CNCAV transmits a new information regarding the "bazaconies" that are distributed through the Facebook social network during this period, the warning targeting false information regarding the empty hospitals in South Africa and Germany, which of course is not true.
"New warehouses with thousands of distributions: empty hospitals in South Africa and Germany.
A video showing an empty hospital misleadingly opposite the effects of Omicron in South Africa was shared thousands of times on Facebook in December 2021.
Several thousand social media users in December 2021 shared an extract from a video showing empty rooms in a hospital in South Africa, with claims suggesting that media accounts of the Covid-19 situation, the spread and severity of the Omicron variant are exaggerated. The clip was also posted on Instagram, Tik-Tok and Telegram. The author of the clip promotes conspiracy theories and the QAnon movement on his social media accounts.
Truth:
On November 26, 2021, scientists in South Africa announced that they had detected the new variant, which at the time was known by its scientific name of B.1.1.529. This has led to a spike in infection rates, with health officials saying on December 17 that two days earlier, the country had seen the highest number of infections it had ever seen in the pandemic.
The New York Department of Health said on December 24, 2021 that pediatric hospitalizations for Covid have quadrupled in the past two weeks with the installation of Omicron.
The first officially reported cases of Omicron in Romania were announced on 4 December 2021. In Europe, the UK recorded one of the largest outbreaks linked to this variant, reporting 159,932 new cases on 27 December, the first time the number exceeded 100,000 being recorded on December 24. In the United Kingdom, the epicenter of Omicron infections has been in London, where hospitalizations have also increased in recent days. On December 22, two preliminary studies in the UK suggested that infections with Omicron were less likely to lead to hospitalization compared with the earlier variant Delta.
However, experts warn that any potential advantage in developing milder forms could still be negated by the increased infectivity of Omicron, which may still lead to more severe cases overall. In addition, care must be taken when trying to compare the situation in South Africa with that of other countries."
