LIVE – Covid-19: health authorities authorize Paxlovid antiviral treatment

Lech Wales has tested positive for Covid-19. At 78, the icon of the fight against the communist regime in Poland in the 1980s announced that he had tested positive for Covid-19. The former charismatic leader of the Solidarity trade union movement, which in 1989 contributed to a peaceful end to the communist regime in Poland, notably suffers from heart problems.

The doubling of hospital overtime pay will be extended until the end of February. Decided in December by the government, the measure will finally be extended until the end of February announced Friday the Minister of Solidarity and Health, Olivier Véran. “We are extending the doubling of overtime pay for hospital staff until February 28. A fair recognition of their exceptional mobilization to face the current wave” of Covid, tweeted the minister. The government had already put in place measures in favor of hospital staff during previous waves, which had been reactivated in December, including exceptional compensation for leave not taken up to 2,000 euros and a 50% increase in overtime.

The omicron variant now dominant in Europe, according to the European health agency. Omicron is now the dominant Covid-19 variant in the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA), with a “prevalence of 78% on average”, announces the European health agency this Friday. “Omicron’s type of transmission in the EU/EEA changed from community-based to mainstream,” said the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), based in Stockholm, in a weekly update.

The EEA includes the 27 member countries of the EU, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

The World Bank releases more than 660 million euros for South Africa. The World Bank has granted a loan of more than 660 million euros (750 million dollars) to South Africa, to support the recovery of its economy hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, the ministry announced on Friday. finances. “This loan will support the efforts of the South African government to provide a response to the Covid crisis, support the poorest and most vulnerable against the social and economic consequences of the pandemic, and support a sustainable economic recovery”, the ministry said in a statement.

The continent’s second largest economy, South Africa has been hit hard by several waves of the pandemic that have killed nearly 94,000 people and infected 3.5 million, officially making it the most seriously affected African country.

Health authorities authorize the antiviral treatment Paxlovid. The High Authority for Health (HAS) gave the green light on Friday to the use of the antiviral Paxlovid as a curative treatment against Covid 19, the first deliveries of which are expected in France within a few days. Following the opinion of the national drug agency, the HAS “authorizes early access to the Paxlovid treatment (nirmatrelvir / ritonavir) from the Pfizer laboratory for adults with Covid-19 who do not require oxygen therapy and are at high risk of progressing to a severe form of the disease”.

This is a treatment primarily intended for populations at risk (very elderly, immunocompromised, suffering from certain rare diseases, etc.). This pill is taken orally as three tablets per day for five days. It is recommended to take it as soon as possible after the positive diagnosis for Covid-19 and at most within five days of the onset of symptoms.

The Covid scams Stade Toulousain. The rugby match between Toulouse, defending champion, and Cardiff, scheduled for Saturday on the occasion of the 4th day of the European Cup, was canceled due to Covid-19 contamination in the Toulouse ranks and Cardiff declared winner on green carpet, the organizer announced on Friday. Stade Toulousain president Didier Lacroix shouted at “unfairness” regarding this decision which deprives his team of a chance to comfortably secure their qualification for the round of 16. However, the Toulouse club, already four-time European champion, claims to have provided proof that it was able to field enough players who remained negative to play the match.

This edition of the Champions Cup, largely disrupted by the pandemic, is widely criticized by observers, in particular because of the lack of clarity and readability of the decisions of the EPCR (european professional club rugby). Under similar conditions, matches are either postponed or canceled, sometimes leading to a sharing of points and other times a defeat on the green carpet.

The vaccine pass finally validated. The Constitutional Council ratified on Friday most of the provisions of the controversial bill establishing the vaccination pass, including possible identity checks by cafeterias or restaurateurs, in the name of the objective of “health protection” facing the Covid-19 epidemic. The Elders, who had been seized by the opposition, however censored the possibility for the organizers of political meetings to request a health pass from participants. The organizers may, however, take “all useful health precautionary measures, such as limiting the number of participants, distributing masks or ventilating the rooms”, according to a press release.

The coach of the Blues of the positive hand. Launched in full in the quest for a Euro, always ultra-tough competition in handball, the France team will have to do without Guillaume Gille. He will miss the game against Iceland on Saturday. This is not the team’s first covid: defender Karl Konan tested positive on Tuesday and nine players had had the Covid before their departure for the host country, Hungary.

Adele in Las Vegas is not for now. “I’m sorry but the show is not ready” : it is in tears that the British singer announced the postponement of her series of shows in residence in Sin City. In question, the Covid, of course, which is decimating his team. In November, shortly after the release of his fourth studio album 30, the diva had revealed the preparation of a long-lasting show in Las Vegas, every weekend for twelve weeks from… today.

Omicron has an offspring. He has a rapper’s name, BA.2 (which makes you think of B2O aka Booba), appeared a few weeks ago and is now being closely scrutinized by scientists. The latest Covid variant, omicron ascendant, does not “don’t change the situation” according to the Minister of Health, but its precise characteristics question. “There are variations fairly regularly, recalled Thursday evening Olivier Véran. For what we know so far, it more or less matches the characteristics we know of Omicron”. Hop, it’s here to know everything we know and everything we don’t know about BA.2.

The couple with 1,000 fake health passes indicted. This man and this woman, who come from the Lyon suburbs, are suspected of having sold all these false passes by hacking into the professional account of a nurse in Gironde this summer, the gendarmerie announced on Friday. The man was imprisoned, in accordance with the requisitions of the prosecution, while his companion was left free, under judicial control. The couple had been arrested on Tuesday as part of an operation mobilizing gendarmes from the research section of Bordeaux and the Central Office for the Fight against Attacks on the Environment and Public Health in Bordeaux and Lyon. Freed was talking about this lucrative traffic in this investigation.

The Covid tour continues with students and teachers. Over the past seven days, 463,197 children have contracted the disease, according to the weekly update from the Ministry of Education. That is 3.79% of all students, although this figure is based only on voluntary declarations and could therefore in fact be higher. Regarding educational staff, 30,774 of them carried out a test which turned out to be positive over the past week, or 2.56% of the total.

Masks up. How to hijack a flight, a little manual for a woman who did not want to wear a mask in the air. On Thursday, an American Airlines flight from Miami to London turned around halfway because of the passenger, the airline said in a statement. “A disruptive customer”,as the company named in a statement, recovered on arrival by Miami police. The aircraft was carrying 129 passengers and 14 crew members.

The Constitutional Council for or against the vaccination pass? Protective measure, political choice or new deprivation of liberty… The vaccination pass, on which the “wise men” decide on Friday, recalls the need to remain “vigilant” in the face of exceptional measures, say the lawyers. The Constitutional Council was seized of the bill definitively adopted on Sunday by opposition parliamentarians, who denounce a device undermining fundamental freedoms without having proven its effectiveness in curbing the spread of the epidemic.

Castex hints at the end of the omicron tunnel. Parents on the verge of a nervous breakdown, French people exhausted by repeated tests, spectators and organizers of concerts in the harbor, we had to give some grounds for hope. Or rather “draw up prospects”, according to the expression of the Prime Minister during a press conference this Thursday evening. “Without ignoring anything of the tensions that are still exerted on our health system”, in order to avoid a general relaxation, Castex presented a “calendar for the relief of constraints from the first days of February”. Back to the measures taken by the government.