The appearance of the highly contagious Omicron variant in November caused cases to jump worldwide, with more than 80 million cases reported since. However, it is possible to end the acute phase of the pandemic this year, the head of the WHO said on Monday, even if the Covid-19 causes a death every 12 seconds in the world.
- With Omicron, end of “plausible” pandemic in Europe
An exit from the Covid-19 pandemic could be looming in Europe, two years after the appearance of this disease on the old continent where Omicron could have infected 60% of the population by March, the Organization estimated on Sunday. World Health Organization (WHO). “It is plausible that the region is approaching an end to the pandemic,” WHO Europe director Hans Kluge told AFP, urging caution, however, given the versatility of the virus.
“Once the Omicron wave subsides, there will be for a few weeks and a few months overall immunity, either because of the vaccine or because people will be immune because of the infection, and also a decline because of the seasonality,” he said. The WHO then expects “a period of calm before perhaps the return of Covid-19 towards the end of the year, but not necessarily the return of the pandemic”.
- It is possible to end the acute phase of the pandemic this year
It is possible to end the acute phase of the pandemic this year, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday, even if the Covid-19 causes a death every 12 seconds in the world. “We can end the acute phase of the pandemic this year – we can end Covid-19 as a global health emergency”, WHO’s highest level of alert, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus .
He nevertheless cautioned that “it is dangerous to assume that (the highly contagious variant) Omicron will be the last variant or to speak of endgame”, as conditions are “ideal” currently in the world for other variants emerge, including more transmissible and more virulent variants.
To end the acute phase of the pandemic, countries must not sit idly by, and must, among other things, fight against vaccine inequity, monitor the virus and its variants and take appropriate restriction measures, he added. he explained on the occasion of the opening of the WHO Executive Committee, which meets this week in Geneva (Switzerland).
- Belgium: clashes during an anti-sanitary pass demonstration
Clashes opposed the police and opponents of health restrictions to fight against Covid-19 in Brussels on Sunday, during a demonstration which brought together tens of thousands of people. According to the authorities, around 50,000 people marched in the Belgian capital, some from other European countries. This is the largest protest in the city in recent months.
The clashes erupted near the headquarters of the European Union. Police used water cannons and tear gas to repel protesters who were throwing cobblestones and firecrackers. A little later, police officers, bombarded with metal barriers, took refuge in a metro station.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has condemned the “senseless destruction and violence” after masked attackers smashed a glass door at the EU’s foreign affairs headquarters. According to the police, about 70 people were arrested, including a dozen for offenses such as throwing projectiles and damaging property. Three officers and 12 protesters were hospitalized, but none whose life would be in danger.
- Demonstration in Washington against the “tyranny” of vaccine obligations
In the name of their freedoms, their children or their religious convictions, a few thousand Americans demonstrated on Sunday in Washington to protest against the obligations to be vaccinated against Covid-19. “Obligations (vaccines) and freedoms are not compatible. Like water and oil”, launched a speaker on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the imposing white marble building dedicated to the 16th president of the United States. United States. “Breathe,” urges another. “Inhale God, exhale fear,” he adds to the applause of the crowd, Americans of all ages, unmasked, sometimes accompanied by children.
- China: an entire district preventively screened in Beijing
The city of Beijing intended to screen all the inhabitants of a district of around two million inhabitants, in the district of Fengtai, on Sunday, after the discovery of an epidemic focus, less than two weeks before the start of the Olympic Games. winter in the Chinese capital. Since last weekend, around forty cases of Covid have been identified in Beijing, the majority are of the Delta strain. “We must make every effort to stop the spread (of the virus) as quickly as possible, by taking firm, strict and decisive measures”, justified in front of the press an official, Xu Hejian.
The district of Fengtai is located about 20 km from the site which is to host the Olympic freestyle skiing and snowboarding events during the Beijing Winter Olympics. Fengtai is the district where the Xinfadi market is located, which in 2020 had been the epicenter of a previous epidemic focus. Traces of virus on a cutting board of imported salmon had been discovered there.