As a result of the spread of the mutation, more than 2,000 flights were canceled worldwide.
The omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has already been detected in 110 countries, and continues to spread exponentially, doubling its cases in the communities where it is transmitted in a matter of two or three days, the World Organization of Health (WHO).
In its update of the technical report on the omicron variant, the WHO clarified that the rates of contagion of the variant are falling in one of the South African provinces where it was first detected.
Data from outbreaks in South Africa, the UK and Denmark seem to suggest a lower risk of hospitalization in patients who contract the omicron variant compared to delta, although the WHO takes these data with caution.
Meanwhile, other preliminary studies in different countries indicate a reduction in the protection of vaccines such as AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNtech against the omicron variant, although in the case of the latter a booster dose seems to increase its efficacy.
Europe
The trend in Europe varies from one country to another and while Germany and Russia glimpsed a decrease in incidence and mortality, France and Portugal continued in record numbers of infections
The accumulated incidence fell this Friday in Germany to 265.8 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute of Virology (RKI) compared to the 331.8 new infections registered a week ago.
The trend was also downward in Russia, in this case in the number of deaths; In the last 24 hours, fewer than 1,000 deaths had been registered in that country, which represents the lowest number of deaths in more than two months.
France, in contrast, chains the records of infections, with 91,608 announced on Thursday; authorities assume that the 100,000 barrier will be reached soon and in the first week of 2022 there could be hundreds of thousands of cases daily.
Infections are also still soaring in Portugal, which this Friday reported a new maximum since January, with almost 13,000 infections, one day before the new restrictions to stop the advance of omicron come into force. The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, brought a point of self-criticism by admitting “mistakes” in management, such as the slow start of the booster dose campaign or putting “emphasis” on individual responsibility rather than imposing blanket measures.
America
The omicron advance has forced the suspension of more than 2,000 flights around the world on Christmas Eve, reported the US company Flight Aware, which specializes in providing real-time data on air traffic. The most affected country was the United States, the destination or starting point of 457 of the 2,045 suspended flights.
The Canadian authorities also attributed to the new variant the multiplication of the number of cases of covid-19 in the country, with the province of Quebec at the head of the new wave. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, during the last week, the average number of daily cases stood at 10,167, which represents an increase of 120% compared to the previous week.
The Government of Peru extended this Friday the national health emergency due to covid-19 until the end of January, amid a rebound in infections after the first cases of omicron were detected. At the moment there are 47 confirmed cases of this variant, all of them detected in Lima.
Asia
Advances in the fight against the pandemic marked the present time in Asia, where South Korea announced the development of a PCR test to detect the presence of the five main known variants of the pathogen, including omicron.
Japan approved this Friday the use of the pill for covid developed by the American pharmaceutical company Merck, which operates in the rest of the world as MSD, the first oral administration treatment approved in the country.
Molnupiravir, an experimental drug that prevents the virus from multiplying in the body and keeps the viral load at low levels in the body, received the green light from Japanese authorities after Merck’s Japanese subsidiary MSD KK filed an application. in early December to produce and sell the drug in the archipelago.
In China, the novelty was the decision of the authorities to punish 26 people for their alleged responsibility in the regrowth of the central city of Xian, whose 13 million inhabitants are under confinement.
The Chinese state media did not specify the type of sanction that will be applied to those affected.
Africa
Africa – where 9,259,800 million infections and more than 226,500 deaths have been recorded since the pandemic began – is the most backward continent in the detection and sanitary and hospital combat mechanisms of the pathogen, but it has generated the most hopeful news of the day.
The WHO has specified today at its headquarters in Geneva that infection rates are falling in one of the South African provinces where the new variant was first detected. (I)
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