A second Christmas clouded by the pandemic

(Vatican City) Pope Francis presided over Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on Friday evening in front of some 2,000 masked people, as billions around the world celebrated a Christmas clouded by COVID-19 and the explosion of cases linked to the Omicron variant.

The 85-year-old Argentine pontiff invited the faithful to “rediscover the little things in life” in a new plea for humility.

Ambassadors and representatives of other Christian denominations attended the ceremony celebrated at the Vatican in several languages ​​in the presence of more than 200 priests, bishops and cardinals, also masked.

A few dozen people who did not obtain a ticket followed the mass outside on St. Peter’s Square via giant screens.

In Bethlehem, a Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank, several hundred people gathered, despite the cold and the overcast sky, in Manger Square to follow a parade of Palestinian scouts, berets with pom poms on their heads.

Airlines have had to cancel more than 2,000 flights around the world, including nearly a quarter in the United States, especially in the face of the Omicron variant which disrupts travel during the holidays.

Millions of Americans have nevertheless crossed their country, although the Omicron wave already exceeds the peak of the Delta variant, with 171,000 daily cases on average over seven days, and hospitals are running out of beds.

President Joe Biden visited a Washington hospital with his wife Jill, the latter carrying on the tradition of the first lady visiting hospitalized children every year.

The presidential couple admired lanterns made by young patients and slipped them some anecdotes about Commander, a German shepherd whose recent arrival at the White House has made social networks happy.

The surge in COVID-19 infections is casting a chill on party projects. Gatherings will generally be easier than last year, even though the Netherlands is confined, Broadway canceled Christmas shows in New York (US), and Spain and Greece reintroduced the mandatory mask. outside.

France crossed the barrier of 94,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday evening, a threshold never reached since the start of the epidemic in March 2020, according to figures published by Public Health France.

The UK, facing a meteoric spread of Omicron, also recorded more than 122,000 additional COVID-19 cases on Friday, a new record since the start of the pandemic.

“Fragment of hope”

Most Australians can once again travel within the country, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, reinforcing the Christmas spirit in a country which is yet experiencing a record number of contaminations.

The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney (South East), Anthony Fisher, in his Christmas message praised the “moving scenes of people meeting at airports after months of separation”.

In Latin America, Chilean President Sebastian Piñera has announced that his country will administer a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine from February, starting with the risk categories.

And in Ecuador, vaccination against COVID-19 has been declared compulsory from the age of five, a world first for this age group.

So far, only a handful of countries have made vaccination compulsory.

The pandemic has killed at least 5,385,564 people around the world since the end of 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Friday. The World Health Organization has estimated that the actual toll could be two to three times higher.

The epidemic has further accelerated in almost all regions of the world over the past week, except the Middle East and Asia, according to AFP databases.

Morocco has extended until the end of January the closure of its air borders, in force since November 29.

But border closures and restrictions will not prevent a famous reindeer sleigh from roaming the globe.

The Canadian Transport Minister gave the crew a green light, even Rudolph, whose “nose was shining brightly” and who “made sure he had no symptoms of COVID-19 before he left. to take off “.

Same thoughtfulness on the Australian side: “Our air traffic controllers will guide Santa Claus safely through Australian airspace,” said the Air Safety Authority.

In Brazil, a black Santa Claus arrived by helicopter distributed food packages to the inhabitants of the Penha favela, in Rio de Janeiro (south-east).

“The children look at me, smile, play, talk. They feel represented seeing a black Santa Claus, ”said Leonardo Pereira da Silva, 30, favela resident and member of the NGO Central unicas das favelas (CUFA).