Corona worldwide: Grammy awards postponed – politics

The award of the Grammy music prizes has been postponed due to the rapid spread of the highly infectious omicron variant of the coronavirus. There are too many risks to host the show on January 31, the Recording Academy in Los Angeles said. The 64th award ceremony will take place at a later date. A new date will be announced soon. The nominations were announced in November. The Grammys are among the most coveted music awards in the world.

Rio de Janeiro does without the street carnival

The Brazilian metropolis of Rio de Janeiro has canceled the world-famous street carnival for the second time in a row due to the corona pandemic. Mayor Eduardo Paes justified this with the fact that admission controls and compliance with other corona measures at the street carnival, for which hundreds of groups had registered in Rio, were practically impossible. According to Brazilian television, the mayor’s decision was well received by the groups known as “Blocos”, despite mourning over the failure of the street festival.

In its last edition in 2020, the Rio Carnival drew more than three million people onto the streets within four days. The plans for the legendary parades in the Sambodrome in February and March will be upheld for the time being. Controls to protect against infection are easier to implement there, said Paes. The basic idea is to require proof of vaccination and a negative corona test from the participants and the spectators.

In Brazil, according to official information, more than 22 million of the country’s 210 million residents have been infected with the corona virus. Around 618,000 patients have died in connection with Covid-19 – there are only more deaths in the USA. As the vaccination campaign progressed, the number of new deaths fell sharply – optimism, especially in Rio, grew. Almost 70 percent of the Brazilian population are now fully vaccinated. (05/01/2022)

Omikron leads to new negative records worldwide

Many countries in the world are recording new negative records with corona infections because of the omicron variant. In Turkey, for example, 66,467 new infections were registered in the past 24 hours. The Ministry of Health announced that the daily infections caused by infections with the Omikron virus variant doubled within a week. Despite the sharp increase in the number of infections, there has so far been no worrying increase in hospital admissions.

Italy and Croatia also announce new record highs for new infections. The Italian Ministry of Health reports 189 109 new cases and the Croatian Civil Protection 8587 new cases. The latter is an increase of 47 percent compared to the previous day. According to the CDC, the number of new cases in the US has risen by an average of 98 percent within a week. At the same time, hospital admissions have increased by 63 percent in a weekly comparison. The Netherlands is also reporting a new record with around 24,500 new infections.

Not different in France. There, with more than 330,000 reported corona infections, record values ​​were recorded within one day. The omicron variant is now predominant in France. According to official statistics, a tenth of London’s nearly nine million residents tested positive for the virus this week. According to the ONS statistics agency, around 3.7 million people were infected across the country last week – more than ever before.

The British government has so far rejected stricter restrictions, citing the relatively low number of hospital admissions and deaths. In certain areas, Premier Johnson is even relaxing regulations. As of Friday morning, it should no longer be necessary to test before departure in order to travel to England. Upon arrival, a rapid test will be sufficient instead of the PCR variant. The previous obligation to take a test before setting off for England “deters many travelers because they fear being stuck abroad with considerable additional costs,” says Boris Johnson. (05/01/2022)

The fourth vaccination increases the antibody content five-fold for a short time

While only around 39 percent of the population in Germany received a booster vaccination against Covid-19, Israel began to administer a second booster vaccination at the weekend. Whoever received them is thus protected by a total of four cans. Initial data now indicate that the fourth syringe increases the level of antibodies in the blood by almost five times and thus significantly increases protection against Covid-19. The Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced after a visit to the Sheba Medical Center.

The efficacy and safety of the second booster vaccination is currently being investigated in the country’s largest hospital near Tel Aviv. The study includes 150 hospital employees who had been boosted for the first time more than four months earlier. “Simply put: the fourth dose is safe and the fourth dose works,” said Bennett – but emphasized that the results are still preliminary. The study is still pending publication. At the same time, Bennett said he expected tens of thousands of confirmed Omicron cases in the coming days. “The wave is really building up now.” The good news is that the vaccines are working – anyone who gets vaccinated and wears a mask is unlikely to get seriously ill. “So it’s in our hands,” said Bennett.

The head of an Israeli study on the effectiveness of a fourth corona vaccination sees the observed five-fold increase in antibodies as “good, but not sufficient”. “We are seeing a certain increase in antibodies, but the increase is not very impressive,” Gili Regev told the Israeli news site Ynet. Shortly after the fourth vaccination, you were back to the same antibody level as shortly after the third, Regev said. She had hoped for more from a second booster vaccination. It could not be the goal to get vaccinated against the coronavirus about every four months. She was glad that endangered population groups such as the immunocompromised and over 60-year-olds in Israel were already being given the fourth dose, said Regev. “But I’m really not sure if they should be given to everyone now. We need more information.” (05.01.2022)

Macron wants to “annoy” unvaccinated people

In the fight against the corona pandemic, French President Emmanuel Macron has noticeably tightened the tone towards unvaccinated people. “I really want to annoy them, so we will continue to do this until the end,” the newspaper quoted him as saying Le Parisien in an interview on Wednesday with a view to unvaccinated people. Basically, he doesn’t want to annoy the French, but the group of those who are stubborn is reduced in this way. “I will not put you in prison, I will not force vaccinate you,” said the head of state, referring to the alternative of compulsory vaccination.

Macron’s statement sparked severe criticism from the opposition. The extreme right-wing presidential candidate of the Rassemblement National, Marine Le Pen, called Macron unworthy of his office. Left-wing politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon described the statement as “shocking”. Green candidate Yannick Jadot wrote in a vaccination appeal that Macron did not care about the people. Socialist leader Olivier Faure spoke of a statement that was not on the level of a president.

There were also debates over Macron’s statement in France’s National Assembly. Therefore, the chamber again interrupted its deliberations on tightening corona rules for unvaccinated people during the night. Macron had addressed these planned rules in his remarks. The government wants only vaccinated people to have access to restaurants, cultural sites or long-distance trains from mid-January. It is uncertain whether the schedule can be adhered to. After the National Assembly, the Senate, as the upper house of parliament, must also approve the law. (05/01/2022)

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