The Omicron variant could make Covid endemic in the UK
, a senior government adviser told Times Radio, the Guardian reported.
Mike Tildesley, of the University of Warwick and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modeling (Spi-M) group, pointed out that the latest mutation of the virus is more contagious but less severe than the previous ones.
"What could happen in the future - he said - is the emergence of a new less serious variant thanks to which, in the long term, Covid would become something similar to the common cold we have lived with so far".
In Tokyo, cases more than tenfold in one week
- New increase in infections from Covid in Tokyo, more than tenfold in the last week, demonstrating the advance of the Omicron variant, also in Japan, and the dreaded sixth wave of the virus. The capital registered 1,224 cases in the last 24 hours, compared to just over 900 positive cases on Friday and just 79 cases a week ago. The last time the infections exceeded 1,000 occurred in October. Of particular concern is the island of Okinawa, in the southwest of the archipelago, which recorded the record for the third consecutive day of 1,759 cases, as well as the prefecture of Hiroshima. From Sunday in the two regions, together with the nearby Yamaguchi, a state of 'quasi' emergency will be decreed. The governors of the three prefectures suspect that theexpansion of positivity was fueled by the presence of large outbreaks of the virus present for weeks in the US military bases of Camp Hansen and Iwakuni, and the lack of adequate restrictions on US personnel. An element that has led to a heated debate between local authorities and the US general command after the contagion of nearly 1,800 soldiers stationed in Japan and Washington's resistance to align with government guidelines.800 soldiers stationed in Japan and Washington's resistance to align with government guidelines.800 soldiers stationed in Japan and Washington's resistance to align with government guidelines.
New record in the Philippines, 26,400 cases in 24 hours
- The Philippines has a new record of infections with 26,458 cases in the last 14 hours.
The health authorities reported this bringing the number of confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic close to 3 million (2.93).
The daily deaths were, however, 254 bringing the total to 52,000.
The previous record of daily infections - recalls the Guardian - was 26,303 on 11 September 2021.
The threshold of 300,000 deaths has been exceeded in Mexico
- The deaths in Mexico have exceeded 300,000, in the context of a strong resumption of infections from Covid-19 throughout the national territory, placing the country in fifth place in world mortality after the United States, Brazil, India and Russia. A report by the Ministry of Health has announced that in the last 24 hours the infections have been 28,023, bringing the general total since the beginning of the pandemic to 4,083,118. On the same day, with another 168 deaths, the overall death toll rose to 300,101. According to some analysts, the figure could be underestimated as the National Population Register reported that there were, up to December 2021, 451,864 deaths associated with Covid-19.For his part, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged a rebound in the pandemic days ago but ruled out any new restrictions. Mexico, which is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, has kept its borders open and requires no vaccination tests or certificates from arriving travelers.