Record contamination in France and the United Kingdom on Christmas Eve, compulsory vaccination for children from 5 years old in Ecuador - a world first -, return of the mask outdoors and the curfew in Europe ...
Le Figaro
takes stock on the pandemic around the world.
Read also "Covid-19: do we want to live for life under a regime of restrictions on freedoms?"
Record contamination in France
Contaminations by Covid-19 have exceeded 90,000 new cases recorded in 24 hours in France, a threshold never reached and an absolute record since the start of the epidemic in March 2020, according to figures given Thursday by Public Health France.
... and in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom on Thursday recorded nearly 120,000 additional cases of Covid-19, a new record.
In his Christmas message, Prime Minister Boris Johnson urges Britons to get vaccinated as a
"wonderful"
gift
to the UK.
Read also Covid-19: Olivier Véran announces 1.8 billion more for the hospital
Return of the mask outdoors in Spain, Greece and Italy
After Spain, which has reinstated the wearing of a compulsory mask outside, Greece has announced that wearing a mask will be compulsory both indoors and outdoors during the end of the year celebrations.
"There is a lot of movement during the holiday season, and large crowds gather outside,"
said Minister of Health Thanos Plevris.
The Italian government also announced Thursday evening that wearing a surgical mask outside would become compulsory throughout Italy, without specifying a date.
He added that the mask providing superior protection, the FFP2, would become mandatory for going to the cinema, theater, sporting events or on public transport.
Read alsoCovid-19: "Prudence and hope"
Spanish justice authorizes curfew in Catalonia
Spanish justice has authorized the establishment of a night curfew in most of the region of Catalonia (northeast) in order to slow down the explosion of cases.
Omicron: reduced risk of hospitalization
According to the British health security agency (UKHSA), which is very cautious, especially because of the low number of patients hospitalized with Omicron, people infected with Omicron are between 50 and 70% less likely to be hospitalized .
This analysis, which is in line with two British studies published on Wednesday, is however
"highly uncertain because of the low number of patients affected by Omicron currently in hospital, the impossibility of effectively measuring all previous infections and the limited spread. of Omicron among the oldest groups ”
, underlines the agency in a press release.
The Merck pill authorized in the United States
The Merck laboratory's Covid-19 pill, intended for high-risk adults, was urgently authorized by the United States Medicines Agency, the day after the authorization of a similar pill developed by Pfizer.
Read also Anti-Covid pills: the battle is brewing between the American MSD and Pfizer labs
In the United States, exodus for the holidays
In the United States, 265,770 new cases were identified as of Thursday and the Omicron variant is largely dominant among new infections.
Despite this, millions of Americans have started traveling for the holiday season.
According to the American Automobile Association, more than 109 million people were scheduled to leave their regions by plane, train or car between December 23 and January 2, which is 34% more than last year.
These movements are accompanied by a vaccination rate that seems to be on the rise, especially for booster doses of which 1.3 million were inoculated over 24 hours according to the latest figures made public on Wednesday.
"The best gift you can give yourself is a booster dose"
which protects
"much better"
against severe forms of the disease, tweeted Cyrus Shahpar, White House official for Covid-19 data.
Ecuador: compulsory vaccination from 5 years old, world first
Vaccination against Covid-19 has been declared compulsory in Ecuador from the age of five, a world first for this age group, the Ministry of Health announced on Thursday, December 23.
Read also Should children be vaccinated against Covid-19?
So far, only a handful of countries have made vaccination compulsory for adults.
IMF extends emergency aid
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will maintain more flexible access to its emergency funds for an additional 18 months, to help countries with persistent difficulties linked to the crisis caused by Covid-19.
55 cases on a cruise ship
Fifty-five people have tested positive for Covid-19 aboard a Royal Caribbean International cruise ship that left the US state of Florida on Saturday, the company said.
In Bethlehem, Christmas without tourists after border closures in Israel
In Bethlehem, where Jesus was born according to Christians, the hotel industry which was expecting an influx of tourists is showing its disappointment.
After almost total containment last year, Israel has again closed the borders.
As in 2020, midnight mass will be reserved there for a small circle of faithful, by invitation only.
Read also This year again, the Covid deprives Bethlehem of its foreign pilgrims
In Australia, domestic travel allowed for the first time since the start of the pandemic
Most Australians can once again travel within the country, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, reinforcing the Christmas spirit in a country which is yet experiencing a record number of contaminations.
"We have all witnessed moving scenes of people finding themselves in airports after months of separation,"
said the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, in his Christmas message.
“In such a dark time, Christmas is a ray of sunshine, a fragment of hope”
.
More than 5.37 million dead
The pandemic has killed at least 5.37 million people around the world since the end of 2019, according to an assessment established by AFP from official sources Thursday in the middle of the day.
In absolute terms, the countries that have recorded the most deaths since January 2020 are the United States (813,991), Brazil (618,228), India (478,759) and Russia (301,271).
The World Health Organization estimates, taking into account the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19, that the toll of the pandemic could be two to three times higher than that officially recorded.
