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 number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients was again down slightly on Tuesday, in particular in critical care services where the government expects a sharp decline by mid-March to lift the vaccine pass. Slowly but surely, the hospital is emptying of Covid: 27,566 infected patients are now cared for there, 817 less than the day before, including 2,842 in critical care (-63 in 24 hours) according to daily figures published by Public Health France. A week ago, there were 31,091 hospitalized patients, including 3,235 in critical care. It will be necessary to go below the threshold of 1,500 patients in sheaves to lift the vaccination pass, Olivier Véran said on Tuesday, still hoping to achieve this objective by mid-March.
To read : It is too early to assess the effects of the vaccination pass, recognizes Véran
The Minister of Health also aims at this deadline for a drop in contamination below an incidence rate of 500 per 100,000 inhabitants, against around 850 currently. Despite the 97,382 new confirmed cases, the trend remains encouraging: over the last seven days, the daily average is less than 75,000 cases, against more than 82,000 the day before and 119,700 a week earlier. The epidemic continues to kill: 286 people have died in the past 24 hours, compared to 283 the day before and 304 the previous Tuesday.
Meanwhile, vaccination is at a standstill and even shows a slightly lower balance sheet than in previous days, due to the cancellation of fraudulent “false certificates”: according to the General Directorate of Health (DGS), 54.15 million French people have received at least one dose (80.3% of the population), 53.13 million are fully vaccinated (78.8% of the population) and 38.63 million have received a booster dose.
Omicron BA.2 does not cause a more serious form of Covid
Omicron’s BA.2 sub-variant – which is spreading rapidly in Denmark in particular – does not “cause a more serious form” of Covid than the BA.1 variant which circulates widely in the world, an official from the health department said on Tuesday. World Health Organization (WHO).
The balance sheet in the world
The pandemic has officially made at least 5,892,084 dead in the world since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Tuesday at 11 a.m. GMT.
In ultimate value, United States are the country with the most deaths (935,991), ahead of Brazil (644,604), India (512,344) and Russia (347,031).
The WHO 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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