alert! Cases rise in many countries, resumption of mask orders
In recent days, the Indonesian and German governments have announced the resumption of mask orders as the number of new crown cases has increased significantly. The epidemic in Japan has also expanded explosively, and there is even a seventh wave of the epidemic in some areas.
Under the influence of Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, the global new crown epidemic has worsened again. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said cases of the new crown rose in 110 countries around the world.
Indonesia withdraws the requirement to not wear masks outdoors
Indonesia's "International Daily" reported on July 3 that the number of confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia recorded in Indonesia in the past month increased by 620%.
In this regard, Indonesian Vice President Maluf said when he inspected Mataram, Sinu Province on July 2: "We are still strictly implementing epidemic prevention and hygiene protocols. At the time of the surge in new crown cases, people still have to wear masks outdoors, so the government first The rule of wearing masks more widely will be withdrawn, and it will be implemented after the epidemic eases."
After the outbreak of the Covid-19 in Omikojon in Indonesia peaked in early March this year, the number of new cases has been declining. On May 18, Indonesia further relaxed epidemic prevention measures, allowing people to avoid wearing masks outdoors unless the outdoor activities are crowded. In addition, masks are still required indoors and on public transport.
However, after the more contagious Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 strains emerged in Indonesia, daily new cases began to increase from June 15. On July 5, Indonesia added 2,577 new confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia in a single day, the most since April 1.
Maloof called on the Indonesian people to remain vigilant and strengthen epidemic prevention, but he also pointed out that there is no need to further restrict community activities at present. "We don't want to reduce the movement of people, which will seriously hit the economy that has just recovered," Malouf was quoted as saying by the Antara news agency.
Germany reopens mask order, health minister issues warning
On July 3, local time, German Federal Justice Minister Buschmann confirmed in an interview with the media that the German government will propose autumn epidemic prevention measures in late July, and the new "Infection Protection Act" will once again include a broad mask order, but he made it clear. The possibility of "closing the city" again is ruled out.
"We plan to come up with the concept of autumn epidemic prevention later this month, and the mask order will definitely have a place," Buschman said. He pointed out that epidemic prevention measures should be formulated in accordance with the situation - "Remove restrictions when the risk decreases, and when the risk increases Reinstate restrictions."
On the 1st of this month, the German Committee of Experts on Epidemic Prevention submitted an evaluation report on the previous epidemic prevention measures to the federal government, which severely criticized the data collection. The report made only a positive assessment of the mask order, arguing that wearing masks indoors helped reduce infection rates. As for other epidemic prevention measures, the expert committee believes that there is insufficient data to evaluate.
After this report was submitted, German Federal Health Minister Lauterbach and Justice Minister Buschmann began to consider changes to the Infection Protection Act. According to Lauterbach: "We will soon have regulations that better protect citizens in the autumn and winter." He also warned that the number of infections in the autumn will increase sharply.
Japan's outbreak expands explosively
On July 5, 36,189 people were newly diagnosed with the new type of coronavirus in Japan, and the number of new diagnoses increased significantly, and 20 people died.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced that 5,302 new infections were confirmed, an increase of 2,788 from last Tuesday and double the number of confirmed cases last Tuesday.
There were 1,589 new confirmed cases in Kumamoto Prefecture, 582 new cases in Ehime Prefecture, and 755 new cases in Shimane Prefecture, all of which have reached the record for the most confirmed cases in a single day since the outbreak of the epidemic more than two years ago, showing the momentum of the seventh wave of the epidemic.
In addition, in Japan's Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Okinawa, Fukuoka and other regions, the number of newly diagnosed cases exceeded 1,000.
As of the 5th, the number of infected people in Japan has reached 9,456,796. Together with the 712 confirmed infections on the luxury cruise ship "Diamond Princess", the total number of infected people in Japan has reached 9,457,508.
2.3 million new cases in the UK in a week
The latest data released by the Office for National Statistics on July 1 showed that in the week ended June 24, there were about 2.3 million new confirmed cases of the new crown across the country, compared with about 1.7 million in the previous week. This means that the number of confirmed cases of the new crown in the UK increased by more than 30% month-on-month last week. The Office for National Statistics said that this may be related to the infection caused by the BA.4 and BA.5 variants of Omicron.
U.S. may see 100 million new cases this fall
The United States faces a similar situation. In May, the White House warned that 100 million people in the United States could be infected with the coronavirus this fall and winter. Recently, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to the US president, once again emphasized the severity of the epidemic in the United States, saying that if the US Congress lacks support for epidemic prevention measures, the United States will see 100 million new cases of new crown this fall, which may lead to a big wave Terrible wave of death.
As of the evening of July 1, Eastern Time, the cumulative number of confirmed cases of the new crown in the United States was about 89.5 million. According to the CDC, the Ormicon variant BA.4 and BA.5 have become the current mainstream new coronaviruses in the United States.
The global new crown epidemic has worsened again, and new cases have climbed in 110 countries
It is worth noting that under the influence of the Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, the global new crown epidemic has worsened again.
The latest data from the World Health Organization shows that the number of new confirmed cases of new crowns around the world has shown signs of growth recently. Last week, the number of confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia worldwide increased by 18% month-on-month, with more than 4.1 million reported cases. According to the WHO report, the Middle East recorded the largest weekly increase in new coronary pneumonia cases, with a month-on-month increase of 47%. The number of new crown infections in Europe and Southeast Asia increased by about 32%, and the number of new crowns in the Americas increased by about 14%.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of new crown cases in 110 countries around the world climbed last week, mainly driven by the Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.
Tedros warned that the ability to track the genetic evolution of the new coronavirus is "threatened" as countries relax surveillance and genetic sequencing efforts, which will make it harder to find new variants of the virus. "The epidemic is changing, but it's not over yet," he stressed.
On July 1, the WHO Regional Director for Europe, Hans Kluge, warned that the new coronavirus will spread at "high levels" in the summer as European countries lift previously implemented social measures. It further warned that the virus is not going away because countries stop looking for it, it is still spreading, it is still changing and it is still taking lives.