Coronavirus: the state of the world facing the pandemic on Saturday, March 28

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More than 600,000 cases of new coronavirus have been officially declared worldwide since the start of the pandemic, according to a count made by AFP this Saturday, March 28. The new coronavirus pandemic has killed nearly 28,000 people worldwide since its appearance in December 2019 in China.

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At least 605,010 cases of infection, including 27,982 deaths, have been detected in 183 countries and territories, notably in the United States (104,837 cases including 1,711 deaths), in Italy (86,498), the hardest-hit country affected in number of deaths (9,134), and in China (81,394 cases, including 3,295 deaths), the initial focus of the contagion.

• UK crosses 1,000 mark

The toll of the new coronavirus pandemic has exceeded 1,000 deaths in the United Kingdom with 260 new deaths in a single day, according to an official report published this Saturday. The death toll is now 1,019 dead and 17,089 cases of officially infected people.

Ireland joined the club of confined countries during the night of Friday to Saturday. It is one of the last countries in Western Europe to apply such restrictive measures. As soon as the containment was announced on Friday evening, the national police mobilized thousands of agents until Monday morning, 7 a.m., for a high-visibility operation. The police have an information and prevention role, they must also disperse groups of two or more people and ensure that those who go out do so according to the defined circumstances: go to work for employees in vital sectors, go shopping essential, in case of medical emergency or to do some exercise within a radius of 2 km around your home, reports our correspondent in Ireland, Emeline Vin .

UPDATE on coronavirus (# COVID19) testing in the UK:

As of 9am 28 March, a total of 120,776 have been tested:

103.687 negative.
17,089 positive.

As of 5pm on 27 March, of those hospitalized in the UK, 1,019 have sadly died. pic.twitter.com/2VKcYgQy2Z

• Germany to the rescue of France and Italy

Transfers by the German army of French and Italian patients severely affected by the new coronavirus accelerated in Germany on Saturday. The Charity Hospital in Berlin was to receive six French intensive care patients on Saturday. The sick were to be transported from Strasbourg by helicopter. The Italians, in serious condition, were transported by German military aircraft from Bergamo, a city in northern Italy particularly affected by the pandemic. Germany has more than 48,000 officially reported cases of Covid-19 and some 400 deaths.

In addition, in France , the Ministry of Labor has started to publish practical forms of health prevention against coronavirus by profession, the first three of which, posted online on Friday, relate to work at the cash desk, in bakeries and the profession of delivery driver.

While the country now totals 2,314 deaths in hospitals and 4,273 patients in intensive care, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran announced that "more than a billion masks" had been ordered, notably from China.

For its part, Albania dispatched 30 doctors and nurses to Italy on Saturday, where a large Albanian community lives. These caregivers will travel to the Lombardy region.

Italy has now surpassed the 10,000 deaths caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, with 889 counted in 24 hours, Civil Protection announced on Saturday. With 10,023 deaths, the peninsula is the most bereaved country in the world by this pandemic.

• Russia completely closes its borders

The spread of the virus is accelerating in Russia where more than 1,200 cases have been formalized. This Saturday, two deaths were recorded outside the capital: in St. Petersburg and Orenburg, a city in the south near Kazakhstan. In its fight against Covid-19, the Russian authorities announced the closure of the borders from Monday, announces our correspondent in Moscow, Etienne Bouche .

Spain has registered 832 deaths linked to the coronavirus pandemic in the last 24 hours, according to the last official assessment this Saturday, which brings the number of deaths to 5 690 in the country. Aside from an inflection on Thursday, the daily death toll continues to grow day by day in Spain, the second country with the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in the world behind Italy. He had been 769 on Friday.

In Portugal , all foreigners present in the country with a request for a right of residence under examination will be considered as permanent residents from Monday and at least until July 1 in order to guarantee them access to public services during the coronavirus health crisis, the Portuguese authorities announced on Saturday.

In Poland , the state has authorized citizens over the age of 60, those in quarantine or in self-isolation, to vote by mail, with conservative power being criticized for refusing to adjourn the presidential election on May 10.

