volume of new infections, it could exceed the real reduction of the dangerousness”, he warned, however, fearing a congestion of the hospital system.
The balance sheet in the world
The Covid-19 pandemic has made more than 5,395,400 dead, according to a report established by AFP from official sources Sunday at 17:00 GMT.
In ultimate value, the United States is the most affected country with 816,597 deaths, followed by Brazil (618,392), India (479,682), Russia (304,218) and Mexico (298,759).
Among the countries hardest hit, Peru is the one that deplores the highest number of deaths in relation to its population. Europe is the region which currently records the most deaths in the world with 53% of the world total in the last seven days, followed by the USA / Canada zone (22%). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, taking into account the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19, that the toll of the pandemic could be two to three times higher than that officially recorded.
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