New measures, new reports and highlights: update on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.
The situation in France
The pressure is slowly easing on the hospital. Hospital pressure due to Covid-19 continues to decline slowly, including in critical care wards, but it still remains strong and the number of deaths still high, according to official figures released on Friday. French hospitals are currently welcoming 31,939 patients with Covid (including 2,377 who arrived in 24 hours), down from Thursday (32,415) and last week. The decline also continues timidly in the critical care services which treat the most serious cases, in particular in intensive care, with 3,371 patients (including 245 daily admissions) against 3,416 the day before, and 3,618 a week ago.
Now largely dominant, the Omicron variant causes less severe forms of Covid, which results in shorter hospital stays and a lower risk of going to intensive care. But deaths, up sharply since November, remain at a high level, mainly among unvaccinated and immunocompromised: 269 people were killed by the disease in 24 hours, and 310 the day before. “Over the past seven days, the epidemic has killed 2,000 people,” Prime Minister Jean Castex noted on Friday. In total, since the start of the epidemic a little less than two years ago, the Covid has killed 134,536 people. On the contamination front, the decline continues, confirming that the fifth wave of the epidemic has begun to ebb. In 24 hours, 131,376 positive cases were recorded, against 153,025 on Thursday. On average over the last seven days, this indicator stands at 159.323 against 273.180 the previous Friday. The government estimated on Wednesday that there were “reasons to hope” that “at the end of March-beginning of April we can lift the vaccination pass”, due to the improvement in the health situation.
Relief at school and in closed places. The mask will no longer be compulsory in closed places subject to the vaccination pass from February 28 in France, with the exception of transport, indicated the Ministry of Health, highlighting the “improvement of the health situation”. The health protocol in French schools will be lightened upon the return from school holidays, with the abolition in particular of the wearing of a mask in the playground.
“Convoys of freedom” takes off to Paris, Macron calls for “the greatest calm”. French President Emmanuel Macron called for “the greatest calm” as convoys of vehicles head for Paris to protest against the vaccination pass or against the government, while saying “to hear and respect” the “fatigue” and “the anger “related to the health crisis. Leaving in convoys from all over France, thousands of opponents approached Paris on Friday evening, despite the ban decreed by the police headquarters.
The faithful return to the sanctuary of Lourdes. Thousands of faithful flocked to the sanctuary of Lourdes, in the south of France, impatient to pass their hands on the wall of the cave, closed to the public for almost two years, due to the health crisis.
The situation in the world
The balance sheet in the world: more than 5.78 million dead.The pandemic has officially killed more than 5.78 million people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP on Friday midday. The United States is the country with the most deaths (915,617), ahead of Brazil (636,017) and India (507,177). The 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.
The “acute phase” of the pandemic ends in 2022, if 70% vaccinated. The “acute phase” of the Covid-19 pandemic will end this year if the target of 70% of the world’s population vaccinated is reached, said the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Efficacy of the Novavax vaccine. Novavax has announced an 80% efficacy for its Covid-19 vaccine in adolescents aged 12 to 17, and plans to submit this data to health authorities around the world “in the first quarter of 2022”. This two-dose vaccine has been tested in clinical trials in the United States on more than 2,200 adolescents, at a time when the Delta variant was dominant.
Germany: peak of infections “in sight”. The peak of Covid-19 infections, the number of which is currently at record highs, is “in sight” in Germany, assured Chancellor Olaf Scholz who is facing growing pressure to ease certain restrictions.
Italy drops the mask outdoors. Italy took a step towards a gradual return to normality on Friday with the end of the obligation to wear a mask outside and the reopening of nightclubs.
More compulsory, the mask resists in Madrid. Wearing a mask outside is no longer compulsory since Thursday in Spain, but in the streets of Madrid, the majority of passers-by keep it. “I wear it and I will continue to wear it, even if the law says it can be removed,” retired Alberto Díaz told AFP in the center of the Spanish capital.
Iceland plans to lift its restrictions. Gauges raised, bars and restaurants allowed to close later… Iceland will take another step in lifting its restrictions, the government has announced, which plans to lift all restrictions at the end of February, two weeks in advance .
To read :Prince Charles has, again, the Covid-19
State of emergency declared in Ontario. The Premier of Ontario, the epicenter of the anti-sanitary measures protest in Canada, declared a state of emergency in his province on Friday because of the “illegal” demonstrations that have been taking place for two weeks.
USA: shipment of vaccines to several African countries. The United States will ship a total of nearly 1.9 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Zambia, Congo-Brazzaville, Namibia, Mozambique and the small kingdom of Eswatini on Friday, an official said. of the White House.
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