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Blow for Macron's party as opposition join forces to hold up Covid bill

The United States set a new world record with more than one million cases logged yesterday.

THE CENTRIST PARTY of French President Emmanuel Macron was left red-faced after opposition parties joined forces to hold up a bill tightening measures against Covid-19.

The lower house National Assembly was debating the implementation of a health pass that will require a full course of vaccination to attend events, eat out or travel by inter-city train, rather than a recent negative test or proof of recovery.

But when the government asked the chamber late last night to continue debating the legislation after midnight, to ensure it could be adopted by the end of the week, the right-wing Republicans (LR) teamed up with the far-right and far-left to stop the debate.

In an embarrassment for Macron’s Republic on the Move (LREM) party that controls parliament, not enough of its lawmakers were still present in the chamber when the vote by a show of hands was taken on continuing the debate.

French media said the surprise move by the LR – which has backed the main thrust of the legislation – pointed to rising political tensions ahead of April 2022 presidential elections, which Macron appears the favourite, but is not certain, to win.

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal lashed out at a “procedural coup” by opposition lawmakers, saying they wanted to “derail the calendar” for the vaccine pass for purely political reasons.

“We will do everything to stick to the calendar as has been set out,” he told France Inter radio. The government wants the new legislation to be implemented from January 15.

The debate was due to resume late today, parliamentary sources said, with 500 amendments filed by the opposition to be discussed and lawmakers facing another late night.

One million cases a day in US

racine-wisconsin-usa-3rd-jan-2022-dozens-of-people-waited-in-a-windchill-of-seven-degrees-21-degree-temperature-for-covid-19-tests-at-festival-hall-along-the-lake-michigan-shoreline-in-racine People waiting in a windchill of minus seven degrees for COVID-19 tests at Festival Hall along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Racine, Wisconsin Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

The United States recorded more than one million Covid-19 cases on Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, as the Omicron variant spread at a blistering pace.

There were 1,080,211 new cases in the country, a global record, with the number of cases doubling on the previous week.

It comes a day after top US pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci said the country was experiencing “almost a vertical increase” in Covid-19 cases, adding the peak may be only weeks away.

The heavily mutated Omicron strain – the most transmissible to date – accounted for around 59% of national US cases in the week ending 25 December, according to government modelling.

Fauci said the experience of South Africa — where the strain was first detected in late November and peaked quickly, then subsided nearly as speedily — offered some hope.

Rates of death and hospitalization in the US have been far lower in recent weeks than during previous Covid surges.

With 9,382 deaths over the past seven days, the nation’s death toll has fallen by 10%, week on week.

In the last seven days, the country has recorded 3.4 million cases at an average of 486,000 per day with a peak on January 3, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The US record during previous waves was 258,000 cases per day, for the week of January 5 to 11, 2021.

Violence flares at pandemic protests in Germany

Police in Germany reported sporadic violence at demonstrations against the country’s pandemic restrictions, with one protester in the eastern town of Lichtenstein biting an officer and another attempting to steal a service weapon.

Tens of thousands of people in scores of German towns and cities have taken part in weekly marches that organisers have labelled “strolls” in an attempt to bypass restrictions on public gatherings. Counter-protests were also held in towns such as Rostock and Trier, the dpa news agency reported.

Most of the rallies passed peacefully, though many broke rules on social distancing, prompting officers to intervene. Police detained dozens of people, some of whom face criminal charges or fines for breaching Covid-19 rules.

Police in the eastern state of Saxony said the incident late last night in Lichtenstein, about 20 kilometres west of Chemnitz, occurred when officers tried to pull around 60 rowdy people out of a march to check their identities. Several of the protesters attacked police and sprayed them with chemical irritants.

“One person attempted to seize an officer’s service weapon and another police officer suffered a bite wound from a participant of the gathering,” Saxony Police said in a statement.

featureimage PA PA

In Bautzen, further east, some participants of a 600-strong march attempted to break through a police cordon. Officers responded with pepper spray and batons.

In Magdeburg, the capital of neighbouring Saxony-Anhalt state, protesters hurled bottles and fireworks at police. No officers were injured, police said.

The protests took place before a meeting today of Germany’s pandemic expert panel, which is expected to submit new recommendations to the government for how to respond to the latest coronavirus outbreak. A meeting of state and federal leaders is scheduled for Friday.

The national disease control centre, the Robert Koch Institute, said today that 30,561 new coronavirus cases had been reported in the past 24 hours, over 9,000 more than a week earlier. The officially recorded infection rate was 239.9 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past week.

The health minister has said the real rate is probably two or three times higher because of patchy testing and reporting over the holiday period.

At least 356 new deaths from Covid-19 were reported in Germany today.

© AFP 2022 with reporting from Press Assocaition 

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    Mute Kp Gumbo
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    Jan 4th 2022, 1:42 PM

    So vaccination or nothing, no life if you can’t get vaccinated, no negative tests or recovery certs. This is scary

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    Mute Maximus_Demonus #FBPE
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    Jan 4th 2022, 1:49 PM

    @Kp Gumbo: Not as scary as having a breathing tube fitted and wondering if you’ll ever see your loved ones again.

