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France set for stringent virus curbs

Additional measures would be introduced in the most affected territories notably in the greater Paris region.said government spokesperson…reports Asian Lite News

France will implement stricter rules in more regions, including Paris and its surrounding areas, from this weekend to curb Covid-19 resurgence as daily infections hit the new highest level since November 2020.

“The pandemic situation is deteriorating,” Xinhua news agency quoted government spokesperson Gabriel Attal as saying on Wednesday.

“With the virus variants, the situation has changed. It’s almost a new epidemic which has started.”

Additional measures would be introduced in the most affected territories notably in the greater Paris region, he told a press conference.

In Paris and its surrounding areas, the pandemic situation is reaching a tipping point, with over 1,100 Covid-19 patients filling up the region’s intensive care units, forcing transfers of patients to less-strained zones.

“We will be there to make the decisions that we must take,” President Emmanuel Macron told health workers during a hospital visit on Wednesday, promising that the new measures would be “pragmatic” and “proportionate”.

In the past 24 hours, another 38,501 infections were reported in France, the biggest daily increase since November 17, 2020, when 45,522 new cases were confirmed in a day.

France currently accounts for 4,169,274 confirmed coronavirus cases, with 91,437 deaths, according to the Public Health Agency.

As of Wednesday, 5,585,537 people, or 8.3 per cent of the population have received at least one dose of a vaccine.

Some 2,349,027, or 3.5 per cent of the population, have had two jabs.

Also read:France’s Sarkozy faces trail again

US-based doctor: Omicron nothing more than ‘seasonal cold virus’

The fast-spreading Omicron variant is “nothing more than a seasonal cold virus” and there is little we can do to stop this virus from infecting people, claims a US-based doctor…reports Asian Lite News

Afshine Emrani, MD, who holds a Fellowship in the American College of Cardiology (FACC) from the US, said that people who are vaccinated have a much lower chance of dying or getting hospitalised. But there is little it can be done to stop this virus from infecting over 80 per cent of the population, he said.

“Masks, vaccine card mandates will make no difference,” Emrani said in a tweet.

“Vaccinated people still get infected and pass the virus to others,” he added.

He also mentioned that soon the US will have two million positive cases a day for weeks, after which the numbers will drop dramatically.

“The biggest threat in my opinion remains in over-reaction and over-reach by government agencies, causing panic, providing misinformation, leading to closures that hurt those most vulnerable among us,” Emrani said.

Meanwhile, a team of experts in Singapore has warned that the Omicron variant is likely to soon replace the Delta strain globally, as countries after countries have reported a record surge in Covid cases.

ALSO READ: Omicron variant to replace Delta as dominant global strain

The warning comes as the World Health Organisation (WHO) has cautioned that the more transmissible Omicron together with the currently circulating Delta variants might lead to “a tsunami of cases,” putting immense pressure on national health systems.

In India, the Omicron infection tally has climbed to 961, of which 320 patients have been discharged from hospitals.

A Covid-19 tracker, developed by the UK’s University of Cambridge, has predicted that India may soon see an intense but short-lived virus wave “within days”, even as the highly transmissible Omicron variant of Covid is spreading like wildfire in the country.