Omicron is now officially the main virus of France
after the country’s public health agency made an announcement on Friday.
COVID-19 cases in France has surged in the last few days.

“62.4 per cent of tests showed a
profile compatible with the omicron variant” at the start of this week,
compared to 15 per cent the previous week, the agency said in its latest
weekly survey published late Thursday.

Also Read: France imposes new COVID measures amid spike in infections

The omicron variant’s rapid community
spread was expected because it is highly contagious, and it has been wreaking havoc in other European
countries, including Britain and Portugal.

The variant is responsible for the current
surge in COVID-19 cases in Europe. France has reported 2,08,000 cases in
the 24-hour period from Wednesday to Thursday.

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In France, 18,321 patients have been
admitted to hospitals with COVID-19 infection, including 1,922 new admissions
between Wednesday and Thursday, with more than 3,500 people in intensive care.

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“This means that 24 hours a day, day and night, every second in our country, two French people are diagnosed positive,” said Dr Olivier Veran, French minister for health. “We have never experienced such a situation,” he said, describing the increase in cases as “dizzying”.

WHO warns of COVID tsunami

Meanwhile, WHO chief
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concerns over a surge in COVID-19 cases
across the globe. Dr Ghebreyesus said that he is worried about the omicron and
Delta variants of coronavirus combining to produce a “tsunami” of
cases. According to WHO’s figures, the number of COVID-19 cases recorded
worldwide increased by 11 per cent last week (December 20-26) compared with the
previous week.

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Several
European countries, including France, Greece, Britain and Spain, also reported
record case counts this week, prompting a ban on music at New Year’s
celebrations in Greece and a renewed push to encourage vaccination by French
authorities.

Also Read: Centre asks states to impose district-level restrictions amid COVID surge

Faced with the wave of infections, the French government announced Monday new curbs to make people work from home and imposed
limits on the numbers attending public events.