“The mask has proven in recent months to be an effective tool in prevention,” said the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez.
Two days before Christmas, the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Europe, where the The United Kingdom broke a record with 106,000 cases of covid-19 in 24 hours Y Spain returned on Wednesday to impose the mask outdoors.
Faced with this increase in cases, Spain, which on Wednesday also registered a record of 60,041 cases of covid-19 in 24 hours (about half with omicron), decided that as of Thursday it will be mandatory to wear a mask in the Exterior.
“The mask has proven in recent months to be an effective tool in prevention,” said the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez.
The United Kingdom, which passed over 100,000 new daily cases for the first time on Wednesday (106,122, more than half with omicron), approved on Wednesday the use of the Pfizer laboratory’s anticovid vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years , they will receive a less strong dose of the vaccine.
France began this Wednesday to vaccinate minors of that age group, and other European countries such as Belgium, Denmark, Austria, Greece, Spain and Portugal announced that they would also extend the vaccination to children.
The wave of infections caused by the omicron advances rapidly in France, where about 20% to 30% of the new cases of covid-19 -84,000 in the last 24 hours- correspond to that contagious variant, according to official data.
“Ómicron is becoming, or has already become, dominant in several countries, including Denmark, Portugal and the United Kingdom, where the numbers are doubling every day and a half to three days, with unprecedented transmission rates,” stated Dr. Hans Kluge , Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) for Europe.
In Belgium, the closing of cinemas and theater venues was announced on Wednesday, while cafes and restaurants may be open until 11pm.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned against the illusion that booster doses would suffice to overcome the covid-19 pandemic.
“They could even prolong the pandemic rather than end it, by diverting available doses to countries with high vaccination rates, thus giving the virus more possibilities to spread and mutate,” he added.
Anticovid pill
The omicron variant is already dominant in the United States, although President Joe Biden assured that the country is “ready” to face infections and that there is no reason to be “alarmed.”
However, Biden cautioned that those who are not vaccinated have “good reason to be concerned.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized Pfizer’s covid-19 pill on Wednesday, an important step in the fight against the pandemic as millions of people will be able to access treatment. .
Pfizer’s treatment, called Paxlovid, is a combination of two drugs – nirmatrelvir, an experimental medicine, and ritonavir, an antiviral. It consists of ingesting 30 pills in a period of five days.
A clinical trial showed, according to the company, that it is safe and that it reduces the risk of hospitalizations and deaths among those at risk by 88%.
In Turkey, the Turkovac vaccine received an “emergency” authorization, the Health Minister announced on Wednesday.
On the other hand, in China, the 13 million inhabitants of the northern city of Xi’an were confined to contain a small outbreak of the coronavirus, in line with Beijing’s “zero covid” policy.
The inhabitants of this metropolis, known for the legendary “Terracotta Warriors”, must “remain in their homes except for imperative reasons,” said a statement from local authorities, which authorize one person per home to go shopping.
Previously, the people of Xi’an had to obtain permission to travel by train and leave the city.
Meanwhile, in Israel, all those over 60 years of age and medical personnel will have the right to a fourth dose of vaccine against covid-19. That country is fighting to contain the spread of the omicron with travel bans and other restrictions, without actually ordering the confinement.
The world has registered 5,368,777 million deaths from covid-19 since the end of 2019, according to a balance established by AFP from official sources this Wednesday.
The Europe region is the one that currently registers the most cases, with 2,870,947 in the last seven days (60% of the world total), followed by the United States / Canada (1,108,580 cases, 23%). (I)
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