The progression of the Covid-19 epidemic seems inexorable, and especially in South America and the Caribbean where the number of cases now exceeds five million. More than 200,000 deaths have also been reported there since the start of the pandemic. With nearly 95,000 dead, Brazil is the most affected country in the region.

Worldwide, it has killed at least 689,758 people since the end of December, according to a report established by AFP on Monday, August 3 at 1 p.m. (in Paris). More than 18 million cases have been officially recorded, of which at least 10.5 million have been cured.

In the United States, the most damaged country, more than 46,000 new cases were still recorded in 24 hours, bringing the number of contaminations in the world's leading power to 4.7 million.

Concern is also growing in Oceania where multiple restrictions have been put in place in Australia, in the face of the progression of the disease. From midnight Wednesday, all non-essential businesses will be closed in Melbourne, as well as administrations, a measure in addition to the night curfew imposed since Sunday evening on residents of the city.

Filipinos re-defined

Flashbacks that concern several countries. Thus, more than 27 million people, or about a quarter of the population of the Philippines, are again forced to stay at home, since Tuesday, after the cry of alarm of the associations of doctors, which warned that the country was in losing the battle against Covid-19.

Since the beginning of June, when most of the country was out of containment, infections have quintupled, surpassing the 100,000 case mark. "We weren't up to the task. Nobody expected that," admitted President Rodrigo Duterte.

No quick fixes, warns WHO

And he's not the only leader to worry. In Geneva, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned of the risks of a very long epidemic and especially without a miracle solution. "There is no panacea and there may never be," he warned during a video conference.

"Clinical trials give us hope. This does not necessarily mean that we will have a vaccine" effective, especially over time, he said.

The race for vaccines is still going strong. Russia said it could produce "several million" doses by the start of next year.

But other experts warn against the duration of this extraordinary pandemic, which has already devastated the economies of the planet, and recommend that the tests be drastically developed.

"We are so attached to high-end and expensive tests that we do not test anyone," said Michael Mina, professor of epidemiology at Harvard, who has been campaigning for weeks for what he called poor quality tests, but very economical and available to everyone. "Maybe we just need a null test. If it is cheap enough to be used frequently, then it will maybe detect 85% of people with contagious disease, instead of less than 5%. "

With AFP

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