The increase in global cases of COVID triggers tests and the fear of new quarantines

Daily COVID-19 infections have reached record highs in the United States, swaths of Europe and Australia, with the rapid spread of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus that keeps workers at home and saturates testing centers.

Almost two years after China first reported a cluster of “viral pneumonia” cases in the city of Wuhan, the periodically mutating new coronavirus is wreaking havoc in many parts of the world, forcing states to rethink. its quarantine and testing standards.

Although some studies have suggested that the omicron variant is less deadly than some of its predecessors, the huge number of people who have tested positive threatens to overwhelm hospitals in some countries, while companies could find it difficult to maintain their activity if their workers they are forced to quarantine themselves.

France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Malta registered a record number of new daily COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.

The median number of daily cases in the United States has also hit a record in the past seven days, according to a Reuters tally.

The previous peak occurred in January of this year. New daily infections in Australia soared to nearly 18,300, eclipsing the previous pandemic high of about 11,300 reached a day earlier on Wednesday.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his country needs “a gear change”To manage overloaded test centers, with long queues for entry and exit in various areas of the country.

There have also been problems in European countries such as Spain, where the demand for free tests for COVID-19 testing provided by the Madrid regional government far exceeded supply on Tuesday, leading to long queues abroad for numerous pharmacies.

-I just want to go home-

Likewise, several governments were increasingly concerned about the huge number of people who are forced to self-isolate themselves because they have been in contact with a coronavirus carrier.

“We cannot let everyone go out of business simply because they were in a certain place at a certain time.“Australian Morrison told reporters.

Italy is expected to relax some of its quarantine rules on Wednesday, fearing that the country will soon paralyze due to the number of people who are having to pre-emptively self-isolate, after cases in the country doubled last year. Tuesday compared to the previous day until reaching 78,313.

However, China did not give up its zero tolerance policy for the outbreaks, keeping 13 million people in the city of Xian under rigid confinement for the seventh day while new COVID-19 infections persisted, with 151 cases registered in the town on Tuesday.

“I just want to go home”Said a 32-year-old mechanic who arrived in Xian last week for a business trip, becoming trapped in the city when it was cut off from the outside world.

So far no omicron case has been announced in Xian.

Many countries continue to grapple with the former delta variant, including Poland, which reported 794 COVID-related deaths on Wednesday, the highest number from the fourth wave of the pandemic in the country. Polish Deputy Minister of Health Waldemar Kraska said that more than 75% of the deceased were not vaccinated.

The first data from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Denmark suggest that the risk of hospitalization is lower in the case of the omicron variant than in the delta variant, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) in its latest report on the pandemic posted tonight.

However, the report notes that more data is needed to understand how disease severity may be affected by vaccination or previous infection.

The increase in cases coincides with the New Year holidays, usually a period of holidays and travel. Some countries, such as Italy, have canceled public celebrations, while authorities in Japan have urged residents to reduce the number of people at year-end gatherings.

“The greatest risk is meeting people without taking proper steps to prevent infection.”Said Norio Ohmagari, director of the Japanese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and one of the main health advisers for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

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