Coronavirus: nearly 532,000 dead worldwide, explosion of cases in India

Hospitals on the brink of saturation and elected officials sounding the alarm: the outbreak of coronavirus cases continues unabated in the United States, as well as in Mexico, India, Chile, while in France , the emblematic Louvre museum will reopen its doors.

Read also: Coronavirus: reconfinement in Spain, explosion of cases in India, death record in Iran

Over 531,000 dead

According to an AFP report from official sources, more than 11.3 million cases of coronavirus infection have been diagnosed in 196 countries and territories. Just over half of these cases are now considered cured.

The pandemic has now killed at least 531,789 people worldwide. The United States is the most affected country with 129,891 deaths. This is followed by Brazil (64,867), the United Kingdom (44,220), Italy (34,861) and Mexico (30,366), whose balance sheet now exceeds that of France (29,893).

Read also: Coronavirus: at least 531,789 deaths worldwide

Explosion of cases in India

India announced on Monday that it has identified a total of nearly 700,000 cases of Covid-19 since the start of the epidemic, becoming the third country in the world most affected by the number of infections, ahead of Russia.

According to the Indian Ministry of Health, a total of 697,358 cases of infection with the new coronavirus have been recorded since the start of the pandemic, including some 24,000 in the past 24 hours, for 19,963 deaths.

The country's main tourist attraction, the Taj Mahal, will remain closed, authorities in the northern city of Agra announced on Sunday, after the national government gave its green light to reopen on Monday.

The crisis continues in the United States

America, which celebrated its national holiday this weekend, has had record numbers of infections for more than a week, although President Donald Trump continues to play down the crisis, which he said was " on the point ” to end. The country has recorded nearly 40,000 cases and 234 new deaths in the past 24 hours, according to a latest report published Sunday by Johns Hopkins University, which references.

Read also: Coronavirus: 39,379 new cases in one day in the United States

Not hiding his exasperation, the Democratic mayor of the Texas city of Austin, Steve Adler, had previously described the tone of the president as "dangerous" for the inhabitants of his city, whose resuscitation services may be overwhelmed "d 'here ten days'. "If we don't change course, our hospitals could be overcrowded in two weeks," he said on CNN.

Read also: In the United States, the interminable first wave of Covid-19

The mayor of the city of Phoenix, Kate Gallego, abounded in his sense: "We reopened far too early in Arizona," she lamented, pleading for a reconfiguration of the population. Meanwhile, 41-year-old Broadway actor Nick Cordero died on Sunday after fighting the disease for 95 days, his wife said.

Reconfigurations continue

Fearing resurgence of the epidemic, authorities in several countries have already implemented new local restrictions. Australia will thus isolate the State of Victoria from the rest of the country after an outbreak of infections in the city of Melbourne, especially in several densely populated buildings.

Read also: Australia isolates its state most affected by coronavirus

Two months after its deconfinement, Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, will for its part again be placed in containment from Monday. Finally, near a region of 200,000 inhabitants on Saturday in Catalonia, 70,000 people were subjected on Sunday to isolation measures in Galicia, in the northwest of Spain, two weeks after the lifting of the severe confinement imposed on this country.

Read also: Coronavirus: confinement of a coastal area in north-west Spain

More than 10,000 dead in Chile

The trend also remains worrying in several Latin American countries. In Peru, the number of people infected exceeds 300,000, including more than 3,600 new cases in the last 24 hours. In Colombia, more than 4,000 dead have now been counted. Bolivian Minister of Health Eidy Roca was hospitalized for "complications from Covid-19" . As for Mexico, it became the 5th most bereaved country on Saturday, with 30,366 deaths.

For its part, Chile announced Sunday that it has crossed the threshold of 10,000 dead. According to the weekly report of the Chilean Ministry of Health, the epidemic has left 10,159 dead in the country, of which 7057 have the coronavirus for confirmed cause and 3102 for "probable" cause. Chile, with a population of 18 million, is one of the Latin American countries hardest hit by the pandemic, along with Brazil, Mexico and Peru.

Read also: Coronavirus: Chile crosses the threshold of 10,000 dead

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has announced a 1.5 billion dollar aid program for the middle classes, severely affected by the Covid-19 crisis. These measures, which must be approved by parliament, consist almost exclusively of granting or extending credits on preferential terms guaranteed by the State. So far, middle class families have been excluded from state aid.

The Louvre reopens in Paris

In France, where the 30,000 death mark is getting dangerously close, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron and the new Prime Minister Jean Castex are to unveil the composition of the new government this Monday. Decided to accelerate the pace to make forget the debacle of the municipal and to tackle the post-coronavirus crises, the new executive couple should first announce the ministers, according to a close to the president, then the secretaries of state a few days later .

Read also: Macron and Castex looking for a government to relaunch the quinquennium

“The fact is that the epidemic has made a difference. France is faced with two challenges: the health crisis, which I stress is not over and that it requires us to remain very vigilant; the reconstruction of our economy and the protection of the French, by cushioning the immediate impacts on their daily lives and helping the survival of businesses, " said the former" Monsieur Déconfinement "in an interview with JDD .

Also in France, the Louvre Museum, the largest and most visited in the world, will reopen around 70% of its space this Monday to visitors, who will have to go there wearing a mask. In front of the Mona Lisa, markings on the ground were stuck to avoid the rush. The coronavirus crisis has already caused "more than 40 million euros in losses" at the Louvre, said its president and director Jean-Luc Martinez. In addition, a fashion week should open this Monday virtually and without parades for the first time in its history.

Read also: The Louvre reopens its doors and fears attendance divided by five

In England, the reopening of pubs caused festive and very alcoholic spillovers in the night from Saturday to Sunday, raising fears of new contaminations in a country already badly affected. John Apter, president of the Police Federation, said he spent his evening managing "naked men, happy drunkards, angry drunkards, battles and even more angry drunkards" . The other British provinces preferred to adopt a more cautious deconfinement timetable.