On the 21st local time, WHO released its weekly epidemiological report on COVID-19. The report points out that the world’s main epidemic strain is Delta strain. Of the 105,598 virus gene sequence samples collected in various countries, 96% are Delta strains and Omickjon strains account for about 1.6%, but community transmission of Omickjung strains have occurred in some countries.
WHO said that as of 14:00 EST on December 21, Omickjon strains had appeared in 106 countries and regions around the world. Recent evidence shows that the Omickjun strain has more transmission advantages than Delta strains and is spreading rapidly, so the overall risk of the strain remains very high.
WHO Regional Office for Europe Warning
Kluger, director of the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe, warned on the 21st that with the rapid spread of the “Omickjung strain”, more countries in the European region will “substantially increase the number of COVID-19 infections”, and he suggested that people in the European region should be vaccinated against COVID-19 and strengthen vaccinations as soon as possible.
Kluger said that 38 of the 53 countries in the WHO European region have detected cases of “Omickjon strain” infection, and “Omickjon strain” has become a “mainstream” strain spread in Denmark, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
Kluger warned, “It is foreseeable that another epidemic storm is coming. In the next few weeks, the ‘Omicjung strain’ will become the main strain of virus spreading in more countries in the European region, and the already overburdened health care system will be forced into a desperate situation.”
According to WHO data, in terms of the population size of countries in the European region, the region has been the region with the largest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the world in recent weeks.
In order to avoid further worsening of the epidemic, Kluger urged countries in the European region to speed up vaccination and inoculation, saying that “inoculation and inoculation are the only and most important way to fight against Omickjung strains”.
More than 90,000 confirmed cases in the UK every day
The epidemic in the United Kingdom has deteriorated sharply, especially the surge in the number of cases of infection with the “Omickjung strain”. Many British health experts have recently pointed out that the British government needs to take “major” actions to deal with the “rising number of cases”. However, British Prime Minister Johnson said on the 21st that the England would not tighten epidemic prevention measures by the 25th of this month. On the 21st, the United Kingdom reported more than 90,000 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, including 15,363 cases of Omickjon strain infection.
According to the data of the last seven days, the number of new confirmed cases in the UK exceeds 615,700, a surge of 63.1% over the previous week.
In the face of the rapidly deteriorating epidemic situation, many British health experts have pointed out that the British health care system will be under great pressure as a result, and the British government needs to take action to deal with it. However, British Prime Minister Johnson said on the 21st that the England would not tighten epidemic prevention measures by the 25th of this month – he also admitted that “the current epidemic situation is serious” and said that the British government would continue to collect and analyze relevant data, and could not rule out further prevention and control measures after the 25th of this month.
However, despite this, London and Scotland announced on the same day that further measures would be taken to curb the spread of Omickjon strains. Among them, London announced the cancellation of the large-scale New Year’s Eve celebration planned in Trafalgar Square and replaced it with live TV to celebrate the New Year.Nicolas Sturgeon, Chief Minister of the Scottish Government, also announced that large-scale New Year celebrations would be cancelled and new three weeks of epidemic prevention measures would be implemented from the 26th, including that all outdoor activities must be less than 500, and indoor activities such as concerts should be limited to 200. The education competition will be “no spectators from watching live”.
On the 21st, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Sunak announced that he would provide 1 billion pounds of support to the enterprises most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the leisure and hotel industries.
