Covid-19: after the holidays, 58% of pharmacies out of stock of self-tests

More than 5.39 million deaths worldwide. The Covid-19 pandemic has killed more than 5,395,400, according to a report established by AFP from official sources this Sunday at 6 p.m. In absolute terms, the United States is the most affected country with 816,533 deaths, followed by India (479,682), Russia (304,218) and Mexico (298,759). Peru is the one that deplores the greatest number of deaths in relation to its population. The Europe region is currently recording the most deaths in the world, with 53% of the world total in the last seven days, followed by the United States and 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.

Self-test raids during the holidays: 58% of pharmacies out of stock. The spokesperson for the Union of Community Pharmacists Unions (USPO), Gilles Bonnefond, assures the JDD, “58% of [21 500] pharmacies [de France] are out of stock » self-tests. Blame it on the Christmas weekend, which was the occasion of a “Absolute record” screening since the start of the health crisis, again according to the spokesperson for the USPO.

The shortage of tests in the United States will be resolved, promises Dr Fauci. The shortage of Covid-19 screening tests observed in the United States will soon be resolved, assures Dr Anthony Fauci, senior White House adviser in the fight against the pandemic, this Sunday, as the country observes an outbreak of cases due to omicron. The tests “Will not be fully available to everyone before January, warns the epidemiologist at the ABC channel. But we are tackling the testing issue, and that will be fixed very soon ”. On the occasion of the end of the year family holidays, the United States experienced a real rush on tests, especially on kits for testing at home.

The cultural world in the streets of Belgium. Several thousand people demonstrated this Sunday in Brussels to protest against the closure of performance halls imposed by the authorities to stem the spread of the omicron variant. The police, in a provisional count, counted around a thousand people at 2 p.m. at the start of the rally, not far from Place Royale, in the museum district of the Belgian capital. Another protest demonstration also took place in Liège, with several hundred people. Some theaters and many cinemas, notably in Brussels, Namur (center) and Liège (east), have even decided to defy the ban by remaining open. Our article.

Vaccination: UK is considering going door to door. “I will go and vaccinate at your place.” The British government could extend to the whole territory an experiment initially limited to Ipswich (Suffolk) of vaccination at home, via the door-to-door. Objective, to intensify the fight against the pandemic and in particular against the outbreak of the omicron variant, relates this Sunday the Guardian. And the British daily said that Downing Street is convinced that reaching unvaccinated even at home is the key to avoid having to put in place new measures of health restrictions.

The pandemic, the cause of a shortage of paper and cardboard? The Covid-19 accused of creating a shortage. And for good reason, since the emergence of the pandemic, online commerce has exploded. And so the packages. And so cardboard and paper. But, as RFI points out, French production cannot keep up with demand. What lead to both shortages and soaring prices.

Europe at the head of contaminations. Europe is currently the region with the most cases in the world, with 3,022,868 cases in the last seven days, or 57% of the global total, as well as the most deaths. Next comes the area comprising the United States and Canada (1,421,516 cases).

England: positive for Covid-19, Patrick Vieira placed in solitary confinement. French Crystal Palace coach Patrick Vieira has tested positive for Covid-19 and will therefore not be on his team’s bench for the game against Tottenham this Sunday afternoon, the Eagles say. The very holding of this derby of the 19th day seemed in the hot seat, according to the British press, but the Premier League refused a request formulated by Palace to postpone the match which is held for the “Boxing Day”, day which takes place the Boxing Day and which is a tradition almost as old as the British Championship itself.

The already confined Chinese city of Xi’an is tightening its restrictions. The Chinese city of Xi’an, where 13 million inhabitants are confined, announces this Sunday a disinfection “Total” and tightens restrictions, at a time when China has recorded a record number of Covid-19 contaminations for twenty-one months. Some 29,000 people have also been placed in solitary confinement in specific hotels. The Asian country has been applying a “zero Covid” strategy since last year, which consists of doing everything to limit the occurrence of new cases as much as possible. The authorities are redoubling their vigilance to avoid any major outbreak before the Beijing Winter Olympics (February 4-20).

Top 14: the Toulouse Stadium-French Stadium match scheduled for this Sunday evening postponed. The postponements of meetings are raining in the world of sport. And not surprisingly, it is the fault of the Covid. This time, it is the beautiful poster of the Top 14 which was to oppose this Sunday evening the Toulouse Stadium and the French Stadium. The match was postponed due to “The health situation of the workforce” Parisian, explains the League. This is the fourth match of this 13th day of the championship, known as the “Boxing Day”, scheduled for Sunday and Monday, which is postponed due to the spread of cases of Covid-19 in the workforce of French rugby clubs.

India launches vaccination for young people from the age of 15. India will launch the vaccination of young people aged 15 and over on January 3 to face the challenge posed to the country by the omicron variant, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Saturday. Caregivers and people aged 60 and over will also be able to receive “A dose of precaution” a week later, he stressed. “We understood very early on the importance of vaccination, which is why more than 61% of adults were able to receive two doses and 90% at least one dose”, argued the Prime Minister. Also read our analysis: poor countries in desperation for doses.

More than 7,000 flights canceled worldwide on Christmas weekendL. More than 7,000 flights were canceled by airlines across the world over Christmas weekend. At issue: Pilots, flight attendants and other staff members had to be quarantined after being exposed to Covid, which forced Lufthansa, Delta and United Airlines to cut flights.

Health personnel alert Olivier Véran to the circulation of the virus in children. In an open letter published this Sunday in the JDD and addressed to the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, 50 health personnel express their “worry” facing “Current level of viral circulation of the coronavirus among children and adolescents of school age”. “We wait for an unprecedented wave of childcare with pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome ‘, they warn, recalling that more than 300,000 children and adolescents have tested positive and that hospitalizations in conventional or intensive care have “Exceeded the peaks of previous epidemics”. They ask notamment “the postponement of the start of the school year on January 3”.