The world has registered in the last hours more than a million new cases of coronavirus. The expansion of omicron is wreaking havoc on the workforce of airlines in the United States and public services in the United Kingdom. In addition, Israel has already detected the world’s first case of double contagion from flu and coronavirus.
However, while most countries see their incidence grow, in Japan the opposite occurs. There the infections are in minimal numbers. And despite the high vaccination rate, scientists can’t figure out how with 40 million inhabitants, do not reach 50 infections in all the country.
Researchers are now studying the finding a genetic factor X in Japanese ethnicity that could answer this mystery. In this sense, scientists from the Riken Institute in Tokyo affirm that ethnic Japanese are more likely to have a genetic characteristic related to white blood cells that could be helping them fight the coronavirus. “It could be considered a factor X,” Shinichiro Fujii, head of Riken’s immunotherapy laboratory team, told ‘Nikkei Asia’.
Meanwhile, in the US, there is no room for a pin in the terminals where thousands of people see their flights being canceled. Thus, a chaos in American airports. In the last few days alone, about 4,700 flights have been suspended. The reason is twofold: the snowstorm that hits some states and the unstoppable omicron variant. A large part of the airline templates are in quarantine, and the pilots not yet infected have been offered the triple your salary in exchange for taking more flights.
The omicron variant is multiplying cases in the US. Only in New York there have been 85,476 cases, a record of infections in 24 hours. However, its president, Joe Biden, wanted to see things with optimism in his New Year’s message: “No matter how tough the challenge, how high the obstacles, we always overcome them.”
Ómicron is also leaving the British public services under minimals. For this reason, the Government asks to prepare contingency plans before the possible absence of 25% of templates. And in a hospital in Russia, paramedics try to cheer up COVID patients by teaching them Putin’s New Year’s speech.
For its part, Israel has started 2022 detecting the world’s first case of fluron, a double infection of influenza and coronavirus. The patient was not vaccinated, although at the moment she has mild symptoms.
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
