New measures, new reports and highlights: an update on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.
The situation in France
France recorded more than 270,000 cases in 24 hours, a record level. The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran spoke of figures which make you “dizzy”. The positivity rate, or the proportion of cases among those tested, now exceeds 15% in the country, close to its autumn 2020 records.
Faced with the Omicron tidal wave, most governments have imposed new restrictions, including encouraging teleworking, while putting pressure on the unvaccinated. In France, the government wants to institute a vaccine pass. President Emmanuel Macron played the provocation by declaring: “The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off”. “I am not going to put them in prison, I am not going to forcibly vaccinate them. And so, we must tell them: from January 15, you will no longer be able to go to the restaurant, you will no longer be able to take a cannon, you You will no longer be able to go for a coffee, you will no longer be able to go to the theater, you will no longer be able to go to the movies… “, explained the Head of State, arousing strong reactions, three months before the presidential election.
On the government bench, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran tried to explain the presidential word, in a more civilized language. “The evil that is gnawing our country is a vaccination which although important, remains insufficient”, with “millions” of unvaccinated, he explained. The words of Mr. Macron ruined a beginning of appeasement at the Palais Bourbon, already agitated the previous night by a surprise vote temporarily suspending work on this text, to the chagrin of the majority.
The number of cases is exploding around the world
Nearly 890,000 cases in 24 hours in the United States, 270,000 in France, more than 200,000 in the United Kingdom: Covid-19 contaminations continued to multiply on Tuesday across the world, threatening certain sectors with major dysfunctions.
Many personalities are among the new “positives”: from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden to Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, including Paris goalkeeper SG Gianluigi Donnarumma and defender Lucas Hernandez from Bayern Munich, where no less than eight players are affected …
Faced with a worrying fifth wave, the United States recorded nearly 890,000 cases in 24 hours, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday evening, down slightly from the record of one million cases recorded on Monday.
Argentina is also experiencing a spectacular increase in the number of people positive for Covid-19, with 81,000 new cases recorded on Tuesday, almost double the previous day, confirming that the current tidal wave is reaching Latin America. In Brazil, the second country in the world most bereaved in the world by the pandemic after the United States, the authorities in Rio de Janeiro decided on Tuesday to suspend the traditionally massive street parades of the next carnival at the end of February.
The United Kingdom meanwhile recorded a new record of more than 200,000 cases in 24 hours on Tuesday, but British Prime Minister Boris Johnson again refused to toughen health measures. The current wave of the epidemic, relaunched at the end of 2021 by the arrival of the Omicron variant, considerably more contagious than the previous ones even if its severity seems limited, is leading to an increase in absences for illness. A phenomenon which causes dysfunctions in several sectors, in particular that of health. At least six hospitals in the United Kingdom declared “critical incidents” on Tuesday, meaning that the situation could affect priority care. The lack of staff was also affecting the start of the school year in England, where the government renewed its call for retired teachers to come in as reinforcements.
The balance sheet in the world
The pandemic has made at least 5,448,314 dead worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources, Tuesday at 11:00 GMT.
In absolute value, the United States are the most bereaved country with 829,963 dead, followed by the Brazil (619,384), India (482,017) and Russia (312,187).
The World Health Organization 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.
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