Contagion records, but with fewer deaths is the balance left so far by the omicron variant

One year after the European Union administered the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, which is estimated to have saved the lives of half a million citizens in this region, this Thursday, December 30, it was reported that more than one million new daily cases of COVID-19 in the world They were registered in the week of December 23-29.

In the last seven days, more than 7.3 million new cases, which represents an average of 1,045,000 infections per day, according to a count of the AFP a base of the daily reports of the health authorities of each country.

These figures far exceed the record before the current wave, which was reached between April 23 and 29, 2021 (of 817,000 daily cases). But unlike infections, the number of deaths has continued to decline for three weeks.

In this framework, the United States broke the record of new cases in one day since the start of the pandemic on Wednesday, with 488,000 infected registered during that day, according to the account kept by the newspaper. The New York Times.

According to figures from the New York newspaper, the 488,000 new cases registered on Wednesday are almost double those identified during the worst days of last winter, and the Times He warned that this figure may be even higher because during the Christmas period the number of tests carried out has dropped substantially.

However, that same Wednesday, the main epidemiologist of the Government chaired by Joe Biden, Anthony Fauci, expressed his confidence that in a few months the pandemic will reach a “transition” that leads to coexistence with the virus, but keeping it under “control” , pick up EFE.

Thus, the objective is for COVID-19 to continue there, but without “disturbing” society or the economy as it has done so far.

The omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the United States, although the authorities insist that it is less severe than the delta and defend that isolation periods be reduced.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, urged vaccination to “address the variants” of the coronavirus.

“This year, millions of Europeans were vaccinated against COVID-19. More than 78% of all adults in the EU are vaccinated. But to address the variants, we need to increase vaccination rates even further. We have enough doses for vaccinations and booster doses. Let’s do it, ”Von der Leyen, a doctor by training, wrote on his Twitter account.

The European Union currently registers 67.8% of people vaccinated with the complete schedule against COVID out of the total population and 79.2% of adults and 23% of those residing in the EU have received a booster dose. , according to ECDC data.

“With omicron spreading rapidly, we must continue to vaccinate and reinforce to protect ourselves against serious forms of the disease” and through “personal behaviors”, such as “wearing masks, keeping distances, reducing contacts”, he summarized in a message on social networks the European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides.

Several countries on that continent have also decreased the days they ask for isolation and quarantine as more is known about the virus and its new variant.

While in Latin America, a region that is one of the leaders in vaccination in the world, Panama announced that it will experience a critical period at the beginning of 2022 due to the omicron variant of COVID-19, but it has to face it with the vaccination, accepted for its population, who also wear the mask, he told EFE the head of the National Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation (Senacyt), Dr. Eduardo Ortega-Barría.

The omicron arrived when Panama was already experiencing an acceleration of the pandemic – expected by the traditional national holidays last November, the mobilization that December generates and a decline in vaccine protection – after a period of coronavirus control. (I)