COVID-19: The most important news on the January 13 pandemic

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 317.1 million worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now exceeded 5.51 million. Over 9.53 billion vaccine doses were administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

India has relaxed its COVID-19 rules on testing, quarantine and hospital admissions in an effort to free up resources for those most in need.

It comes as India reports 247,417 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 – the most since the end of May last year.

Australia reported a record daily increase in COVID-19 cases, with more than 147,000 new cases reported so far as of Thursday, as the increase in cases puts strain on health systems and supply chains.

The French Senate has approved the government’s latest measures to combat the COVID-19 virus – including a vaccine pass.

Pfizer announced that an advanced study showed a booster dose of his COVID-19 vaccine can be given with its pneumonia vaccine and has produced strong safety and immune responses in people 65 years of age and older.

Denmark has announced its intention to offer a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to its most vulnerable citizens.

Sweden will reduce the recommended time between second and third COVID-19 vaccine doses from six months to five.

Canada will allow unvaccinated Canadian truckers to cross the United States, overturning a decision requiring all truckers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the Canada border agency announced yesterday.

AstraZeneca announced that the US government has agreed to purchase an additional 500,000 doses of its antibody cocktail, Evusheld, used to prevent COVID-19.

the Omicron variant of COVID-19 causes less severe disease than the Delta variant, but it remains a “dangerous virus” – especially for those who are not vaccinated – the head of the World Health Organization said yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference, Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said more than 90 countries have yet to meet the goal of immunizing 40% of their population and more than 85% of Africans had not yet received a single dose.

“We must not let this virus circulate freely or wave the white flag, especially when so many people around the world are unvaccinated,” he said.

Globally, confirmed cases rose 55%, or 15 million, in the week to Jan. 9 from the previous week – by far the highest number of cases reported in a single week.

“This huge spike in infections is due to the Omicron variant, which is rapidly replacing Delta in almost all countries,” Tedros said.

COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States are up about 33% and deaths are up about 40% from the previous week, the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday.

Rochelle Walensky said COVID-19 cases in the United States, driven by Omicron, are expected to peak in the coming weeks.

“The magnitude of this increase is largely related to the Omicron variant, which now accounts for around 90% of COVID-19 cases in the country,” she told reporters.

The recent rise in COVID deaths is likely a delayed effect of the Delta variant, which was in full swing before Omicron moved to the United States in December, Walensky said.

With Delta and other earlier variants, deaths delayed infection rates by a few weeks.

“We can see deaths from Omicron, but I suspect the deaths we are seeing now are still from Delta,” Walensky said, adding that it will take time to understand how Omicron affects the number of coronavirus deaths.