The latest on the corona pandemic – Omicron with a shorter course of the disease than Delta – News

  • 1:48

    Omicron with a shorter disease course than Delta

    The symptoms of people who have been infected with the omicron variant last a little less long than with the delta variant – at least if the people are vaccinated.

    On average, vaccinated people with symptoms are sick for two days less than those who have been infected with the Delta variant. This is the conclusion of a British study in the journal The Lancet.

    The researchers also write that people with omicron lost their sense of smell significantly less often than with the delta variant. Conversely, sore throats were significantly more common with Omikron.

    Legend:

    For the study, the researchers examined reports from around 63,000 people. All were vaccinated prior to infection.

    Keystone/Archive

  • 20:59

    Millions in lockdown in Shanghai

    In China, the government is stubbornly sticking to its zero-Covid strategy – despite the worst pandemic outbreak the country has ever experienced. The metropolis of Shanghai alone records tens of thousands of new infections every day. And this despite the fact that the country’s largest city has been in lockdown for days. 25 million people are currently not allowed to leave their four walls. Which is increasingly causing anger even among the Chinese loyal to the authorities.

  • 19:34

    Nancy Pelosi tested positive for Covid – no symptoms

    A corona test by the Chair of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, was positive. A spokesman for the 82-year-old Democrat said she currently has no symptoms and will quarantine as per guidelines. Pelosi is fully vaccinated, has received a booster shot and is grateful for the “robust protection” of vaccinations. A press conference scheduled for Thursday morning by Pelosi in the US Congress was canceled at the last minute.

    On Wednesday afternoon, when a law was signed in the White House, Pelosi was temporarily without a mask right next to President Joe Biden (79) and the Democratic Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer (71). This was also seen on her Twitter account. As Speaker of the House of Representatives, Pelosi holds the third highest office in the state, behind President and Vice President.

    Pelosi’s positive test result came shortly after more infections among prominent politicians this week. On Wednesday, for example, Justice Minister Merrick Garland and Trade Secretary Gina Raimondo said that they had tested positive for the corona virus. A close associate of Vice President Kamala Harris was also affected. The capital’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, said Thursday she was infected and had mild symptoms.

  • 17:27

    SRF correspondent Reinhart on no to compulsory vaccination: “Politics doesn’t work that way”

    The failure of the general vaccination requirement in the German Bundestag became a farce, as SRF correspondent Stefan Reinhart analyses. Basically, three mistakes were made. The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has not submitted a bill. Thus the chaos was inevitable. Error number 2 is Health Minister Karl Lauterbach’s back and forth. And last but not least, absurd compromises in the Bundestag would not have led to the goal.

    Scholz and Lauterbach in conversation in the Bundestag.

    Legend:

    SRF correspondent Stefan Reinhart: “It’s a bitter defeat for Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as well as for Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach.”

    Reuters

  • 12:48 p.m

    Vaccination fails in the German Bundestag

    The compromise proposal for the introduction of general corona vaccination in Germany failed in the Bundestag. 378 MPs rejected the proposal for an obligation initially from the age of 60, 296 MPs voted in favor and nine abstained.

    The Bundestag’s decision is a major defeat for Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. As late as Wednesday evening, in the “heute journal” on ZDF, he assumed that a majority was behind the project.

  • 12:33 p.m

    AR: Hardship program will be extended

    The canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden is once again participating in the federal government’s hardship program for companies plagued by the corona virus. The government council issued the cantonal legal basis and put it into effect on April 5th.

    With the 2022 hardship program, the canton continues to enable Ausserrhoden companies to financially compensate for their uncovered fixed costs in 2022 due to a loss in sales, as the cantonal chancellery announced.

    Funding can be applied for by companies that between March 2020 and June 2021 have recorded a drop in sales of at least 40 percent compared to the average annual sales in 2018 and 2019 – or have been officially closed for more than 40 days since November 1, 2020.

  • 12:16

    ECB boss Lagarde has Corona

    ECB President Christine Lagarde has been infected with the corona virus. She had tested positive for Covid-19, “fortunately the symptoms are pretty mild,” wrote the President of the European Central Bank on Twitter. She will work from home in Frankfurt until she has fully recovered. There are no effects on the activities of the central bank. However, the Governing Council of the ECB will meet next Thursday for its monetary policy meeting.

  • 11:02

    Germany: Fewer people use public transport

    The corona pandemic caused the number of passengers on buses and trains in Germany to fall further last year.

    At just under 7.9 billion, the number slipped to its lowest level since the start of the time series in 2004, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office. The pre-crisis year 2019 was thus 34 percent below the previous year by four percent. 2020 was already shaped by Corona, but not in its entirety.

    The decline compared to the previous year is exclusively due to the first quarter of 2021, which was characterized by lockdown measures and the introduction of the obligation to work from home, while the same period of the previous year was hardly affected by the pandemic. In the second and fourth quarters of 2021, there were more passengers on bus and rail services in comparison.

    In contrast to local public transport, the number of passengers in long-distance rail transport increased slightly in 2021: At 85.1 million passengers, there were two percent more passengers than in the previous year.

  • 8:54

    France: Second booster soon from 60

    In France, people over the age of 60 who were last vaccinated more than six months ago can be vaccinated with a second booster dose. This was announced by Health Minister Olivier Véran. The second booster is not mandatory. Previously, this dose was reserved for people over the age of 80.

    “We will be able to open this 2nd booster dose to French people aged 60 and over if they are six months away from their last booster injection,” without it becoming mandatory, the minister said on RTL radio. Until now, this dose was reserved for people aged 80 and over, an announcement Jean Castex made in mid-March amid the resurgence of the pandemic.

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