The effectiveness of vaccination is confirmed by a new American study, but it continues to generate major protest movements.
New measures, new reports and highlights: an update on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.
To discover
Covid-19: what we know about the Delta variant
Read alsoCovid-19: "Practice to do it on the spot", vaccination for middle and high school students
Death explosion in August in French Polynesia
French Polynesia experienced in August 2021 a number of deaths, all causes combined, 4.5 times higher than the monthly average between 2015 and 2019, according to provisional figures from the Institute of Statistics in French Polynesia ( ISPF) to be released on Tuesday. The Statistics Institute lists 590 deaths between August 1 and August 31. Since 1983, the number of monthly deaths had never exceeded 179 in this overseas collectivity populated by 280,000 inhabitants. Over the period from August 1 to August 31, “
gross excess mortality is 346% for all ages
”.
The people most affected by this excess mortality were aged 60 to 74 (+ 413%) and over 75 (+ 412%).
The increase in deaths is clear among 40-59 year olds (+ 277%) but is “
not observed
” among people under 40 years old.
The increase in mortality is linked to the epidemic, but also to its indirect effects: the management of other pathologies is less effective due to the saturation of healthcare services.
This excess mortality could be even more important, the ISPF specifies that these figures are provisional and that all the data have not yet been processed.
Outcry in the United States against compulsory vaccination
In the country of individual freedoms, the announcement by Joe Biden that the anti-Covid 19 vaccination will soon be compulsory for two-thirds of American workers is causing an outcry among Republicans, who intend to launch proceedings against the Democratic government.
"
It looks very much like a dictatorship,
" reacted Republicans in the House of Representatives, even as the President of the United States was still delivering his speech Thursday.
On Friday, the avalanche of outraged reactions from conservatives calling for "
freedom
" was still pouring out, accompanied by threats of prosecution.
Resignation of the Minister of Health of North Macedonia
North Macedonian Health Minister Venko Filipce resigned on Friday after the explosion followed by a fire in a unit for Covid-19 patients that killed 14 people in this small Balkan country hit hard by the coronavirus.
American study confirms the effectiveness of vaccines
Fully vaccinated people are 11 times less likely to die from Covid and 10 times less likely to be hospitalized since the contagious Delta variant became the main strain of the virus in the United States, US health officials said on Friday.
Sinovac launches vaccines for children in South Africa
Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac has launched a phase of testing Covid vaccines on children and adolescents in South Africa, which will be carried out in five countries around the world.
In Congo, vaccination soon compulsory for drivers and traders
Traders and bus and taxi drivers in Congo, like health workers and teachers, will have to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by the end of October, the authorities in Brazzaville have decided.
Read alsoCovid-19: among 12-17 year olds, vaccination is still uneven
In Togo, places of worship closed for a month
The Togolese government has decided to close churches, mosques and voodoo temples for a month from Friday, "
in the face of the worrying outbreak of the pandemic
" of Covid 19 in the country.
Demonstration against the health pass in Lithuania
A few thousand people gathered in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, to protest against the health pass introduced by the center-right government.
From Monday, anyone wishing to visit shopping malls, restaurants and beauty salons will be required to have a health pass.
WHO finds collective immunity difficult to achieve
Director of the World Health Organization in Europe Hans Kluge was more pessimistic on Friday about the ability of a high vaccination rate to curb the pandemic on its own, due to variants that have reduced the prospect of collective immunity.
More than 4.6 million dead
The Covid-19 pandemic has killed at least 4,602,565 people around the world since the end of December 2019, according to a report established on Friday midday by AFP from official sources.
The United States is the country with the most deaths (656,412), ahead of Brazil (585,846), India (442,009), Mexico (266,150) and Peru (198,621), according to official figures.
