Videos. Omicron: Rising cases and restrictions, WHO warns of a “toxic” situation

With Germany set to decide this Thursday on new restrictions, including the closure of bars and other public spaces, a new twist is now unanimously before vaccination duty.

Mandatory vaccination is already planned in Austria and other countries, including South Africa, are considering it, but opposition is strong.

EU chairwoman Ursula van der Leyen told a news conference that a discussion on the issue “should be held” in EU member states.

This is because, for now, the Director-General of the WHO in Geneva, Tetros Adanom Caprais, has underlined that the lack of coverage of the vaccine against Covit-19 and the amount of screening create a “toxic” mix.

“Matter of choice”

He warned that this was “the right recipe for breeding and reproduction” and that the outcome of the epidemic was “a matter of choice”.

In South Africa, the identification of the Omigran variant was announced last week, but less than a quarter of its residents were vaccinated, with health officials describing the “rapid” spread of the virus in parliament. The new variant, apparently highly contagious, already dominates.

UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, who rose on Wednesday against the “corruption” that condemns Africa, has not been vaccinated enough.

In the face of Omigran diversity, he said border closures were “deep injustice, punishment and futility”, condemning the “racist” form of Africa and calling for the development of experiments.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which faces the “threat to economic recovery” that Omicron represents, on Wednesday said “ensuring that vaccines are manufactured and distributed as much as possible is a priority worldwide.”

Lawrence Boone, OECD’s chief economist, lamented that the G20’s developed nations have spent $ 10,000 billion to protect their economies during the crisis, while only $ 50 billion is needed to vaccinate the planet.

The new strain was seen on all continents, but Europe, which had faced a strong re-emergence of the epidemic before its inception, seems to have been the hardest hit: after several countries, Norway announced its first four cases on Wednesday, all returning from South Africa. .

So the states of the Old Continent are again tightening health restrictions: border restrictions, travel bans to South Africa, traffic in the United Kingdom and compulsory masks in stores, and the recommendation to vaccinate vulnerable children in France.

Even in Portugal, Europe’s leading student in vaccination rates (85%), people have been required to wear a mask and be given a health pass in closed areas again since Wednesday, and a new vaccination campaign has been launched.

Faced with a strong epidemic like other countries in Europe, Denmark on Wednesday registered more than 4,500 new Kovit-19 cases, reintroducing a mandatory screening for travelers from Doha and Dubai. New variant of traveler returning from Qatar.

“Boundless Viruses”

In the United States, it announced the discovery of the variation on Wednesday, and health officials said it was even considering establishing strict testing conditions or isolation for travelers on arrival. These measures may be officially announced this Thursday, December 2, 2021 by US President Joe Biden.

In Asia, Japan, now closed to foreigners, has identified two cases of contamination by Omicron and on Wednesday asked airlines to suspend new bookings in its territory for a month. South Korea has announced its top five cases and tightened travel restrictions.

Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, recorded its first three cases, as did those returning from South Africa, the first three cases found in Brazil.

The first case was reported in Saudi Arabia and in the United Arab Emirates on the return from North Africa.

Various manufacturers, including Moderna, AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech and Novavax, have expressed confidence in the ability to develop a new vaccine against Omicron. Russia has also announced in its “Sputnik V” version that it is specifically targeting this variant.

Since the appearance of the Delta, the variant of the Covit-19 has never been of much concern, now dominating, and already highly contagious.

The WHO considers the “probability of transmission of Omicron worldwide” to be “high”, although many unknowns remain: the severity of the infection, the effectiveness of existing vaccines, and the symptoms.

To be sure, to date no deaths associated with Omicron have been reported.

According to AFP on Wednesday, Kovit-19 has killed at least 5,214,847 people worldwide since its appearance in China in late 2019.