Madrid (AFP)

More than a million people have now tested positive for the new coronavirus worldwide, a fraction of the actual number of patients, and the number of deaths explodes in the United States, where nearly 1,200 people died in 24 hours, from never seen in a single country.

Collateral victims of the pandemic, the economies and the workers, as another dramatic figure shows: in one week, 6.6 million Americans lost their jobs. Subject to sometimes extremely strict confinement measures, half of humanity is stationary.

According to the latest AFP count, at least 1,000,036 cases have been detected in 188 countries and territories. But the number of cases diagnosed only reflects a fraction of the actual number of infections, with a large number of countries testing only serious cases.

Cured, former patients tell of their fear of dying. Javier Lara, 29 years old Spanish, "athletic and non-smoker" found himself "in intensive care and on oxygen" in the hospital: To the caregivers, "I asked:" I'm going to die? Get over it? They said to me: "We don't know, this virus is new."

Others, such as Diana Berrent, in New York, have her plasma tested to find out if it contains enough antibodies after illness to contribute to studies on a possible treatment for Covid-19.

"We, the survivors, can help," hopes this energetic 45-year-old American photographer, "we could be superheroes."

Because if Europe remains the most affected continent, the United States is on the way to becoming the new epicenter of the pandemic.

The country recorded the record level of 1,169 deaths in 24 hours, a huge increase of a third compared to the count of the day before (884), according to the count of the American university Johns Hopkins, which refers.

- Weighted balance sheets -

In absolute numbers, this is the highest 24-hour record ever recorded in a country since the start of the pandemic. Italy - which remains the most mourning country in the world - however came close to a thousand dead (969) on March 27 with a population five times smaller than that of the United States.

A total of 5,926 people have died since the start of the pandemic in the United States, where the White House estimates that the new coronavirus should kill between 100,000 and 240,000 people.

Fear of illness, confinement, loss of job: the very disturbing context has psychological consequences in the country, where requests for consultation with mental health professionals and calls to suicide prevention telephone lines are soaring.

In New York City, which already has more than 1,500 dead. medical personnel request protective equipment, as before in Italy, Spain or France.

Despite the containment measures, the balance sheets continue to grow heavier elsewhere: nearly 14,000 dead in Italy, where the largest crematorium in Milan closed, overwhelmed by the influx of bodies and where, in Bergamo, city the most affected in the country, bodies were transported by military trucks to other regions for cremation.

Spain announced Friday deplore more than 900 deaths in 24 hours for the second consecutive day and the country which now has more than 10,000 deaths. In France, the death toll is now 5,300 dead, including nearly 900 in retirement homes.

Each of these four countries recorded far more deaths than mainland China (3,318), where the epidemic appeared, raising strong suspicions about the authenticity of the Chinese figures. Beijing has lied by largely undervaluing them, affirms a confidential report of American intelligence, quoted by several parliamentarians.

There is great concern, particularly in the refugee and displaced persons camps in Africa, a continent which has been relatively spared for the time being, but also in Europe.

In the "jungle" of Moria on the Greek island of Lesbos, thousands of refugees jostle without care in front of toilets and showers. "What is the use of wearing a mask when I share the same toilet as 100 other people?" Laments Hasmad from Kabul.

In Bakassi camp in north-eastern Nigeria, however, people are lining up around plastic washbasins hastily installed to try to raise awareness among the inhabitants of one of the largest camps for displaced people from the Boko Haram conflict, where no cases have been recorded.

But aid workers and local authorities have warned that if the virus hits the more than 2 million displaced in the region of Lake Chad, where health and medical conditions are deplorable, the epidemic would be catastrophic.

- Economy or health -

The economic and social consequences of the pandemic are also disastrous.

Private sector activity in the eurozone fell to an all-time low in March, according to economic information firm Markit.

Spain registered more than 300,000 new job seekers in March.

In the United States, an additional 6.6 million people claimed unemployment benefit, double the previous week, which was already a record number.

The British airline British Airways has placed 28,000 employees, or 60% of its workforce, in partial unemployment.

The Italian government, under pressure to lift the containment measures and revive the economy, is faced with the "horrible" choice of "putting the economy on standby or endangering the lives of many people", according to the American Paul Romer, 2018 Nobel Prize in Economics.

After the apologies of the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen who regretted that "today, Europe is mobilizing alongside Italy. But that has not always been the case", the chief from the Italian government Giuseppe Conte called on the EU to be more "ambitious, united and courageous".

Ms. von der Leyen said she was convinced on Friday that the EU would emerge "stronger" from the health crisis, despite current questions about solidarity between the 27.

The European Commission has proposed to create an instrument to guarantee up to 100 billion euros in national employment support plans.

And the World Bank has said it is ready to put on the table up to $ 160 billion over the next 15 months to help countries respond to the immediate health consequences of the pandemic and support economic recovery.

The UN General Assembly on Thursday approved by consensus a first resolution since the start of the pandemic, calling for "international cooperation" to combat the Covid-19.

But the merciless competition between states, especially Western ones, which flout the rules of fair play, in the race for medical masks, mainly produced in Asia, show the opposite: French officials have accused Americans of having "outbid" "On French buyers on the tarmac of a Chinese airport, France and the Czech Republic are suspected of having seized boxes intended for other ...

burs-cyj-ayv / jhd

© 2020 AFP