France is facing a surge of Covid-19, pushing the government to take new measures, in particular on the vaccination pass, teleworking, or even wearing a mask outdoors. Follow all the news related to the pandemic.
6:17 p.m.
The Swiss health authority has decided that the cantons can reduce the quarantine of contact cases to 7 days instead of 10 previously in the face of the rapid progression of Omicron.
From now on, “the duration of the quarantine is reduced to 7 days and is limited to people living together or having been in intimate contact with a person who has tested positive”.
These people are exempt from quarantine if they have received their last dose of vaccine for less than four months or have recovered for less than 4 months. A test is not necessary to end the quarantine, but the latter will however now apply to people vaccinated for more than 4 months.
5:13 p.m.
Representatives of economic sectors hit by the new restrictions to curb the Omicron variant will be received Monday morning at the Ministry of the Economy. The ministry did not immediately provide the list of organizations it would receive on Monday.
The solidarity fund, which partially offset the loss of turnover of many companies during the health crisis, died out on October 31, against a backdrop of strong economic recovery and the end of “whatever it is. cost”.
4:15 p.m.
Hospital staff absences due to Covid-19 have doubled in one month in England due to record contamination, increasing pressure on the health system as admissions increase.
According to figures released Friday by the National Health Service for England, NHS England, more than 24,000 staff absences in isolation because infected with the coronavirus or contact case were recorded on December 26, against less than 12,000 at the end of November.
This shortage of staff comes as the number of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 reached 11,898 on Wednesday, the highest level since the beginning of last March, an increase of 40% in one week.
3:01 p.m.
The regional health agency (ARS) of Ile-de-France has asked health establishments in the region “to deprogram as much of the surgical and medical activities as possible” from Monday, due to the ‘influx of Covid patients (4,044 patients hospitalized on Thursday evening, including 732 in critical care)
Level 2, which corresponds to “50% of critical care beds occupied by Covid patients”, is about to be taken “in the coming days”. The ARS also indicates that to make matters worse, the establishments are also under “very strong tensions on human resources”, in particular with the absence of many nurses, gone or on leave, and the “epidemic peak on the flu” .
Certain specialties such as oncology, transplants, cardiac surgery, pediatrics and nephrology should not, for the moment, be concerned by these deprogramming.
14:48
The pandemic has seen an explosion of cases across the globe this week, with the symbolic milestone of one million per day (average of 1.18 million over the past seven days, a figure up 57% over the week) .
The Europe region is the one that currently records the most cases in the world, with 4,490,612 in the last seven days (54% of the world total), followed by the USA / Canada zone (2,636,831 cases, 32%).
13:31
Already compulsory in the ski resorts of Savoie and Haute-Savoie, the mask must now be worn in the town centers of 2 Alpes, Alpe-d’Huez, Chamrousse and Villard-de-Lans, all in the department of Isère.
The measure came into force on Friday, as in the Hautes-Alpes.
10:32
Some 95,000 police and gendarmes are mobilized in France, including 9,000 in Paris, for New Year’s Eve, in particular to enforce the ban on spontaneous gatherings in the face of the surge in Covid-19 cases, the ministry said on Friday. Interior. In total, the security system represents 127,000 people, since it also includes 32,000 firefighters and civil security actors, detailed the ministry.
This evening of December 31, more than 95,000 police and gendarmes, as well as 32,000 firefighters and civil security actors will be mobilized to ensure the safety of our fellow citizens and bring them assistance. Thank you to them for their daily commitment to serving the French.
– Gerald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) December 31, 2021
09:41
Israel is launching a campaign for the administration of a 4th dose of the anti-Covid vaccine to vulnerable people in the hope of mitigating the effects of a new wave of contamination due to the spread of the Omicron variant.
8:55 a.m.
The deputy and spokesperson for RN Sébastien Chenu called on the French not to “be robbed of the presidential election” by “the Covid news which kills any possible debate”, to the “satisfaction”, according to him, of Emmanuel Macron.
8:15 a.m.
The Omicron variant is now the majority among Covid-19 infections in France, where the virus has experienced “significant progression” in recent days, Public Health France noted.
“62.4% of the tests screened showed a profile compatible with the Omicron variant” at the beginning of the last week of the year, against 15% the previous one, the public agency found in its last weekly survey.
6:45 a.m.
Hospitalizations of children ill with Covid-19 in the United States have reached a high since the start of the pandemic, as the country faces an impressive outbreak of cases due to the Omicron variant.
Experts warn about the importance of vaccinating children, and point the finger in the first place to the very high contagiousness.
02:47
The NBA game between Denver and Golden State, scheduled for Thursday, has been postponed due to the incapacity of the Nuggets, decimated by injuries and positive cases in Covid, to line up eight players on the floor, announced the NBA.
00:38
South Africa, where the new variant of Covid-19 was detected last month, announced Thursday that it had passed the peak of the Omicron wave without a significant increase in the number of deaths. “All indicators suggest that the country has probably passed the peak of the fourth wave” of the pandemic, the presidency said in a statement, announcing the lifting of certain health restrictions and in particular the night curfew. “A marginal increase in the number of deaths has been observed in all provinces,” she continued.
00:32
The symbolic milestone of one million daily infections by Covid-19 in the world was crossed for the first time during the week of December 23 to 29, a few hours from the New Year festivities on which the pandemic will weigh once again. On average, 1,045,000 new daily cases were detected over the period, up 46% from the previous week, according to an AFP count on Thursday established from reports communicated by each country.
00h00
Quebec has announced the return of the night curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. throughout the province as of New Year’s Eve, when record contaminations due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant are identified in Canada.
