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The World Health Organization said that more than half of the European population will be infected with the new mutant of the Corona virus (Omicron) within 6 or 8 weeks. On the other hand, Israeli media indicated the fear of the impact of the epidemic wave on the operational capabilities of the occupation army, and in China, the authorities imposed a stone on a third city to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
And Hans Kluge, director of the organization’s Europe region, said – in a press conference – that more than half of the population of Europe (the old continent) may be infected with the mutated Omicron, the next six or eight weeks, if the current rate of infections continues.
The European Region of the Health Organization includes 53 countries and territories, including many Central Asian countries, and Kluge indicated that 50 of them confirmed Omicron infections.
According to the World Health Organization, 26 countries reported that more than 1% of their population “infects Covid-19 every week” as of January 10, and that the European region recorded more than 7 million new cases of the virus, the first week of 2022, more than doubled over a two-week period.
Referring to data collected over the past few weeks, Klug said the omicron has proven to be more transmissible, and the mutations have enabled it to attach to human cells more easily, and it can infect even people who have previously been infected or received a vaccine.
Despite this, this official stressed that “the approved vaccines continue to provide good protection against severe forms of the epidemic, and the risk of death.”
booster doses
And the French press agency quoted the World Health Organization as saying that fighting the pandemic with boosted doses is not a viable strategy, and the agency added that the organization’s experts are calling for anti-Corona vaccines to better prevent transmission.
And a new record was set in the number of injuries during the past hours, with more than 3 million injuries around the world, nearly half of them in the United States.
According to Reuters statistics, the United States alone recorded about 1.35 million new infections within one day, which is the highest daily number recorded by a country since the start of the pandemic in January 2020.
In Israel, a local newspaper said today that the army fears the impact of the new Corona virus wave on its operational capabilities.
Israeli army
The Israeli newspaper reported that the army says it has nearly 5,000 active patients with the virus, and thousands more are in quarantine. However, most of them have mild symptoms.
She added that the Chief of the Army Staff, Aviv Kohavi, held a meeting yesterday to assess the situation on maintaining operational capabilities, with a focus on special units such as air defense and submarines.
After the meeting, it was decided to ask the Ministry of Health to reduce the quarantine period for army personnel to 5 days, and the newspaper quoted a senior officer – whom it did not name – as saying: If the quarantine time is not shortened, there will be no one protecting the borders within two weeks.
For days, Israel has witnessed a sharp rise in daily infections with the virus, and “Yediot Aharonot” quoted Minister of Regional Cooperation Issawi Frej as saying today that between 2 and 4 million people are expected to be infected in the next three weeks.
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced that he had contracted the virus, and the official “Kan” channel said that the minister attended the weekly cabinet session that was held yesterday, and it is likely that Corona tests will be conducted for Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the rest of the ministers who participated in the meeting.
stone in china
And in China, the first country in which the Corona virus appeared, the authorities imposed quarantine measures in Anyang (central), which has a population of 5 million, after monitoring new infections with Corona, especially Omicron.
This city in Henan Province is the third whose residents are forced to stay in their homes, after a similar measure was taken in the cities of Xi’an and Liuzhou.
Since last year, China has been pursuing a “zero Covid” strategy, which is to do everything possible to limit as much as possible the occurrence of new infections, which generally do not exceed a few dozen per day.
Today, this country recorded only 157 cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, and 60 deaths.