Covid-19: WHO predicts an increase in hospitalizations, 180,000 new cases in France

Published on : 12/28/2021 – 8:47 PM

The Omicron variant will cause “a large number of hospitalizations” of Covid-19 patients, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday, December 28, against the backdrop of new restrictions in several countries, including Finland , which closes its borders to unvaccinated foreigners. And while France recorded nearly 180,000 daily contaminations – a record.

“A rapid rise in Omicron, like the one we are seeing in several countries, even if combined with slightly less severe illness, will still lead to a large number of hospitalizations, especially among the unvaccinated,” said to AFP Catherine Smallwood, one of the main officials of WHO Europe.

The specialist called for taking the preliminary data on a lower risk of hospitalization “with caution” because, for the time being, the cases observed mainly concern “young and healthy populations in countries with high vaccination rates” .

As of December 31, President Joe Biden lifted the ban on entry into the United States for travelers from eight countries in southern Africa, the region where this variant appeared, now present throughout the world.

For some experts, a greater contagiousness of the variant can annihilate the advantage of its less dangerousness, while many countries are announcing record contagions since the start of the pandemic.

Tuesday, France, Greece and Portugal – where the Omicron variant is dominant – in turn recorded a record number of daily infections, respectively nearly 180,000, more than 21,000 and more than 17,000 additional infections in 24 hours.

Now, the Omicron variant also dominates infections in the Netherlands, where authorities have also warned of “an increase in the number of hospital admissions”, and in Switzerland.

Experts are uncertain whether Omicron’s seemingly lower severity stems from the variant’s intrinsic characteristics or whether it strikes populations already partially immune to the vaccine or a previous infection.

More and more restrictions

Faced with these uncertainties, several countries have imposed new restrictions.

China, which records a record number of contaminations within 40 days of the Beijing Winter Olympics, confined tens of thousands of additional people on Tuesday.

The northern city of Xi’an, famous for the underground army of China’s first emperor, was subject to a sixth day of strict quarantine on Tuesday after a limited epidemic rebound. 300 km away, tens of thousands of residents in a district of Yan’an city have in turn been instructed to stay at home and businesses to close their doors.

China on Tuesday reported 209 new patients in 24 hours, the highest number in 21 months.

>> To read also: “China’s ‘zero Covid’ strategy, a political and health necessity”

Sweden requires from this Tuesday a negative Covid test to all travelers arriving in the territory.

Finland has decided to go further by allowing entry into its territory only to foreign travelers with a negative Covid-19 test and who can prove a complete vaccination or a past infection.

A spokesperson for the border guards confirmed to AFP that unvaccinated foreigners would be turned away, unless they belong to one of the exempted categories (residents in Finland, essential workers, diplomats …).

In France, new isolation rules for patients and their contacts will be set by the government “by the end of the week,” Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Monday.

Nearly 5.5 million dead

In Germany, a new battery of measures entered into force on Tuesday. Private meetings of more than ten people – even vaccinated or cured – are prohibited. For the unvaccinated, the limit drops to two members of different outbreaks.

All sporting competitions will take place behind closed doors, which should concern the German championship when it resumes on January 7. Discos and clubs also closed to prevent the virus from spreading on December 31.

In a judgment published on Tuesday, the German Constitutional Court ordered the state to take legislative measures to protect access to intensive care for people with disabilities in the event of medical “triage” imposed by the pandemic.

In Belgium, the Council of State on Tuesday suspended the recent government decision to close theaters and performance halls. The highest administrative court of the country considered that the authorities had not shown how these cultural establishments “would be particularly dangerous places for the health and life of people as they would promote the spread of the coronavirus, to the point that ‘it is necessary to order its closure “.

In the Gulf, where countries are also recording an increase in infections, Qatar’s main public hospital group has suspended the leave of all its staff working with Covid-19 patients.

The Covid-19 pandemic has killed at least 5,404,577 people around the world since the WHO office in China reported the onset of the disease at the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP in from official sources Tuesday at 11 a.m. GMT.

With AFP