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.
12:23
The government has announced that the textual examination of the vaccination pass, which should replace the health pass, will take place on January 3 at the National Assembly.
11:03
Faced with the surge of the Omicron variant, US authorities will distribute 500 million tests for Covid-19 free of charge, mobilize military medical personnel if necessary and increase vaccination capacity, but will not take binding measures, a senior White House official.
“We have the tools to deal with this wave,” he said at a press conference, adding that if Americans “are vaccinated and adhere to the precautions we are familiar with, especially wearing a mask when they travel, they can celebrate Christmas and the end of the year celebrations serenely. “
10:35 am
The government will decide, or not, to include the corporate health pass in the text on the vaccination pass after meeting local elected officials and parliamentary groups on Tuesday afternoon, its spokesperson Gabriel Attal said.
“We are going to talk about it today, with local elected officials, with parliamentary groups”, and “we will make a decision at the end of whether or not to put it in the text of the law” transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass, a he indicated on France 2, with reference to this text that the government wishes to see adopted by the end of January.
He argued that “there will be a parliamentary discussion anyway.” He recalled that the consultations carried out on Monday between the Minister of Labor Elisabeth Borne and the social partners, “who are not enthusiastic” about a work pass, made it possible to identify “a form of consensus around the need for telework”, but that there is “on the other hand not really a consensus around a sanitary pass in company”.
09:34
“Today we will reach 20 million recalls. Thank you to all those who, mobilized as ever, allow us to protect ourselves against the delta and omicron variants ”, wrote Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health on Twitter. “We continue, we amplify, we will get there, together! “.
Today we will reach 20 million recalls. Thank you to all those who, mobilized like never before, allow us to protect ourselves against the delta and omicron variants. We continue, we amplify, we will get there, together!
– Olivier Véran (@olivierveran) December 21, 2021
07:58
The large Chinese city of Xi’an (north), known for its army buried in terracotta, began Tuesday to screen all of its 13 million inhabitants after the detection of around 40 cases of Covid-19. While the number of cases in China is extremely low compared to other countries, authorities do not want to leave anything to chance before the Winter Olympics and the major Chinese New Year trips.
The country has practically eradicated the epidemic on its soil since the spring of 2020 thanks to long mandatory quarantines on arrival, targeted containments, massive screenings, mobile applications for tracking movements and the drastic limitation of international flights.
6:10 a.m.
The Omicron variant is now largely in the majority in the United States, where President Joe Biden is due to deliver a speech on Tuesday, while in Germany, the new Chancellor Olaf Scholz will announce restrictions, without confinement on the agenda.
Omicron accounted for 73.2% of new Covid-19 infections in the United States during the week ended December 18, according to data from American health authorities released Monday evening. The previous week the figure was only 12.6%.
Omicron’s proportion hovers around 95% of cases in a group of northwestern states (Oregon, Washington and Idaho) and another in the southeast, including Florida, according to the Centers for Prevention and Control. Against Disease (CDC).
05:58
The Peruvian Congress announced Monday that only deputies and employees who have received at least two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine will be able to access the headquarters in order to limit infections in the face of the arrival of the first cases of the Omicron variant in the country.
“Entrance to the facilities of the Congress of the Republic will be restricted to people who have received at least two doses of the vaccine,” a statement posted on Twitter said.
This measure was adopted in accordance with a government regulation that came into force on December 15, which prevents people without a vaccination schedule from entering public buildings.