For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, the United States surpassed the average of 300,000 cases of Covid-19 a day with the advancement of the omicron variant. The country registered the mark of 300,886 contaminations on Wednesday (29) considering the last seven days — the so-called moving average.
The high rate of contagion contributed to the world breaking another record by registering a moving average of 1,047,995 cases, according to data from Our World In Data, linked to the University of Oxford.
On the rise since late October, the total number of infections has risen by more than 80% since Dec. 1, amid the spread of the much more transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The numbers are also way above the most serious wave the planet had ever faced, in April of this year, when the peak of the moving average had reached 827,000 cases. Escalating since the end of October, the number of infections globally has grown 46% in the last week compared to the previous one.
The director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described the current wave of infections as “a tsunami of cases”. “This is and will continue to put immense pressure on overworked health workers, and health systems are on the verge of collapse,” he said.
The average of deaths, however, remains below the registered in previous waves of the disease — which, according to specialists, can be credited to the efficiency of the vaccination. On Wednesday, the moving average of registered deaths worldwide was about 6,357 deaths. The index is equivalent to 43% of the peak recorded in January, when immunization globally was just beginning.
A similar situation occurs in the USA, where deaths correspond to about half of the registered in the peak period of the pandemic in the country, with an average of 1,546 deaths, against more than 3,000 in January of this year. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the country has had more than 822,000 deaths caused by the virus.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Tuesday (28) that the omicron variant already accounts for 58.6% of Covid-19 cases in the country.
Even with the level of deaths below other waves, the country has seen the level of hospitalization of children grow. Between December 21 and December 27, hospitalizations among children grew 58% in the country, while in other age groups the increase was 19%, according to data from the CDC. Fewer than 25% of the 74 million Americans under the age of 18 are vaccinated.
For specialists, the expectation is that omicron advances even further with the reopening of schools next week after the end-of-year festivities. Doctors say it is too early to determine whether the variant causes more serious illnesses in younger people, but they point out that high transmissibility is a key factor in understanding the increase in hospitalizations.
“What we are seeing is that children under the age of five have not been vaccinated, so there is still a relatively large population of unprotected children, so they do not have pre-existing immunity to this virus,” says Jennifer Nayak, an infectious disease specialist at the University. of Rochester.
Even in New York, which has one of the highest vaccination rates in the US, only about 40% of children ages 5 to 17 are fully vaccinated, compared with more than 80% of adults. There is no vaccine authorized in the country for children under 5 years of age.
Doctors have noted symptoms such as difficulty breathing, high fever and dehydration among younger people. “They need help to breathe, they need help to get oxygen, they need extra hydration. They’re sick enough to end up in hospital, and that’s scary for doctors and parents,” said disease specialist Rebecca Madan New York University pediatric infectious diseases.
Case record makes countries resume restrictions
Several countries have tightened restrictions to try to contain the advance of Covid-19, such as Greece, which set a new record on Wednesday. The country banned music in bars and restaurants, in addition to limiting its operation until midnight at the latest — on New Year’s Eve, the authorization extends until 2 am, but always without music.
France also determined that bars close until 2 am and decided to ban nightclubs. In addition, it limited crowds, banned standing audiences at concerts, restricted service in restaurants to seated consumers, and returned to encouraging remote work and outdoor masks.
The Netherlands announced a new lockdown until January 14, with closing of non-essential services. Portugal, one of the most vaccinated nations in the world, has closed bars and nightclubs until January 9, when remote work will also be mandatory, and has limited public meetings to a maximum of ten people.
Germany also announced a limit of ten people for meetings and the closing of nightclubs, in addition to suspending the public at football matches.
Amid the spread of the disease in Europe, Pope Francis has canceled his traditional New Year’s visit to the manger in St. Peter’s Square due to concerns about the spread of the virus among the gathered crowd, according to a Vatican statement.
The pontiff is usually received by the faithful when he visits the site on December 31st. But the Vatican said in a note to its agenda that “the event will not take place, to avoid crowding and the risk of contagion.”
Other continents are also tightening restrictions. In Indonesia, with more than 4.2 million confirmed cases, the government has warned that foreign tourists will be deported from the island of Bali if they are caught violating health regulations during the holiday season.
In Saudi Arabia, authorities have again imposed social distancing measures in the Grand Mosque of Mecca, a holy city for Muslims, after recording the highest number of coronavirus cases in months.
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