The city of 13 million, which entered its fourth day of lockdown, detected 155 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms for Saturday, up from 75 a day earlier, official data showed on Sunday.
That drove the national daily count to 158, the highest since China managed to contain a nationwide outbreak in early 2020. Xian, with 485 local symptomatic cases reported for the Dec. 9-25 period, has imposed heavy-handed measures to rein in the outbreak, in line with Beijing’s policy that any flare-up should be contained as soon as possible. Residents may not leave town without approval from employers or local authorities and multiple rounds of mass testing were conducted to identify cases.
S. Korea adds 5,419 COVID cases, 69 deaths
South Korean health authorities said that 5,419 new coronavirus cases have been registered in the country since the previous daily update as the number of daily infections remained under 6,000 for the second consecutive day. The total number of registered infections in South Korea since the start of the pandemic now stands at 607,463. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) noted that the COVID-19 death toll in the country climbed by 69 to 5,245.
France reports more than 100,000 COVID-19 infections for first time Italy report record number of COVID-19 infections
France and Italy recorded their highest numbers of COVID-19 infections on Saturday, December 25. Italy reported a third successive record tally of COVID-19 cases with new infections hitting 54,762 against 50,599 a day earlier, the health ministry said. The number of coronavirus-related deaths rose to 144 from 141 on Friday. Italy has registered 136,530 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth highest in the world. It has reported 5.57 million cases to date. Patients in hospital with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 8,892 on Saturday, up from 8,812 on Friday. There were 106 new admissions to intensive care units, against 102 on Friday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 1,071 from a previous 1,038. Some 969,752 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 929,775 the health ministry said.
Meanwhile, France recorded a record high of 104,611 COVID-19 infections, breaking the 100,000 threshold for the first time since the pandemic began as the omicron variant continued its rapid spread. Health authorities said the number of COVID patients in intensive care went up by 28 to 3,282.
UK reports new record of 122,186 COVID cases
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain reported a new record 122,186 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, up from 119,789 on Thursday. Government data showed there were 137 new deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test, down from 147 on Thursday, and bringing the total during the pandemic to 147,857.
Irish COVID-19 infections hit record
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland on Friday reported its highest number of daily COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began but those requiring critical care fell further amid a rapid rollout of booster vaccines to battle a surge of the dominant Omicron variant. The health department reported 11,182 positive cases, topping the 8,248 on January 8 during the country’s deadliest wave. The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital peaked at 2,020 in mid-January, with a barely manageable 221 requiring critical care. There are currently 393 coronavirus patients in hospital, 89 of whom were in intensive care. Admissions have almost halved over the last month following an increase through October and November that prompted the government to tighten restrictions. NN: It’s beyond I told you so. It’s a blatant coverup exposed. And inept leadership… Test no tests masks no masks… admitting toilet paper masks do not work. Still they are behind the power curve. N95 masks are marginal protection. Want proof… thousands of health care workers are getting infected every single day. And new records of people getting infected are being reported country after country. Now the latest bullshit is the dominant Omicron variant is not as deadly as Delta mutation…. More bullshit. It’s to early to tell. But preliminary suppressed data suggest it’s just as deadly if not more so AND if your vaccine is more then 4 months old you are vulnerable….