More than 5.6 million people have died from Covid-19 since December 2019, according to a report established by AFP. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that this number could be doubled or even tripled if we take into account the excess mortality, direct or indirect, linked to the pandemic. Even though cases remain high, several European countries are moving towards lifting restrictions. Sweden has scheduled it for February 1; England from this Thursday.
- England handing over mask and sanitary pass
In bad shape because of the Downing Street holiday scandal, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is taking a breather with the abandonment, this Thursday, of almost all of the latest restrictions put in place against the Omicron variant. Exit the obligation to wear a mask indoors in public places and a vaccination passport for events with a large audience. Except in London concerning the wearing of the mask, where the mayor Sadiq Khan announced to maintain the obligation in public transport. Some supermarket chains also ask their customers for it. The government will allow visits again from Monday for residents of nursing homes – 86.5% of whom have received their booster dose of the vaccine.
Boris Johnson welcomed this new step on Twitter but warned that “the pandemic is not over”. “Everyone needs to be careful, and I urge anyone who hasn’t yet had their vaccine to come forward,” he said. The Prime Minister even hopes to be able to lift in March the obligation to isolate themselves in the event of a positive test, “just as there is no legal obligation for people who have the flu to isolate themselves”.
According to the latest figures, 64% of the population over the age of 12 received a third dose. But the virus is still circulating actively in the United Kingdom: nearly 100,000 new cases recorded daily.
- The Vaccine Strategy Guidance Council does not recommend, for the moment, a 4th dose
While 428,008 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded on Wednesday by Public Health France, the Council for the Orientation of the Vaccine Strategy (COSV) has ruled out the idea, for the moment, of generalizing a fourth dose of vaccine against Covid-19. “At this stage, a second booster dose of vaccination would not bring significant individual benefit”, writes the COSV in a notice published Wednesday but dated January 19.
It also notes “that the implementation of a second booster could generate a counter-productive effect as regards the continuation of the current vaccination campaign. Indeed, such a measure could be interpreted as a signal of ineffectiveness of the vaccination by public opinion and thus induce a risk of disengagement with regard to vaccination perceived as too frequent”.
The body, seized by the Ministry of Health to write an opinion on this double booster dose, recalls the urgency to “put in place all the measures allowing the elderly and frail to receive their (first) booster vaccine as soon as possible. quickly as possible”. In Israel, the Ministry of Health has taken a further step: it announced on Wednesday evening that it was going to extend the injection of a 4th dose of vaccine to people at risk aged over 18.
- Moderna is testing a specific vaccine booster against Omicron
The American company Moderna is directly attacking Omicron. The firm announced on Wednesday that it was starting clinical trials for a booster dose of vaccine designed specifically against this very active variant of Covid-19. The trials will involve a total of 600 adults. Half of them have already received two doses of Moderna’s vaccine at least six months ago; the other half the two doses of vaccine plus the booster. Moderna, in its press release, also claims that after the booster dose already authorized, the levels of neutralizing antibodies remain at a satisfactory level against the Omicron variant, even six months after the injection.
- In Italy, eased restrictions for EU travelers
Italy will ease anti-Covid restrictions for travelers from European Union countries. From February, the country will still require proof of vaccination, recent recovery or negative test but will no longer impose a quarantine obligation.
- Catalonia drops the health pass
The Catalan regional government has announced that it will abandon, as of Friday, the obligation to show a health pass to enter bars, restaurants, sports halls and retirement homes, for lack of effectiveness of the measure against the Omicron variant . The Catalan executive had introduced the health pass in November 2021.
- United States: delivery of 1.7 million doses of vaccine to Uganda
The United States will deliver 1,684,800 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Uganda, via the international Covax mechanism, a White House official told AFP.AFP. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, only 4.36% of the Ugandan population is fully immunized. The United States has promised to donate a total of more than a billion doses to poor countries. 400 million of them have already been shipped.
- In Costa Rica, “antivax” break into a hospital to try to dislodge a child
A group suspected of opposing the Covid vaccine entered a hospital in Heredia, Costa Rica, on Wednesday, attacking security guards, patients and medical staff. According to the director of the establishment, they tried, in vain, to force out a six-year-old boy, hospitalized a few days earlier for a respiratory ailment. Vaccination had therefore been recommended to him, despite the opposition of his parents.