Posted on Jan 11, 2022, 6:54 amUpdated Jan 11, 2022, 7:17 AM
The fifth wave of Covid-19 continues to hit the four corners of the globe head-on. The number of contaminations exceeds, this Tuesday morning, the threshold of 310 million, or nearly 3 million additional cases in 24 hours. The United States recorded a new world record for cases in one day, with more than 1.1 million infections. The pandemic has caused some 5.49 million deaths to date.
In France, where Prime Minister Jean Castex has announced a relaxation of the health protocol at school, faced with the mess of tests, hospitals continue to fill up, and contaminations are still skyrocketing. The country totals, on average over seven days, nearly 300,000 daily cases of Covid-19. The bill providing for the establishment of the controversial vaccine pass is being examined in the Senate, it should come into force in mid-January, according to the Elysee.
The main information to remember
> More than 1.1 million cases in 24 hours in the United States
> Nearly 300,000 contaminations per day on average over seven days in France
> The health protocol relaxed in French schools
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>>> Follow the news of Tuesday January 11 live
> Hong Kong: Cathay Pacific threatened with legal action after Covid cases
The Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific, whose crew members are believed to be behind the Omicron strain Covid cases in the city, is under investigation and could be the subject of legal proceedings.
An outbreak recently emerged after two flight attendants returning from overseas broke home quarantine rules. Authorities are investigating “whether this airline has complied with the regulations” in force, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at a press conference. “We will take legal action when we have gathered all the evidence regarding the error (which was) made,” she added.
> New record of daily cases in the United States
According to US health authorities, no less than 1.1 million new cases of contamination have been recorded in the past 24 hours. A record level both for the United States and globally.
The previous record was barely a week old. On January 3, the United States had recorded one million daily cases. The country remains the most bereaved in the world with 839,451 dead, followed by Brazil (620,091), India (483,936) and Russia (316,904).
> Japan extends border measures and will vaccinate children
Tokyo will maintain, until at least the end of February, the border restrictions put in place to stem the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday. These measures, among the strictest in the world, notably prohibit the entry into Japanese territory of all foreign nationals, including students, permanent residents and foreign relatives of Japanese citizens.
He also announced that Japan would start immunizing children under the age of 12, as the country saw a sharp rise in cases in several parts of the country. Recently, the prefectures of Okinawa, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi have been virtually placed in a state of emergency.
> The President of Mexico is positive again
“I am infected with Covid-19 and even if the symptoms are mild, I will remain in isolation, I will only do office work and I will communicate virtually,” tweeted the head of state, who had received a dose of reinforcement in December. A few hours earlier, during his morning press conference, he had announced in a hoarse voice that he was planning to be tested for the coronavirus even if he thought he was suffering from the flu.
As often, he did not wear a mask, which drew much criticism among the thousands of reactions to the announcement of his positive result. Several opposition officials who described him as “irresponsible” for appearing in public that morning without a mask.
> In China, a new city placed in quarantine
The city of Anyang, which has 5 million inhabitants in central China, has in turn been placed in quarantine after the emergence of cases of Covid, notably of the Omicron strain. The city authorities on Monday evening ordered residents to stay at home and ban the circulation of private vehicles, according to the New China agency.
Non-essential businesses have been closed and a general screening campaign has been launched to “prevent the spread of the Omicron strain”, according to the official news agency. The city has recorded 84 contaminations since Saturday, including at least two cases of the new variant, linked to contaminations in the port metropolis of Tianjin (north).
> The health protocol in schools relaxed
Jean Castex announced three simplification measures. When a case is discovered, contact case students can stay in class until the end of the day. Parents will no longer need to pick them up immediately.
Jean Castex also announced that contact cases will be able to use three self-tests to test themselves. It will no longer be necessary to carry out the first test, immediately after the discovery of the contact case, in a laboratory or a pharmacy.
Finally, when a positive case occurs in a class, the parents of other students who have to test themselves will only have to make a single certificate declaring that their child has carried out his self-tests and that they are negative. Until now, they had to make one attestation by test, that is to say three attestations.
> Ile-de-France: absence rate of 50% in some high schools
Many high schools in Ile-de-France are now experiencing an absence rate of over 50% among teachers and students, warns the socialist opposition, for whom the health situation is “out of control” in the Ile-de-France region . The regional PS advisers are asking to “urgently raise” the health protocol to level 3. “Other measures are needed,” including the distribution of FFP2 masks, they say.
> France announces 93,896 new cases
The number of new contaminations amounted to 93,896 Monday evening, a figure that is insignificant at the end of the weekends because fewer people are being tested. But by calculating the average of daily cases over the last seven days, which smooths the gaps, this figure reaches 268,185, against 167,338 a week ago.
Some 3,904 people are also currently in intensive care due to Covid-19, up 57 from the previous day. This closely watched indicator has continued to improve since the start of the fifth wave of the Covid epidemic in France, in November 2021. The health authorities have also announced 280 additional deaths.
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