DIRECT – Coronavirus: “absenteeism” could “disorganize” France, warns the Scientific Council

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Many countries, including France, are facing a fifth wave of the epidemic. Follow all the news related to Covid-19 in France and around the world.

2:24 p.m.

The LR presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse demanded Thursday that the Covid-19 screening tests be made free “until January 10” to allow “all those who are reluctant to the vaccine” to use them “to celebrations”.

Faced with “an escalation of contaminations” linked to the Omicron variant, “I made a number of proposals (…) such as making the tests free until January 10 to allow all those who are reluctant to the vaccine to get tested for the holidays “, she said during a trip to the vaccination center of Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis).

1:50 p.m.

The extreme contagiousness of the Omicron variant could lead to a “disorganization” of many sectors in January (supermarkets, transport, hospital, school …) because of an increase in work stoppages and “absenteeism”, put on Thursday the Scientific Council.

According to this body which advises the government, it could become necessary to lighten the isolation rules in order to limit this disorganization, taking into account the fact that Omicron seems to cause less severe forms of Covid.

We must expect “a possible disorganization of a number of essential services” in January, because of “absenteeism” and “work stoppages” due to “the very large number of contaminations at Omicron”, a warned the President of the Scientific Council, Jean-François Delfraissy, during an online press point.

12:30 p.m.

Emmanuel Macron again called on the French on Thursday to “take care of each other” in particular through tests or self-tests before meeting their loved ones for the end of the year holidays, facing the 5th wave of Covid-19 and the arrival of the Omicron variant.

“Happy Holidays to all! To those who will have the joy of getting together with their family for Christmas: barrier gestures, a preventive test to reassure, and in the event of a symptom, we isolate ourselves, we alert. To those mobilized to treat, protect ourselves: thank you. Let us take care of each other, “wrote in a tweet the Head of State, who is spending the end of year celebrations at Fort Brégançon, according to his entourage.

12h18

More than 6.2 million Covid-19 tests were carried out during the week of December 13 to 19, exceeding the record number of the previous week, according to the Ministry of Health. With the approach of the holidays, 6.27 million people were tested in one week, against 5.86 million from December 6 to 12, according to figures from the Drees (director of research, studies, evaluation and statistics).

The number of tests carried out is up sharply for 16-25 year olds and 26-40 year olds, while those under 16 were around 10% less likely to be screened after their high activity between the end of November and the beginning of December. . La Drees said in a statement that the results “show a decrease in the number of saliva tests in the youngest, in connection with the start of the Christmas holidays.”

11:14

The pharmaceutical company Astrazeneca said Thursday that a third dose of its vaccine against Covid-19 “significantly” increases the level of antibodies against Omicron, while this variant of the coronavirus is sweeping over Europe and the United States. “The levels of neutralizing antibodies Omicron after a third dose of Vaxzevria”, its anti-Covid vaccine, “were generally similar to the levels reached after two doses against the Delta variant”, details the Anglo-Swedish giant in a press release.

“The levels observed after a third dose were higher than the antibodies found in individuals who had previously been infected and recovered naturally” from the other variants of Covid-19, specifies Astrazeneca.

The third dose study was conducted “independently” by researchers at the University of Oxford, with whom Astrazeneca designed its vaccine.

10:25 a.m.

The Minister for Foreign Trade, Frank Riester, announced Wednesday evening that he had tested positive for Covid-19, in a message posted on his Twitter account.

“Following a fever, I tested positive for Covid-19. I isolate myself this evening, and carry out my missions remotely. Be careful, get vaccinated and protect your relatives by respecting health instructions and barrier gestures “, wrote the Minister.

This is the second time that Franck Riester has contracted the virus: he had already tested positive for the new coronavirus when he was Minister of Culture, in March 2020.

9:45 a.m.

The PS group in the National Assembly should vote “in principle” for the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccine pass, but waits to see the text, and will not vote for a corporate health pass, its president Valérie Rabault said Thursday .

“I never sign a blank check to the government, so I will wait to see the text, to know what is put in it, but in principle we will vote,” she said on Europe 1, recalling that Socialist parliamentarians have been calling since July for compulsory vaccination against Covid-19 for all adults.

Asked also about the idea of ​​a health pass in business, which the government does not intend to include in the text unveiled next week but which could be introduced via an amendment tabled by a member of the majority, Valérie Rabault denounced a “hypocrisy”, stressing that she “never approves of the government’s sleight of hand”.

8:15 a.m.

For the head of the nephrology service at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, it is essential to speed up vaccination on a global scale. “We can do six doses of vaccine, if we do not allow certain countries to have access to their first doses, new variants will continue to appear,” he says.

7:10 a.m.

The pandemic has killed at least 5,368,777 people around the world since the end of 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Wednesday at midday. Currently the Europe region is the one with the most cases in the world, with 2,870,947 in the last seven days.

6:46 a.m.

The number of Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic has exceeded 100 million across the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced on Wednesday. More than half of these cases (51 million) have been reported in the United States and 22 million in Brazil, according to PAHO, which also indicates that cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in 19 countries and territories on the continent.

“Countries must maintain their public health measures to limit transmission of the virus and adjust to local risks” of spread, PAHO director Carissa Etienne said in a statement. According to PAHO, the majority of countries in the Americas will have reached or exceeded by the end of the year the goal set by the World Health Organization of 40% of the eligible population vaccinated against the coronavirus. But some countries like Haiti, Guatemala or Jamaica should not achieve this.

6:10 a.m.

The Spanish government decided on Wednesday to make the wearing of masks outdoors compulsory again, as the number of Covid-19 cases reached a record of more than 60,000 new cases in 24 hours.





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