France and Britain record record number of infections – SME.sk

LONDON, PARIS. Britain and France saw the highest daily increase in new cases on Friday coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic.

In both countries, the increase in the number of infections is attributed to a new rapidly spreading coronavirus variant omicron, AFP reported.

The United Kingdom has been reporting a record daily increase in new cases for several consecutive days. In the past 24 hours, they have registered 122,186 new cases there, which is more than 2,000 more than the day before. Britain only exceeded 100,000 cases per day on Wednesday, with 106,022 new infections.

The number of cases in Britain has risen by 48 per cent in the past seven days compared to the week before. However, the number of hospitalizations and deaths is growing so rapidly so far, AFP notes.

Britain has the highest number of coronavirus deaths among European countries. There were 137 deaths on Friday, with almost 148,000 in Britain since the start of the pandemic.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Thursday that, according to data collected so far, the risk of hospitalization for omicron variants is up to 70 percent lower than for omicron delta. However, these figures are only preliminary.

For the upcoming Christmas holidays, the British authorities will not publish further statistics on the number of cases and deaths until Monday 27 December.

For the second day in a row, France also recorded a record daily increase in new cases of coronavirus infection.

94,124 newcomers have arrived in the past 24 hours, and that number is expected to grow due to the expanding variant of omicron and the Christmas holidays, during which people meet more, AFP writes.

In France, more than 16,000 people are hospitalized with covid, of which 3,254 are in the intensive care unit. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 122,462 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported in France, with 167 such deaths on Friday.

In France, around 76.5 percent of the population are fully vaccinated against coronavirus, and the French government is urging citizens to be vaccinated with a third dose. vaccines.