Ten million deaths from Covid at the end of 2021, the number of screening tests which collapsed by half in a month in France, the EMA examines the use of the Moderna vaccine in those over six months old. ..
Le Figaro
takes stock this Thursday, May 5, of the latest information related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read the fileCovid-19: the coronavirus pandemic in figures and infographics
The pandemic caused between 13 and 17 million deaths between January 2020 and December 2021
“The total death toll associated directly or indirectly with the Covid-19 pandemic between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021 is approximately 14.9 million deaths (a range of 13.3 to 16.6 million)”
, revealed the organization on Thursday.
Since the start of the pandemic, official figures from member countries compiled by the WHO come to a total of 5.4 million deaths over the same period, but the WHO has long warned that this statistic underestimates the reality.
The WHO said most of the excess deaths (84%) were concentrated in Southeast Asia, which in the WHO regional breakdown includes India, Europe (which includes Russia and other countries of the former USSR) and in the Americas.
Read alsoThe Covid pandemic had caused between 13 and 17 million deaths at the end of 2021, according to the WHO
Some 10 countries alone accounted for 68% of the total excess mortality, these are in descending order Brazil, Egypt, India - which strongly contests the WHO figures much higher than its official figures -, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Turkey and the United States.
The figures published Thursday by the WHO suffer from holes in the statistics, the collection of data being sometimes fragmented or even completely non-existent for certain countries.
The ranges given sometimes go from simple to double.
The Organization thus estimates that 6 out of 10 deaths are not recorded worldwide.
»SEE ALSO –
The Covid-19 pandemic had killed between 13 and 17 million people at the end of 2021, according to the WHO
The number of screening tests has collapsed by half in a month, in France
With the return of fine weather, the lull in laboratories and pharmacies continues.
In one month, according to data from Drees, attached to the Ministry of Health, the number of Covid-19 screening tests has collapsed by half.
Down by more than two million, it reached 2.02 million only from April 25 to May 1 inclusive.
Its lowest level since mid-November 2021. Of this total, half - 53% - was antigenic tests, specifies the Drees.
The decline could have been even more marked, for calendar reasons: it is “
mitigated by the fact that the holiday nature of Easter Monday April 18 had weighed on the number of tests carried out the previous week (unlike Labor Day , which fell on a Sunday, which had little effect on the number of tests validated this week)
".
Read alsoCovid-19: the number of screening tests has halved in a month
EMA reviews use of Moderna's vaccine in over-six-month-olds
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Thursday it had begun evaluating the use of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine in children between six months and five years old, the latest age group not yet can be vaccinated.
In February, the EMA approved the use of Moderna's Covid vaccine for children aged six and over in the 27 countries of the European Union.
“We have just begun the evaluation of a request from Moderna to expand the use of Spikevax to children six months to five years old and this is the first request for this young age group
,” said during the meeting. a press conference Marco Cavaleri, head of vaccine strategy at the EMA.
US biotech company Moderna already made a similar request in the US last week after trials showed its injections were safe and produced a strong immune response.
Young children are less vulnerable to the virus than older people, but they can still get sick and transmit the virus.
They can also contract severe cases of pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C).
The European regulator also declared that it was
“still too early to consider using a fourth dose (2nd booster) of mRNA vaccines in the general population”.
” SEE ALSO –
“We would like to do more clinical trials and research in France”, assures Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna
South Africa keeps masks compulsory for children
South Africa confirmed on Thursday the obligation to wear a mask for children at school, changing its mind shortly after announcing its lifting, while Covid-19 contaminations are on the rise again in the country.
South Africa's Department of Health issued a statement to clear
up 'the confusion generated by unfortunate and regrettable human error'
who had made him announce a few hours early the end of this preventive measure.
The entire population, including children, must therefore continue to comply with the rules laid down by the ministry to fight the pandemic, including the obligation to wear a mask in closed public places.
South Africa, the country officially the most affected on the continent by Covid-19, has entered a new wave of the pandemic, the Center for Innovation and Response to Epidemics (CERI) warned at the end of April.
On Wednesday, more than 6,100 new cases were detected according to authorities.
Read alsoSouth Africa in a new wave of the Covid-19 pandemic
China: Covid zero damages European business confidence, report says
Broken supply chains, sluggish activity, declining workforce... China's anti-Covid-19 policy has made the country lose
"a lot of its appeal"
for many European companies, according to a published study Thursday.
The world's second-largest economy is working to eliminate any outbreak of coronavirus as soon as it emerges through widespread lockdowns and mass testing, but the highly contagious Omicron variant complicates that strategy.
Lockdowns in dozens of Chinese cities this year have caused
“disruption on a staggering scale,”
the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in a report.
Read alsoChina in the “zero Covid” trap
“While the war (in Ukraine) has had an impact on European companies present in China, Covid-19 represents a much more immediate challenge and has caused a considerable drop in business confidence”
, underlines the Chamber in this study. carried out at the end of April with more than 370 members.
Nearly a quarter of the companies surveyed are beginning to consider moving their investments, current or planned, from China to other countries, a figure that has doubled in two months.
Nearly 60% have lowered their revenue forecasts for this year, while around a third have seen a decline in their workforce, according to the study.
” SEE ALSO –
Covid in China: residents of Beijing say they are “well prepared” in the face of the increase in cases
