The decline, for several weeks, in the number of contaminations has led the government to lift almost all restrictions to fight against Covid-19. However, it was when the vaccination pass ended, when the mask fell everywhere – except in transport and health establishments – that the figures started to rise again. Those of contamination, at least, because admissions to intensive care and critical care continue to decrease. On the other hand, the Pasteur Institute, in its projections on the evolution of the health situation in the country, anticipates an increase in hospital admissions in the days to come.
The trend for a resurgence of the epidemic is not unique to France. Germany is also worried about it while China, for its part, has experienced a record number of contaminations for two years. At least 13 cities have been placed in quarantine, representing nearly 30 million inhabitants.
- The Institut Pasteur predicts an increase in hospitalizations
Since the start of the pandemic, the Institut Pasteur has published and updated its projections on the evolution of the health situation. Updated this Tuesday, March 15, the model “anticipates an increase in hospital admissions in the coming days”. The projections, specifies the Institute, do not take into account the potential impact of the lifting of health measures which took place on Monday. Namely the reduction in the wearing of a mask, which is no longer compulsory in closed places, with a few exceptions (public transport, health establishments, and companies which wish to continue to impose it on their employees), as well as than the end of the vaccination pass.
The epidemic, which was in a downward phase in the country, is starting to rise again slightly. In addition to the projections of the Pasteur Institute on hospitalizations, the number of daily cases is increasing: the seven-day average stood at 65,250 on Sunday, against 50,646 a week earlier.
- In China, record number of cases for two years
On Tuesday, China reported 5,280 cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours. This is the highest count in the country since the first epidemic wave in early 2020. To stem the pandemic, the regime resorted to strict containment measures. This “zero Covid” strategy has come up against both a form of weariness of the population, which has failed to stem the epidemic on national territory, and the arrival of the less aggressive Omicron strain. but much more transmissible.
Faced with the appearance of many new sources of contamination, China has decided to reconfine, in recent days, at least 13 cities. This represents, according to an AFP count, nearly 30 million people. The technological metropolis of Shenzhen (south), at the gates of Hong Kong, is one of the cities quarantined.
- Fears about the economic repercussions
The sanitary confinement decreed in several Chinese cities forced the cessation of work in factories. This “will have economic repercussions” if the situation lasts, said European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, on Monday. China “is in the process of reconfiguring all the companies in the Pearl River delta, that is to say almost between Shenzhen and Guangzhou, where you have the largest sectors of economic activity and in particular in electronics” , he continued. “Obviously, we will have a stop in the value chains and automatically, if it lasts, it will have repercussions.”
- In Peru, children go back to school
Students in public and private schools in Peru have been gradually reuniting with their classmates since Monday after two years of virtual education due to the pandemic. “Everyone is returning to school safely. 54,791 (public) schools in 18 regions are resuming face-to-face lessons,” said Mr. on Twitter, the Ministry of Education.
- Switzerland condemned by the European Court of Human Rights
The ECHR condemned, on Tuesday, Switzerland for “violation of the freedom of assembly”. The Court had been seized in May 2020 by the Geneva Community of Trade Union Action (CGAS), an association which complained of having had to give up organizing a demonstration on May 1 after the adoption by the government of measures intended to fight against the coronavirus. In this ordinance appeared in particular the prohibition of public and private demonstrations. The measure, taken on March 16, was relaxed on May 30 and then lifted on June 20, 2020.
In its judgment, the ECHR recalls that the “threat to public health” of Covid-19 “was very serious” and required States to “react quickly”. But she points out that a “blanket ban on certain behavior” is a “radical measure that requires strong justification and particularly serious review by the courts”. However, this review, according to the Court, was not carried out by the domestic courts. Switzerland must pay 3,000 euros to the association.