Reporter | Anjing
Entering the New Year, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose challenges to the world.
"Alien" Ronaldo and Messi have both been diagnosed with the new crown; the epidemic in Europe is severe, the Netherlands and Germany have erupted anti-epidemic measures parade; the US defense secretary Austin has been confirmed, and more than 2,000 flights in the United States have been cancelled in one day; Israel is facing the collapse of the detection system, or the new diagnosis cannot be counted in time.
On January 2, the media office of Brazilian serie A team Cruzeiro issued an announcement that the team's largest shareholder, former Brazilian international Ronaldo, was diagnosed with new crown pneumonia.
The announcement said that Ronaldo is a mild infection, the current situation is stable, and will be isolated according to the doctor's orders. Ronaldo, 45, announced at the end of December last year that he had acquired a 90 percent stake in Cruzeiro and was scheduled to attend the team's 101st anniversary celebrations. After being diagnosed with COVID-19, he will be absent from the celebrations.
Just before Brazil reported Ronaldo's diagnosis, Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain also officially announced that four players, including Messi, tested positive for the new crown.
Paris Saint-Germain will face Vanis in the French Cup on the 3rd local time, and Messi and three teammates will not be able to play. But if the four then test for shade, they may be able to catch up with the match against Lyon.
Image source: Weibo
Previously, Messi returned to Argentina with his family for Christmas. During The Christmas period, he and his wife attended a private party. After Messi was diagnosed, one of the DJs at the party was accused of transmitting the new crown to Messi. For clarification, the DJ then posted his own negative COVID-19 test report online.
Messi has received three doses of the vaccine and is currently in quarantine at his home in Rosario, Argentina. It wasn't until the COVID-19 test turned negative that Messi returned to Paris.
In addition to Messi and three teammates, Paris Saint-Germain has already contracted the new crown with a number of players, including Neymar and Mbappe.
Prior to last Sunday, France had seen a daily increase of more than 200,000 confirmed cases for four consecutive days. On Sunday, France reported 58,432 new confirmed cases, down significantly from the previous four days. But France's seven-day average daily increase in confirmed cases reached 162041, a new high. On Saturday, France became the sixth country in the world to have a cumulative total of more than 10 million confirmed cases.
To contain the outbreak, Paris had previously cancelled the traditional New Year's Eve fireworks show and Champs-Élysées celebrations. But to address labor shortages, France will shorten the quarantine time for confirmed patients from Monday.
According to the new regulations, infected people who have completed vaccination should only be isolated for seven days, and complete vaccination refers to the population that has completed intensive injection vaccination. If the COVID-19 test turns negative within five days of isolation, isolation can be ended early. Infected people who are not vaccinated need to be isolated for 10 days, and if the period turns negative, the isolation can be ended after seven full days.
With the exception of France, during the Christmas and New Year holidays, many European countries are facing a peak of new confirmed cases since the COVID-19 pandemic. In 17 of the 52 countries and regions in Europe, the number of new confirmed cases in a single week reached a new high since the outbreak. Portugal, Spain and Italy, which have the highest vaccination rates, have set new records for daily increase in confirmed cases.
The United Kingdom, a hotspot of infection in Omicron, has increased its number by more than 100,000 for a consecutive day. As of now, the government has taken no new action in England. Health Secretary Javid said on Sunday that further restrictions would only be imposed in England as a "last resort".
But he warned that next month, there will be a significant rise in the number of patients in England who need the services of the National Health Service (NHS) due to covid-19 infection. On Saturday, the number of hospitalized patients in England rose to its highest level since January 2021.
Javid called England the region with the fewest restrictions in all of Europe. In the Netherlands, where the restrictions are the strictest in Europe, people dissatisfied with the epidemic prevention measures held mass protest marches.
The Netherlands entered a national "lockdown" from December 19 last year, and all non-essential business places such as restaurants and gyms were closed until the 14th of this month. On Sunday, thousands of people marched in Amsterdam despite the ban on public gatherings to oppose government restrictions.
The Amsterdam city government then issued an emergency order demanding that protesters leave MuseumPlein in the city center and send riot police. Some of the protesters clashed with riot police, with at least 30 people arrested and four officers injured.
Image source: Twitter
On New Year's Day, anti-epidemic demonstrations broke out in many parts of Germany. Protesters in Greitz, Thuringia, clashed with police, injuring 10 people. Protest marches also took place in other parts of Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Pre-Pomerania and Brandenburg. Munich, the bavarian capital, announced last week a ban on anti-epidemic demonstrations.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the United States also ushered in the peak of the epidemic. As of last Saturday, the Average Daily Increase in Confirmed Cases in the United States exceeded 350,000 for seven consecutive days. On Sunday, Fauci, the chief infectious disease expert at the White House, pointed out that the number of new confirmed cases in the United States showed a "vertical increase" and the speed of diagnosis was "unprecedented".
On the same day, the US Department of Defense announced that Defense Secretary Austin tested positive for the new crown and is currently mild and is in home isolation. Austin has been vaccinated with three doses, and his last meeting with President Joe Biden was on Dec. 21 last year. Austin said the meeting was a week before he developed symptoms.
Affected by the storm and staff shortages triggered by the outbreak, American Airlines canceled more than 2,500 flights on Sunday and more than 2,700 on Saturday. Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines that would reduce the quarantine time for people living with COVID-19 from the previous 10 days to five days. The initiative was accused of considering only the interests of the company and disregarding the health of employees.
To contain the outbreak, Israel on Sunday announced that it would receive a fourth dose of the vaccine for healthcare workers over the age of 60. In recent days, israel has seen more than 5,000 confirmed cases. Israeli Prime Minister Bennett warned on Sunday that as the rapid spread of Omicron, Israeli confirmed cases will continue to double, and in the "near future", the daily increase in confirmed cases will exceed 10,000.
On the same day, Eran Segal, a medical adviser to israel's cabinet, pointed out that the new crown testing center is currently facing a "collapse", after which Israel will not be able to detect all new confirmed cases. On Sunday, testing centers in Bat Yam, Herzliya and other cities were severely blocked, and long queues lined up outside the testing centers.
Siegel predicts that it will take three weeks for the current outbreak in Israel to improve at the earliest. At its peak, the number of confirmed cases in the country may exceed 20,000.