The World Health Organization warned - today, Tuesday - that the mutated Omicron of the Corona virus (Covid-19) will cause a “large number of hospitalizations”, while several countries have begun imposing new restrictions to limit the spread of the virus.
"The rapid spread of Omicron - as we are currently witnessing in several countries, even if it causes a slightly less serious disease - will lead to a large number of hospitalizations," said Catherine Smallwood, responsible for Europe at the World Health Organization, to Agence France-Presse. Especially among the unvaccinated.
The health expert called for dealing "with caution" with the initial data indicating that the possibility of hospitalization is less, because the cases observed so far included "in particular, young people in good health in countries with a high vaccination rate."
Some experts believe that a large infection may overcome the advantage that the mutant Omicron is less dangerous than its predecessors, at a time when several countries have announced record levels of infection since the beginning of the pandemic.
Experts also do not know whether the lower degree of risk stems from the characteristics of the mutation in itself, or if it is related to groups of the partially immunized population, whether through receiving the vaccine or previous infection with the virus.
A tent for testing Corona virus infection in the United States of America (Anatolia)
numbers and data
According to the data published by the Worldometers website, which specializes in monitoring the latest figures related to the Covid-19 virus, the number of people infected with the virus has reached more than 282 million and 65 thousand, while the number of deaths has reached 5 million and 426 thousand and 68 deaths.
The United States leads the list of injured with about 54 million injuries, while the number of deaths has reached more than 839,000.
Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that the percentage of infection with the Omicron mutant represented 58.6% of the Corona mutants circulating in the United States, until the week ending on December 25.
The widespread omicron mutant was first detected in South Africa and Hong Kong in November, while the United States detected the first infection with the mutant on December 1, in a fully vaccinated person after traveling to South Africa.
According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, today, Tuesday, the percentage of infection with the delta mutator represents 41.1% of Corona cases.
Mutant Omicron is spreading rapidly in countries of the world (Getty Images)
stone and chains
This comes while China imposed a quarantine on tens of thousands of additional people, at a time when the country recorded record numbers of Covid-19 infections, less than 40 days before the Winter Games in Beijing.
Local infections with the Corona virus increased in China for the fourth consecutive day, and most cases were recorded in the northwestern city of Xi'an, and the authorities imposed a general closure on its 13 million people.
Xi'an recorded 175 symptomatic cases on Monday, up from the previous day, when the city recorded 150 cases.
So far, the authorities have not announced new cases of the mutant omicron in Xi'an, among the more than 800 confirmed cases in the city since December 9.
Within 300 kilometers of it, tens of thousands of residents in an area of Yan'an City were instructed to stay home, while businesses were asked to close their doors.
In Sweden, today, Tuesday, all travelers arriving in the country must show a negative test for Covid-19.
As for France, Prime Minister Jean Castix announced - yesterday, Monday - that the government will impose new quarantine measures on patients and their contacts "by the end of the week, as soon as consultations are completed" with scientific bodies.
Concerns and Actions
In Germany, a set of restrictions announced on December 21st came into effect today, Tuesday, and especially includes limiting gatherings, even among vaccinators, and limiting them to 10 people during New Year's celebrations.
As for the unvaccinated, the limit will be two people, according to the new chancellor, Olaf Schultz.
All sports meetings - especially football matches - will be held without an audience, which includes the German Football League, whose matches will resume on January 7, and discos and nightclubs will be closed to avoid the spread of the virus on December 31.
Many demonstrations, including thousands of people, were organized on Monday evening in several German cities, prior to the entry into force of these measures.
On Tuesday, Finland announced that it would ban unvaccinated foreign travelers from entering its territory.
In Qatar, the main provider of health care services suspended the vacations of its employees working in departments related to the Corona virus, in light of the rapid increase in the number of epidemic infections.
These developments come while Israel has reduced the recommended period for obtaining a third dose of Corona vaccines, from 5 months to 3 months, and the Director General of the Ministry of Health, Nahman Ash - explained - in a statement - that the recommendation has been modified in light of the outbreak of the highly contagious Omicron mutant.