More than 100 people infected with the new coronavirus have died in Turkey , Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Saturday, reporting 7,402 officially registered cases.

In Wuhan, the starting point of the epidemic, life is gradually resuming its course. REUTERS / Aly Song

• Global shortage of condoms and gloves ...

It was the Malaysian condom giant that launched the alert, reports our correspondent in Kuala Lumpur, Gabrielle Maréchaux . The world's leading producer, Malaysia's Karex Bhd produces one in five condoms. But since March 14, the company has been idling: the containment implemented in Malaysia today deprives it of half of its staff. A lack of 100 million condoms has already been noted by the manufacturer since the entry into force of these measures. More alarmingly, in this country which is also the world's largest producer of medical rubber gloves (65% of the gloves used in the world come from Malaysian factories), manufacturers are also working in slow motion. Producers have therefore asked the government to lift restrictive measures that weigh on their industry, with no response yet.

• India : a guru potentially contaminated 15,000 villagers

At least 15,000 people are under quarantine in northern India. They were potentially contaminated by the same person: a Sikh guru, who died of Covid-19 and suspected of having been a "superpropagator" of the coronavirus, according to a local official. Back from Italy, the epicenter of the pandemic in Europe, and from Germany, the 70-year-old guru Baldev Singh went to preach in fifteen villages in the Sikh-majority Indian state of Punjab before falling ill and die.

In China , the city of Wuhan, where the epidemic broke out in December 2019, reopened gradually on Saturday after more than two months of almost total isolation, with the arrival of the first authorized passenger train since confinement.

• 2,500 deaths in Iran

Iranian authorities announced 139 new deaths from the new coronavirus this Saturday, bringing the official toll of the pandemic in Iran, one of the most affected by the disease, to 2,517. A total of 35,408 cases have been officially reported in Iran. Iran has also closed the main pilgrimage sites (Shiites) and suspended public Friday prayers and the activity of the Parliament.

In Syria , UN investigators called for a ceasefire this Saturday to "avoid making the disaster worse" when the first cases of people infected with the new coronavirus are identified in the country ravaged by nine years of war. Syria has so far reported five cases of contamination with the new coronavirus.

• Donald Trump forces General Motors to manufacture respirators

In the United States, cases of coronavirus continue to multiply: more than 100,000 patients have already been identified. In Los Angeles, the number of cases tripled in six days while New York, epicenter of the epidemic in the country, sees its hospitals overflowing. To cope with the lack of means to care for the sick, Donald Trump activated the Defense Production Act , a law dating from the Cold War, on Friday, tells us our correspondent in Washington, Anne Corpet . Thanks to this text, the president can compel private companies to produce missing medical equipment. It is the General Motors company that is currently targeted by law enforcement. “ GM was wasting time. This will ensure rapid production of artificial respirators, "said Donald Trump. The automobile giant must therefore comply.

► Read also : Coronavirus: Donald Trump signs the massive plan to help the American economy

• Brazil releases 7 billion euros for SMEs

The Brazilian government released Friday 40 billion reais (about 7 billion euros) to support SMEs during the coronavirus crisis, a plan deemed too "shy" by several senior politicians. SME owners will be able to borrow at low rates (3.75%, compared to around 20% usually) to finance two months' wages for their employees. In return, the employer undertakes not to dismiss during this period.

In Australia , dozens of new cases of Covid-19 were detected this Saturday among the 800 passengers of the cruise ship Artania, finally authorized to dock in Freemantle (west) after having been kept away from the Australian coast since Tuesday. Western Australian state authorities had previously prohibited the vessel from docking at Freemantle, and requested that it leave Australian waters, with its predominantly German passengers, and continue its originally planned voyage to Africa from South.

(With AFP)

Our selection on SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus

• Listen to Infos coronavirus , our daily column on the Covid-19

• Practical questions:
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→ Who are the vulnerable people ?
→ What should you do when you think you are contaminated ?
→ Quarantine, what are we talking about ?
→ What treatments ? The effectiveness of an antimalarial drug in question
→ The advice of a psychiatrist to live well the confinement

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