Covid Live News: Studies suggest Omicron carries a lower risk of hospitalization; China closes 13 million city | World news

Americans Vaccinated and reinforced people who choose to attend large meetings during the holidays may not be safe, even for those who received a booster dose, the leading expert on infectious diseases in the United States, Dr. Antoni Fauci he said Wednesday.

Fauci said in a briefing at the White House:

There are many of these parties that have 30, 40, 50 people in which the vaccination status of individuals is unknown. These are the types of features in the context of Omicron that you don’t want to go to. “

The average seven-day Covid-19 case in the United States rose 25 percent from a week earlier to about 149,300 cases a day, said Rochelle, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Walensky, with an average daily death rate of 3.5% to 1,200.

Inward Canada, QuebecThe Prime Minister has just announced that from the day after Christmas, meetings inside the houses will be limited to six people or two family bubbles.

The restaurants are already operating in the middle of capacity and must close at 10pm. Now they will also have to limit the groups at the tables to six people or two families from December 26th.

Prime Minister François Legault said the “exponential” increase in coronavirus infections over the past week continues. He said Quebec will report about 9,000 news cases by Wednesday.

“Over the past week, the number of cases has risen very rapidly,” Legault said dit.

Earlier this week, the French-speaking Canadian province abruptly closed bars, gyms and schools and warned that more restrictions could be expected while projections on the spread of the virus and its impact on hospitalizations were expected.

If you’ve missed our previous stories detailing the results of two recent studies from the UK and South Africa, here’s a brief summary of what all this means.

An Study at Imperial College analyzed hospitalizations and vaccine records between the Omicron and Delta Covid cases in England between 1 and 14 December.

The researchers found that the Omicron variant appears to be milder, with a reduced chance of a 20% to 25% chance of a hospital visit and at least a 40% lower risk of being admitted overnight.

A separate preliminary analysis of Omicron cases in Scotland pointed to an even greater reduction in the risk of hospitalization compared to Delta. Scientists at the Study Eave II, using hospital data from November 23 to December 19, concluded that the risk of hospitalization may be 70% lower with Omicron than with Delta.

South Africa has also reported data on Covid cases driven by the Omicron variant which seems to give further impetus to claims that Omicron has a lower disease severity.

“In South Africa, this is the epidemiology: Omicron behaves less severely,” said Cheryl Cohen, a professor at the country’s National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), one of the study’s authors. .

“Convincingly, our data really suggests a positive history of a reduced gravity of Omicron compared to other variants,” he said Wednesday during a press conference from a group of NICD scientists.

Hi, we are Samantha Lock back with you on the blog as we approach the end of the week and the countdown to the holidays begins.

I will introduce you to all the latest Covid news from around the world.

Let’s start with some promising news that the Omicron The variant, which has so far been detected in 106 countries, may be less severe than other coronavirus strains such as Delta.

The latest data suggests that Omicron does not cause more serious illnesses than previous variants, but the increase in the number of infections could still cause more deaths.

“We have some data suggesting that hospitalization rates are lower,” he said WHO Covid-19 technical manager Maria van Kerkhove warned that she does not draw conclusions from the first data.

Kerkhove ‘s statement seems to be supported by two studies by Kerkhove South Africa and the UK. Researchers at Imperial College London found that the Omicron variant appears to be milder, with a reduced chance of a 20% to 25% chance of a hospital visit and at least a 40% lower risk of being hospitalized. admitted overnight.

The findings follow a study by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa that found a “reduced severity” of Omicron compared to other variants.

“In South Africa, this is the epidemiology: Omicron behaves in a less severe way,” said NICD professor Cheryl Cohen.

As Covid numbers continue to rise in virtually every region of the world, China continues to follow its strict Covid-zero policy.

Authorities in the northern city of Xi’an they have imposed a strict blockade after 52 new infections were registered.

More than 13 million people will be ordered to stay home except to buy basic necessities once every two days or in case of an emergency after midnight on Thursday.

Here is a summary of all the news about Covid that you missed:

Europe

• Covid’s reinforcement units are likely to prolong the pandemic World Health Organization has said.
• He WHO The European leader has warned countries that they are preparing for a “significant increase” in cases as Omicron spreads across the continent.
• The WHO also warned that there is still insufficient data on the severity of Omicron.
• European countries included Germany, Sweden, Finland i Portugal they announced that they would re-impose Covid restrictions just before or after Christmas.
• ItalyPrime Minister Mario Draghi said the government is preparing new restrictions on Covid, including the return to mandatory use of outdoor masks and the use of more protective FFP2 masks indoors.
• Wales will impose a rule of six on pubs, cinemas and restaurants from December 26th.
• France He could soon have around 100,000 new cases of Covid a day, Minister of Health Olivier Veran said Wednesday, from about 70,000 currently, as the country struggles with a fifth wave of the epidemic.
• France on Wednesday it also opened vaccines to children between the ages of five and 11.
• He UK It registered 106,122 new cases of Covid on Wednesday, the highest daily figure since the start of the pandemic and the first time that the cases have exceeded 100,000.
• Great Britain has signed contracts to buy 4.25 million more courses of antivirals for its healthcare service to help combat the Omicron variant.
• England reduces Covid’s self-isolation to seven days with a negative test.
• Denmark will reinforce restrictions in schools from January 5 with students and staff doing two weekly tests, staff and parents are asked to wear masks.
• Belgium cinemas and theaters are scheduled to close this weekend to tighten Covid measures.
• Masks will be mandatory at all times outside Spain.
• GermanyKarl Lauterbach’s new health minister suggested that a fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine would be needed to protect against the Omicron variant.

United States

• WE Regulators approve Covid’s first antiviral pill.
• He WE recorded the lowest population growth rate in its history in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Asia

• Japan has confirmed its first known local broadcasts of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus a Osaka.
• To the north China, the city of Xi’an has gone into confinement, ordering 13 million residents to stay home as of midnight on Thursday. Households can only “send one member of the household outside once every two days to buy basic necessities,” while everyone else has to stay indoors except in an emergency.
• Singapore will freeze ticket sales for flights and buses arriving under its quarantine-free travel program for four weeks starting Thursday.

Africa

• A study of South Africa suggests that Omicron has a lower risk of hospitalization and serious illness. Scientists at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) found that the risk of hospitalization was approximately 80% lower for those infected with Omicron compared to Delta, although high immunity may also be a factor. of the population.
• Unvaccinated people a Kenya will be banned from public places, the health ministry said.

Middle East

• Israel will offer a fourth dose of the Covid vaccine to people over the age of 60 or with compromised immune systems and health workers.
• In Nigeria, about a million doses of AstraZeneca Covid donated by developed countries were destroyed on Wednesday after it expired.

• AstraZeneca he has said he is working Oxford University to produce a vaccine for the Omicron variant.