Spain, Sánchez: “Managing Covid like the flu”
“We must evaluate the evolution of Covid from the pandemic situation experienced so far towards that of an endemic disease”: said the Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez, confirming the news published by the newspaper The country according to which his government is working on a management plan for this disease more similar to the one being put in place for the flu. “It is a debate that we are trying to open at a European level”, said the premier, interviewed by Spanish radio Ser chain. “We have to respond with other tools, more related to vaccination or self-protection with masks,” said Sánchez, who recalled that over 90% of the population over 12 has completed the vaccination course. “The situation is not what it was a year ago,” he stressed. Sánchez then announced that the Spanish government will buy around 344,000 doses of Pfizer’s oral anti-Covid drug this month. “It reduces the possibility of hospitalization of the most vulnerable Covid patients by 88%”, recalled the premier. In addition, the Spanish executive plans to regulate the prices of antigen tests, he added.
India, infections increase: the “booster” campaign is underway
India begins administering the ‘booster’ doses of anti-Covid vaccines while infections return to rise due to the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The ‘booster’ doses are administered as a “precaution” to health care workers, frontline staff and over 60s with comorbidities, the Minister of Health wrote on Twitter. Mansukh Mandaviya. According to local media, around 57.5 million in the Asian giant with a population of 1.3 billion people can undergo the third dose at this stage of the vaccination campaign. Vaccinations for the 15-18 age group began last week. According to official data, 66% of the adult population has completed the primary vaccination course. Meanwhile, health authorities reported 179,723 new confirmed cases of coronavirus within 24 hours, 12.5% more than the previous day. Official data speak of 4,033 confirmed Omicron infections, but it is believed that more may have died. Since the start of the pandemic, the Asian giant has confirmed more than 35 million infections with around 484,000 deaths.
China, 76,000 people in quarantine in Tianjin
The Tianjin authorities today concluded the anti-Covid tests for its 14 million residents in about 48 hours after the Covid outbreak that emerged over the weekend with the first two cases in China of the Omicron variant transmitted locally, arranging the quarantine for 76 thousand people. according to local media. Despite the cancellation of flights and bus connections, the port city is not subjected to a total lockdown that confines all residents to their homes, as decided last month for Xìan, the capital of Shaanxi, causing angry protests over food shortages. and obstacles to access to secure medical care.
Usa, over 60 million cases
With over 300,000 cases registered in the last 24 hours, the United States has crossed the barrier of 60 million infections diagnosed since the beginning of the pandemic. This was indicated by the updated Johns Hopkins University Covid database, according to which in the last day there were more than 305 thousand cases and 330 deaths in the country, for a total of 60,090,328 infections and 837,664 deaths.
Germany, Minister of Health: new measures will be needed against Omicron
The German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach believes that in the future new measures will be needed to counter the increase in Covid cases linked to the Omicron variant in Germany, but welcomes the decision to introduce 2G plus (which will prevent access to bars and restaurants without testing for those who have not the booster), according to the agreement found last Friday at the State-Regions summit. I think these measures will help, he said speaking to High last night, “but this will not be enough to defeat Omicron”, “the cases will increase and new measures will be needed in due course”. According to the Robert Koch Institut, the weekly incidence in the Federal Republic has started to rise again with 375.7 new cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants (a week ago it was 232.4). The new infections registered in the 24 hours are 25,255 (they were 18,518 seven days ago), with 52 deaths linked to the virus.
Israel fears between two and four million positives
Israel could face in the next few times between 2 and 4 million positives (almost 40% of the population if the second figure is calculated) in the fifth wave of the pandemic caused in the country by the Omicron variant. The premier said so Naftali Bennett commenting on the current situation in Israel. According to today’s data, in the last 24 hours there have been 21,500 new infections compared to 175,000 tests with a morbidity rate of 12.31%. To these should be added the 10 thousand positives that result, according to the media, from antigen tests. If that were the case, the total would rise to over 30,000. The number of seriously ill patients is also increasing, now 222. Israelis over 60 who have received the fourth dose so far are about 250 thousand.
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