There are reasons to be optimistic looking across the Channel. Indeed, notes Release, ” after the omicron tidal wave, the UK is taking its head out of the water. (…) For five days, the infection rate has been falling. Exceeding 246,000 as of December 29, cases dropped to just over 141,000 on Sunday. But it is especially towards London that all eyes are turned. Last month, the ‘omicron tidal wave’ overwhelmed the English capital long before the rest of the country (…). Today, ‘one can think that we have passed or even perhaps reached the peak’ of the fourth wave in London, cautiously advanced Sunday morning the regional director of British public health. “
What’s more, point again Release, “ daily hospital admissions in the capital fell from 511 – which would therefore be the peak – to 312 between December 29 and January 7. “
So, the United Kingdom having been hit by the Omicron wave a few weeks before France, should we also expect a decline here? We can reasonably think so.
Many optimistic scientists
But are we safe from another variant? The world wonders: “ tired by two years of a pandemic, is humanity doomed to relive these successive waves, exhausting the health care system, altering the physical and mental health of populations, paralyzing entire sections of the economy – and driving up the rates of mortality? “
Well, ” no, answers the newspaper. Because if the current wave is unlikely to be the last, it is not forbidden to glimpse the exit of the tunnel. Many scientists are optimistic, highlighted Le Monde, they estimate that in 2022, the impact of the pandemic on global health will diminish. Although the Omicron variant threatens to cause a seizure over the next few months, the most likely scenarios then show a much better prospect. This is due to the growing immunity of the world population, which makes the disease less severe, thanks to vaccination and natural infections. “
Indeed, ” ‘the good news is that we are building up the protective layers’, says Arnaud Fontanet of the Institut Pasteur, quoted by The world. That, specifies the newspaper, thanks to the bulwark of cellular immunity above all, little affected by virus mutations, and more able to control severe forms of Covid-19. The impact of the new variants will depend on two factors: their distance from their predecessors, and their specific severity. The pandemic could therefore develop over time into seasonal ‘flu-like’ epidemics. “
The end of the testing bazaar?
While waiting to see this optimistic scenario come true, of course, but probable, it is “ the exhausting test race », Notes The cross on the first page. “ Because of the Omicron variant, ‘10% of the French population ‘is currently a contact case, according to the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran. This tidal wave saturates the detection system and makes obsolete the strategy of tracing the chains of contamination of the government. And the school health protocol, which involves multiple tests, is strongly criticized by teachers and parents. “
Therefore, ” Jean Castex wants to put an end to the test bazaar “, point The Parisian. ” The Prime Minister announced last night a relaxation of the health protocol in schools: when a child is in contact, three self-tests will now suffice. These will be provided free of charge by pharmacies. “
Presidential campaign: the quest for sponsorship
In this busy health context, the campaign for the presidential election is slipping … and the controversy swells about sponsorship …
Eric Zemmour but also Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon have still not succeeded in collecting the 500 sponsorships from mayors necessary to present themselves.
” The sponsorship system under fire from critics », Launches Le Figaro on the first page. ” In question, a provision introduced by François Hollande who made public the identity of the signatory mayors. “So, the newspaper comments,” the rule of 500 sponsorships, instituted in 1976, allows – this is normal – to rule out fanciful applications. But this 2016 reform, which makes public (therefore) the name of each signatory, is more questionable. They are 42,000 mayors to be able to participate, but most are local elected officials without a precise label, who above all do not want to be + cataloged +. Sponsoring is not supporting, but the difference is not obvious for everyone. “
The absence of Zemmour, Le Pen and Mélenchon in the presidential election for lack of sponsorships would be, concludes Le Figaro, “ a denial of democracy. “