The world records a record number of infections, the Philippines locks down the House of Representatives to prevent Covid-19
The world recorded a record of nearly 2 million new Covid-19 infections and about 5,800 deaths in the past 24 hours.
According to the global statistics site Worldometers, as of 6:00 a.m. on January 5,Covid-19 pandemicThe novel coronavirus continues to attack 222 countries and territories, infecting 295.2 million people and killing 5.47 million since its outbreak more than two years ago.
The US leads not only in the number of new infections (450,000) but also in the number of new deaths (1,560) due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. To date, the country has nearly 58 million infections and over 851,000 unfortunate victims of Covid-19.
Meanwhile, in France, scientists have just discovered a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, called B.1.640.2. Containing up to 46 mutations, it has a higher ability to avoid vaccines and is more contagious than the original strain. However, the spread rate of this variant is unlikely to surpass Omicron.
By region, Europe is the hardest hit by the pandemic, with nearly 91 million cases. Next is Asia with more than 85 million cases, North America with 68 million cases, South America with 40 million cases, Africa with 9.9 million cases and Oceania with 712,000 cases.
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| Medical staff prepare the fourth injection for an Israeli. Photo: Reuters |
Philippines blocks House of Representatives
House Secretary General Mark Llandro Mendoza announced that the headquarters of the House of Representatives is being placed on lockdown to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant, to ensure the safety of lawmakers as well as the secretariat and all staff.
The lockdown decision was made despite the fact that the Philippine House of Representatives has not recorded any cases of Omicron infection so far. The Philippine Congress is scheduled to resume on January 17.
The number of new infections in the Philippines has risen to its highest level in the past two months. After detecting Omicron cases, the country's Health Ministry warned that the number of new infections will increase sharply in the coming days.
Since January 5, the provinces of Cavite and Rizal neighboring the capital Manila have raised their epidemic warning to the third highest level.
The Philippines has recorded over 2.8 million infections, including over 51,000 deaths, since the Covid-19 outbreak.
Australia records new infections
The rapid spread of the Omicron variant is pushing Australia’s new Covid-19 cases to a record high. Hospitalisations are also rising, reaching an all-time high. Most of the patients in intensive care have not been vaccinated.
Australia recorded about 47,800 cases on January 4, up nearly 335 from the previous record a day earlier. Queensland recorded 5,699 new cases while New South Wales had 1,344 people requiring hospital treatment.
Australian officials are proposing that people be allowed to take rapid tests at home instead of going to government facilities to ease the burden on the health system. However, this proposal is putting pressure on the authorities as increased demand and hoarding lead to a shortage of test kits and high prices.
The power of the fourth shot in Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that research in the country showed that the fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine increased the level of antibodies five times after one week of vaccination. Speaking at Sheba Medical Center in the city of Ramat Gan, he said: "A week after the fourth dose of the vaccine is deployed, we know more for sure that it is safe."
Citing preliminary results from the Centre's research, Prime Minister Bennett added: "The second piece of news is that we've seen a five-fold increase in antibodies in people a week after the fourth dose. This likely means that their ability to fight off infection, hospitalisation and severe symptoms will be significantly enhanced."
Responding to the Covid-19 outbreak caused by the Omicron variant, Israel deployed the fourth injection from January 3 for people over 60 years old and medical staff who had received the third dose at least four months ago.
Israel recorded more than 10,000 new infections on January 3, equal to the peak of the third wave of infections in January 2021 and the fourth in September 2021.