China Tuesday put hundreds of thousands of other citizens under confinement orders to try to contain an outbreak of the coronavirus, tiny compared to the record numbers of infections detected in various states of U.S and European countries.
The pandemic is accelerating again in the world, with numerous countries in Europe and North America trying to find a balance between minimizing the economic damage from new restrictions and controlling the spread of the virus.
Even with infection numbers far below those of Western powers, China ordered hundreds of thousands of residents in the northern city of Yan’an to stay home after registering more than 200 new cases across the country on Tuesday, a record. since March 2020.
Since the containment of the first wave of the coronavirus detected in Wuhan, the Asian giant has applied a strategy to eradicate the virus in its territory consisting of the closure of borders and strict and drastic measures in the event of any outbreak.
Yan’an residents join the thirteen million people who have been confined in the nearby city of Xi’an for six days, where some citizens complain on social media that they cannot get food due to the restrictions imposed.
“I’m about to starve,” said a user on the Weibo social network. “There is no food, in my housing complex they do not let me go out and I am about to run out of instant soups, please help!”, He insisted.
Travel chaos
The rallies in many countries were driven by the highly communicable Omicron variant and have again hit weak sectors such as travel.
Some 11,500 flights have been suspended around the world since Friday and tens of thousands suffered delays in one of the most hectic times of the year. Many airlines argued for the shortage of personnel in the face of the wave of positives by omicron.
In Mexico, the authorities of the state of Jalisco (West) denied disembarkation to a tourist cruise ship in Puerto Vallarta by dozens of Covid-19 cases among its crew, the second similar case in four days in this popular tourist destination.
The affected ship came from the United States, where the omicron variant, large sectors of unvaccinated people and the lack of quick and easy access to diagnostic tests is causing a strong upturn in cases.
Although daily infections are approaching the record of 250,000 registered in January, the president Joe Biden said that this rebound would not have the same impact as that caused by the Delta variant months ago.
“Omicron is a source of concern, but it should not be a source of panic,” he said.
In an attempt to avoid a labor shortage, the main US health agency reduced the isolation period for asymptomatic cases from 10 to five days.
New measures
The Covid-19 pandemic has left more than 5.4 million dead in the world since December 2019, according to an AFP count this Tuesday from official sources, but the WHO consider that the balance could be between two and three times higher.
Many governments try to speed up the inoculation of booster doses and warn that the majority of hospitalizations and deaths occur among unvaccinated people.
Many countries had to reinstate unpopular restrictive measures, often damaging to the economy.
The Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil restricted the operation of bars and nightclubs, banned year-end parties and reduced the capacity in commercial premises after registering cases of community transmission of omicron.
Germany will introduce new restrictions on Tuesday, such as limiting gatherings to ten people for vaccinated people and two for unvaccinated people, closing nightclubs and holding closed-door sporting events.
Faced with record numbers of infections, France He asked his companies to impose three days a week of compulsory teleworking on their staff for at least three weeks.
But at the same time, the prime minister Jean Castex announced that at the end of the week they will reduce the periods of quarantine and isolation for those infected and their contacts.
This new wave of Covid is also causing chaos on the sports calendar. In the Premier League England, 103 players and coaches tested positive in the last week and 15 games were postponed in December.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx