The milestone of 750,000 deaths from Covid-19 worldwide was crossed on Thursday and concern persists over a resurgence of the disease, pushing many countries to impose new restrictions to limit its spread.
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In Spain, the unprecedented ban on smoking in the streets and on café terraces came into force Thursday in the province of Galicia (north-west) and in the Canary Islands (east). This measure applies when it is impossible to maintain a safety distance of at least two meters. "Smokers who are infected and asymptomatic can emit droplets containing the virus and put the rest of the population at risk , " according to The Spanish Society of Epidemiology. Also in Spain, the medical order asked the authorities on Thursday to "raise the bar" in the fight against the coronavirus to prevent this country, one of the most bereaved in Europe, from being overwhelmed by a new wave of pandemic.
Explaining that they must "continue on the line of caution", Italy has meanwhile made mandatory until September 7 the tests for all travelers arriving from Croatia, Greece, Malta and Spain. And people from Colombia are simply prohibited from entering its territory. In Brussels, as now also in Finland, which has turned around on this subject, wearing a protective mask is now compulsory in public spaces. It will be the same in France for the participants in the pilgrimage of August 15 to Lourdes, in the southwest, to which thousands of Catholics are expected.
Half of the deaths in four countries
A relaxation of measures, greater availability of tests but also the relaxation of spirits in the summer explain the increase in the number of contaminations in Europe, estimated Thursday an epidemiologist from the World Health Organization (WHO). Worldwide, there are now nearly 21 million reported cases, according to a report established Thursday by AFP from official sources. Latin America and the Caribbean is the region with the highest death toll: around 230,000.
Nearly half of deaths from Covid-19 have been recorded in four countries: the United States (166,038), Brazil (104,201), Mexico (54,666) and India (47,033). Regarding Africa, the reopening of economies will lead to an increase in cases, warned the WHO regional director, Matshidiso Moeti. And the virus made its first victim this Thursday, since its appearance in December in China, in one of the squalid and overpopulated migrant camps of the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea: a 35-year-old man from Yemen was indeed tested there. positive.
Smart bus shelters and temperature controls
At the same time, precautionary measures are multiplying in countries which had initially succeeded in controlling the epidemic. New Zealand, so far little affected, is considering extending the three-day confinement currently in force in its largest city, Auckland. And Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is considering postponing parliamentary elections scheduled for September 19. Often cited as a model in the management of the health crisis with a very thorough tracing strategy, South Korea has installed innovative bus shelters, equipped with ultraviolet lamps to allow their disinfection. At a dozen stops in Seoul, travelers are now required to stand in front of a thermal imager, and the door will only open if their temperature is below 37.5 degrees Celsius.
North Korea is also stepping up the fight against the new coronavirus. Temperature controls, hydroalcoholic solutions and masks are available to public transport users in Pyongyang. This country, whose notoriously failing medical system is particularly vulnerable, has claimed not to have recorded any cases of Covid-19. Wanting to be reassuring, after China announced that it had discovered the coronavirus at the origin of this disease on imported food, the WHO for its part said on Thursday not to fear transmission through food.
"Sputnik V"
Along with the restrictions, the vaccine race continues. Latin America is in the starting blocks to urgently produce the next vaccine, whether it comes from Russia or Europe. Argentina and Mexico will manufacture and distribute the future vaccine against the coronavirus prepared by the Anglo-Swedish laboratory AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. Mexico, the third most bereaved country with 54,666 deaths, has for its part concluded an agreement with the American Janssen Pharmaceuticals and the Chinese CanSino Biologics and Walvax Biotechnology.
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Brazil, the 2nd country for the death toll - 104.201 -, meanwhile relies on Russia and its Sputnik V vaccine, the effectiveness of which is however questionable. To everyone's surprise, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that his country had developed the "first" vaccine, even though clinical trials have not been completed. Philippine President Rodrigo Philippines, who had offered to serve as a guinea pig for the Russian vaccine, backed down on Thursday. His country will test this product from October, but it will not be inoculated to the head of state until it is declared safe.
As for the European Union, it has announced that it has reserved on behalf of its member states up to 400 million doses of the potential vaccine against Covid-19 developed by the American Johnson & Johnson. The WHO, for its part, has called for urgent funding of the international mechanism created to accelerate access to tools to fight Covid-19, the ACT Accelerator, aimed at ensuring equitable access to tests and treatments for all countries. and vaccines.
