The pandemic continues to progress around the world, despite the gradual implementation of vaccination.
To not miss any of the latest highlights related to Covid-19,
Le Figaro
takes stock of the latest news for this Wednesday, December 30.
Read also: Covid-19: on New Year's Eve, France cut in two
The French government criticized for the slowness of its vaccination ...
In the first three days of the campaign, less than a hundred people were vaccinated in France - one of the lowest numbers in the world.
By comparison, Germany has already injected more than 40,000 doses.
Politicians and doctors, including the famous French geneticist Axel Kahn, regret an excess of caution in the vaccination campaign in France, considered too slow compared to other European countries.
"
Faced with a very strong skepticism in the French population, we made the choice to take the time necessary to install this vaccination
", defends the Ministry of Health.
Read also: Vaccine: a campaign that starts slowly
... and the probable extension of the curfew in the East
These criticisms come as Olivier Véran announced Tuesday evening a probable extension of the curfew from 6 p.m. in many departments in eastern France.
Elected officials, including LR president of the Grand Est region Jean Rottner, regretted this “
wait and see
” position.
Philippe Juvin, head of emergencies at the Parisian hospital Georges-Pompidou, believes that re-containment is inevitable.
"
I think we are not going to cut it, the epidemic is progressing
", insisted the doctor on CNews this Wednesday morning.
"The
longer we wait, the more
[this confinement]
will be difficult,
" he warned.
The government has "
somehow given a few more days to decide after the holidays from December 31
", agreed the former Minister Herve Morin, judging that covers
-
fire at 18.00 is "
a system of incredible bureaucratic complexity
”, which will require“
exemptions in everything
”.
To read also: The curfew takes away the hope of finding the life "before"
French cinema attendance fell by nearly 70% in 2020
The attendance of cinemas in France, closed almost half of the year, fell by 69.4% in 2020, seriously weakening the sector.
According to the annual report of the National Cinema Center (CNC), cinemas recorded only 65.10 million admissions, against 213.07 million in 2019. “
Over the whole of 2020, attendance reached 30% of that observed in 2019
”, underlines the CNC.
The 2,000 French cinemas, a unique park in the world, will have been closed for a total of 162 days.
Only the months of January and February saw “
normal
”
exploitation
, without reduced tonnage.
Unheard of in 125 years of cinema history, even in times of war.
Read also: Covid-19: cinemas at the end of their rope
UK green light for Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine
The United Kingdom on Wednesday became the first country to approve the anti-Covid vaccine developed by the AstraZeneca group with the University of Oxford.
This vaccine is eagerly awaited because it is cheaper than the one from Pfizer / BioNTech already distributed and easier to store.
The vaccine will be used from January 4 in the UK.
Read also: Vaccines against Covid-19: transport under close surveillance
Chinese Sinopharm vaccine 79% effective
The Chinese laboratory Sinopharm has announced an efficacy of 79% for one of its anti-Covid vaccines, which is expected to be released in China and in developing countries.
This rate is lower than those displayed by the vaccines of Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna and Gamaleya (Sputnik V), around 95%.
Read also: Research, clinical trials, quality controls: how do you make a vaccine?
Death record in Germany
Germany recorded 1,129 deaths in 24 hours on Wednesday, a record.
Some 22,459 new infections were also detected, their number only decreasing very little compared to the previous week.
The authorities are preparing, in this context, to extend the restrictions beyond January 10, the deadline for the partial confinement in force.
Read also: 2021, the year when Germany will turn the page Merkel
In Wuhan, contaminations 10 times higher than the Chinese toll
The number of people infected in Wuhan, the cradle of the pandemic, would be ten times higher than the toll announced so far by Beijing, according to a study by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to an extrapolation of the results of serological tests carried out in April after the peak of the epidemic, some 480,000 people were infected.
The authorities have communicated so far on a toll of 50,000 contaminations.
Read also: The scars of Wuhan, one year later
Singapore starts vaccinating
Singapore has launched its vaccination campaign, with a 46-year-old nurse receiving the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The country plans to vaccinate its 5.7 million inhabitants by September 2021.
Read also: In Asia, economies supported by the faster recovery of China
First member of US Congress dies of Covid
Republican Luke Letlow, who died of Covid-19 on Tuesday at the age of 41, became the first member of the United States Congress to succumb to the disease in the United States.
Elected in Louisiana (south), he was to be sworn in on Sunday.
Read also: Covid-19: future American vice-president Kamala Harris vaccinated in public
More than 1.79 million deaths worldwide
The pandemic has killed more than 1.79 million people worldwide since the end of December, for nearly 82 million confirmed contaminations, according to a report established by AFP on Wednesday noon.
The United States is the country with the most deaths (338,656) and cases (19.5 million) since the start of the pandemic, ahead of Brazil (192,681 deaths for 7.6 million cases) and India (148,439 deaths for 10.2 million cases).
But in proportion to their population, these three countries are less bereaved than countries like Belgium, Italy, Peru, Spain or the United Kingdom.
These figures do not take into account ex post revisions made by statistical agencies, such as in Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom.
"SEE ALSO - Covid-19:" We will not be able to lift all the constraints "on January 7, estimates Olivier Véran
