France is facing a fifth wave of the Covid-19 epidemic, pushing the government to take new measures. Follow here all the news related to the health situation in France or in the world.
9:30 p.m.
The Italian government, faced with sharply rising Covid contagions, decided on Wednesday to introduce compulsory vaccination for all people over the age of 50.
“We want to slow down the contagion curve and encourage Italians who have not yet been vaccinated to do so,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi explained during the Council of Ministers having adopted this measure, quoted in a press release.
7:33 p.m.
France recorded 332,252 new contaminations in 24 hours, an absolute record since the start of the epidemic.
6:16 p.m.
A total of 66,000 people received a first dose of vaccine on Wednesday, a record since October 1, said Health Minister Olivier Véran, implying a link with the debates on the vaccine pass and controversial comments. by Emmanuel Macron.
“66,000 of our fellow citizens who were not vaccinated, decided today, and I do not believe in luck, to receive the first injection of vaccine (…) If we did this for 70 or 75 days we would have a complete protection of the French population with regard to serious forms, ”the Minister affirmed to the National Assembly, during the debate on the bill establishing a vaccination pass.
5:57 p.m.
The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, indicated on Wednesday that 335,000 new Covid-19 contaminations should be recorded in France in one day, a new record.
“Public Health France will communicate its figure this evening, but from memory, we were today at 335,000 contaminations in our country,” said Mr. Véran during the debates in the National Assembly on the bill establishing the vaccine pass.
As of Tuesday, a total of 271,686 cases of Covid-19 had been recorded in 24 hours, already a record.
5:14 p.m.
Jean Castex spoke before the deputies, at the National Assembly, at the request of the oppositions within the framework of the bill allowing the transformation of the health pass into a vaccine pass.
He urged elected officials to “debate as quickly as possible” on the text, the examination of which was once again suspended last night, after the words of Emmanuel Macron, which had created controversy and tensions at the Palais Bourbon. “The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off until the end” said the resident of the Elysee in an interview with the Parisian.
“In this text we are taking an additional step in the fight against the coronavirus”. “There is a difficulty with those who do not want to be vaccinated,” the Prime Minister insisted today in the Assembly.
“To be free is not to infect others”. “I ask you to continue examining this text because it is in the best interest of our country”, again hammered the head of government, who also did not fail to castigate the extreme left, France Insubordinate at the head, whose group president in the Assembly, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, never ceases to hide his disagreement with the health policy of the government.
4:46 p.m.
The number of people infected with the coronavirus broke new records last week in the UK with one in 20 people affected and peaks at one in 10 in London, official estimates released Wednesday.
According to the National Statistics Office (ONS), which is based on a representative sample, 3.7 million people had Covid-19 in the last week of 2021, for a population of 67 million in the United Kingdom.
One in 15 people were infected in England, one in 20 in Scotland and Wales and one in 25 in Northern Ireland
3:06 p.m.
Prime Minister Jean Castex will go to the National Assembly, AFP announces.
14:46
Spanish justice is extending by 14 days the night curfew introduced in much of the region of Catalonia (North-East) in order to curb the explosion of cases of Covid-19 linked to the Omicron variant.
14:44
Romanians will again have to wear a surgical mask to go out on the street, the government announced on Wednesday, while the number of daily Covid-19 infections has more than tripled since the start of 2022.
2:16 p.m.
Liverpool announced that their League Cup semi-final, scheduled for Thursday in London against Arsenal, had been postponed due to “an increasing number of positive Covid-19 tests among players and staff”.
1:52 p.m.
Gabriel Attal: “The level of alert remains maximum, our mobilization remains total”.
13:48
The government spokesperson shows his solidarity with Gérard Colleton, director of the CHU of Guadeloupe, attacked Tuesday by activists against the vaccination obligation of caregivers.
13:46
Gabriel Attal explains that the Omicron variant causes less severe forms, giving hope for a “wave of a different nature”.
“What seems to be confirmed is that Omicron would be two to three times less severe than the Delta variant […] It will cause fewer serious cases than we feared ”, Gabriel Attal, government spokesperson on leaving the Council of Ministers #MidiNews pic.twitter.com/CHAqjq6GRg
– CNEWS (@CNEWS) January 5, 2022
1:45 p.m.
The “supersonic rise in contamination will continue for several days or even weeks,” said Gabriel Attal, government spokesperson.
12:49
A state of health emergency has been declared in Guadeloupe, Guyana, Mayotte, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélémy.
12:24
Polish President Andrzej Duda has tested positive for Covid-19, his chief of staff announced on Wednesday.
“Following cases of contamination in the presidential office and in his entourage, President Andrzej Duda underwent a Covid-19 test which turned out to be positive”, said on Twitter Pawel Szrot, while adding that the head of the The state showed “no serious symptoms”.
11:27 a.m.
Côte d’Ivoire recorded 78 cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 on Wednesday, which coincided with a sharp rise in infections for two weeks, the Ivorian health authorities announced.
The Ministry of Health had never before mentioned the presence of Omicron in Côte d’Ivoire where most cases were linked to the Delta variant.
While they were very few in recent months – a few dozen per day at most – the number of daily cases has risen sharply during the holiday season, reaching more than 2,500 infections per day on December 30.
10h51
Hong Kong on Wednesday banned any arrival of travelers by plane from eight countries, including France, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, as Covid-19 contaminations are increasing across the world.
The other countries affected are India, Pakistan, Australia and the Philippines, Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam told reporters.
“Passenger flights from these countries will not be allowed to land in Hong Kong and individuals who have stayed in these countries are no longer allowed to board flights to Hong Kong, including connecting flights,” he said. she said.
9:47
Israel announces that it has recorded nearly 12,000 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, a new record of contamination since the start of the pandemic.
According to data from the Ministry of Health, 11,978 additional cases have been identified since Tuesday, exceeding the last record of 11,344 infections recorded on September 2, 2021.
In total, around 60,000 people have tested positive in Israel, but only 125 are in serious condition, the ministry said.
8:57
Former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe “shares like a good majority of French people the idea” of Emmanuel Macron on the unvaccinated, which sparked a controversy, but spoke on Wednesday in favor of compulsory vaccination.
“The non-vaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And so we will continue to do it, until the end. That’s the strategy,” said the head of state in an interview with the Parisian published Tuesday, again igniting the debates on the vaccine pass in the Assembly until a new suspension of the examination of the text. Opponents from both left and right denounce “insults” which “divide” the French.
8:42 am
A new health defense council is due to take place this Wednesday from 9:30 am.
6:11
The examination of the bill on the vaccine pass was again suspended in the middle of the night Wednesday because of the chaos caused in the hemicycle by the words of President Macron saying he wanted to “piss off” the unvaccinated.
“The conditions for peaceful work are not met,” said session chairman Marc Le Fur (LR), announcing that the debates would resume Wednesday at 3:00 p.m.
