• More than 517,000 deaths worldwide
The pandemic has killed at least 517,416 people worldwide, according to a report by AFP on Thursday. The United States totals 128,421 deaths for almost 2.7 million cases. This is followed by Brazil (60,632 dead), the United Kingdom (43,906), Italy (34,818) and France (29,875). Mexico passed, with 28,510 dead, before Spain (28,363).
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• 193,000 new cases
Since the count on Wednesday, 4,735 new deaths and 193,254 new cases have been recorded worldwide. The countries with the most new deaths are Brazil with 1,038 new deaths, Mexico (741) and the United States (740).
More than 10,769,890 cases of infection have been officially diagnosed in 196 countries and territories since the start of the epidemic, of which at least 5,454,100 are now considered cured. This number of diagnosed cases, however, only reflects a fraction of the actual number of infections.
• 14 deaths in 24 hours in France
France has registered 14 new deaths linked to Covid-19 in 24 hours in hospitals, bringing to 29,875 the total number of deaths since the start of the epidemic, announced Thursday the Directorate General of Health (DGS). At the same time, the number of patients with Covid-19 in intensive care continues to decrease with 573 patients concerned, 9 fewer than on Wednesday. Four regions (Île-de-France, Grand Est, Hauts-de-France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) still account for 74% of patients hospitalized in intensive care. A total of 8,148 people are hospitalized for this infection (-188 in 24 hours).
If " the circulation of the virus in Guyana remains worrying ", " on the rest of the national territory, the epidemiological situation is stable ", indicates in its press release the DGS. However, the virus continues to circulate on the territory, as shown by the number of new “ clusters ” with 307 grouped cases recorded since May 9, including 4 new in the last 24 hours, but 181 closed.
• The current coronavirus is more contagious
The SARS-CoV-2 variant that dominates the world today infects cells more easily than the one that originally appeared in China, which probably makes it more contagious between humans, although this remains to be confirmed, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Cell.
" We don't know yet if a person is doing worse with them or not, " commented Anthony Fauci, director of the American Institute of Infectious Diseases, to Jama magazine. " It seems that the virus replicates better and can be more transmissible, but we are still at the stage of trying to confirm it. But there are some very good virus geneticists working on it. "
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• New contamination record in the United States
At least 53,069 new coronavirus infections have been registered in the United States in 24 hours, according to a count on Thursday from Johns Hopkins University, a record level since the start of the pandemic, on the eve of the long weekend of the holiday American national. This brings the total number of cases detected in the country to more than 2.7 million. The level of newly detected cases in the United States is higher than at any time since the appearance of Sars-Cov-2, and hospitalizations are increasing in several homes such as Houston (Texas) and Phoenix (Arizona).
• Latin America hit hard
The crisis generated by the pandemic should lead to the closure of more than 2.7 million businesses and the loss of 8.5 million jobs in Latin America, warned Thursday Cepal, the UN Economic Commission for the region.
Peru passed the milestone of 10,000 dead as a result of Covid-19 on Thursday, announced the Ministry of Health, the same week that the country began a gradual deconfinement of certain regions, including the capital Lima. Guatemala, for its part, exceeded 20,000 cases on Thursday, with a thousand people infected in the past 24 hours. In Brazil, finally, the official toll exceeded 60,000 deaths on Wednesday.
• Beginning of the lifting of quarantine measures in the United Kingdom
The British government revealed on Friday the first exemptions from the quarantine regime implemented to fight the epidemic of coronavirus, which concern arrivals from Germany, France, Spain or Italy from July 10.
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But, at the risk of confusion, it also decided that these exemptions would only apply to arrivals in England and that fortnight would still be compulsory for anyone arriving in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, under penalty of a fine.
