According to research conducted in the UK by a team from Imperial College, the risk of hospitalization with the Omicron variant is 40% lower than with the Delta variant.
China: the city of Xi’an in lockdown for a few cases: 13 million at home
The 13 million inhabitants of the Chinese city of Xi’ian are in lockdown to contain the spread of the Coronavirus . The decision would come after the emergence of a few dozen cases of contagion. Residents are mostly forced to stay indoors, with few exceptions: according to the decree, each family can designate a person to go shopping every two days.
Local authorities reported 63 cases of contagion, an outbreak that developed from “imported cases”. At the moment there is no news about the variant responsible for the infections, but the population of the city, the capital of the province of Shaanxi is invited to go to the hospital or close at home with the closest people in case of contagion.
Millions of tests are also ready to help control the spread of the virus. The schools have been closed and so have the shops that do not supply basic necessities. Many transport services were interrupted, while most flights to the city were canceled.Kyriakides (EU): Lockdown? Each member state decides
“Each member state decides on the basis of its own situation and figures, but our common challenge now is to urgently increase vaccination and booster rates across the EU, to protect people from the more severe effects of the Covid “. This is how Stella replies in an interview with Corriere della Sera Kyriakides – the 65-year-old Cypriot politician European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety – to a question about the advisability of returning to lockdown during the holidays in European countries.
As for travel, “we have always been clear that in order to avoid disrupting free movement safely and providing clarity to citizens and businesses, our approach must be based on scientific evidence and in close coordination and communication with Member States. We want to avoid fragmentation, which weakens our common response to the crisis ”.
On antiviral pills, Kyriakides is clear: “Therapies do not replace vaccination. Vaccines are our best preventative response to the virus. But even with vaccines, some patients may need treatment ”. How long will Covid still last? “Unfortunately it is very difficult to predict,” he concludes.
White House: It will take months for Pfizer pill to be available
There White House warned that it will take more than 6 months to fulfill the initial order for the antiviral pill COVID-19 from Pfizer. Consultants to President Joe Biden explained that it will take months for the company to build and deploy all 10 million treatment cycles already ordered.
Jeff Zients, the coordinator of the Biden administration’s Covid-19 response team, said that “according to Pfizer, the complex chemistry involved in creating the active ingredient in the pill means that production takes six to eight months.” “Pfizer’s 265,000 treatment cycles will be available in January, 10 million will be delivered by the end of the summer,” he added.