End of the isolation of unvaccinated contact cases, resumption of the epidemic in France, Hong Kong which will lift the ban on flights from nine countries in April...
Le Figaro
takes stock this Monday, March 21 on the latest information related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read the dossierCovid-19: the coronavirus pandemic in figures and infographics
Unvaccinated contact cases no longer need to isolate themselves since Monday
A week after the lifting of the wearing of the mask and the vaccination pass, it is the turn of the isolation of contact cases to be abandoned.
From Monday March 21, whether you are vaccinated or not, you will no longer have to isolate yourself after being in the presence of a Covid-19 positive person.
Nevertheless, according to the latest opinion from the High Council for Public Health of February 11, it is strongly advised to maintain barrier gestures, in particular to keep your mask indoors and to avoid approaching fragile and immunocompromised people.
Another change, the self-tests and antigens must necessarily be coupled with a PCR.
These new reliefs come as the epidemic is on the rise again.
Read alsoCovid-19: unvaccinated contact cases no longer need to isolate themselves from Monday
"For two days, the number of hospitalizations has not dropped", according to Olivier Véran
Did the French drop the mask too soon?
For several weeks, the average number of positive cases for Covid-19, calculated over one week, has continued to increase in France: the daily average stood at 89,002 on Sunday against 65,251 a week earlier.
A rise which is also illustrated in the school environment: 3184 classes were closed on Friday, against 2693 classes a week before.
More worryingly, the number of new hospital admissions has leveled off.
"For two days, the number of hospitalizations has not fallen
," noted Monday the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, in
Le Parisien.
“Hospital admissions have been increasing again for eight days and intensive care arrivals are more or less stable, as is the number of deaths.
Which means that it is no longer going down
,” worried epidemiologist Catherine Hill in
L’Express
.
This rebound, visible at European level, is explained among other things by the now predominance of the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant, approximately 30% more contagious than its predecessor, BA.1.
»SEE ALSO –
Covid-19: is it reasonable to lift the vaccination pass?
Germany: an opponent of wearing a mask tried for murder
A man accused of killing a gas station employee who asked him to wear an anti-Covid mask started in court in Bad Kreuznach in Germany on Monday.
The accused, 50 years old, is suspected of having fired on September 18, at the time of payment in a service station in Idar-Oberstein (Rhineland-Palatinate), on the cashier, 20 years old.
This murder had particularly shocked Germany, where a virulent anti-mask and anti-vaccine movement has formed since the start of the pandemic.
The accused had, according to the prosecution, developed rage against the anti-Covid measures.
"As he knew he could not reach the politicians, he decided to kill"
the young employee, said prosecutor Nicole Frohn during the first hearing Monday morning.
The trial, which is to take place until May, must in particular determine whether the accused was linked to groups on the internet likely to have incited him to take action.
Read alsoGermany: an opponent of wearing a mask tried for murder
Hong Kong to lift ban on flights from nine countries in April
Since the start of the pandemic, the territory has implemented some of the strictest restriction measures in the world, which has largely prevented the spread of the virus but isolated the international financial center.
But since the appearance of the highly contagious Omicron variant in early January, the territory of more than 7 million inhabitants has experienced an epidemic outbreak despite severe social distancing measures.
According to the official report, more than a million people have been infected and 5,600 deaths have been recorded, mostly among its unvaccinated elderly population.
According to researchers, half of the 7.4 million inhabitants have already been infected.
Read alsoHong Kong to lift ban on flights from nine countries in April
“From April 1, the Hong Kong government will lift the ban on flights from nine countries,”
local chief executive Carrie Lam said after an unprecedented exodus of its residents.
In early January, authorities banned flights from eight countries: France, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Philippines, Pakistan and India, before adding the Nepal in February.
»SEE ALSO –
Returning in disaster, this Frenchwoman fled Hong Kong and her health madness
Tuberculosis: years of fight wiped out by Covid-19, warns WHO
Global spending on the fight against tuberculosis is largely insufficient to hope to relaunch the battle against the disease, after years of fight wiped out by Covid-19, the WHO warned on Monday.
Ahead of World Tuberculosis Day (March 24), the World Health Organization said the targets set for 2022
“are at risk, mainly due to lack of funding”.
According to the WHO, global spending on TB screening, treatment and prevention in 2020 was half the global target of $13 billion a year.