Surging Covid infections, ‘jingle jabs' make for sombre Christmas

France Hits 24-Hr Record Of 100k Cases; Britons Get Boosters; No In-Person Services In US Churches

Christians around the world celebrated their second Covid-19 Christmas on Saturday with surging infections in many countries overwhelming hospitals, cancelling flights and curbing religious observances, even as coronavirus vaccines were more available than ever. While some countries in Asia imposed restrictions to try to contain the Omicron variant, governments in Europe, the US and elsewhere preached common sense despite reporting record daily cases this week, advising their citizens to use masks and voluntarily limit the size of holiday gatherings.

France recorded a record high of 1,04,611 Covid-19 infections on Saturday, breaking the 1,00,000 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. The head of intensive care at a hospital in Marseille, France, said most of the Covid-19 patients there over Christmas were unvaccinated, while his staff members are exhausted or can’t work because they are infected. “We’re sick of this,” said Dr Julien Carvelli, the ICU chief at Marseille’s La Timone Hospital, as his team spent another Christmas Eve tending to Covid patients on breathing machines. “We’re afraid we won’t have enough space.”