Omicron continues its lightning spread, Djokovic sent back to Australia – teller report

AFP, published on Thursday 06 January 2022 at 09:50

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to spread like wildfire around the world, disrupting many sectors and even the Australian Open tennis tournament, of which defending champion Novak Djokovic has been barred from entering the country.

The pandemic caught up with two major American cultural events on Wednesday: the Grammy Awards postponed their awards ceremony scheduled for January 31 in Los Angeles. And the Sundance Film Festival, which was due to open in Utah on January 20, had to resolve for the second time to a 100% virtual formula.

The United States, the most bereaved country in the world with more than 832,000 dead, recorded nearly 600,000 new cases on Wednesday. The Omicron variant has become the ultra-majority in the country.

The variant outbreak is also having repercussions on the Australian Open tennis tournament. If the Grand Slam competition is not called into question, it may have to do without world number one Novak Djokovic.

The Serbian player, opposed to compulsory vaccination, obtained a medical exemption to participate in the tournament. But the move sparked an uproar in Australia, where measures to tackle the pandemic have been particularly strict.

Djokovic eventually saw his visa canceled due to an administrative error in his application. He was turned away on his arrival in Melbourne, causing a diplomatic incident. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has accused Australia of “ill-treatment”.

The player, who spent the night detained by immigration services, filed a lawsuit on Thursday. A government lawyer has indicated that the Serb will not be deported from Australia until a hearing scheduled for Monday.

Omicron, much more contagious than the previous mutations even if its severity seems more limited, also puts the authorities on a war footing in China and in its territories of Hong Kong and Macao, the last places in the world to cling to a policy of “zero Covid”.

– Hong Kong closes –

Hong Kong, where a hundred cases of Omicron have been identified, will close its borders from Saturday and for two weeks to all travelers arriving by plane from eight countries, including the United States, Canada, France and the United Kingdom. The neighboring territory of Macau will do the same from Sunday for all international travelers.

China, where the epidemic was discovered at the end of 2019, practically eliminated contagion in the spring of 2020 thanks to its “zero Covid” strategy, based on drastic measures (containment, screening, electronic tracing, virtual border closure , vaccination).

According to official figures, the country has recorded only 103,121 cases since the start of the epidemic.

But sporadic outbreaks worry the authorities, especially in the run-up to the Winter Olympics in Beijing from February 4 to 20. And the “zero Covid” policy has a heavy impact on populations, subject to draconian confinements.

Thus, in Xi’an (north), whose 13 million inhabitants have been confined for two weeks, some have complained of lack of food.

In the same town, an eight-month-pregnant woman miscarried at the door of a hospital after being refused entry for two hours on the grounds that she did not have a screening test of coronavirus dating less than 48 hours, according to a message posted on social networks.

A photo that has gone viral shows her sitting on a plastic stool surrounded by a puddle of blood.

AFP was unable to certify the content of the message, which has since been deleted, but Xi’an City Hall announced the dismissal of the hospital director and other officials, as well as investigation.

In India, the number of infections nearly tripled in two days, exceeding 90,000 new cases every day. Residents of New Delhi, with the exception of essential workers, have been urged to remain confined to their homes over the weekend. In Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state and where elections are scheduled for next month, political rallies have been called off.

France, one of the most bereaved countries in Europe, on Wednesday recorded the record figure of 332,252 new patients.

The French deputies adopted Thursday a bill making compulsory a “vaccine pass” to access restaurants, bars, cinemas and others.

The examination of the text, which must still be submitted to the vote of the Senate, had been delayed because of strong tensions in the hemicycle, in particular after the words of President Emmanuel Macron who had promised the day before to “piss off” the non -vaccinated.

Italy has decided for its part to introduce compulsory vaccination for those over 50 years old.