Italians line up in front of a pharmacy to be tested for Covid-19 on January 4, 2021 in Milan (Italy) (AFP / Miguel MEDINA)
France broke a new record for daily Covid-19 contamination on Wednesday, the Omicron variant of which is sweeping the planet, pushing many countries to increase health restrictions.
The pandemic has killed at least 5,456,207 people around the world since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP on Wednesday. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the actual toll might be two to three times higher.
In absolute terms, the United States is the most bereaved country with 830,284 dead, followed by Brazil (619,384), India (482,551) and Russia (313,015).
The current epidemic outbreak was relaunched at the end of 2021 by the arrival of the Omicron variant, which is more contagious than the previous ones even if its severity seems limited.
The entrance to a residential complex in Xi’an, China, January 5, 2022 (AFP / STR)
It leads to an increase in absences for illness, which causes dysfunctions in several sectors, including that of health, and daily contaminations records in many countries, such as Wednesday in Israel (nearly 12,000 new cases), or in countries -Bas (24,590), which imposed strict measures to try to contain the contagion, non-essential businesses being closed until January 14.
Caregivers transfer the stretcher of a Covid-19 patient from an ambulance to a medical plane in Bastia, Corsica (France), on January 5, 2022 (AFP / Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA)
Record also in France, one of the most bereaved countries in Europe, where the French public health agency on Wednesday identified 332,252 new patients and 246 dead. Over the last seven days, the daily average covers 200,000 cases.
The state of health emergency was in several French overseas territories (Guadeloupe, Guyana, Mayotte, Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthélémy).
French President Emmanuel Macron on December 9, 2021 (POOL / Ludovic MARIN)
At the risk of further radicalizing positions, President Emmanuel Macron said he had decided to “piss off” the 10% of unvaccinated French people.
Global assessment of the novel coronavirus pandemic, as of January 5 at 11:00 GMT (AFP /)
“You will no longer be able to go to the restaurant, no longer have a cannon, no more going to drink a coffee, no more going to the theater, no more going to the movies” without a vaccine, “I really want to piss them off. And so we will continue to piss him off. to do, until the end, “said Macron to the daily Le Parisien.
Neighboring Italy (189,000 cases Wednesday) has decided to introduce compulsory vaccination for those over 50, or almost half of the population, to “slow down the contaminations curve and encourage Italians who have not yet vaccinated to do so, “according to Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
-Dizzying figures –
A woman waits to be tested for Covid-19 at a hospital in Asuncion, Paraguay, on January 4, 2022 (AFP / Norberto DUARTE)
In Italy and elsewhere, the figures are sometimes dizzying. The United States has identified nearly 890,000 new cases in 24 hours – they had exceeded one million on Monday – causing the Grammy Awards ceremony to be postponed indefinitely, while the Sundance Film Festival has decided to to be this year once more entirely virtual.
In the United Kingdom (more than 194,000 cases Wednesday), the British government nevertheless announced an easing of the restrictions imposed on travelers arriving in England, a decision immediately welcomed by the transport sector.
“Now that the Omicron variant is so dominant, these measures have only a limited impact on the growth of cases while continuing to cause significant costs for the tourism industry,” said Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
According to the National Statistics Office (ONS), one in 20 Britons was infected in the UK last week, and even one in 10 in London.
In Spain, the courts have extended the curfew by 14 days in much of the region of Catalonia (northeast).
In the Czech Republic, from January 17, anyone returning to work, vaccinated or not, will have to perform two antigenic tests per week.
In Romania, the mask has become mandatory outdoors, following a tripling of daily cases in a few days.
This context has prompted Hong Kong to ban all arrivals of travelers by plane from eight countries: France, Canada, United Kingdom, United States, India, Pakistan, Australia and the Philippines.
Number of deaths linked to the coronavirus officially announced by country, as of January 4 at 11:00 GMT (AFP /)
The large Asian financial center has also banned large-scale public events and decreed the closure of 15 types of non-essential businesses (bars, nightclubs, gyms, beauty salons …) will close.
In China, the city of Zhengzhou (center) on Wednesday began screening its 13 million inhabitants following a few cases of Covid, the confined metropolis of Xi’an announcing for its part the “control” of a recent outbreak of infection.
– The Djokovic case –
Novak Djokovic on February 21, 2021 during the Australian Open final in Melbourne (AFP / Paul CROCK)
In this context, the medical exemption granted to Serbian Novak Djokovic to participate in the Australian Tennis Open, although he has never communicated on his vaccination status, has provoked indignant reactions.
Australian border police said in a statement Thursday morning that the player’s visa was canceled because he failed to meet the strict requirements to enter the country.
“There will be no special rule for Novak Djokovic. Not the least,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had thundered the day before.
Woman undergoes Covid-19 test in New York on January 4, 2022 (AFP / ANGELA WEISS)
In Brazil, the authorities in Rio de Janeiro (south-east), faced with the Omicron wave which is announced and is already increasing contamination (nearly 10,000 per day over the last seven days, once morest half the previous week), decided on Tuesday to suspend the traditionally massive street parades of the next carnival at the end of February.
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