The US Senate rejected a bill to cancel President Joe Biden's decision related to mandatory vaccination in the private sector against the Corona virus, and the United Nations considered that mandatory vaccination in all sectors is a violation of human rights, and several European countries announced tightening restrictions again to contain the virus.

The US Senate voted 52 to 48 to pass a bill to repeal Biden's decision regarding mandatory vaccination of private sector employers against the Corona virus.

This measure was supported by all Republicans and two Democrats.

NBC News reported that the bill will go to the House of Representatives, where it faces an uphill battle.

For her part, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, stressed yesterday, Wednesday, that countries considering making vaccination against Corona compulsory must ensure respect for human rights, stressing that imposing vaccines is unacceptable.

"Any mandatory vaccination must comply with the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination," Bachelet said.

On the other hand, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said yesterday that preliminary data indicate that the Omicron mutant may have a higher ability than other mutants to infect those who have previously contracted the virus, as well as those who have received vaccination, but it may cause less severe symptoms. .

A demonstration against compulsory vaccination in New York yesterday (Getty Images)

Back to restrictions

On the other hand, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced yesterday a return to Plan B, tightening restrictions to stop the spread of Omicron, including returning to remote work, imposing the submission of a health certificate in some places, and mandatory wearing a muzzle in most closed places.

Meanwhile, Johnson's former spokeswoman, Allegra Stratton, announced her resignation after publishing a video that sparked outrage in the country, in which Johnson's office staff appeared joking at a Christmas party last year when gatherings were prohibited, which prompted an apology from Johnson and promised to open an investigation. internal.

Norway will tighten sanitary measures for a period of 4 weeks, with the mask being obligatory at parties if it is not possible to guarantee a distance for social distancing.

For its part, the Danish government announced a series of measures to curb the new wave of the epidemic, which includes bringing the school holiday to Christmas, making the mask mandatory in bars and restaurants, and obligating them to close at midnight.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that the "part-time mechanisms" would be "extended" for companies whose work has slowed due to the new measures against the disease, and he promised to make an announcement in the coming days, citing the activities of events and caterers of restaurants or nightclubs.

Johnson speaks at a press conference about tightening restrictions (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, the German parliament refused to extend the closure after its scheduled end next month, as members of parliament confirmed that the situation has changed radically because about two-thirds of the population received the Corona vaccine, announcing that they did not intend to close schools or declare a curfew again, although infections have recently increased.

Yesterday, Wednesday, the Austrian government announced the cancellation of the famous opera concert that takes place on February 24 in Vienna, for the second year in a row due to the Corona virus.

This party usually includes about 7,000 invitees, and it is one of the most anticipated social parties annually from the political, economic and artistic elites in the world.

In Poland, the municipality of the capital, Warsaw, said that it suffers from a shortage of respirators for epidemic patients in its hospitals, as the country - which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the European Union - is facing a large wave of new infections.

An official in the Pakistani Ministry of Health told Reuters today, Thursday, that the authorities had detected the first omicron infection in the country in Sindh, explaining that the patient was traveling abroad.

On another topic, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a report it issued that the Covid-19 pandemic affected children on an unprecedented scale, making it the worst crisis facing children in the organization's 75-year history.

The report notes that 100 million children are now living in various forms of poverty due to the pandemic, an increase of 10% since 2019.

The Corona virus caused the death of at least 5,270,700 people in the world two years ago, and the United States is still the most affected country in terms of deaths, with the number of deaths reaching more than 791 thousand, and infections to about 49 million and 390 thousand, followed by Brazil Then India, Mexico and Russia.

The World Health Organization believes that the outcome of the epidemic may be two or three times greater than the officially announced global outcome.