New measures, new reports and highlights: an update on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.
The situation in France
“The worst is behind us, for this fifth wave of the Covid epidemic”, declared Wednesday evening the Minister of Health, who plans to lift the vaccination pass before July and announces a relaxation of the rules for obtaining this pass. . “Across the country, we have exceeded the peak of contaminations (…) We are reaching the peak of hospitalizations”, declared Olivier Véran on BFMTV. “We did the hardest part of this wave” and “the worst is behind us”.
The number of people hospitalized due to Covid-19 were stable on Wednesday, still above 32,000, while the recorded contaminations declined over a week, according to figures published in the evening by the health authorities.
32,720 patients are currently in hospital with a Covid diagnosis (including 3,230 admissions in the past 24 hours) compared to 32,894 on Tuesday and 30,624 a week ago, according to Public Health France. Critical care services welcomed 3,700 patients (including 366 admissions) against 3,751 on Tuesday and 3,712 a week ago.
The number of new cases stood at 315,363. On average over seven days, 306,076 cases were recorded against 365,130 a week ago, seeming to confirm that the peak of contamination has passed. The number of deaths since the start of the epidemic, almost two years ago, now stands at 131,588 people.
To read :“A health disaster”: the government declares a state of emergency in New Caledonia
According to the counts of the last 24 hours, 277 people died in hospital with a Covid diagnosis (compared to 382 the day before). Now dominant, the Omicron variant causes less severe forms of Covid, which results in shorter hospital stays and a lower risk of going to intensive care. The government began on Wednesday to lift restrictions on the French, ending the wearing of masks outside, gauges in places receiving the seated public or compulsory teleworking. But in New Caledonia, a state of emergency has been declared.
Italy to lift restrictions
The Italian government decided on Wednesday to ease several anti-Covid restrictions, particularly in schools, with Prime Minister Mario Draghi promising to “continue the reopening policy in the coming weeks” in the peninsula.
Among the measures adopted by the Council of Ministers is in particular the end of distance learning for primary and secondary school students vaccinated or cured, regardless of the number of positive students in their class.
In the field of tourism, the government has also decided that visitors from countries whose vaccination rules are different from those in force in Italy could access with a simple health pass (for which a negative test is sufficient) hotels and restaurants as well as at all places where a vaccination pass is normally required.
The balance sheet in the world
The pandemic has officially killed at least 5,686,108 people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP on Wednesday midday. The United States is the country with the most deaths (890,770), ahead of Brazil (628,067), India (497,975) and Russia (332,690).
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 established.
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