In the midst of approaching Christmas holidays, France has announced that the obligation to justify “compelling reasons” for travelers to and from the United Kingdom will be reinstated from Saturday. The United Kingdom recorded 78,610 new positive cases in 24 hours yesterday which is an extremely steep rise in the contamination since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
France has urged the travellers to “postpone their trip ” UK and reduced the validity of tests on departure from the UK from 48 to 24 hours and putting in place an isolation system on arrival in France. The British Government expects a “tidal wave” linked to the Omicron variant in the coming days.
Around 3,000 patients are currently in intensive care in France and the figure is likely to reach 4,000 by December end. France is trying to slow down as much as possible the arrival of cases of the Omicron variant till the time that they vaccinate with booster doses. 240 cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in France, but it is estimated that there could be more.
In the EU capital Brussels, leaders will discuss the progression of the new variant as Omicron is feared to become dominant in Europe by mid-January. However the European agency in charge of epidemics said though important, vaccination alone would not be enough and rapid reintroduction of teleworking, wearing of masks and limiting the number of people in transport and public spaces would be required.
Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Greece already require European travelers, to test negative even if they are vaccinated, in order to enter their territory. The Authorities are stressing upon the importance of expanding immunization and administration of booster doses. 67% of the European population is fully vaccinated but in Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia, it is below 50%. Denmark meanwhile, became the first EU country to authorize anti-Covid molnupiravir treatment from the US laboratory Merck, for at-risk patients with symptoms. Austria and Germany are preparing to impose compulsory vaccination.
On Europe’s other side of Atlantic, Canada is discouraging non-essential overseas travel and contemplating to tighten border controls. Morocco is closing again its partially reopened borders soon. The Moroccan authorities will not allow Moroccans stranded abroad to return in the country from December 23. South Africa, which ‘discovered’ Omicron, recorded 26,976 Covid-19 infections in 24 hours on Wednesday.
In Asia, South Korea will reinstate mandatory closing hours for cafes, restaurants, cinemas and other public places, and will restrict the gatherings to four people. China declared that it reached a total of 100,000 Covid-19 patients since the start of the pandemic two years ago.
So far the pandemic has killed at least 53,28,762 worldwide and more than 271 million cases have been recorded across the world.
