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2 hours ago
Ă“micron will infect more than 50% of the European population in 6-8 weeks, according to WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge, at a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, in July 2020. (Photo: Aytug Can Sencar / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)
The omicron coronavirus variant is expected to infect more than half the population of the European region in the next six to eight weeks, according to Dr. Hans Kluge, Regional Director for Europe at the World Health Organization.
"We have entered 2022 with the countries of Europe and Central Asia still under intense pressure from covid-19," Kluge said at a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
"At present, the omicron variant represents a new tsunami from west to east sweeping the region and adding to the delta wave that all countries were managing until the end of 2021," he added.
"At this rate, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicts that more than 50% of the region's population will be infected with omicron in the next 6 to 8 weeks," Kluge said.
2 hours ago
About 20 million people in China are now under lockdown
Health workers perform a second round of tests on residents on January 10, in Hua County, Anyang City, Henan Province.
(Photo: Wang Zirui / Costfoto / Future Publishing / Getty Images)
A third Chinese city has been subjected to a strict closure as the country tries to contain localized outbreaks of Covid-19, local authorities reported Tuesday.
This brings the total number of people confined to their homes in China to about 20 million, with just over three weeks to go until the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The 5.5 million residents of Anyang city in central Henan province are unable to leave their homes, while shops, restaurants and factories remain closed, the Anyang municipal government said.
More than 4,000 students and staff from an Anyang school were admitted to government-run quarantine centers after nine people tested positive for the virus, local authorities added.
The city reported a total of 84 COVID-19 cases since it detected two local infections of the omicron variant on January 8.
This Tuesday, China reported 110 new symptomatic local cases of covid-19, according to the National Health Commission (CNS) in a statement.
China counts asymptomatic cases separately.
Tight closures:
Anyang is the third Chinese city, after Xi'an, in the northwestern province of Shaanxi, and Yuzhou, also in Henan, that applies a total blockade by covid.
On December 23, restrictions were imposed on the 13 million residents of Xi'an.
In the days and weeks since, complaints about food shortages and reports of patients being denied medical care have shocked the nation.
On January 2, Yuzhou, home to 1.2 million people, was blocked after three asymptomatic cases were recorded.
Yuzhou on Monday registered 74 local symptomatic cases, the country's largest current outbreak, according to the NHC.
On the other hand, 29 residential communities in the city of Tianjin are in a closure regime after the presence of omicron was detected on Saturday in at least two residents, which is the first community spread of this highly communicable variant in China.
Tianjin reported 21 infections - 11 symptomatic and 10 asymptomatic - on Monday, bringing the total of its current outbreak to 53.
This city of 14 million people is located just 130 kilometers southeast of Beijing, where the Winter Olympics are scheduled to begin on February 4.
The "zero-covid" strategy:
China is one of the only places in the world that still aims to eliminate covid-19 within its borders.
However, the frustrations of locked-in residents highlight the growing challenge posed by its "Zero-covid" policy, which relies on a playbook of massive testing, extensive quarantines, and sudden shutdowns to end any resurgence of the virus. .
1 hour ago
India administers nearly a million booster shots on the first day of the campaign
A nurse administers a booster dose of the covid-19 vaccine to a healthcare worker at Nair Hospital in Mumbai, India, on Monday.
(Anshuman Poyrekar / Hindustan Times / Getty Images)
India administered almost a million booster doses of the covid-19 vaccine to its eligible population on Monday, while the country continues to witness a sharp increase in cases driven by the highly transmissible omicron variant.
Authorities are taking steps to prevent a potentially devastating third wave of infections, expanding their inoculation campaign and increasing medical resources.
At least 984,676 people received a third dose of the covid-19 vaccine on Monday, the first day of India's booster campaign, according to the country's Ministry of Health.
A limited group of people may receive booster shots, including frontline and healthcare workers and people over 60 with pre-existing illnesses.
More than 26 million children between the ages of 15 and 18 received the first injection of the covid-19 vaccine since India began inoculating this age group on January 3, the ministry added.
"India started administering the precautionary doses. Congratulations to those who have been vaccinated today. I ask everyone who can get vaccinated to do so. As we all know, vaccination remains one of the most effective means of fighting COVID-19. 19, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted Monday.
Omicron variant spread
: Since the beginning of this year, India is seeing an increase in new cases every day, especially in the capital Delhi and the financial capital Mumbai, despite different levels of restrictions imposed on the different states.
In recent days, Delhi and Mumbai registered an average of 20,000 daily cases.
At the beginning of December, the new cases in the cities were around the dozens.
On Tuesday, India reported 168,063 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total to 35.8 million since the start of the pandemic.
Just over 46% of India's 1.3 billion people are fully vaccinated, according to Johns' Hopkins University.
1 hour ago
4,000 students sent to quarantine in a blockaded Chinese city
Residents of Hua County Gated Area lined up in the rain for the second round of nucleic acid detection, Anyang, China on January 10, 2022 (Sipa Asia / Shutterstock)
More than 4,000 students from central China were sent to quarantine centers on Sunday after a cluster of COVID-19 cases was detected at their school, according to local authorities.
Authorities in Anyang City, Henan Province, said a total of 4,040 children from Tangyin Yucai School, ranging from elementary to high school students, were transferred to three centralized quarantine facilities.
Videos from Chinese state media and social media showed students in full protective suits as they got on buses.
Anyang authorities said on Tuesday they had imposed a strict lockdown on the city's 5.5 million residents after confirming a total of 84 cases in a local covid group.
Residents are prohibited from leaving their homes other than to undergo massive COVID-19 testing and all non-essential factories and businesses have been closed.
The Anyang outbreak is believed to be related to a university student who traveled to the city from Tianjin on December 28 infected with the omicron variant, according to the local health commission.
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