China’s massive Tianjin test while India imposes new restrictions Coronavirus pandemic News

The more contagious Omikron the coronavirus variant appears to cause fewer serious diseases than the globally prevalent Delta strain, but this has not prevented governments from tightening restrictions in their efforts to prevent another wave of massive infections.

The UN health agency said in a weekly report on the pandemic that the number of new cases was 9,520,488 – 41,178 deaths last week, up from 44,680 last week.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned earlier this week that the case may seem significant compared to previous weeks, but that the figure was underestimated due to delayed tests around the end-of-year holiday.

Here’s a quick rundown of the latest developments:

China

Port authorities in the Chinese city of Tianjin said they had launched a city-wide test campaign with its 14 million residents after a set of 20 children and adults tested positive for COVID-19, including at least two with the Omicron variant.

Among those infected are 15 students, a staff member at an out-of-school center and four parents. The campaign will run for two days.

On Sunday, China announced a zero-tolerance COVID-19 strategy for the Winter Olympics, which are set to begin on February 4 in Beijing.

The Chinese capital is located 115 km (71 miles) northwest of Tianjin and is connected by a high-speed rail link that lasts less than an hour.

The first two confirmed cases in Tianjin were a 10-year-old girl and a 29-year-old woman working in an out-of-school center. Both infected Omicron strains. In tests following the close relationship, another 18 tested positive and 767 tested negative on Saturday night.

India

Indian authorities reported 159,632 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, forcing several states to impose new restrictions in a bid to halt the spread of the virus.

India’s richest state, Maharashtra, said it would close swimming pools and gyms from Monday until schools and universities were closed until February 15 after the state’s daily number of cases rose to more than 41,000.

The state government has said that fully integrated people will be able to access private offices, limiting capacity to 50 per cent of the total staff.

In the neighboring state of Gujarat, authorities extended the night limit and revoked the permission of all health workers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a meeting to discuss the state of COVID-19 later on Sunday.

The Ministry of Health reported 327 deaths, bringing the official death toll to 483,790 since the pandemic began. The total number of infections is 35.52 million.

Israel

Israel, which has begun administering a fourth jab to high-risk groups, has announced it has facilitated access to home COVID-19 tests to help people decide whether to quarantine at home, amid complaints about shortages in stores and high prices.

“We are aware of the public’s displeasure,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said at a weekly cabinet meeting, announcing that three free kits would be given to every child in an Israeli nursery or primary school in the coming days.

The government was also negotiating price cuts with major pharmaceutical chains, Bennett said.

Kits cost between 25 and 35 Israeli shekels ($ 8 and $ 11) in stores, and many of them have reportedly run out. Nachman Ash, the director general of the health ministry, told 103 FM radio that the unit price should not exceed 10 shekels ($ 3).

Due to the rise in COVID-19 infections and long queues at mandatory testing stations, Israel said last week that PCR and professionally administered antigen testing should only be needed for people over 60 or with weak immune systems.

Other people who had been vaccinated could have relied on home tests, but there was skepticism about their effectiveness.

Africa

Data released on Sunday said Africa has reported a total of more than 10 million coronavirus cases.

Statistics from the African Centers for Disease Control show that 55 member states of the African Union have reported 10,028,508 cases since the pandemic broke out.