The essential
Three first cases of the Indian variant were detected in France, one in Lot-et-Garonne and two others in the Marseille region.
Emmanuel Macron has delivered a precise schedule for deconfinement, in four dates, which will begin with a first stage on May 3, then several gradual reopenings on May 19, June 9 and June 30.
Thus all shops as well as museums, monuments, theaters, cinemas and places of entertainment with seated public will be able to reopen on May 19 (within the limit of 800 spectators indoors, and 1,000 outdoors).
In France, 321 patients have died in hospital in the past 24 hours as a result of Covid-19.
29,487 patients were hospitalized Thursday, including 5,804 in critical care services.
Today's events
8 hours.
Cinema, theater, museums, amusement parks ... how they see the reopening.
The announcement of the plan to reopen cultural venues from May 19 provokes many reactions and still many questions from managers, exhibitors, distributors, artists, producers ... Our article.
7:53 am.
Moreover, here is the calendar announced by Emmanuel Macron.
infog deconfinement macron LP / Infogra
7:52 a.m. Calendar of deconfinement: "How to be sure that it will be respected?" Parisians worry.
This Thursday, onlookers who took advantage of the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris, swayed between joy, skepticism and concern in the face of the deconfinement schedule announced by the President of the Republic. Our report.
7:50 a.m.
The economy picked up slightly in the first quarter, with growth of 0.4%, according to INSEE.
The French economy recovered slightly in the first quarter, with an increase in gross domestic product (GDP) of 0.4%, according to a first estimate published this Friday by INSEE.
This rebound, after the record recession recorded in 2020 (-8.2%), however remains "limited", underlines the National Institute of Statistics, GDP still being 4.4% below its level at the end of 2019, just before the start of the health crisis.
This growth is lower than what INSEE expected, which was counting on a rebound of 1% of GDP, even if this forecast, published in mid-March, did not take into account the strengthening of health measures that took place at the very end of the quarter.
7.45 a.m. Household consumption fell 1.1% in March.
Household consumption spending in France "markedly" fell, by 1.1%, in March compared with February due to containment measures and the closure of "non-essential" stores in 19 departments, reported on Friday INSEE. Over the first quarter as a whole, household consumption "rebounds moderately", by 1.2%, and remains 1.5% below its level in the fourth quarter of 2019, the last before the Covid-19 crisis.
7.40 am.
Victims demand justice after the Ischgl scandal in Austria.
A year ago, the coronavirus had spread like wildfire in Europe, from the snow-covered slopes of the Austrian resort of Ischgl in Tyrol.
Nine other people are suing the state while 32 people have died.
The beginnings of a sprawling case involving more than 6,000 people of 45 steps.
New complaints from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Switzerland are already looming, reports AFP.
To read also "At the heart of the clusters": Ischgl, the "Ibiza of the Alps" which caused an avalanche of Covid-19
A commission of experts had pointed out in October the failings of the authorities, while despite a first alert on March 5, skiers continued to crowd into the cable car cabins, while in the evening the party was in full swing in the stations in the region. Four local officials, including the mayor of Ischgl, are being investigated for "intentional or negligent administration of a communicable disease having harmed the physical or mental integrity of others". The interested parties deny any responsibility.
7:30 am. More than 400,000 deaths in Brazil, where vaccination is slipping.
The threshold of 400,000 deaths from the coronavirus was crossed Thursday in Brazil, where vaccination has still not taken off and a parliamentary commission is investigating the responsibility of the Bolsonaro government in this massacre. This month of April, along with that of March, was the deadliest in 14 months of the pandemic. To date, 28 million people have received a first injection, or 13.2% of the population, and 12 million the second, but according to TV Globo, injections have had to be stopped in cities in 14 of the country's 27 states. .
7:20 a.m. Indian variant: in the blind spot of the health watch at Roissy.
To thwart “transit abuses” at Roissy airport, France reinstated transit visas for India on Tuesday. More than 200 Indian nationals, potentially carriers of the worrying variant, have passed through the waiting area, while refusing to be tested. Investigation into this blind spot of health monitoring.
7:15 am.
The United States wants to help India produce oxygen quickly.
The United States, which has sent emergency aid to India, wants to quickly help the country increase its oxygen capacity to treat patients suffering from Covid-19, a US official said Thursday. The priority "is to try to meet some of their immediate needs to deal with the serious challenges they face in their hospitals," said Jeremy Konyndyk of the US Agency for International Development.
7:10.
Argentina: delays in the delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
"We have a big problem called AstraZeneca", lamented the Argentine Foreign Minister Felipe Sola on Thursday, pointing to the delays in the delivery of the first vaccines from the Anglo-Swedish laboratory while the country recorded a new death record daily.
7:04 am.
Cannes, Grenoble, Quillan… these cities which are trying to open up vaccination to non-priority citizens.
In the Alpes-Maritimes, Isère or Aude, vaccination centers have announced that they want to vaccinate French people who are not yet, according to the government calendar, in the target audiences.
Controversy and confusion.
Find our article.
6:57 a.m. Colombia crosses the threshold of 500 dead in 24 hours.
Colombia listed 505 deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours on Thursday, the highest daily toll since the start of the epidemic in this country currently facing a third wave of contagions, announced the Ministry of Health. A total of 2,841,934 cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in a population of around 50 million, while hospital intensive care units are overloaded, especially in large cities like Bogotá, declared on red alert .
6:48 am. 150 million cases worldwide.
More than 150 million cases of Covid-19 were identified by AFP on Friday around the world, while the number of new daily contaminations is currently reaching levels not seen since the start of the pandemic. 150,337,583 cases have been officially declared since December 2019, including nearly 6 million in one week, a figure pulled up by the explosion in the number of contaminations in India, where 2.5 million cases have been detected these seven last days.
6:40 am.
The first shipments of American medical aid arrive in India.
The first shipments of American medical aid arrived this Friday in India, currently facing a catastrophic surge in Covid-19 cases.
A military plane, which was carrying more than 400 oxygen cylinders, equipment for hospitals and a million tests for the coronavirus, landed at the international airport in the capital New Delhi.
Further supplies from many countries are expected in the coming days.
6.30 a.m.
Immunization very soon extended to overweight people
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As of Saturday, vaccination will be extended to all obese people over 18, announced in his interview detailing the deconfinement Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.
6:20 am.
Guadeloupe: hundreds of people gathered at a party at sea despite the confinement.
On the island, where confinement began on Tuesday, a prefectural decree now prohibits "the regrouping of ships" after a party at sea which brought together several hundred people during the weekend. "I have since taken a measure which prohibits the pairing (grouping) of boats, it will prevent people from having this idea," announced Wednesday evening, the prefect of Guadeloupe. In a press release published Tuesday evening, the prefecture already specified that "henceforth, the grouping of side-by-side vessels is prohibited, except for imperative security reasons".
6:10 am.
Three cases of the Indian variant detected in Lot-et-Garonne and Bouches-du-Rhône.
Three cases of the Indian variant of Covid-19 have been detected in mainland France, the Ministry of Health announced Thursday at the end of the day: a first case, in Lot-et-Garonne and "two other cases were detected in the Bouches-du-Rhône ”.
Only two cases in Guadeloupe have so far been confirmed.
6 hours.
Hello and welcome to this live.
As for more than a year now, we will follow in real time and throughout the day, the consequences of the coronavirus epidemic on our lives.