UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – New measures, new results and highlights: Le Figaro provides an update on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.
New demonstrations in France against the vaccine pass, a sixth wave in Iran and a record of daily infections in Russia… Le Figaro takes stock this Saturday, January 29, of the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.
Covid-19: the contamination plateau is confirmed
Since Friday, 332,398 new cases have been diagnosed in France, according to Public Health France. This figure is slightly lower than a week earlier (389,320 seven days ago).
The average of cases over the last seven days, the most faithful witness of the real trend in recorded contaminations, stands at 345,391, a figure which has been declining slightly each day since the middle of the week.
In the past 24 hours, 178 people diagnosed with Covid have died in hospital, a slight increase from a week earlier (167 died on January 22). Overall hospitalizations continue to progress, with a total of 31,282 patients currently in hospital with a Covid diagnosis (compared to 28,515 seven days ago).
On the other hand, the decline, albeit slow, continues in critical care services, including intensive care units, which currently receive 3,634 Covid patients (3,746 seven days earlier).
France: new demonstrations against the vaccine pass
Opponents of the vaccine pass demonstrated on Saturday in several cities in France, a few days after the entry into force of this device which hardens the health pass in force since the summer of 2021 to encourage anti-Covid vaccination.
In Grenoble, a dozen antivax demonstrators heckled Prime Minister Jean Castex, shouting “Castex in jail», «Assassin», «Shame of France“.
Read alsoIncidents, controversies… How the debates on the vaccine pass got bogged down in Parliament
Record daily infections in Russia
Russia surpassed the symbolic bar of 100,000 daily Covid-19 infections for the first time on Saturday, a record that illustrates the strength of the new wave due to the highly contagious Omicron variant.
This is a record for the ninth consecutive day in the European country with the most deaths in absolute value (330,111).
Read alsoCovid-19: in Russia, vaccination slowed down by general mistrust
“sixth wave» in Iran
Iran is facing a new outbreak of the coronavirus due to the Omicron variant, described as “sixth waveby the authorities.
Since the start of the pandemic, Iran has officially deplored 132,380 deaths according to the Ministry of Health, but by the very admission of several Iranian officials, this statistic is largely underestimated.
Read alsoIran accused of delaying access to treatment for prisoner and poet Baktash Abtin, who died of Covid-19
Cases surge in the Solomon Islands
A team of Australian doctors arrived in the Solomon Islands on Saturday to help authorities tackle a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases.
Until last week, this country of 700,000 inhabitants, which had been hermetically cut off from the world at the start of the pandemic, had recorded no deaths and only 31 cases. The contaminations then exploded and on Friday, the balance sheet stood at nearly 900 cases and five deaths.
Read alsoCovid: prolonged confinements in the Pacific islands in the face of the multiplication of cases
Joni Mitchell in turn retires from Spotify
Country singer Joni Mitchell announced on Friday that she was removing her music from Spotify due to Covid-19 “lies” being broadcast on the streaming platform, as Neil Young had done shortly before.
These initiatives aim to protest against the daily podcast of the American host Joe Rogan – the most listened to on the platform in 2021 – accused of having discouraged vaccination among young people and of having pushed for the use of a treatment not authorized, ivermectin.
Read alsoSocial media remains ambiguous over vaccine misinformation
JO-2022: five Canadians tested positive
Five members of the Canadian delegation, among those who arrived in Beijing for the Winter Olympics (February 4-20), tested positive for Covid-19, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) announced on Friday, without specifying whether they are athletes, coaches and supervisors.
According to the figures communicated by the organizing committee of the Olympic Games-2022, out of 5092 tests carried out on the athletes or the members of the delegations, 23 were found to be positive.
Read alsoBeijing 2022: Winter Olympics with 100% artificial snow, a sad first
More than 5.64 million dead
The pandemic has officially killed more than 5.64 million people worldwide since the end of December 2019, out of more than 368 million confirmed contaminations, according to a report established by AFP on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. GMT.
The United States is the country with the most deaths (882,881), ahead of Brazil (625,884) and India (493,198).
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 established.