New measures, new reports and highlights: an update on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.
France: a new defense council is held at the Elysée
Despite the hopes raised by the start of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign, the French are ending the year under the threat of a new confinement which could be local, according to some elected officials.
Very worrying in places, the health situation motivates the holding of a Defense Council on Tuesday, December 29.
Read also: Covid-19: will France be forced to confine itself a third time?
In the Grand Est, the president (LR) of the region Jean Rottner and the mayor (PS) of Nancy Mathieu Klein called for a local re-containment at the earliest, deemed "
inevitable
" by Mathieu Klein because "
the curve does not is not horizontal, it goes up (...)
”.
"The sooner the better and if there is a decision to be made, I hope it will be taken tomorrow, and that we will not wait another week
,
"
said Jean Rottner.
To read also: Local reconfinement: "the sooner the better" according to the president of the Grand Est, "inevitable" for the mayor of Nancy
At the same time, the vaccination campaign is continuing.
Residents of nursing homes have been vaccinated in Joué-les-Tours (Indre-et-Loire), in the North and in Lyon.
See also -
"The choice is made on a voluntary basis": in a nursing home in Indre-et-Loire, the vaccination campaign continues
Russia's record significantly increased
Nearly 26,000 deaths from Covid in November in Russia, 186,000 this year.
The figures unveiled by the Russian statistical office, under a new accounting closer to international standards, are three times higher than the 55,265 official deaths so far recorded by the government.
This new record now places Russia third in the world in terms of deaths, behind the United States (334,695 dead) and Brazil (191,570).
Sale of alcohol prohibited in South Africa
The sale of alcohol is prohibited and the wearing of a mask is now compulsory everywhere in South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Monday, as the country has just exceeded one million positive cases for the coronavirus.
Alcohol consumption generates "
risky behavior
" and drives up the number of admissions to emergency departments, which have better things to do at the moment, argued the president.
Vaccines: slight delays in delivery to the EU
Vaccine deliveries to eight European countries, including Spain, will be delayed by a few hours due to a logistical problem at the Pfizer plant in Belgium, Spain's health ministry said at midday on Monday, while the vaccination campaign in the European Union started over the weekend.
Read also: Covid-19: slight delay in the delivery of Pfizer vaccines to eight European countries
According to Spanish Minister Salvador Illa, this is a problem "
linked to temperature control
", "
apparently resolved
".
He also announced that the Spanish authorities would keep a register of people refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19, which will be shared with other European countries but not made public.
Novavax vaccine clinical trials
Clinical trials including tens of thousands of volunteers, to determine the safety and efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccine from the American company Novavax, have started in the United States and Mexico, the Institutes announced on Monday, December 28. national health authorities, which partially fund them.
A similar trial is underway in the UK.
Rio closes its beaches for the New Year
The city hall of Rio de Janeiro, a Mecca for tourism in Brazil, announced Monday the closure of access to beaches for the New Year in order to avoid gatherings in the midst of a pandemic.
The municipality has also banned all fireworks.
The Brazilian star of Paris SG Neymar is, him, at the heart of a new controversy over his behavior off the field, Brazilian media assuring that he would organize a giant end-of-year party for dozens of guests near Rio.
More than 1.7 million dead
Before the new Russian figures, the pandemic had killed more than 1.76 million people worldwide, out of more than 80 million confirmed contaminations, according to a report established by AFP on Monday at 11:00 GMT.
Spain officially crossed the threshold of 50,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Monday since the start of the epidemic: it is the fourth most bereaved country in Western Europe, behind Italy, the United Kingdom and France .
Prepare for "maybe worse", says WHO
The World Health Organization warned on Monday that despite the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 1.7 million people and infected tens of millions more in one year, it was urgently to prepare for “the
worst
”.
“
This pandemic has been very severe.
It has spread across the world very quickly and it has touched every corner of the planet, but it is not necessarily the worst
”, warned Michael Ryan, the WHO responsible for emergency situations. 'emergency.
"
Its death rate is relatively low compared to other emerging diseases,
" added the doctor, for whom he "
prepares us in the future for something that may be even worse
".
See also -
According to the WHO, we must prepare for a pandemic "more serious" than that of Covid-19 now