Coronavirus: Omicron scans – Record of new cases in Portugal and Britain

They recorded a record of daily cases Portugal and Britain with his Micron mutation coronavirus to have become dominant and the pandemic to flare up again, without however seeming to be pressing on the health systems to the same degree as a year ago.

Portugal today recorded more than 17,000 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours, an absolute record since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data released by health authorities.

The General Directorate of Health announced 17,172 new, confirmed infections, transmits the APE-MPE. The previous record, with 16,432 cases, was set on January 28, when Portugal was swept by the wave caused by the Alpha variant.

According to estimates announced by Health Minister Marta Temido, the number of new cases may even reach 37,000 around January 7th. The resurgence of the pandemic is putting “enormous pressure on some services”, especially on tracking contacts and transmission chains, he said.

Portugal, where the Omicron mutation became dominant before Christmas, has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, at 89.3% – in second place in the world, behind only the United Arab Emirates. Of the 10.3 million inhabitants, almost 2.4 million have already received the booster dose of the vaccine.

Today, 936 patients are hospitalized, of which 152 in intensive care units. By comparison, at the peak of last winter’s wave, there were about 7,000 hospitalized patients, of whom 900 were in critical condition.

As of Sunday, the government has imposed new measures, such as mandatory teleworking and the closure of bars and nightclubs, to stop the spread of the Omicron variant. To limit contacts, after the Christmas and New Year holidays, it has already been announced from November 25 that the school holidays will be extended until January 9.

Britain: 129,471 new infections in one day

At the same time, Britain announced today a record 129,471 new COVID-19 cases, a day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would not impose new restrictions this year in order to limit the spread of the Omicron variant.

Johnson said yesterday that he would not introduce new measures in England, but his ministers urged citizens to celebrate the New Year with caution and warned that regulations would be tightened if the health system was on the verge of collapse.

The previous high daily incidence in Britain was 122,186 on December 24.

Today’s figures do not include accounts from Scotland and Northern Ireland, due to differences in logging practices during the Christmas holidays. The 12,378 cases reported for Wales include data that would normally have been reported earlier.

The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in UK hospitals is 9,546, up from 6,902 a week ago but well below the record high of more than 34,000 last January.

The government today announced 18 new deaths in a 28-day period following a positive Covid-19 test, well below the recent trend of more than 100 a day.

Turkey: Over 30,000 infections for the first time in 2 months

The daily number of Covid-19 cases in Turkey today exceeded 30,000 for the first time since October 19, according to the country’s Ministry of Health, with Health Minister Fahrettin Koca warning of an increase in infections due to the Omicron variant.

Turkey has recorded 32,176 cases and 184 deaths from the disease, according to government figures. Daily deaths have been just under 200 in recent weeks, although cases have dropped to about 20,000 over the same period.

“Reducing the number of cases to 20,000 was a major achievement. “Due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, it is clear that we are now entering an upward trend,” Koca wrote in a Twitter message, urging Turks to get vaccinated.