LIVE – Covid-19: More than a million daily cases in the world – Release

The Pope cancels his New Year’s visit to the crèche in Place St-Pierre. The Pope’s traditional New Year’s visit to the nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square will not take place this year. Health situation requires, Pope Francis canceled the event because of the risk of contamination by Covid-19 induced by this type of gathering, announced the Vatican. The Sovereign Pontiff is normally welcomed by the faithful when he visits the manger on December 31, after having presided over the end of year vespers and sung the Te Deum prayer.

Johnson & Johnson vaccine 85% effective in South Africa. The one-dose vaccine and its booster from the American laboratory Johnson & Johnson (J&J) remains 85% effective against severe cases of infection in South Africa, where the Omicron variant is ultra-dominant, according to an unpaired peer-reviewed study published Thursday. “The effectiveness of the vaccine against hospitalizations increases after the injection of the booster dose”, reaching 85% one to two months after the second injection, according to the study published on the pre-publication site medRxiv.

The mask is once again compulsory outdoors in Lyon and Villeurbanne. From this December 30 – and for three weeks – wearing a mask is compulsory in all the municipalities of Lyon and Villeurbanne, except between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. according to FranceInfo. A prefectural decision that applies to all people aged 11 and over. Other measures are also planned throughout the Rhône department and the metropolis of Lyon, from December 31 at 5 p.m. to January 2 at 12 noon: among them, the consumption of alcoholic beverages in public spaces will be prohibited, in particular, as well as gatherings giving rise to the consumption of alcohol in public spaces. The sale of take-out alcohol will also be prohibited.

New health restrictions in Mayotte. Faced with the deterioration of the health situation in Mayotte, with an incidence rate of 163.9 per 100,000 inhabitants against 41.9 the previous week, new restrictions will be put in place. From December 31, wearing a mask will be compulsory in urbanized public spaces and gatherings of more than six people in public spaces will be prohibited. Gauges will also be set up in bars, restaurants or even mocks.

More than a million daily cases worldwide, according to an AFP count. With the number of contaminations linked to Covid-19 exploding around the world, the symbolic milestone of one million new daily cases was crossed for the first time in the week of December 23 to 29, according to an AFP count. More than 7.3 million new cases of Covid-19 have been detected worldwide in the past seven days, an average of 1,045,000 infections per day. These figures are significantly higher than the record set before the current wave, reached between April 23 and 29, 2021 (817,000 daily cases had then been recorded).

Bali will kick out tourists breaking sanitary rules on New Years Eve. Party-goers on the tourist island of Bali, Indonesia, are warned. Any foreigner caught breaking health rules during New Year’s celebrations will be kicked out of the country, authorities said. The governor of Bali has banned fireworks, balls and gatherings of more than fifty people during the Christmas and New Year period. According to the head of the Bali immigration office, around 200 tourists were deported from Bali in 2021, including 7 for violating health rules such as the obligation to wear a mask.

Chinese confined say they are running out of food. Residents of Xi’an have said they are running out of food, as Chinese authorities ensure supplies are “sufficient” in the city confined due to Covid-19. Xi’an (north), famous for the underground army of the first emperor of China, has been under bell for a week, after cases of Covid-19. The 13 million inhabitants are only allowed to go out for refueling once every three days. Local authorities on Wednesday admitted that the restrictions were weighing on the food supply.

Some 64,000 children vaccinated against Covid in France. While vaccination for 5-11 year olds is now open for a week in France, 64,000 children have benefited from it, said the Secretary of State for Child Protection, Adrien Taquet, interviewed by HuffPost. This digit, “Includes fragile children who were eligible before December 22”, he clarified. “The benefit of vaccination is a direct individual benefit for children: it reduces their chances of catching this virus and contracting a serious form of it,” he added, recalling that “As this variant (omicron) is much more contagious, mechanically, more children risk being infected and hospitalized”.

Antoine Griezmann positive for Covid-19. French Atlético Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, like three other players and coach Diego Simeone while Barça announced for its part three new cases within its workforce. The announcements come just before La Liga resumes this weekend after the Christmas break. Tested positive but all asymptomatic, Diego “Simeone, Koke, Griezmann, (Hector) Herrera and Joao Félix are in isolation at home, thus obeying the recommendations of the health authorities”, Atlético said in a short statement.

