The war raging in Ukraine somewhat overshadows the good news related to the Covid-19 epidemic.
However, the United States should soon find a little more lightness in their daily life.
The American health authorities largely relaxed their recommendations on Friday on wearing a mask, which will no longer be recommended indoors for the majority of the country's inhabitants, including in many schools.
“We are now in a much better situation as a nation, with more tools to protect us from Covid-19,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Prevention and Control, told a press conference. Against Diseases (CDC), one of the nation's leading health agencies.
A decline in France
This announcement comes as the epidemic ebb continues in France.
On Friday, there was a further drop in the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals in France, but also in terms of contamination, according to daily figures published by Public Health France.
The decline of the fifth wave that began last fall, first carried by the Delta variant and then by its highly contagious successor Omicron, continues: 25,484 people infected with Covid-19 are currently hospitalized, i.e. 634 fewer than the day before.
New reductions in France
No more masks in museums, cinemas, restaurants… It will no longer be compulsory in places subject to the vaccination pass from Monday, but will remain required in transport, such as the train or the plane, where the pass is also required.
The rules also change for contact and vaccinated people.
From now on, only one test is necessary (self-test, PCR or antigen) two days after being declared a contact case, instead of three currently.
If the self-test is positive, an antigen or PCR test is still necessary to confirm the result.
The duration of isolation remains unchanged in the event of a positive test.
Read alsoCovid-19: can you catch Omicron twice?
In schools, after zone B, it is zone A, back from vacation, which sees the constraints ease.
The protocol in schools goes to level 2, which allows the mask to be removed during recess and allows more mixing between students of the same level.
From Monday, a child declared a contact case will only have to do one self-test, two days later, before being able to return to class if he is negative.
Rome suspends collaboration on Sputnik vaccine -
Lazio, the region of Rome, for its part announced on Friday suspending its collaboration with Russia on the Sputnik-V vaccine against Covid due to the invasion of Ukraine.
"We are suspending cooperation regarding Sputnik because science must be at the service of peace and not of war," said Lazio health official Alessio D'Amato, quoted by the daily La Repubblica.
Nearly six million dead
The pandemic has officially killed at least 5,925,534 people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Friday midday.
Asia is the only region to see its situation deteriorate this week, with 20% more contamination compared to the previous week.
In absolute terms, the United States is the country with the most deaths (947,338), ahead of Brazil (648,160), India (513,226) and Russia (349,365).
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, taking into account the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19, that the toll of the pandemic could be two to three times higher than that officially established.