Like other European countries, France has decided to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The European Medicines Agency is due to review information on fears related to blood clots in some vaccinated people on Tuesday.
Follow the development of the situation.
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While, faced with the strong circulation of Covid-19, the executive is counting in particular on the acceleration of the vaccination campaign, the latter suffered a new hard blow on Monday with the announcement by Emmanuel Macron of the suspension of the use of AstraZeneca vaccine.
A decision taken "as a precaution", which follows similar suspensions decided in several European countries after the report of possible side effects.
Île-de-France is still threatened with re-containment, hospital pressure being particularly high there, and the President of the Republic has warned that "we will have to make new decisions in the coming days, no doubt."
Follow the evolution of the situation live.
The main information to remember
France has suspended use of AstraZeneca vaccine
Île-de-France remains under threat of re-containment
Hospital pressure remains strong in France
Cascade suspensions of the AstraZeneca vaccine
Many European countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Latvia have suspended the use of AstraZeneca vaccine as a precaution, after reports of "possible" side effects but without a proven link for the time being.
Blood clots have been seen in people who have received the vaccine.
DECRYPTION -
Four questions on the suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine in France
Regarding France, it was Emmanuel Macron himself who announced the suspension on Monday, while saying "hope to resume quickly" the vaccination campaign with the product of the Anglo-Swedish laboratory, "if the opinion of the European authority permits".
The head of state mentioned the date of Tuesday.
Shortly afterwards, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced that it would examine "in detail the information" on fears related to blood clots on Tuesday, before an "extraordinary meeting" on Thursday.
The World Health Organization will for its part meet on Tuesday its group of experts to study the safety of this vaccine, but already, its chief scientist has recommended to continue its use.
This situation represents a new setback likely to further undermine confidence in this vaccine, which has already had a series of disappointments, between delivery delays, hesitation about its effectiveness in the elderly and side effects in the youngest.
According to a latest report on Saturday, 1.3 million people (out of 5 million in total) received in France a first injection of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the third authorized in Europe after those of Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna.
Towards new restrictions in France?
With particularly strong hospital pressure in the region, Île-de-France remains under the threat of local re-containment, which the government is trying somehow to avoid by accelerating its vaccination campaign and organizing the transfer of patients.
"We will have to take new decisions in the coming days, no doubt," Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday, while the president of the region Valérie Pécresse estimated that the Île-de-France was "clearly on borrowed time".
In the meantime, the health authorities are counting on a hundred transfers of Covid patients treated in the intensive care unit to other regions by next week to relieve the hospitals.
Resuscitations continue to increase
The pressure on resuscitation continued to climb on Monday with more than 4,200 Covid patients in these services, including 400 new admitted compared to the day before, according to Public Health France.
In total, 4,219 coronavirus patients were in intensive care in French hospitals on Monday, the highest since the end of November 2020. More than a quarter of these intensive care patients (1,166) are hospitalized in Île-de-France.
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With 1,609 new hospitalizations in 24 hours across the country, there are now 25,469 Covid patients in hospitals in France.
333 new deaths were recorded at the hospital in 24 hours.
In total, 90,788 Covid patients have died since the start of the epidemic, including 65,477 in hospital.
6,471 new positive cases have been declared since the old one, a figure that is mechanically low every day after the weekend, where fewer tests are carried out.
A new variant detected in Brittany?
A new variant of the virus has been detected in Brittany, the Directorate General of Health (DGS) announced on Monday.
It has been classified in the "to be followed" category by the authorities, the one which groups together most of the thousands of variants which appear naturally in the world, and of which only a small proportion will ultimately pose particular public health problems, for example. they turn out to be more transmissible.
"The first analyzes of this new variant do not allow us to conclude either to an increased severity or to an increased transmissibility compared to the historical virus", indicates another press release from the DGS.
Towards a production of Sputnik V in Europe?
The Russian Sovereign Fund (RDIF) announced on Monday that agreements for the production of the Sputnik V vaccine had been reached "with companies from Italy, Spain, France and Germany" to be able "to supply the single European market with Sputnik V upon authorization by the European Medicines Agency ".
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The French and Spanish governments have told AFP that they are not aware of such agreements.
Brazil orders 100 million doses of Pfizer vaccine
Brazil has ordered 100 million doses of vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech and 38 million doses of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine to speed up a still too slow vaccination campaign, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello announced on Monday.
In Brazil, the second country most bereaved by the pandemic, with nearly 280,000 dead, vaccination did not begin until mid-January, with only the AstraZeneca vaccine and CoronaVac from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac.
It continues at a slow pace due to lack of doses.
Some 9.8 million people received the first dose, or about 4.6% of the population, and 3.6 million only the second.
Shortly after the announcement, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he would replace his minister Eduardo Pazuello with Marcelo Queiroga.
More than 2.65 million dead
The pandemic has killed more than 2.65 million people worldwide since the start of the pandemic, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Monday at 11:00 GMT.
The United States is the country with the most deaths, at 535,584, followed by Brazil (279,286) and Mexico (194,710).