More than 104,000 cases detected in France in 24 hours, Omicron disrupts Christmas, vaccination is in full swing in the United Kingdom ...
Le Figaro
takes stock this Christmas weekend on the latest information related to the Covid-19 pandemic .
A new record of daily cases in France
France crossed the threshold of 100,000 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours on Saturday, Christmas Day, unprecedented, while the government must reassess the situation on Monday.
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With 104,611 new cases in 24 hours, the country has reached an unprecedented threshold since the start of the epidemic in March 2020, according to figures published Saturday evening by Public Health France.
The 50,000 mark was passed on December 4 and this figure has therefore doubled in three weeks, according to data from the health agency.
Christmas clouded by the pandemic
Several billion people celebrated Christmas on Saturday, festivities hampered for the second year in a row by the Covid-19 pandemic.
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: facing the fifth wave, the French are adapting for Christmas
More than 5,600 flights were notably canceled by airlines while thousands more were delayed around the world, with the Omicron variant disrupting travel during these holidays.
In London, no truce for vaccination
In the face of the meteoric spread of the Omicron variant in the UK, the government recall campaign, being carried out at unprecedented rates, is not taking a break for Christmas.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called the general mobilization to offer a booster dose to all adults in the UK by the end of the year.
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More than 32 million people have already benefited from this third dose, or 56% of those aged 12 and over, with a rate approaching one million injections per day.
Highest number of cases for 4 months in China
China reported 140 new cases of the coronavirus on Saturday, the highest figure in four months, as authorities try to contain the outbreak in several regions, including the city of Xi'an, where millions of people are confined and where most of the contaminations have occurred.
China, which has so far successfully brought the epidemic under control on its soil and recorded just two deaths in a year and a half, is on high alert as it is due to host the Olympic Games in February. winter in its capital Beijing.
The Xi'an cases have so far spread to five other cities, including Beijing, according to state media, fueling fears about the speed of a spread.
Omicron dominant in Portugal
The Omicron variant has become dominant in Portugal (61.5% of cases), while the country recorded on Friday a record of new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours since the end of January, announced the General Directorate of Health (DGS) .
Mortality and intensive care hospitalizations remain “stable”.
More than 5.39 million deaths worldwide
The pandemic has killed at least 5,391,404 people around the world since the end of 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Saturday at 11 a.m. GMT.
In absolute terms, the countries that have recorded the most deaths are the United States (816,436), Brazil (618,392), India (479,520) and Russia (302,250).
Among the hardest hit countries, Peru is the one with the highest death toll relative to its population, followed by Hungary and Bosnia.
The World Health Organization (WHO) 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.