The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Wednesday that a tsunami of cases of the omigron and delta types of Govit-19 could bring health systems to the brink of collapse.
“I’m very concerned that Omigron is causing a tsunami of cases because of Delta’s high spread and circulation at the same time.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday that the Govt-19 epidemic has erupted in the past seven days with a record number of cases worldwide, due to the highly contagious variant Omigron, which represents a “very high” risk.
There were an average of 935,863 new cases a day last week, and according to AFP figures taken from official pending, the virus is currently spreading at an unprecedented rate.
This figure is significantly higher than the previous record, reaching 817,000 daily cases between April 23 and 29, and representing a 37% increase compared to the previous week.
“The global risk associated with the new Omigron variant is very high,” the WHO warned in its weekly epidemiological report, noting that “two to three days are needed for its development.”
Most new infections are calculated in Europe, where many countries recorded new all-time hikes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
More records of infections
In France, 208,000 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours, not far from the United States, with an average of 265,427 daily cases being reported weekly on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Denmark is currently the country with the highest number of new cases related to its population: on Wednesday it shattered its absolute record by registering 23,228 new infections in 24 hours. The Danish events mean that more than one in 60 people tested positive last week.
In the UK, an additional 130,000 cases were reported on Tuesday in the UK and Wales; And the country has launched a massive booster vaccination campaign that has already made it possible to give extra doses to 57% of people over 12 years of age.
According to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 90% of COVID-19 patients admitted for intensive care do not receive that third dose.
In Spain, with nearly 100,000 daily cases reached, the government announced that it would reduce the isolation of victims by ten to seven days due to the need to find a balance between “public health” and “economic growth”. Pedro Sanchez.
The spike of epidemics reached Latin America and the Caribbean, where the epidemic was declining until recently. Infections are now on the rise in the region, accumulating more than 47 million infections and about 1.6 million deaths.
This increase is in line with reports of an increase in omigran variation in Panama, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba and Ecuador.
In Argentina, for example, the number of cases has increased by six since the beginning of the month.
New restrictions
According to first studies, the Omigran variant seems to be less hospitalized than the Delta, which dominates until now, but some experts insist the higher risk of infection may be undone.
Faced with a rapid epidemic again, various governments are trying to find a balance between controlling the spread and controlling the economic damage.
Finland bans entry of unvaccinated foreign travelers; Negative testing and vaccination are required from non-residents in Sweden, Denmark and Austria, and the “health passport” is valid for those vaccinated in France.
In addition, the country announced a “compulsory” resort for teleworking “whenever possible”, banned standing concerts and closed discos for an additional three weeks.
Germany, for its part, will use new restrictions such as restricting meetings between ten vaccinated persons and two non-vaccinated persons, closing nightclubs and hosting sporting events behind closed doors.
China, which suffered a major explosion 40 days before the Beijing Winter Games, controlled tens of thousands more on Tuesday. After a week of severe isolation in the city of Xi’an (northern), tens of thousands of people were trapped in a district of Yan City, 300 kilometers from Xi’an, by Tuesday.
According to official sources this Wednesday AFP estimates that the Covid-19 epidemic has caused more than 5.4 million deaths worldwide since December 2019, but the WHO estimates that the balance could be two to three times higher.
Similarly, more than 282 million cases have been officially registered since the outbreak began.