While the United Kingdom, grappling with the Indian variant, sees new restrictions imposed on the border with France to limit its spread, our British neighbors continue to shrug off the responsibility that Boris Johnson bears or not in crisis management deemed "
catastrophic
" by a former adviser.
Meanwhile, Switzerland is relaxing its sanitary measures, Europe is demanding penalties from AstraZeneca (who is defending itself), and the United States continues to question what the real role of the Chinese laboratory in Wuhan was in the start of the crisis. .
Here is an update on the coronavirus pandemic around the world.
To discover
Covid-19: vaccination as the only remedy
Joe Biden wants report on origin of Covid-19
United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on American intelligence services to "
redouble their efforts
" to explain the origin of Covid-19 and demanded a report within 90 days.
Long brushed aside by most experts, the theory of a laboratory accident in Wuhan, China, has come back in force in recent weeks in the American debate.
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Origin of Covid-19: Beijing accuses Washington of disseminating "conspiracy" theories
Read also: Covid-19: the Wuhan P4 laboratory returns to the heart of the controversy
The Indian variant present in at least 53 territories in the world
The coronavirus variant first detected in India has been officially reported in 53 territories, the World Health Organization said in a report.
According to this same document, this variant manifests an increased transmissibility while the severity of the cases is under study.
France will set up "
compulsory isolation
" for travelers from the United Kingdom where the Indian variant circulates in particular.
Read also: Covid-19: the South African, Brazilian and Indian variants are progressing slowly
AstraZeneca denies any "
breach
" of the contract
The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has refuted any "
violation
" of the contract on the sale of vaccines to Europeans, as accused by the EU, which is demanding millions of euros in penalties from the Belgian courts for non-compliance with planned deliveries. .
The European Union accuses AstraZeneca of having delivered to it in the first quarter of 2021 only 30 million doses of its serum, instead of the 120 million promised.
SEE ALSO -
Vaccine deliveries: legal battle begins between EU and AstraZeneca
United Kingdom: Boris Johnson criticized for his management of the crisis
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was accused Wednesday by his former adviser Dominic Cummings of having delayed taking the measure of the pandemic, hence a "
disastrous
"
management
of the crisis on the part of the government.
According to the former adviser, who judged Boris Johnson "
unfit
", "
tens of thousands
" of lives could have been saved in the United Kingdom, which with nearly 128,000 deaths has the heaviest death toll in Europe.
Read also: UK launches study on third dose of vaccine
Switzerland relaxes health measures
The Swiss government has announced a “
greater than expected
”
relaxation
of its health measures, which will come into force on Monday, with the imminent reopening of restaurants inside and the lifting of the quarantine for those vaccinated.
Germany: aid for cultural recovery
The culture sector in Germany will benefit from public support of 2.5 billion euros intended to "
encourage
" the resumption of shows and events after months of downtime due to the pandemic, announced the government .
Health passport in view in Cuba
Cuba, which has developed five candidate vaccines against the coronavirus, said on Wednesday that it is now working on a digital health passport, an option already applied in other countries and soon operational in the European Union.
Read also: Covid-19: Cuba intends to vaccinate its population from June
More than 3.487 million dead
The pandemic has killed more than 3,487 million people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to an assessment established by AFP from official sources on Wednesday in the middle of the day.
After the United States (591,922), the countries with the highest death toll are Brazil (454,429), India (311,388), Mexico (221,960) and the United Kingdom (127,739).
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Covid-19: Melbourne reconfins its five million inhabitants