(Paris) New measures, new reports and highlights: an update on the latest developments in the COVID-19 pandemic around the world.
Winter Olympics: China expects infections
Chinese authorities said Thursday they were ready to deal with outbreaks during the Beijing Winter Olympics (February 4-20, 2022), with designated hospitals to send athletes who test positive.
China, which has been following a “zero COVID-19” strategy since the middle of last year – strict border restrictions, localized lockdowns, long quarantines and tracing – has officially managed to keep infection rates very low.
The 13 million inhabitants of the city of Xi’an, in northern China, began home containment on Thursday, the authorities wanting to contain an epidemic focus six weeks before the Olympics.
Return of the mask to the outside
After Spain, which reinstated the compulsory wearing of masks outdoors on Thursday, Greece announced that wearing masks would be compulsory indoors and outdoors during the end of the year celebrations.
Spain, one of the world immunization champions, recorded a new 24-hour case record on Wednesday.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron once again called on the French to perform tests or self-tests before the holidays.
Over 100 million cases in the Americas
The number of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic has exceeded 100 million across the Americas, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). More than half (51 million) have been reported in the United States and 22 million in Brazil.
According to PAHO, the majority of countries on the American continent will have reached or exceeded by the end of the year the goal set by the World Health Organization (WHO) of 40% of the eligible population vaccinated. But some countries like Haiti, Guatemala or Jamaica should not achieve this.
Omicron: AstraZeneca wants to reassure about its vaccine
Pharmaceutical company Astrazeneca said Thursday that a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine “significantly” increases the level of antibodies against the Omicron variant, citing a clinical study.
The Anglo-Swedish giant announces at the same time that its cocktail of long-acting antibodies Evusheld for the prevention of COVID-19 “keeps its neutralizing activity against the Omicron variant”, according to two studies.
Several recent studies, carried out in the laboratory, show that the antibody level drops against Omicron in people vaccinated with Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna, and even more AstraZeneca or the Chinese vaccine Sinovac.
Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna also recently announced that a booster dose appears to significantly boost antibody immunity, but data is lacking to know how long this protection lasts.
More than 5.37 million dead
The pandemic has killed at least 5,376,527 worldwide since the end of 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources Thursday at 6 a.m.
In absolute terms, the countries that have recorded the most deaths since January 2020 are the United States (812,069), Brazil (618,091), India (478,759) and Russia (301,271). Among the countries hardest hit, Peru is the one that deplores the highest number of deaths in relation to its population.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, taking into account the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to COVID-19, that the toll of the pandemic could be two to three times higher than that officially recorded.