Omicron’s extreme contagiousness – and its impressive procession of work stoppages and quarantines – places a heavy burden on the company’s organization, even if the acceleration of contamination is not accompanied, for the time being. , increase in deaths.
The first region concerned, Europe – the current epicenter of the pandemic – is facing unprecedented levels of contamination: more than 4.9 million infections have been recorded in the past seven days, or 59% more than the previous week, according to an AFP count. , done on Saturday 1 January. There have been a total of over 10 crore cases reported since the virus was discovered in December 2019.
easy isolation rule
In a bid to preserve socio-economic life, France – where more than a million cases have been detected in the past seven days – this Sunday announced easing rules for the isolation of infected people and their contacts from Monday. The type joins a growing list. of countries reducing the quarantine time.
Full vaccination of positive people They will now have to isolate themselves for seven days instead of ten, regardless of variation, an isolation that can be lifted after five days in the event of a negative test.
People who do not have a complete vaccination program “Ten days to self-isolate, with possible exit after seven days under similar circumstances”.
If you are in touch And that you haven’t been vaccinated or if you haven’t had your booster in time, you’ll need to isolate yourself for seven days, then get a negative antigen or PCR test at the end of this period so that you can stay away from isolation. can come out And if you are in contact and fully vaccinated, there will be no more quarantine.
Until now, positive people had to remain in isolation for 10 days regardless of the variant, and contact cases of a person who contracted the Omicron variant had to self-isolate for at least 7 days. When sharing the home of a positive person, the period of isolation can even reach up to 17 days, whatever it may be.
The health ministry said in a press release that the rules would be changed to ensure “control of pollution while maintaining socio-economic life”.
England broke the record of infection
And in the United Kingdom, which records daily contamination, the British health minister, Sajid Javid, indicated on Saturday that the new restrictions would only intervene in England “as a last resort”. Shortly before Christmas, the British government reduced the period of isolation there from ten to seven days for vaccinated people who had contracted the coronavirus.
Emphasizing the “enormous health, social and economic cost of prisoners”, Mr Javid felt it was necessary to give oneself the means to “live with the virus”, thanks to vaccinations, an arsenal of treatments and mass screening. was in a column published in the Daily Mail.
The minister, however, acknowledged that the healthcare system would “inevitably” be under pressure due to a “sharp increase” in hospitals in the coming weeks.
Fairs, shows, amusement parks and zoos avoid Gaze’s return on January 3rd
The separation between our neighbors lessened
On Friday, the Swiss health authority also decided that cantons could reduce the quarantine of contact cases to seven days from the earlier ten days and extend it to “people living together or intimate with a person who has tested positive.” Contact” can be limited.
Fears of a destabilizing economy had already prompted Spain to find a balance between “public health” and “development economic”, reducing the forty people positive for Covid-19 to seven days from ten days earlier. . According to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
On the same day, Argentina made a similar decision in an effort to reduce the impact on economic activity of a record spike in cases in its region. Portugal decided to take the same measure on Friday.
Masks mandatory from the age of six on transport and in some public places
canceled flights in the united states
South Africa, believing it to have passed the peak of the Omicron wave, for its part ended the 21-month night curfew on 31 December. “We want to find a balance between people’s lives, their livelihoods and the goal of saving lives,” Minister Mondali Gungubele told the Presidency.
Illustrating the effect of the Omicron wave, global air traffic is still facing many disruptions. Pilots and flight attendants are absent following COVID-19 or contact and therefore in quarantine, airlines are forced to cancel flights.
As of Saturday, in the United States, where adverse weather is added to the disruptions associated with the outbreak of the pandemic, nearly 2,660 flights were canceled, more than half of the 4,617 canceled globally, around 7:30 p.m. 00:30 GMT) ), according to the FlightAware website.
To limit absenteeism and thus avoid interruptions and shortages, Joe Biden’s administration on Monday decided to reduce the recommended quarantine period for people positive for Covid from ten to five days, provided they are asymptomatic.
Kovid-19: Areas affected by new restrictions received on Monday morning in Bercy
AFP