- Castex relaxes the health protocol at school
The health protocol will be relaxed once more in schools, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Monday, invited at 8 p.m. in the France 2 news. When a contact case will be declared in a class, children will no longer have to carry out a PCR or antigen test, which will have the effect of “unblocking” laboratories and pharmacies: three self-tests will suffice. “The three self-tests will be free,” said the Prime Minister.
Jean Castex also announced that, when a positive case is declared in a class, “we will not immediately ask the parents to come and pick up their child, we will wait until the end of the day”. Finally, a third “simplification device” was announced by the Prime Minister: a single certificate from the parents will suffice to prove that a child is negative. “10,453 classes are closed today”, or 2% of classes in total, also revealed Jean Castex, who wishes at all costs to keep schools open.
The health protocol in schools, effective since January 3, required students to be tested three times in four days, if a positive case is detected in their class: first via an antigen or PCR on the day of the test. announcement, with a certificate to be given to the school, then via self-tests on D + 2 and D + 4. The measure, turning into a headache for many parents and for saturated pharmacies, had already been slightly revised last week: students no longer had to complete a new complete course if a new positive case appeared in their class in a deadline less than seven days.
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- Shorter hospital stays with Omicron
“The Omicron variant sends fewer patients to intensive care.” Olivier Véran sought to reassure during a hearing before the senators on Monday. Affecting mainly the upper parts of the respiratory tract, the Omicron variant, which appeared at the end of 2021, “causes shorter hospital stays for new patients than for those contaminated by the previous variants”. He detailed that hospitalized people will need oxygen for three to four days and then be able to leave the hospital. The average duration of hospitalizations is an important criterion to take into account in order to estimate and anticipate to what extent the hospital environment risks being saturated in the face of the surge of the Omicron wave.
Olivier Véran also observed a drop in contamination peaks in the United Kingdom and a wave linked to the variant Omicron in South Africa now past, which leaves “to glimpse encouraging signs”. That said, even if it is less dangerous, Omicron still causes “quite strong flu-like symptoms and a consequent increase in hospitalizations”, he added. It should also be remembered that for the time being, the new variant shows no sign of abating and remains the embodiment of the most contagious virus with nearly 300,000 daily contaminations in France.
- Ugandan youth back to school
Nearly 15 million young people have returned to school today in Uganda in East Africa. It had been almost two years since all schools in the country had closed their doors due to the coronavirus epidemic. A fairly strict government measure, when we see that the number of deaths caused by Covid stands at 3,357 for a population of nearly 46 million inhabitants. The Ugandan state still wants to keep tightening the screws despite the reopening of its schools. John Muyingo, Ugandan Minister of Education, said “very strict protocols have been put in place across the country to ensure children return to school safely.”
A rigorous policy which is not to everyone’s taste. Many children’s rights organizations have denounced “the longest school closures ever in the world”. The NGO Save the Children criticized these measures by pointing out the delay in the lessons given to students and warned of the risk of dropping out of school for some children, most from disadvantaged backgrounds who did not have access to lessons at school. distance.
- Italian government tightens the screw for the unvaccinated
Italy had already set the tone last week by introducing compulsory vaccination for those over 50. Today the country has decided to tackle the unvaccinated with new measures. For example, the latter will no longer be able to eat in restaurants or take the plane to travel within the country. A reinforcement of the restrictions towards the unvaccinated people which arises in the face of the increase in infections in the country turning around 200,000 cases of daily contaminations for nearly a week. You will also need a vaccination pass until March 31, a negative test no longer accepted, to stay in a hotel, go to the gym or travel by bus, trains and ships.
Only the people exempted from such measures, the unvaccinated inhabitants of the small Italian islands, who feared to find themselves in “forced exile” by these new restrictions. Boats and planes being the only means to leave their land and to return there, will be able, as for them, to continue to move thanks to a negative test until February 10. Prime Minister Mario Draghi is expected to address Italians regarding new measures in the coming days.
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