Austria: Compulsory vaccination

Austrians over the age of 18 must, since Saturday, be vaccinated against Covid-19, under penalty of incurring a heavy fine, an unprecedented measure in the European Union.

Turkish President positive for Covid

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Saturday that he had tested positive for Covid-19, without having severe symptoms.

This "mild infection" is "due to the Omicron variant", the 67-year-old president tweeted.

Hong Kong infection record

Hong Kong recorded a record number of daily new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, despite the "zero Covid" policy, authorities said.

"Based on the current growth rate of cases, we estimate that 'quarantine' facilities will soon be unable" to accommodate all patients required to self-isolate, Health Minister Sophia Chan said.

Discussions between WHO and China

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), visiting Beijing for the Winter Olympics, met Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to discuss the Covid-19, in particular the investigation, still blocked , on the origins of the pandemic.

“We also discussed the need for closer collaboration” to discover “the origins of the virus, based on science and evidence,” tweeted Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Explosion of contamination in French Polynesia

The number of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in the past seven days has quadrupled in one week in French Polynesia, according to figures released Friday by the local Health Department.

It listed 579 active cases on January 28, against 2,080 on February 4.

The incidence rate now stands at 753 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 317 per 100,000 the previous week.

The United States exceeds 900,000 dead

The United States exceeded 900,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Friday, according to the report from Johns Hopkins University, which refers.

The country had exceeded the threshold of 800,000 deaths in mid-December, only a month and a half ago.

Cases linked to the Omicron variant are now down, but the number of daily deaths continues to grow, with an average of 2,400 deaths per day currently, according to data from health authorities.

- More than 5.7 million dead

The pandemic has officially killed more than 5.723 million people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP on Saturday at 11:00 GMT.

In absolute value, the United States is the country with the most deaths (901,391), ahead of Brazil (630,494), India (501,114) and Russia (334,743).

The WHO estimates, taking into account the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19, that the toll of the pandemic could be two to three times higher than that officially established.

burs-kd-ot/cds/clr

© 2022 AFP