New measures, new reports and highlights: the update of this Wednesday, December 29, 2021 on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic in the world.
The situation in France
A “tidal wave” with a record of more than 200,000 Covid-19 contaminations in 24 hours: Olivier Véran defended on Wednesday the urgency of the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccine pass, which passed overnight a first step in the National Assembly.
“More than a million French people are currently positive for the coronavirus” and “10% of the French population is in contact,” warned the Minister of Health, in a deep voice, before the Law Commission at the Palais Bourbon. Consequence: the mask becomes compulsory again in the streets of Paris for those over 11 years old from Friday, said the police headquarters.
For the New Year, she also announced the closure of drinking establishments on Saturday January 1 and Sunday January 2 from 2:00 a.m. Earlier, the government announced that nightclubs across the country will keep their doors closed for three more weeks in January.
While the epidemic is recording records of contamination in France, with 208,000 new cases on Wednesday, the government also intends to accelerate. Validated on the night of Wednesday to Thursday in committee, the bill “strengthening the tools for managing the health crisis” will be discussed Monday in the Chamber of the Assembly, then in the Senate from January 5, for an update. implementation of the vaccination pass on the 15th.
Tension in hospitals. Tension continues to rise in hospitals as the number of beds occupied Wednesday by Covid patients in France rose to 17,856 (against 17,405 the day before), with 1,949 new hospitalizations. A little over 650,000 people also received an injection of the Covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday: 48,535 first injections and 575,532 booster doses. In total, 51,711,014 people have had a complete vaccination schedule (76.7% of the total population) since the start of the vaccination campaign in France. And 23,635,447 received a booster dose.
The situation in the world
A “tsunami” for health systems
The “tsunami” of cases due to the Omicron and Delta variants of Covid-19 will drive health systems to the brink of “collapse”, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday.
“I am very concerned that the more transmissible Omicron circulating at the same time as Delta is causing a tsunami of cases. This is and will continue to put immense strain on an exhausted health workforce and health systems in the world. on the verge of collapse, ”WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Distancing from Mecca
Saudi Arabia has again imposed physical distancing measures on the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, due to an epidemic rebound in its territory.
European football caught up by the Covid
Cascading positive cases, matches postponed, gauges, even behind closed doors: the Europe of football, Spain in the lead, suffers the full brunt of the upsurge of Covid-19 which threatens to paralyze the championships in early 2022.
Bali: deportation of tourists breaking the rules
Any foreigner caught breaking sanitary rules during New Year’s celebrations on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali will be deported.
Record of contaminations in the United States
With more than 265,000 daily infections on average for a week, the United States is facing a worrying record outbreak of Covid-19 infections fueled by the Omicron variant, which exceeds the wave recorded in January 2021.
Record of hospitalizations in England since March
More than 10,000 people were hospitalized with Covid-19 in England, a first since the beginning of March, while the United Kingdom recorded more than 183,000 additional infections, a new record. In London, the epicenter of the Omicron wave, 3,310 people were in hospital with the coronavirus, 63% more than the previous week and a highest since February.
Reduced duration of quarantines
Argentina, after the United States on Monday, then Spain, announced on Wednesday a reduction in the quarantine for people positive for Covid, from 10 to 7 days, in an attempt to minimize the impact on economic activity in the face of a record spike in cases in recent days.
Belgium reconsiders its decision to close cultural venues
Disowned by the justice system, the Belgian government backtracked by reopening theaters and cinemas, closed last week to fight against the Omicron variant, a decision that had aroused the rebellion in artistic circles. A gauge of 200 people, strongly contested, has however been maintained.
Record of global contaminations this week
The world has reached new records of Covid-19 cases over the past week, more than 935,000 recorded each day on average from December 22 to 28 (more than 6.5 million cumulative cases over the week), according to a count of AFP produced from official reports.
These figures, the highest since the start of the pandemic, are based on reports communicated daily by the health authorities in each country.
More than 5.4 million dead
The pandemic has made at least 5,421,160 dead in the world since December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources, Thursday in the middle of the day.
United States are the most bereaved country with 822,920 dead, followed by Brasil (618,817), india (480,860) and Russia (307,948).
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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