Mutant Omicron raises the state of alert and pushes several countries to take new measures

Weather of Arabia - Several countries around the world announced plans and measures to counter the accelerating spread of the mutated Omicron, as Washington decided to move on Tuesday, counting on increasing examinations and accelerating the pace of vaccination, and Europe decided to tighten restrictions.

Joe Biden confirms his country's readiness to tackle the new mutator

Biden said that the situation raises concern due to the spread of Omicron, but he stressed the need to "not panic", stressing that the conditions are currently different from what they were in March 2020.

The US President indicated that there are "three main differences" compared to the beginning of the pandemic, which are:

• Availability of vaccines.
• An abundance of personal protective equipment for caregivers who have to deal with the influx of unvaccinated people into hospitals.
• Having accumulated knowledge about this virus.

The White House had previously clarified the US President’s strategy on the virus, which is to conduct examinations, enhance vaccination capabilities and provide additional means for hospitals, without imposing new restrictions before Christmas, and a senior White House official stressed that “it is not necessary to close our schools and our economy.” .

Europe reimposes restrictions

In Europe, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced Tuesday that against Omicron, Germany will limit contact even between vaccinated people, by limiting the number of guests at New Year's celebrations to ten.

"It is no longer the time for celebrations and evenings with many guests," he said after a meeting with leaders of the 16 provinces, stressing that "the fifth wave is at the door."

From December 28, with the exception of children under the age of 14, vaccinated persons or those who have contracted the virus and recovered from it will not be allowed to receive more than 10 guests in their homes, provided that all of them are vaccinated. As for the unvaccinated, they can host a maximum of two people only from one family.

Unlike neighboring Holland, Germany does not plan to close shops, cinemas or restaurants, as it considers that it is sufficient to allow entry only to vaccinated or previously infected people.

No measures of this kind are expected in France , where it appears that a third of the cases of Covid-19 recorded in Paris are with the mutated omicron, according to what was announced Tuesday by government spokesman Gabriel Attal.

Atal explained that the rate of Covid-19 infections in France reached a "new record" at 537 cases per 100,000 people.

At the same time, Spain recorded, on Tuesday, a record number of Covid-19 infections nationwide, amounting to 49,823 within 24 hours, at a time when the mutant Omicron represents nearly half of the new cases, according to the Ministry of Health.

The previous record was about 40,000 injuries within 24 hours, and was recorded in mid-January in Spain, which is considered one of the countries most affected by the first wave of the Corona pandemic.

In London , the mayor of the British capital, Sadiq Khan, announced on Monday evening the cancellation of the celebrations that were scheduled in the capital on the occasion of the New Year.

And Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced Tuesday that traditional New Year's celebrations, which usually last three days, were cancelled, due to the Omicron outbreak.

Morocco also imposed a curfew on New Year's Eve, between midnight and six in the morning.

WHO: We will do everything in our power to eradicate the pandemic

Amid these developments, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "If we want to end the pandemic next year, we must end inequality (in vaccines), by ensuring that 70 percent of the population in every country is vaccinated by the middle of next year."

"Next year, the World Health Organization is committed to doing everything in its power to eradicate the pandemic," he added.

Meanwhile, WHO chief scientific officer Dr Somaya Swaminathan said preliminary data from South Africa showed that hospitalizations associated with the omicron were lower than during previous delta waves.

And on Tuesday, the World Health Organization gave its approval for the emergency use of a new vaccine against Covid-19 developed by the American pharmaceutical company Novavax, after a green light obtained by the vaccine from the European Union Medicines Authority, thus becoming the tenth vaccine to obtain this approval.

The organization also announced that it had resumed evaluation of the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine after months of waiting for additional data. Rogerio Gaspar, head of the regulation and prequalification division, said the organization will begin assessing the quality of incoming data next month and aims to conduct field inspections in February.

It is noteworthy that the Corona virus has killed at least 5.35 million people in the world since the World Health Organization office in China reported the emergence of the disease at the end of December 2019.

We ask God Almighty to lift the epidemic from us.