The Day at a Glance | December 22 2021

The Top

*Omicron doubles risk of infection in an airplane, but the risk of hospitalization is 80% lower.

*Retail sales in Mexico increased 0.3% in October (6.2% annual).

*Biden defends social spending plan, Democrats seek to vote on it in January.

*Control of the virus`s new variant and normalization of consumption patterns will be necessary to fade out production chain problems during 2022, experts assure.

*Germany, Singapore, Scotland, South Korea and Holland implemented new restrictions in efforts to control the virus.

Economic environment

Study on the Omicron variant and its spread. Recent studies made public in South Africa show that there is 80% less likelihood of being hospitalized after being infected with the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron. However, once in the hospital, the risk of a severe illness is the same as with other variants. The data was collected in October and November, when the African country was going through an outbreak of the new variant. While the variant`s severity seems to be more mild and protection is given by vaccines in order to avoid hospitalizations, what raises concerns the most about the Omicron variant is its transmissibility. According to a medical consultant in the International Air Transport Association (IATA), David Powell, passengers in a commercial flight have a two to three times higher risk of getting infected than with previous variants. The new variant`s spread has occurred so quickly that it`s estimated that 70% of new cases in the United States are due to the Omicron variant. The spread has led President Biden to request the U.S. population to get vaccinated as soon as possible, or get a booster shot. In countries like Germany, South Korea, Scotland, Ireland and Holland, new local and nation-wide confinement measures have been implemented in efforts to stop the virus`s spread and prevent overcrowding health systems, while most countries have restricted international travel in one form or another. In Spain, Singapore, Austria, Belgium and the Check Republic, mitigation measures could become more strict. In China, the government has declared a quarantine in Xi`an, city located at the north of the country and has 13 million inhabitants, after cases increased rapidly in the last week. In Mexico, 23 new cases of the variant were reported: 16 in Mexico city, 6 in the State of Mexico and 1 in Tamaulipas. UNAM experts believe that a new wave of the virus in the country is inevitable.