France and UK record highest number of new COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to develop complicatedly in Europe. On December 24, France recorded the highest number of new cases per day since the outbreak, with 94,124 cases. This is the second consecutive day that France has recorded a record high number.
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| People line up to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in London, UK, December 19, 2021. Photo: THX/TTXVN |
Experts say the number of cases in France will continue to increase amid family gatherings during the end-of-year holidays and the emergence of the super-infectious Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Currently, France has about 16,173 people being treated for COVID-19 in hospital, while about 122,462 people have died from the pandemic.
About 76.5% of the French population has received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine and nearly 21 million people have received a booster shot. The French Health Ministry recommends that adults in the country of 67.4 million people get a booster shot three months after completing the regular vaccination regimen.
The UK also recorded the highest number of new cases since the beginning of the epidemic on the same day, with 122,186 cases in the past 24 hours, more than 2,000 cases more than the number recorded a day earlier.
The UK is one of the countries worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, with the death toll from the disease reaching 147,857.
The number of new cases in the past seven days in the UK increased by 48% compared to a week earlier, while hospital admissions and deaths increased less.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on December 23 that data so far showed that people infected with the Omicron variant were 70% less likely to be hospitalized than those infected with the Delta variant. However, the agency said this was only a preliminary conclusion because it was based on only a small number of hospitalizations.
