New all-time record of deaths in Great Britain. The latest Kingdom health bulletin is about 1,610 dead for Covid in the last 24 hours: a number never reached since the beginning of the pandemic. This is certified by government data released today, which include a statistical recovery of some data collected late on the weekend. The new ones daily infections, influenced by the spread of the new variant of the virus, fell instead to 33.355, compared to 37,535 yesterday.
Central government and the 16 countries Germans reached an agreement for the extension of the hard lockdown until February 14th. Angela Merkel is therefore able to obtain the extension of the restrictions publicly requested in recent weeks, a decision also desired by health professionals, given that some hospitals are still in trouble, with the intensive care units saturated in some areas of the country. It is not yet clear, pending official communications from the Chancellor, whether the lockout will also correspond to further restrictive measures, as hoped for by the German leader following the boom in deaths recorded in recent weeks and with infections remaining at worrying figures, with the specter of an even more massive spread due to English, South African and Brazilian variants considered more aggressive. In particular, it should be understood whether the closing of restaurants, non-essential activities and schools will also follow night curfew, the obligation to wear Ffp2 bezels on public transport, provision already adopted in Bavaria and which seems to have passed during the summit that has yet to be concluded, the reduction of the maximum capacity to one third on public transport and an increase in smartworking.
Also there Scotland decided to opt for a lockdown until mid-February, with the majority of students continuing to teach from home with distance learning. This was announced at the Edinburgh Parliament first minsiter Scottish Nicola Sturgeon, according to what is reported by the Bbc. In his speech he urged citizens to “be cautious”, despite the recent decline in new cases of Covid-19: “We need to see if this trend continues to be sure that this phase of the pandemic is now on a downward trajectory. And second, we need to be realistic that any improvement we’re seeing depends, at this stage, on staying home and reducing our interactions. Any easing of the lockdown could quickly reverse the situation, ”he said. Sturgeon called for a gradual back to class starting from the second half of next month.
Despite the terzo lockdown still ongoing and the highest percentage of people vaccinated in the world in the past 24 hours Israel recorded a new record of daily infections, breaking through the 10 thousand ceiling: to be exact, they are 10,021 the new positives in the country compared to about 100 thousand tests, with a positive rate of 10.2%. So the government unanimously decided to extend the current one lockdown until January 31st. It was also introduced the obligation of the negative buffer within the previous 72 hours for those arriving in Israel.
In France, where on January 14 the government imposed the early curfew at 6pm all over the country, there are 23,608 new cases of coronavirus and 373 deaths occurred on the last day. According to the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, in the 15 departments where the advance from 8pm to 6pm has already been operational since January 2, the number of new daily cases is decreased by 16%. Given that they hope for a national improvement in the coming weeks. “It was a difficult choice – he added – but necessary since the effects tend to be felt”. For the minister, the decline “will not make the epidemic go back in a short time but will allow it to stabilize”. On the national level, however, Véran admitted, we have to wait a little longer for the effect of the curfew, effective from Saturday evening, to manifest itself. In any case, “the circulation of the virus remains worrying”.
The government, despite the tightening of the restrictions, has nevertheless “proudly” decided to maintain the schools in attendance. The Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, said that there is currently “no explosion of infections” in institutions and that there seems to be a stabilization “on a high plateau”: “About thirty schools and a hundred classes”, he told France Info, are currently closed, and “this number is likely to increase a bit in the coming days”, but “we are not in a situation of explosion of infections”. According to the minister, there is currently “the same curve” of contagion that existed after the All Saints’ holidays at the beginning of November. At the moment “a closure of schools is not under discussion. Of course, I am pragmatic, but it would be the last thing to close ”in the case of a worsening of the situation.
And also the owner of the French Health invites the population to do not use handcrafted masks: “All the masks whose filtering power is higher than 90% remain valid – he declared – On the contrary, the handcrafted masks manufactured at home with the best intentions in the world, respecting Afnor standards, do not necessarily offer all the necessary guarantees”.
Beijing, worried about the new increase in cases, she decided to extend the health observation period to 28 days for travelers entering from abroad. The new model includes 14-day centralized medical quarantine, one week of home isolation or centralized quarantine, and another week of health monitoring. People arriving via other Chinese cities must wait 21 days before entering the capital, and seven-day health monitoring is required after their entry. For those with an entry period of less than 21 days but are already in Beijing, ‘7 + 7’ isolation and health monitoring must be completed in the city, local authorities said. During the seven days of health monitoring, people can follow their normal routines by avoiding meetings.
United States – 137,885 cases and 1,381 deaths have been registered in the country in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of victims since the beginning of the pandemic to over 400 thousand. The numbers released today show a decline compared to the past weeks and this was enough for the outgoing president, Donald Trump, to announce that travel restrictions from the area will be lifted from January 26th Schengen, from Great Britain, from Republic of Ireland and from Brazil. A measure that should start a week after the new administration is sworn in Biden which has already ruled out the possibility of lifting existing restrictions. “With the pandemic worsening and the emergence of more contagious variants in the world, this is not the time to lift the restrictions on international travel – explained the new spokesperson. Only Psaky -. On the advice of our medical team, the administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on January 26. In fact, we intend to strengthen public health measures on international travel to further mitigate the spread of Covid 19 “.
China – The country is battling new coronavirus outbreaks in the icy northeast, kicking off further roadblocks and travel bans ahead of next month’s Lunar New Year holidays. The country has reported a further 118 cases, including 43 in Jilin province. Hebei province, just outside Beijing, has seen another 35 cases, while that of Heilongjiang, on the border with Russia, has reported 27 new infections. Beijing, where some residential communities and outlying agglomerations have been subjected to lockdowns, has only reported one new case. The northern province of Liaoning has imposed quarantines and travel restrictions to prevent further spread of the virus, as part of measures imposed across much of the country to prevent new outbreaks during the Lunar New Year holiday. Authorities urged citizens not to travel, ordered schools closed a week in advance and conducted large-scale tests. The capital of Hebei province, Shijiazhuang, has also built a complex of prefabricated housing units to allow the quarantine of more than 3,000 people as it struggles to control a high number of infections.
Russia – Russia has recorded 21,734 cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the lowest number since November 18.
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