Posted Jan 19, 2022, 7:03 a.m. Updated Jan 19, 2022, 8:37 a.m. Despite Omicron’s lesser severity than Delta, the Covid-19 pandemic ‘is far from over’, CEO warns of the World Health Organization (WHO). In the last 24 hours, records for the number of contaminations have thus been broken in France but also in Germany or even in Brazil. To date, the pandemic has infected more than 334 million people worldwide and caused more than 5.5 million deaths since the end of December 2019. France is passing a peak in the fifth wave of Covid-19, according to health authorities, but the coronavirus is breaking all records. On Tuesday, 464,769 new cases of contamination were recorded, a level not seen since the start of the pandemic. The average number of cases has thus exceeded 300,000 daily cases over the past week.
The main information to remember:
> More than 300,000 daily cases on average in France in the last seven days> Record cases in Germany and Brazil> The United Kingdom could lift certain restrictions
Covid-19: the key figures of the epidemic in France
>>> The news of this Wednesday, January 19 live:
> Omicron does not affect growth, according to Villeroy de Galhau
“We have good growth which is not affected by Omicron, except in a few sectors of course, but we have too much inflation”, estimated this Wednesday morning on France Info the governor of the Banque de France, François Villeroy de Galhau. But in the medium term, when France will have emerged from the health crisis, “the image should be reversed, that is to say that we would have the right inflation, around 2%, but not enough growth” , he added. The debt situation should worry us and the “whatever the cost” implemented to support the French economy during the health crisis is no longer currently justified, the President further reaffirmed. Governor of the Bank of France. Warning presidential candidates against promises of new spending and additional unfunded tax cuts, he recalled that with spending incurred to support the economy during the pandemic, France’s public debt now exceeds 115% of GDP, compared to 97.6% in 2019.> The Bill & Melinda Gates and Wellcome Foundations pledge $300 millionThe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the British charitable foundation Wellcome have announced that they will each invest an additional 150 million dollars (130 million euros, or 260 million in all) for the fight against Covid-19 and the prevention of future pandemics. These funds will go to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI),CEPI is a global partnership launched by the two foundations with the governments of Norway and India, as well as the World Economic Forum and the two foundations . In particular, he co-pilots the Covax mechanism for distributing vaccines to the poorest countries.> First Omicron case in Beijing: Canada responds to Chinese insinuationsCanada has finally reacted to the claims of Chinese health authorities. On Monday, they had suggested that a contaminated letter from Toronto could be the source of the first case of Omicron in the Chinese capital. Sent from Canada, the letter had, according to Beijing, passed through the United States and then Hong Kong before being distributed in the Chinese capital. “Coronaviruses, including variants, do not spread from products or packaging. shipped over a period of days or weeks,” Canadian health authorities said in a letter sent to the South China Morning Post on Tuesday. On several occasions in the past, the Chinese authorities have claimed to have found traces of the virus on imported objects, in particular frozen foods.
> Germany: more than 100,000 contaminations in 24 hours
According to the Robert Koch Health Watch Institute, there were 112,323 additional cases and 239 deaths over the past day. The one-week incidence rate also reached 584.4 infections per 100,000 people, according to the institute. This record number of cases comes as the Omicron variant has become the majority in Germany, where it is responsible for more than 70 % of new infections. Faced with the rise in contamination, the country has restricted access to bars and restaurants only to people who have received a third dose of vaccine or who present a negative test in addition to a certificate of vaccination or recovery.> In the UK, some restrictions may be liftedBritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson is meeting members of his cabinet on Wednesday to discuss “Plan B” measures to combat the spread of Covid in England. The measures put in place in December recommend working from home when possible, wearing masks in public places and using Covid passes to enter certain public places. Boris Johnson speaks this Wednesday before the Parliament as he faces fierce criticism for attending a rally in the garden of his office and Downing Street residence in May 2020. UK Health Minister Sajid Javid said on Tuesday he was optimistic that some restrictions will be lifted next week. The “Plan B” measures are in place until at least January 26. If Boris Johnson wanted to extend them, a new vote in Parliament would be needed.> New restrictions in sight in JapanThe government should approve the implementation of restrictive measures in 13 of the 47 departments of the country, as recommended by a committee of experts this Wednesday morning, the minister in charge of the fight against Covid-19 told the press. . Similar measures have already been in place in three other departments since the beginning of January. Each department will be free to choose the restrictions they wish to introduce. These measures will include, according to local media, the reduction of opening hours for bars and restaurants and the limitation of the sale of alcohol.> China: partial lifting of containment in Xi’anPublic transport has partially resumed in Xi’an, almost a month after the start of strict confinement in the Chinese metropolis hit by an epidemic rebound of Covid-19, authorities said. The city, famous for its buried army of the first emperor of China, had been the new epicenter of the epidemic in the country at the end of December, after the discovery of several hundred cases of Covid. Since Tuesday, public transport has resumed in the so-called low-risk areas, authorities said. And, according to public television CCTV, trains are running again from Xi’an where, for several weeks, no new local case of contamination has been identified.> Record case in BrazilAccording to the latest report from the Brazilian Ministry of Health, some 137,102 new contaminations have been identified in 24 hours. An absolute record since the start of the pandemic in 2020. Behind the United States, Brazil is one of the countries most affected by the coronavirus. In all, 23.2 million cases have been diagnosed over the duration of the pandemic. The country has deplored 621,571 deaths since the spring of 2020.> Tonga fears a wave of Covid with international aidIn Tonga, international aid will have to undergo a quarantine. Spared by Covid-19 (the Tonga Islands have recorded only one confirmed case since the start of the pandemic), the country now fears that the virus will spread on its territory via international aid.“ It is up to the government to establish the rules on how to enter the country, on the protocols to be put in place,” said WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier. “But it will certainly be a priority to avoid contamination as much as possible,” he added.> The crisis will continue to weigh down world tourism for at least another two yearsThe number of international tourist arrivals increased by 4% last year, according to the World Tourism Organization. It is 72% lower than its 2019 level. This would not be reached before 2024, now estimate the majority of UNWTO experts. For the record, recalled the organization, 2020 was “the worst year in the history of tourism”, with a drop of 73% in international arrivals.> The daily number of new cases has exceeded 300,000 on average over the past seven daysThe daily number of new cases of contamination identified amounted to 464,769 on Tuesday against 102,144 the day before, according to data published by Public Health France. This brings the average over the last seven days to 309,433 daily cases against 281,965 the previous Tuesday. In the hospital, tension remains, with 3,881 patients in intensive care due to Covid, a figure down by 32 from the day before. Since the start of the epidemic, 100,339 people have died from Covid-19, a figure up from 288 in one day.> Hotels, cafes, restaurants, events: enhanced aid for companies with fewer than 250 employeesJean Castex announced increased support for two months for companies with fewer than 250 employees in the hotel, restaurant, caterer, event and travel agency sectors, affected by restrictions linked to the health crisis. .> RNA vaccines do not increase cardiovascular risk in people under 75A study published by the French Medicines Agency confirms the “safety of mRNA vaccines” (those from Pfizer and Moderna) “with regard to the risk of a serious cardiovascular event in adults” which could have occurred during three weeks following the first or second dose of the vaccines. On the other hand, adenovirus vaccines (those from AstraZeneca and Janssen) appear “associated with a slight increase in the risk of myocardial infarction and pulmonary embolism in adults, within two weeks of injection.
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