“Very worrying”: In Great Britain, quick tests are now in short supply before New Year's Eve of all places
Created: 12/30/2021, 12:58 PM
From: Martina Lippl
In Great Britain, especially in London, the number of infections is increasing rapidly.
© Vuk Valcic / imago
The omicron variant of the coronavirus is setting new records for new infections.
Lack of rapid tests in the UK are causing criticism.
The news ticker.
Omikron is rapidly increasing the number of new corona infections.
Corona rapid tests are now in short supply in Great Britain (update December 30, 12:02 p.m.).
In France, the number of new infections every day exceeded the 200,000 threshold for the first time (see update from December 29, 3:05 p.m.).
The WHO classifies the risk from Omikron as "very high" (see initial report).
The Omikron news ticker is continuously updated.
Update from December 30, 12:02 p.m
.: In Great Britain, a bottleneck in the corona rapid
tests is
causing criticism. Free tests are in short supply before the New Year. The demand for the tests has increased "dramatically", said Martin Marshall chief of the professional association of general practitioners Royal College of GPs, as
reported by
The Guardian
. Because people tried to test themselves before making contacts or because they want to get out of quarantine. The British Health Minister Sajid Javid blamed problems in the global supply chains for the shortage, the news agency dpa announced. But according to Marshall, the health authorities say there is a local logistics problem, including with deliveries to pharmacies.
Other experts are also critical of the lack of rapid tests at the end of the year, of all places.
New Year's Eve is “perfect” for the virus to spread further, warns Peter Openshaw, a member of the Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group on BBC Radio.
"I find it really worrying," said Peter Openshaw, a member of the Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group on BBC Radio.
"We know the situations in which the transfer takes place".
Badly ventilated rooms, where people yell at each other because of loud music, are absolutely perfect for transmitting the extremely contagious virus.
UK 3G rules apply to discos and major events.
And in the UK there is no need to wear masks in pubs and restaurants.
Great Britain reports a new high again: 183,037 people tested positive for the coronavirus - a good 50,000 more than before.
However, the data includes the new infections over the past five days in Northern Ireland.
There was no testing over the Christmas holidays.
Omicron explosion: France breaks the threshold of 200,000 new infections within 24 hours for the first time
Update from December 29th, 3:51 p.m.:
In addition to France and Great Britain, the corona situation in Denmark is also getting worse because of Omikron. The number of new infections has risen to a new high since the beginning of the pandemic. As the Danish health authority announced on Wednesday, 23,228 new cases of infection were registered within 24 hours. The previous high was reached on Monday with 16,164 new cases. The seven-day incidence is more than 1700, the highest in the world, ahead of Malta, Ireland, Iceland and the UK.
In Denmark, the Omikron variant has been the predominant coronavirus variant for over a week.
According to the health authorities, the new maximum number of new infections is mainly due to a very large number of PCR tests that were carried out after Christmas.
The so-called positive rate, the proportion of positive corona tests, remained almost constant at 12.3 percent.
Update from December 29, 3:05 p.m.:
In France, the number of new corona infections exceeded the threshold of 200,000 within 24 hours for the first time.
Around 208,000 new cases were registered within one day, said French Health Minister Olivier Véran on Wednesday in front of the National Assembly.
A daily high was only reached on Tuesday with almost 180,000 new infections.
France recorded over 200,000 new infections in one day for the first time.
© Michel Euler / AP / dpa
Highest value since the beginning of the pandemic: Omikron sets a worldwide record - one region particularly affected
First report from December 29, 2021:
Munich - The highly contagious Corona variant Omikron has led to a massive increase in the number of infections worldwide.
More than 6.5 million infections were detected worldwide from December 22nd to 28th - the highest weekly value since the beginning of the pandemic, as the AFP news agency reported on Wednesday on the basis of information from the authorities.
In Europe in particular, the number of infections is skyrocketing.
The World Health Organization (WHO) still rates the risk from Omikron as very high.
Almost a million cases every day: Omikron ensures corona record numbers
According to the AFP count, an average of more than 935,000 infections per day were detected worldwide from December 22nd to 28th - a total of 37 percent more than in the previous week.
The previous weekly record was between April 23 and 29, 2021 - with an average of 817,000 cases per day (the delta variant prevailed at the time).
Most of the new infections are currently in Europe, where a total of more than 3.5 million cases have been registered in the past seven days.
That was an average of more than 510,000 cases per day - which is also a new high.
In previous waves of infections, never more than 300,000 cases per day had been registered in Europe.
Omikron in Europe: France and Great Britain with more new infections than ever before
Countries like France and Great Britain, where Omikron has already spread, are now seeing more infections than ever before.
In France, with almost 180,000 new cases, a new daily high was recorded on Tuesday - after the number of new infections daily exceeded the threshold of 100,000 for the first time on Saturday.
In the UK, authorities in England and Wales reported nearly 130,000 new cases on Tuesday.
That was also a new daily record, although no new figures were available from Northern Ireland and Scotland due to the Christmas holidays.
In Greece, the number of new infections more than doubled from Monday to Tuesday.
In the Netherlands and Switzerland, Omikron has been the predominant coronavirus variant since Tuesday.
In Germany, too, the number of cases with Omikron is increasing significantly.
Corona: WHO rates Omikron risk as "very high" - warning of "large number of hospital admissions"
The WHO said on Wednesday that the risk from Omikron continues to be "very high" worldwide.
Omikron has a growth advantage over the Delta variant with a doubling rate of two to three days.
A "rapid increase in incidence" can therefore already be observed in many countries.
This increase is "likely" to be due to a combination of gradually decreasing protection from vaccination or convalescence and higher transferability.
Booster vaccinations can help.
The WHO expects that Omikron could lead to "large numbers of hospital admissions" in Europe.
This is due to the expected mass of infections, said Catherine Smallwood of the WHO European Directorate on Tuesday the AFP.
The WHO sees indications that an infection with Omikron generally leads to hospital stays less often - but such evaluations still have to be viewed "with caution", stressed Smallwood.
According to the WHO statement on Wednesday, there is still a lack of data on the course of the disease and the risk of infection.
(AFP / ml)