In Germany, over 80 thousand coronavirus infections were recorded for the first time in one day. This was reported by the Robert Koch Institut (Rki). In the last 24 hours, precisely 80,430 new cases and 384 deaths have been recorded. Exactly a week ago the reported infections were 58,912, even if in that case – underlines the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung – it was necessary to take into account delays related to tests and registrations related to holidays.
With the new data, the incidence of the virus over 7 days has risen from 387.9 to 407.5, a figure which indicates how many people per 100 thousand inhabitants have contracted the virus in the last 7 days; a week ago the incidence was 258.6.
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In China 221 new cases
The Chinese National Health Commission has announced the detection of 221 new Covid positives, 166 of which are due to local contagion. Cases of community transmission were recorded in the provinces of Henan (center, 118), Tianjin (north, 33), Shaanxi (north, 8) and Canton (south, 7). The remaining 55 infections, found among travelers from abroad, were detected in various regions, but most of them were found in the megacities of Shanghai and Guangzhou, with 20 cases each. Both cities constitute two of the main gateways to China, which has kept its borders practically closed since March 2020. Health authorities have also announced the detection of 32 asymptomatic cases, all from abroad, even if Beijing does not. counts as confirmed infections unless symptoms show. The total number of infected in mainland China amounts to 3,476, 14 of which are serious. According to reports from the Commission, 104,189 people have been infected in the country since the beginning of the pandemic, of which 96,077 have managed to recover and 4,636 have died.
Quebec taxes no vax
The Canadian province of Quebec, which is struggling to control the Omicron variant, will impose a new health tax on those who are not vaccinated against Covid in the coming weeks. “We are working on a health contribution for all adults who refuse to get vaccinated” because they represent a “financial burden for all Quebecs,” said Prime Minister Francois Legault. The 10% of Quebecers who have not yet received a dose of the vaccine must not “harm” the 90% who did, Legault said. “It is not up to all Quebecers to pay for this,” he stressed at the press conference, specifying that the government of the French-speaking province wanted the tax to represent a “significant amount”. “I feel this discontent towards the unvaccinated minority who, all in all, clogs up our hospitals,” he said again. And he explained that this 10% of unvaccinated adults represents 50% of people in intensive care, calling it a “shocking” situation.
Those who are not vaccinated for medical reasons will be exempt from paying the fee. In Quecec, a total of 2,742 people with Covid are hospitalized and about 255 are in intensive care. The country has about eight million inhabitants. Hospitalizations also continue to increase in the neighboring province of Ontario, the most populous in Canada, with 3,220 people hospitalized and 477 patients in intensive care. In an effort to stem the new wave, Quebec announced the return of some restrictions on December 30, including a 10pm curfew and a ban on private gatherings.
Peak of cases in Mexico
Mexico has recorded 33,626 new infections from Covid in the last 24 hours, the highest number during the pandemic, for a total of 4,170,066 cases, in addition to 162 deaths and a total of 300,574 deaths. The over 33,000 infections represent the highest number of cases after last Saturday’s 30,671. Despite these figures, Mexico remains the sixteenth country in the world for the number of confirmed infections and is the fifth with the highest number of deaths, behind the United States, Brazil, India and Russia, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally. Health authorities recognize that, based on death certificates, the country could close at 451,000 deaths and estimate that Mexico actually has 4,408,014 infected.
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