London (AFP)
The health of Boris Johnson, patient of the Covid-19, was brutally degraded: the British Prime Minister is in intensive care Tuesday, while the pandemic has killed more than 75,000 people worldwide, including nearly three-quarters in Europe , where the decline in the number of deaths has not been confirmed.
The concern is strong in the United Kingdom, after the admission of its leader in an intensive care unit Monday evening in London.
"The prime minister has received oxygen support and he remains under close surveillance", but he was "not placed on a respirator," state minister Michael Gove told LBC radio.
The news "illustrates how this virus makes no difference between people. Anyone, anywhere, including the most privileged in our society, can be affected and become seriously ill," said Linda Bauld, professor of Medicine from the University of Edinburgh.
Asked "to replace it where necessary", the head of diplomacy Dominic Raab pledged to act to "defeat the coronavirus" during the period of hospitalization of its chief: with 5,373 deaths, the United Kingdom is the one of the hardest hit European countries.
Messages of support poured in from all sides, on the European side, from Donald Trump, who wished a speedy recovery to his "very good friend" or from Vladimir Putin who considered that "optimism and humor" of Boris Johnson will help him heal.
- Fear of a drug shortage -
Europe, the continent hardest hit by the pandemic, hoped for confirmation of the weekend's glimmer of hope, when the number of deaths had dropped in the two front-line countries, Italy and Spain.
But the daily toll rose again in Spain on Tuesday, after four days of decline, with 743 dead bringing the total to 13,798.
The previous day, the same trend had been observed in Italy, with 636 additional deaths in the most bereaved country in the world (more than 16,500 deaths), as well as in France (833 deaths, 8,911 in total).
And the fear of a shortage of drugs is emerging on the continent: the pandemic eats stocks, from sedatives administered for the intubation of patients, to antimalarial drugs.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also wanted a stronger European Union, admitting that the bloc of 27 must become more "sovereign", especially in the production of sanitary masks.
EU finance ministers hope to overcome their divisions to agree on first economic measures against the coronavirus on Tuesday, but the lack of consensus on a common loan, demanded by Paris, Rome and Madrid, casts a shadow on the chances of a deal.
- No deaths in China -
In Iran, the coronavirus has killed nearly 3,900 people, according to official figures released Tuesday and showing a decline in new cases for the seventh day in a row.
China has been waiting for three months: for the first time on Tuesday, the country announced no deaths from the Covid-19, a few hours before the lifting of the closure of the city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus appeared in late 2019 .
The country is thus moving a little more towards a way out of the crisis.
A global debate is already sketching out on "deconfinement", raising the fear of a loosening among the nearly four billion people, more than half of humanity, today forced or called by their authorities to stay dear them.
Austria spoke of a gradual relaxation of its containment rules from April 14.
But Japan has decided to declare a state of emergency, with an initial duration of one month, for Tokyo and six other regions of the archipelago in the face of a recent acceleration in the number of cases of Covid-19 in the 'archipelago.
- A daily September 11 -
Japanese authorities cannot legally impose strict containment, but regional governors have the opportunity to insist that people stay at home and request the temporary closure of non-essential businesses.
In the United States, which has crossed the 10,000 dead mark, Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York State, the American epicenter of the epidemic, extended the confinement measures until April 29.
In New York the question of the fate reserved for the dead, ever more numerous, arises from now on. Pat Marmo, who runs five funeral homes across the city, said he currently has "three times more" deaths than normal. "It's like a September 11, 2001 that would last for days and days," he said.
And the Cathedral of Saint John the Theologian in Manhattan is being transformed into a field hospital, with medical tents in its long nave and its underground crypt.
"In previous centuries, cathedrals were still used this way, as during the plague," observed the dean of the cathedral, Clifton Daniel.
The pandemic also reinforces anxieties, like those of pregnant women.
"I was told that the 20 week exam is very very important, and this is my first pregnancy, but I don't want to take any risks," said Ainhoa Martinez Garcia, 36, who is expecting twins in Madrid. and is afraid to go for this ultrasound in a hospital overwhelmed by the massive influx of patients with Covid-19.
burx-thm / sg
© 2020 AFP