• Pandemic evolution The WHO rules out that in 2022 the Covid will be treated as a flu

  • Data Spain adds 134,942 new cases of Covid-19 and 247 deaths;

    incidence increases 53 points

  • Health Is omicron really the end of the Covid pandemic?

The Government and the autonomous communities return to address this Wednesday the evolution of the pandemic in the Interterritorial Health Council with an open debate on

whether the coronavirus should already be addressed with a protocol similar to that of the common flu,

the imminent cap on the

price of antigen tests

and the possible advances in the vaccination of new population groups.

In the midst of the debate on addressing the coronavirus as a flu, Spain has exceeded 3,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants of accumulated incidence (3,042), with 134,942 new positives and hospital pressure in the ward (13.3%) and in the ICU (23 , 5%) that continues to be compromised little by little as the transmission progresses.

Catalonia (43,500 cases), the Community of Madrid (20,195) and the Valencian Community (16,364) are in the lead in the highest number of new positives in the last day.

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7.00

Global Covid Cases Rise 55% to Five-fold in South Asia

Global cases of covid-19 increased 55% last week, and the wave of infections associated with the omicron variant begins to hit new regions such as South Asia, where positives soared 418% in that period, according to reported today the World Health Organization (WHO).

In its weekly epidemiological report, the organization shows that the current wave of infections continues to grow strongly although it continues without being accompanied by similar growth in deaths, which from January 3 to 9 increased only 3% globally (43,000).

Europe, the epicenter in the last weeks of the wave, was the region where infections grew the least in the period studied (31%, 7.1 million more), while in America they rose 78% (6.1 million), in the Middle East 86% (200,000) and in East Asia 122% (732,000).

In Africa, the continent where the omicron variant was first detected in early November, cases last week fell 11% (700,000).

The countries with the most cases last week were the United States (4.6 million, 73% more than in the previous seven days), France (1.6 million, 46% more), the United Kingdom (1.2 million, 10% more), Italy (1.01 million, 57% more) and India (638,000 cases, an increase of 524%).

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7.00

The omicron variant, capable of "evading immunity" according to the WHO, is already the dominant one in the world

The omicron variant, which two weeks ago had only been detected in 1.6% of the global cases analyzed in laboratories, is already present in 58.5% of those analyzes, therefore it has exceeded the delta and has been become the dominant globally, according to the World Health Organization.

The weekly epidemiological report published today by the WHO shows that of the more than 357,000 analyzes carried out by the global network of GISAID laboratories in the last 30 days, more than 208,000 detected the omicron variant.

On the other hand, 147,000 (41%), corresponded to the delta variant, which in the previous result of weeks ago still concentrated 96% of the cases and was the main dominant strain for much of the year 2021.

The report highlights that the omicron variant is capable of "evading immunity", since there is transmission even between vaccinated and people who had previously overcome the disease and had developed antibodies.

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7.00

The EMA does not yet consider the Covid "endemic" and asks to take omicron seriously

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has warned that the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 shows that the virus "remains pandemic" and not endemic yet, and urged to think about a long-term vaccination strategy because they cannot be "give booster doses every three to four months" in the future.

The epidemiological situation in Europe "continues to be very worrying", with high numbers of infections with both the delta and omicron variants, said Marco Cavaleri, the head of Vaccination Strategy, who urged to complete the primary vaccination schedule and receive the dose reinforcement when applicable.

In the first press conference of the year, the EMA stressed that, although omicron "seems to be more contagious than other variants", preliminary data show "a lower risk of hospitalizations in a contagion" with this variant, which is estimated at "between a third and a half the risk than with delta. "

But the effectiveness against symptomatic disease is "lower" than with other variants and "tends to decrease over time," which may cause more vaccinated people to develop covid-19 with omicron.

As a consequence, Cavaleri asked European countries "to be aware of its potential burden (especially hospital burden) and not relegate it to a mild disease" due to the data that suggest that omicron could cause mild covid-19.

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