French cinemas limit breakage in 2021. (Small) relief for French cinemas. In 2021, they counted 96 million spectators despite the Covid-19 pandemic, an increase of 47% compared to 2020, according to figures published by the National Center for Cinematography. The figures are difficult to compare from one year to the next, 2021 having been marked by the pandemic: the cinemas remained closed until May 19, then subject to gauges and curfews, and finally to the presentation health pass. But in the month of December alone, attendance is “Close to normal”, with 20.43 million admissions, against 22.68 million in 2019.

Almost a million Covid tests per day during Christmas week. Christmas week was marked by a further 9% increase in the number of PCR and antigen tests. Nearly 6.85 million in total, with an unprecedented peak of 1.55 million on December 23, “daily volume record“ just before New Years Eve, specifies the Drees (research, studies, evaluation and statistics department) in a press release. One “new record” from “essentially” to 16-65 years, according to figures released Thursday by the Ministry of Health.

Faced with the omicron wave, British hospitals are opening temporary beds. “On the war footing”, British hospitals will set up temporary structures to open up to 4,000 additional beds, health services said. Confronted with a meteoric resurgence of the epidemic linked to the omicron variant, the United Kingdom records contamination records every day and the number of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 in England exceeded 10,000 on Wednesday for the first time since March. These temporary structures must therefore strengthen the hospital service in the event of a wave of admissions exceeding existing capacities.

In the universities, no pass necessary for the exams. To pass the exams planned in January in universities, health or vaccination pass will not be necessary, announced Sarah El Haïry, Secretary of State in charge of Youth and Engagement, on CNews. While the number of new detected cases of Covid-19 surpassed the 200,000 daily cases mark on Wednesday, the Minister of Higher Education and Research, Frédérique Vidal, confirmed that the exams would take place in the faculties at the start of the school year.

Olivier Véran sounds the maximum alert for the vaccination pass. Speaking on Wednesday before the National Assembly’s Law Committee as a preamble to the examination of the bill transforming the health pass as a vaccination pass, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, painted a sufficiently disturbing picture to convince most political groups of the need to toughen the flagship tool of the vaccine strategy. Faced with the deterioration of the health situation, the vaccine is according to him the most effective response, and the government therefore intends reduce to heartache the social life of the unvaccinated. Thus, from mid-January, all people eligible for the vaccine will have to certify a complete vaccination schedule to have access to places of recreation and socialization but also to interregional transport.

The virus is galloping in Guadeloupe. The number of new Covid cases has almost tripled in one week and continues to grow steadily. “Worrying” in Guadeloupe, where the Delta variant remains in the majority, the ARS and the prefecture announced on Wednesday. Some 543 cases were recorded from December 20 to 26, against 203 the previous week and “Nearly 850 cases were identified in less than 3 days” for the start of the week from December 27 to January 2, said Valérie Denux, director general of the Regional Health Agency (ARS), during a press conference. “The situation this week is really very very worrying”, she explained.

Fairs and exhibitions are not affected by gauges. Fixed Monday to curb the spread of the omicron variant, the planned gauges will not concern either fairs or exhibitions. And zoos and amusement parks will not have to respect these gauges of 2,000 people maximum indoors and 5,000 outdoors, announced this morning the Minister Delegate in charge of Tourism and SMEs, Jean -Baptiste Lemoyne, on RMC.

Borne announces a fine for companies not respecting teleworking. This morning on LCI, the Minister of Labor announced the government’s desire to sanction an administrative fine – up to 1,000 euros per employee and within the limit of 50,000 euros – companies that do not play the telecommuting game. An amendment to the bill on the vaccine pass will be tabled by the end of the week. According to Elisabeth Borne, companies “Take advantage of the length of the sanction procedure to break the rules“. “I want a faster and therefore more dissuasive system by allowing the Labor Inspectorate to be able to pronounce sanctions without waiting for the legal procedure”, she summed up.