If a week ago there was still only a fear of a fifth wave, most of the world internalized over the weekend that this wave is in full swing, at least in terms of the number of infections.
To date, the coronavirus omicron variant has been identified in nearly 90 countries.
And if that's not enough, the overall rate of infection in Corona is rising in at least 64 countries, with 12 of them breaking the daily highs.
The holiday has become a pale shadow
This week was supposed to be one of the most festive weeks in the world, when unlike last year the Corona was supposed to be in retreat.
Instead, it seems that this year too Christmas will become a pale shadow of itself in the years as a correction.
In the UK there are growing voices not to wait and impose the most severe restrictions right now, in order to interrupt the contagion chains even before the holiday, which will take place this coming Saturday.
Despite insisting on not imposing a closure at least until the day after the holiday, i.e. on Sunday, Health Minister Sajid Javid said further restrictions on gatherings may be imposed in the coming days.
"There is no way to make promises during the plague," Javid said sadly.
"For now, everything is weighed."
Treatment of a Corona patient in a UK hospital, Photo: API
The rest of the kingdom is also seriously considering returning to one form or another of closure, in part in light of the fact that omicron cases in the country are tripling almost daily.
The official infection rate of the variant has already exceeded 12,000 per day.
The overall rate of infection in Corona in the country is also close to an all-time high.
Leaks of documents from the government's advisory team reveal that without further action, 3,000 people may be hospitalized daily.
According to another report, in an extreme case there may be two million people infected in England every day. In neighboring Ireland, the variant is most dominant in infections, according to the indications that emerge from the suspected infections.
Closed in surprise
In the Netherlands yesterday marked the first day of the closure, which was announced on Saturday evening without prior notice by Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The closure will last until mid-January, and will also include all educational institutions in the country.
Many in the Netherlands received the news in utter shock, and long queues were observed in the hours before its entry into force in various places that were about to close, such as barbershops and other non-essential places.
"Closing bars and restaurants for about a month during this important period (of the holidays) is a painful and dramatic act, for which compensation must be obtained," the Dutch Business Association announced yesterday.
At the same time, in France, although it has been decided to restrict tourist traffic from certain places, it seems that drastic measures have not yet been decided.
The Minister of Education has announced that there is no intention to extend the Christmas break.
In the US, the daily contagion rate has already returned to the dimensions of the end of summer, during the Delta Wave, and in New York it is even particularly strong. President Joe Biden is expected to deliver a national speech tomorrow on Omicron.
Records are also breaking in Australia: for the first time since the epidemic began, more than 4,000 daily infections were recorded on Saturday, a record broken just two days earlier.
As you may recall, the state of Victoria in Australia recently completed the longest corona closure in the world, and there is grave concern among citizens that it will be returned.
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