Covid-19: WHO meets urgently on variants

The emergency committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) is looking Thursday, January 14 on the new variants of the coronavirus, China is experiencing its first death in eight months, Portugal is re-fining ... So as not to miss any of the latest highlights related to Covid-19,

Le Figaro

takes stock of the latest news for this Thursday, January 14.

• WHO is urgently looking into variants

The emergency committee of the World Health Organization meets on Thursday, two weeks in advance, to discuss in particular variants of the much more contagious new coronavirus, which worry authorities around the world.

The number of countries and territories where the variant initially identified in the United Kingdom is now located is 50 and it is 20 for the variant identified in South Africa, according to the WHO.

A third mutation, which Japan announced the discovery, could impact the immune response and requires further study, according to the organization, which mentions

"a worrying variant"

.

• First death in China in eight months

China recorded the first death from Covid-19 in its territory in eight months.

The death occurred in Hebei province, where several cities were recently placed under lockdown.

The last death linked to the pandemic in mainland China was in May 2020. Chinese health authorities have reported 138 new infections, the highest daily toll since March.

The new death comes as a team of WHO experts arrived in the country in Wuhan on Thursday, where the virus was first reported at the end of 2019.

Read also: Caught up by the Covid-19, China responds quickly and strongly

• Portugal is reconfiguring itself

Portugal will be subjected from Friday to a second "generalized" confinement to curb the epidemic, which has reached new records in the country.

The virus is spreading there at an accelerated rate with more than 10,500 new cases in one day Wednesday among its 10 million inhabitants.

In Tunisia, general confinement is to come into force Thursday for a period of four days.

In Italy, the government has announced its intention to extend the state of emergency until April 30, France is holding its breath: new measures will be unveiled on Thursday.

• In France, Jean Castex expected at 6 p.m.

The executive must decide Thursday on new restrictions, while vaccination enters a new phase with the opening of registrations for 75 years and over.

If the extension of the curfew from 6 p.m. beyond the 25 departments already concerned by the measure, seems acquired, its extent remains to be determined.

On the other hand, a re-containment seems for the moment ruled out, according to several government sources, even if the executive is concerned about the circulation of the variant "VOC 202012/01", which has caused an epidemic outbreak in the United Kingdom.

Jean Castex holds a press conference at 6 p.m.

Read also: Curfew, containment: here are the departments where the epidemic is worsening

• Record balance sheets in the UK and Spain

Faced with the worst outbreak and the worst toll in Europe with nearly 85,000 dead, the United Kingdom, re-confined due to the spread of a more contagious variant of the virus, recorded 1,564 deaths on Wednesday, the worst daily toll since the start of the pandemic.

In Spain, 38,869 confirmed cases and 195 deaths have been recorded, which is also a record since the start of the health crisis, for a total of 2.176 million cases and 52,878 deaths.

It is a situation of

"extreme risk"

, in the words of Carolina Darias, Minister of Territorial Policy.

• Ten million people vaccinated in the United States

Some 10 million people have received a first injection of one of two Covid-19 vaccines authorized in the United States, US health officials have reported.

This represents about 3% of the American population.

According to the WHO, in 36 days, some 28 million doses of vaccine were injected in about 46 countries around the world.

For its part, the African Union has obtained 270 million anti-Covid vaccines for the continent, which most countries do not have the means to finance the immunization of their population.

• Nearly two million dead in the world

The pandemic has killed at least 1.96 million people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Wednesday.

More than 91.5 million cases have been officially diagnosed.

The United States is the most affected country with 384,277 deaths.

Brazil follows with 205,964 dead, India (151,569) and Mexico (135,682).

In France, 362 people died in 24 hours, according to data from Public Health France released Wednesday evening.

More than 23,000 new contaminations have been recorded and hospital pressure is not weakening.