"The peak is in front of us," warned the Director General of Health Jérôme Salomon on Monday, while the country has now recorded nearly 41,000 deaths.
On Tuesday, secondary school teachers are called on strike by several unions to demand a strengthening of the health protocol.
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As the pandemic continues to spread, Pfizer and Biontech laboratories announce a vaccine "90% effective".
In France, where nearly 41,000 deaths have been recorded, the Director General of Health Jérôme Salomon estimated that the "peak [of the second wave] is in front of us".
On Tuesday, secondary school teachers are called on strike, to demand a reinforced health protocol.
Europe has once again become the epicenter of the pandemic in recent weeks with 12.6 million confirmed cases.
More than 50 million cases have been detected on the planet.
Follow the evolution of the situation live.
Information to remember
France has recorded a total of 40,987 deaths since the start of the epidemic
A national call for a health strike for Tuesday was launched in schools
Pfizer announces vaccine 90% effective, partial results show
"The peak is in front of us" despite a "slowdown"
During a press conference, the Director General of Health Jérôme Salomon estimated that "the peak [of the second wave] is in front of us", and that "the second wave is still in progress".
To back up his statements, Jérôme Salomon unveiled the latest figures for the French balance sheet.
With 551 new hospital deaths recorded in 24 hours, there are now 40,987 deaths from the coronavirus in France.
No less than 83 patient transfers have already taken place during this second wave, and "we expect 200 more in the next two weeks".
While the Minister of Health Olivier Véran estimated Sunday that there was a "thrill" and "a form of slowing down" in the progression of the epidemic in France, Jérôme Salomon spoke to him about "a slower progression" of the epidemic. ”This decline is observed in“ metropolises that have benefited from the curfew ”.
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In addition, concerning the announcement of a promising vaccine by the Pfizer and Biontech laboratories, Jérôme Salomon appealed for caution.
Health strike in National Education
Faced with Covid-19, the concerns of teachers are not weakening.
So much so that a national call for a health strike for Tuesday was launched in schools.
Difficulties in applying the health protocol in force, need for increased security ... The demands of educational staff are numerous.
And it is in the colleges that the mobilization could be the strongest.
In these establishments, teachers feel forgotten by the Minister of National Education.
But the government has already started to respond to faculty concerns.
On Monday, the National Education Ministry announced the start of deployment of one million antigen tests - faster than PCR tests - "next week".
A vaccine "90% effective"?
The vaccine developed by Pfizer and Biontech is "90% effective", the two laboratories say Monday (details in our article here), after the first interim analysis of their phase 3 trial, the last before an application for approval.
This "vaccine efficacy" was measured by comparing the number of participants infected with the novel coronavirus in the group that received the vaccine and in that on placebo, "seven days after the second dose" and 28 days after the first, have- they explained in a joint statement.
"More than eight months after the start of the worst pandemic in more than a century, we believe this step represents a significant step forward for the world in our battle against Covid-19," said the president and CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, in a statement.
“The first set of results from our Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trial provides initial evidence of our vaccine's ability to prevent Covid-19,” he adds.
The announcement of the two companies caused a surge in European stock markets and a skyrocketing opening on Wall Street.
Shortly after the release of the press release from the two laboratories, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, found the announcement "encouraging".
Italy: situation out of control, according to doctors
All of Europe seems to be facing a second wave that is difficult to control.
The epidemic situation in Italy is even out of control, have ruled doctors who are asking the government for "total containment" to stem the second wave.
Four regions were placed in the red zone by the government and a fifth decided to self-confine on Sunday evening.
For the National Federation of Medical Orders, these government measures are insufficient and its president Filippo Anelli demands "total containment throughout the country".
Italy, the first country in Europe affected in February by the epidemic, recorded a total of 41,000 deaths for more than 935,000 cases.
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Over 50 million cases and over 1.25 million deaths worldwide
A total of 50,376,020 cases, including 1,255,803 deaths, have been officially detected worldwide since the start of the pandemic.
The United States is the most affected country in terms of both deaths and cases, with 238,053 deaths.
The world's leading power has also crossed the mark of 10 million detected cases of contamination, according to the count from Johns Hopkins University, which is the benchmark.
It only took ten days for the country, the most bereaved in the world by Covid-19, to go from 9 to 10 million confirmed cases after recording several records for new daily infections last week.
After the United States, the most affected countries are Brazil with 162,397 deaths and 5,664,115 cases, India with 126,611 deaths (8,553,657 cases), Mexico with 95,027 deaths (967,825 cases), and the United Kingdom United with 49,044 deaths (1,192,013 cases).
Russia also recorded a new record of daily Covid-19 contamination on Monday with nearly 22,000 cases, Moscow notably exceeding the peak in May for the first time.
Russian authorities have so far ruled out any further large-scale containment, believing that restrictive measures such as those imposed in the spring would be too damaging to the economy.