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The French government now recommends that people wear surgical masks in public because they offer better protection against Covid-19 than cloth face covers, Health Minister Olivier Veran said today.
France already requires the use of masks in public places, but has so far made no recommendations on the type of masks. French authorities are concerned that they may be affected by new, more contagious variants of the virus.
“My recommendation to the French people is that they no longer wear cloth masks,” Veran told French broadcaster TF1.
Veran also said that restrictions on ski resorts, a hotspot for the virus at the start of the pandemic, were highly unlikely to be lifted next month.
That effectively rules out going back to skiing in time for the February school holidays, normally the last peak ski period of the season.
Veran said the government could not rule out a tightening of coronavirus restrictions if the situation with virus transmission deteriorates.
“We could be forced to take tougher measures than what the French faced this fall … That could lead to a deadlock if the situation calls for it,” he said.
France has reported more than 71,000 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic began. It is now at 35% of its maximum infection rate, according to Reuters data, well below its neighbor, Great Britain, which is at 70%. French schools are still open and nonessential shops can trade.
However, French public health officials say they have detected an increase in transmission rates in recent days and are also wary of the spread of new, more contagious variants of Covid-19 that are prevalent in other countries.
Deaths from coronavirus in the US lead deaths in WWII
In addition to requiring a test before flying, travelers to the US will need to self-quarantine upon arrival, US President Joe Biden said today, announcing a series of measures aimed at containing the spread of Covid. -19.
“In addition to wearing masks, everyone flying into the United States from another country will need to do a test before getting on that plane, before departing and self-quarantine when they arrive in the United States,” Biden said.
The testing requirement was announced by the previous Donald Trump administration, but the quarantine was only a recommendation.
It comes as Biden warned that the worst of the pandemic is yet to come, as the death toll from the US coronavirus surpassed the country’s troop deaths in World War II.
Coronavirus cases have exceeded 96 million worldwide, fueled by the emergence of new variants, including one that was first detected in Britain and has now spread to more than 60 countries, the Organization said. World Health.
The United States remains the worst affected country, with about a fifth of the world’s two million deaths from Covid-19, and Biden has made fighting the pandemic a top priority for his administration.
“We need all our strength to persevere through this dark winter. We are entering what could be the toughest and most deadly period of the virus,” Biden said at his inauguration, where attendees wore masks and social distancing was imposed.
A Johns Hopkins University tracker yesterday showed 405,400 people have died from the disease, more than the United States’ total of 405,399 combat and non-combat deaths in World War II.
Among the Biden administration’s goals is to vaccinate 100 million Americans in 100 days, hoping to revive a vaccine launch that had failed in the final weeks of Trump’s presidency.
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Amazon yesterday offered its vast logistics infrastructure to help with that effort.
Biden’s point man in fighting the pandemic, Jeff Zients, said the United States would also join the WHO, reversing the decision of his predecessor.
He added that the leading US expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, would lead a delegation to the WHO executive board meeting today.
The announcement came when WHO confirmed that the variant of the virus first detected in Britain had spread to more than 60 countries, while one that emerged in South Africa was detected in 23.
The South African variant is more contagious than previous ones, experts warned.
Both have tempered optimism that mass vaccination will help end unpopular restrictions, such as closures, that have ruined economies around the world.
However, there was good news, as the first results of two studies on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine showed that it is effective against the British variant, which is driving a surge that has overwhelmed UK hospitals.
“When you go to a hospital … in some cases it looks like a war zone,” said British government chief scientist Patrick Vallance.
The WHO co-led Covax facility, a globally pooled vaccine procurement and distribution effort, has reached agreements with five manufacturers for two billion vaccine doses.
However, the urge to get vaccinated was not felt everywhere.
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan plans to vaccinate its entire population, but not until after March 13 because the previous period has been deemed “unfavorable”.
Vaccinations will begin after that, the prime minister’s office said, adding that it was “important that we implement vaccination across the country on an auspicious date.”
China plans to impose strict Covid testing requirements during the Lunar New Year holiday season, when tens of millions of people are expected to travel, as it battles the worst wave of new infections since March 2020.
The Shanghai Mall reported its first cases of local transmission in two months, underscoring the growing risk of the virus spreading elsewhere.
Millions of people in the Hebei province surrounding Beijing and the northeast provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang have been blocked in recent weeks.
Authorities are asking people to stay home during the February holiday season in their effort to prevent another debilitating outbreak.
Local governments are also adopting new restrictions in areas that have yet to experience major outbreaks, including a southwestern city that has banned foreigners from abroad.
A total of 144 new cases were reported yesterday, the National Health Commission said, which matches the total reported on January 14 and marks the highest number of daily infections since March 1 of last year.
In a notice posted online, the NHC said that people returning to rural areas from other provinces during the Lunar New Year period would have to produce a negative Covid-19 test taken within seven days.
Swiss resort St Moritz massive tests find 53 Covid infections
Massive Covid-19 testing of thousands of people at the Swiss resort of St Moritz, where luxury hotels were quarantined, found 53 coronavirus infections, including 31 cases of a fast-spreading variant, local officials said.
Authorities said around 3,200 people were tested this week and that the 31 infections caused by viral variants were discovered among hotel employees, not guests at the two quarantined hotels, Badrutt’s Palace Hotel and Grand Hotel des Bains Kempinski. .
St Moritz said it was lifting the emergency measures that had been put in place to protect the community.
The city of 5,200 people had closed local schools, ski schools and required masks to be worn in all public areas, fearing the mutant virus would spread quickly.
“The mutated virus was found particularly in hotel employees and was not transmitted to hotel guests,” Canton Grisons officials said in a statement.
“This shows that hotel protection concepts work and that employee testing is a sensible and effective measure.”
Sweden Extends Pandemic Restrictions Amid Tentative Signs Of Outbreak Slowing
Sweden expanded distance learning for high school students and told public employees to continue working from home, renewing measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus pandemic despite signs that infections are beginning to decline.
Sweden has avoided the kind of lockdown seen in much of Europe, but has gradually tightened restrictions after suffering a second wave of Covid-19 infections in the fall of last year.
Those measures appear to be paying off, with authorities cautiously optimistic that, in some parts of the country, the situation is improving.
The government said it nevertheless needed to extend many of the measures aimed at social distancing.
“We can see a cautious drop in the spread of the infection in some regions, but the situation remains dire,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told reporters at a press conference.
The government extended distance learning to secondary schools, but it also adjusted its stance, recommending a combination of distance learning and normal school lessons.
Despite the better prospects, the government also extended the ban on alcohol sales at night by two weeks and said commuters should continue to wear masks on public transportation during peak hours during the spring.
Sweden has been skeptical about the use of face masks, with no recommendations on their use in public until the end of December.
Yesterday, Sweden registered 4,702 new cases, well below a daily peak in late December. In all, there have been 10,797 Covid-related deaths in Sweden, a per capita rate many times higher than that of Norway, Finland and Denmark, but lower than that of some European countries that opted for lockdowns.
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