Washington: President Joe Biden on Tuesday told Americans worried about the omicron Coronavirus variant which spread rapidly that the country was “prepared” to fight it, as Israel – who pioneered the use of the Covid vaccine booster – announced fourth shots for those more than 60 and. Health workers.
Omicron, now there are dozens of countries, it seems more contagious than previous Coronavirus strains, despite the initial indication that it does not cause a more severe form of Covid-19 than the Delta variant.
Lightning Dash throughout the world has led several governments to deal with restrictions ahead of vacation, the worst expectation of the pandemic has ended, or to reevaluate their plans to stop the spread.
“We can see new storms coming,” warn the regional director of the World Health Organization for Europe, Hans Kluge.
In the address broadcast on television, Biden officially announced the raft of new steps to combat the winter surge – including half a billion shipments in home tests – but denied his government failed to prepare a wave of fresh cases adequately.
“We all have to worry about Omicron but not panic,” he said from the White House.
“This is not March 2020,” he continued. “Two hundred million people are fully vaccinated. We are ready, we know more. We just have to stay focused.”
The United States will also provide an additional $ 580 million to the international organization to fight Covid in the face of the surge in Omicron cases, the State Secretary of Antony Blinken.
Omicron contributed 73.2 percent of US new cases over the past week ending on Saturday, according to the latest official data.
Denmark said Tuesday was also the dominant tension there.
In Israel, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said a 60-year-old citizen and a medical team would be eligible for the fourth Covid vaccine shot, following the recommendations of the expert panel.
Israel is the first country that is widely available, decisions that are considered unnecessary by some experts at the time but then proven.
“The world will follow our footsteps,” Tweeted Bennett.
Amid fears that the vaccine may not be as effective on a very mutating variant, the European Medicine Agency (EMA) said it was too early to say if the drug company needs to develop omicron special jab.
Biden emphasized the US immunization campaign will help prevent severe cases between 62 percent of the population is now fully vaccinated – while scolding that is not vaccinated for failing to uphold “patriotic assignments.”
“One day, the former President Trump announced that he had shot his booster,” Biden said, called the movement “maybe one of the few things he and agreed.”
‘Celebrate later’
When Omicron is afraid of towering over the year-end holidays, Israel becomes the latest country to handle difficult travel restrictions.
Parliamentarians prohibit residents and residents from travel to the United States, adding it to a list of more than 50 countries declared forbidden.
It follows the request from who the Head of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for countries to repeat the efforts to end the pandemic, calling for the new year’s event to be canceled because it is better to “celebrate it now and sad.”
And Kluge, regional WHO director for Europe, sounded a gloomy note.
“In a few weeks, Omicron will dominate in more countries in this region, encourage health systems that have stretched further to the edge of the abyss. Omicron tends to be the dominant variant circulating in our region,” Kluge said.
Paris has canceled the celebration of the new year, and Germany slapped the limit of 10 people on the private sector, closed nightclubs and spectators who were banned from major events including soccer matches.
“This is not the time for a comfortable party and a night with many people,” said Chancellor Olaf Scholz Tuesday.
