Seoul (AFP)

A first suspected case of Covid-19 was announced Sunday in North Korea, which has so far shown its impermeability in the face of a pandemic that continues to grow in the world, especially in the United States, which has recorded more than 60,000 contaminations for the 12th day in a row.

"Looks like the vicious virus has entered the country," North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Sunday by the official KCNA news agency.

The suspected infected person "returned on July 19 after illegally crossing the line" with South Korea, according to KCNA. She has been placed in quarantine and all people who have come into contact with her in the border town of Kaesong, placed in "total containment", are the subject of a "thorough investigation".

Worldwide, the pandemic, which killed nearly 640,000 people, is breaking new records: more than 280,000 new contaminations have been identified for Friday alone.

As of July 1, more than five million new cases have been officially reported, which is equivalent to more than a third of the total cases detected since the start of the pandemic.

"The key to controlling transmission is to find, isolate, test and treat cases and contacts," recalls the WHO.

In the United States, the most bereaved country with 146,391 deaths, more than 68,000 new cases were still counted on Saturday, as well as 1,067 deaths, according to the count from Johns Hopkins University.

After improving in late spring, the United States has seen the epidemic start to rise again for several weeks, especially in the south and west of the country. Over the past 12 days, the number of new daily cases has exceeded 60,000 each time.

- Upsurge in South Korea -

In countries that had succeeded in containing the virus, the figures are on the rise.

South Korea reported an upsurge in cases on Saturday, recording its highest toll in nearly four months with 113 new cases, including 86 people arriving from abroad.

Without imposing containment but with a very thorough strategy of testing and tracing the contacts of infected people, the South Korean authorities had nevertheless managed to control the situation.

Vietnam announced on Saturday that it had detected its first case of locally transmitted coronavirus in nearly 100 days.

And in France, viral circulation is "sharply increasing", according to health authorities. The government has now made testing mandatory for travelers from 16 countries, including the United States and Algeria.

"What must be avoided above all is general reconfinement", a measure which would be "catastrophic" at the economic and social level, declared Prime Minister Jean Castex.

Other countries or regions of Europe have tightened controls on travelers and made the wearing of protective masks general, such as England.

- The Rio festival canceled -

In Latin America, cancellations of festivities and sporting events are increasing.

The traditional end-of-year party in Rio de Janeiro, which brings together millions of spectators on Copacabana beach to admire the fireworks, has been canceled, and Sao Paulo has postponed its carnival sine die.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced his recovery on Twitter before taking a motorcycle ride through the streets of Brasilia to greet his supporters, ignoring barrier gestures.

Brazil, the second country most affected by the pandemic after the United States with some 2.3 million cases, recorded more than 1,200 new cases on Saturday, bringing the death toll to more than 86,000.

Panama has given up on hosting the Women's Under-20 World Cup, which was due to take place in early 2021, as well as the Central American and Caribbean Sports Games in 2022.

- Resumption of football in China -

The progression of the virus did not prevent the resumption of the Chinese football championship on Saturday, after a hiatus of five months.

Heads down to the ground, the players observed a symbolic minute of silence in tribute to the victims of the pandemic, which appeared in the Wuhan region at the end of 2019.

The long-term pandemic is also causing an erosion of public support for the responses of their governments to the crisis, according to an international study released on Saturday by the KekstCNC cabinet.

Only 35% of Britons polled thus consider their action positively (-3% compared to June). Support for public authorities is also declining in the United States, with 44% dissatisfied (+ 4%), or in Japan where more than one in two respondents (51%) believes that the authorities are managing the crisis poorly. The French, on the other hand, are more satisfied (+6 points), even if they remain generally dissatisfied, at 41%.

While distance schooling for children has been a major concern in recent months, in Peru, four brothers and sisters aged 10 to 16 have climbed a steep hill every day in the Andes mountain range, in the Lake Titicaca region. , to access the network with their mobile phone in order to be able to follow the courses given remotely.

Their mother accompanied them while her husband, a shepherd, tended the cattle.

burs-dth / ybl

© 2020 AFP