(Paris) New measures, new reports and highlights: an update on the latest developments in the COVID-19 pandemic around the world.
Posted at 8:56
End of the “acute phase of the pandemic” in 2022 (WHO)
Ending the acute phase of the pandemic is possible this year, says WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, even though COVID-19 causes one death worldwide every 12 seconds.
“We can end the acute phase of the pandemic this year – we can end COVID-19 as a global health emergency”, WHO’s highest level of alert, he said. he says.
However, “it is dangerous to assume that (the highly contagious variant) Omicron will be the last variant or to talk about endgame”, as conditions are “ideal” currently in the world for other variants to emerge, including more transmissible and more virulent variants.
Olympics: 72 cases of COVID-19 among participants
Some 72 participants have tested positive for coronavirus since arriving in China, according to organizers of the Olympic Games which begin in ten days.
To limit the risk of contamination, athletes and other participants in the Winter Games must remain inside a health bubble.
The city of Xi’an, in northern China, was also deconfined on Monday after a month of isolation. It was the longest confinement imposed in China since the quarantine of the metropolis of Wuhan, epicenter of the pandemic, from January to April 2020.
France: mandatory vaccination passport
The obligation of the vaccination passport came into force this Monday in France for people over 16 wishing to go to a restaurant or take the train.
France is currently the country in Europe, excluding microstates, with the highest incidence (3,733 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days, according to an AFP count. The country has recorded an average of 360,000 daily cases over the same period, which also makes it the most affected European country in absolute terms.
From now on, a negative test is no longer enough, except to access hospitals: it is necessary to justify for those over 16 years of age a vaccination status against COVID-19.
The Constitutional Council on Friday validated most of the provisions of the bill, adopted on January 16 by Parliament after heated debates, except – in the midst of the presidential campaign – the possibility of requiring a health passport during political meetings.
Nearly 5.6 million dead
The COVID-19 pandemic has killed at least 5,593,747 people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report compiled by AFP on Monday from official sources.
In absolute value, the countries that have recorded the most deaths since January 2020 are the United States with 866,540 deaths for 70,700,678 cases, Brazil (623,097 deaths, 24,044,255 cases), India (489,848 deaths, 39,543,328 cases), and Russia (326,112 deaths, 11,173,300 cases).