Paris (AFP)

New assessments, new measures, highlights: an update on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic, which has already killed more than 109,000 people worldwide.

- Record of new "imported cases" in China -

China, where the epidemic is globally contained, announced Sunday 97 new "imported cases" of contaminations, that is to say due to people arriving from abroad, level never reached since the beginning of March and the publication of this count.

Of this total, health officials in Shanghai reported the arrival of 51 infected Chinese on board a single flight from Russia.

- More than 20,000 dead in the United States -

The pandemic has killed at least 20,608 people in the United States, now the most mourning country, which also has the highest number of cases of contamination (530,006), according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.

- Over 75,000 dead in Europe -

Worldwide, the pandemic has killed at least 109,300 people since its appearance in December in China, according to an assessment established by AFP from official sources Sunday around 10:00 GMT.

More than 1,780,640 cases of infection have been officially diagnosed in 193 countries and territories since the start of the epidemic.

With a total of 75,011 dead (909,700 cases), Europe is the continent hardest hit. Italy has 19,468 deaths, Spain 16,972, France 13,832 and the United Kingdom 9,875.

After three consecutive days of decline, the daily number of deaths rose on Sunday in Spain (619 in 24 hours).

- Risk of historic recession -

South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan ...) is likely to suffer this year its worst economic performance in 40 years, which will hamper efforts to fight poverty in the area, the Bank estimated on Sunday world.

- Lonely Easter holidays -

Pope Francis proposed in his Easter message Sunday "to reduce" or even "cancel" the debt of poor countries, and appealed for a reduction in international sanctions and for European solidarity.

In a world "oppressed by the pandemic, which is straining our great human family", he called to respond with "the contagion of hope", in this message delivered inside a Saint Peter's basilica hopelessly empty.

In Jerusalem, a short rosary of religious celebrated the most important liturgical moment of the Christian tradition in the Holy Sepulcher, closed to the public for the first time in more than a century on Easter Sunday.

- Prolonged efforts -

Lebanon has extended the confinement of its population until April 26.

In Syria, schools and universities will remain closed until May 2.

Argentina has extended compulsory confinement in large cities until April 26, while considering loosening it in rural areas.

- Acknowledgments from Boris Johnson -

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who left intensive care Thursday night but still hospitalized, thanked the public health service, the NHS, for saving his life.

These thanks come at a time when dissatisfaction is raging among the nursing staff, who in particular denounce the cruel lack of protective equipment.

- Support measures -

The Canadian House of Commons adopted a wage subsidy program on Saturday, touted as the largest economic measure in the country since the Second World War, to help businesses and their employees weather the crisis.

The British government has announced it will give an additional £ 200 million (€ 227.6 million) to developing countries to fight the pandemic, "to prevent a second deadly wave from hitting the UK".

burs-paj / mw / lth

© 2020 AFP