World records record number of infections, Philippines locks down House of Representatives to prevent Covid-19

According to the global statistics site Worldometers, as of 6:00 a.m. on January 5,Covid-19 pandemicThe novel coronavirus has continued to attack 222 countries and territories, infecting 295.2 million people and killing 5.47 million since it broke out more than two years ago.

The US leads not only in new infections (450,000) but also in 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. It contains up to 46 mutations, so it is more likely 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.

Philippines blocks House of Representatives

House Secretary General Mark Llandro Mendoza announced that the headquarters of the agency is being placed under 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 Omicron cases 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 two months. After detecting Omicron cases, the country's health ministry warned that the number of new infections would 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. The majority of 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 take rapid tests at home instead of going to government facilities to reduce the burden on the health system. However, this proposal is putting pressure on authorities as high demand and hoarding lead to shortages of test kits and high prices.

The power of the fourth shot in Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that research in his country showed that the fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine increased the level of antibodies five times after one week of vaccination. Speaking at the 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 definitely 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 vaccinated people a week after the fourth dose. This could very well mean a significant increase in protection against infection, hospitalisation and severe symptoms."

Responding to the Covid-19 outbreak caused by the Omicron variant, Israel deployed the fourth injection from January 3 to people over 60 years old and medical workers who had received the third dose at least 4 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 wave in September 2021.