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    Mute Kp Gumbo
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    Jan 4th 2022, 2:07 PM

    @Maximus_Demonus #FBPE:

    “Science & Facts, Equal rights for all” Not much science in pushing people with natural antibodies out of society. Not much equality in it either

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    Mute Diarmuid O'Braonáin
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    Jan 4th 2022, 2:10 PM

    @Maximus_Demonus #FBPE: I would agree if Delta was doing the rounds but people are not ending up on ventilators with the omnicron variant. This is the data coming out of South Africa and the rest of the world. This strain is not as bad as the others. Hospitals are not overwhelmed like 2 years ago.

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    Mute Robert Clifford
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    Jan 4th 2022, 2:14 PM

    @Maximus_Demonus #FBPE: Yawn

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    Mute Mark V
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    Jan 4th 2022, 2:21 PM

    @Kp Gumbo: Absolutely! They should just lock up all the vulnerable people so people can live normally! /S

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    Mute Kp Gumbo
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    Jan 4th 2022, 2:29 PM

    @Mark V: just vaccinate them and get on with it

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    Mute GrumpyAulFella
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    Jan 4th 2022, 2:30 PM

    @Diarmuid O’Braonáin: hospitals in US states have been completely overwhelmed. Wisconsin is closing medical centres 90% of hospitalisations are unvaxed from an unvaxed cohort of 8%. Same in Illinois and Virginia. Many many more people are contracting this over Delta so many more will end up in ICU and hospital. It’s just maths. We have to ride out the storm. It’ll be a question as to whether the unvaxed influx of hospitalisations will break the system or whether it will plateau in time.

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    Mute GrumpyAulFella
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    Jan 4th 2022, 2:39 PM

    @Mark V: ha, be easier to lock up the unvaxed as there’s less of them. They in themselves are vulnerable and unprotected while also a greater danger to others.

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    Mute Mark V
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    Jan 4th 2022, 2:52 PM

    @GrumpyAulFella: It’s tempting, but just as evil, isn’t it?
    The only option is continuously pointing out the facts. Hopefully at least some people wake up.

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    Mute John Egan
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    Jan 4th 2022, 2:00 PM

    There’s hope yet thankfully against these totalitarian sociopaths

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    Mute Diarmuid O'Braonáin
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    Jan 4th 2022, 3:46 PM

    @GrumpyAulFella: I’m talking about ventilators not hospitalisation. People in hospital does not automatically equal people on ventilators. These are assumptions on your behalf. Dangerous assumptions.

    The data out of South Africa with 27% of the country vaccinated is that patients spend less time in hospital and compared to other strains fewer required oxygen. The number of people attending hospital is also far less than other strain. You might want to tone down the fear and stick to the facts.

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    Mute GrumpyAulFella
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    Jan 4th 2022, 4:33 PM

    @Diarmuid O’Braonáin: here’s a report from one US state that claims that almost 100% on ventilators, in one hospital I presume, are unvaccinated. Pretty shocking if true.

    https://blockclubchicago.org/2022/01/03/illinois-hospitals-completely-overwhelmed-by-unvaccinated-covid-19-patients-officials-say/

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    Mute Diarmuid O'Braonáin
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    Jan 4th 2022, 5:59 PM

    @GrumpyAulFella: What’s your point? You still haven’t proven anything I’ve said incorrect. All the people on ventilators in one hospital are unvaccinated. Its a statement backed up with no data and very vague.

    Like how many have been hospitalised, of these how many needed to be in ICU, and of these how many needed ventilation? Of these people how many had the delta strain and how many have the omicron strain?

    My point still stands true that the omicron variant is not as severe as the delta with less people having to go to hospital and even less having to go on ventilators. The article actually proves one of my points that hospitals are seeing patients arriving at the door but there is ample supply of ventilators to service their needs. This wasn’t the case 2 years ago or even a year ago. The virus seems to have lost some of its strength. Do you remember the scenes from Italy and Spain?? Gone

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    Mute Valentine Kane
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    Jan 4th 2022, 1:40 PM

    Right wing holding up progress again, nothing to with the will of the people, all about getting into power.

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    Mute John Marsden
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    Jan 4th 2022, 1:44 PM

    @Valentine Kane: Frothing socialist rushes to comments without reading the article… More at 6

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    Mute LaoisWeather
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    Jan 4th 2022, 2:25 PM

    @Valentine Kane: Amazing that we as a society now have to look to the right to regain our liberty.

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    Mute GrumpyAulFella
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    Jan 4th 2022, 2:39 PM

    @LaoisWeather: what liberty have you lost?

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    Mute John Moylan
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    Jan 4th 2022, 9:43 PM

    @LaoisWeather: whats this ‘we’ craic?

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    Mute Colm Molloy
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    Jan 5th 2022, 6:31 AM

    This is a good news story.
    He is going too far.

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    Mute john smith iv
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    Jan 4th 2022, 7:50 PM

    The far left who opposed this are far right.

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    Mute Coco Walsh
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    Jan 5th 2022, 11:54 PM
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