Coronavirus: the state of the world facing the pandemic Monday, May 18

Text by: RFI Follow

Europe took a new step in its deconfinement on Monday when the World Health Organization met virtually in Geneva to discuss the international response to the pandemic which has killed more than 315,000 people worldwide.

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The WHO annual meeting opened on Monday virtually for the first time in its history, in the presence of representatives from 194 member countries. A text brought by the European Union and around fifty other states calls for "  universal, rapid and equitable access to treatment for all countries  " against the disease. Discussions will continue until Tuesday. 

Opening the meeting, UN Secretary General Antonio Gurerres criticized the countries that "  ignored the WHO recommendations  ", saying that the world today is paying "  high prices  " for divergent strategies. "  As a result, the virus has spread around the world and is now moving to the countries of the South, where it could have even more devastating effects  ," he added.

Amid tensions between Washington and Beijing, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he would launch an independent investigation into the organization's response to the pandemic "  as soon as possible at the appropriate time  ".

► Read also: Coronavirus: against a backdrop of criticism, the WHO opens the door to reform

• Colleges reopen in France despite the appearance of new clusters

Some 185,000 pupils in grades 6 and 5 enrolled in colleges in the "green zone" returned to class on Monday. Draconian sanitary rules, including the compulsory wearing of a mask in classrooms, have been applied to avoid any rebound of the epidemic. After the return to class last week of 1.4 million schoolchildren across the country, the deconfinement in college has cut the country in two this time: nothing has changed for middle school students from the four regions in "Red zone", including Ile-de-France, who will have to wait until the end of the month to know if they will return to class.

More than 100 people tested positive for Covid-19 in two epidemic foci in two slaughterhouses, one near Orleans and the other near Saint-Brieuc. Two new clusters that worry health authorities, still on the alert for the risk of a second wave. According to the daily report of the general directorate of health, the epidemic has killed 28,239 people since March 1, including 131 in the past 24 hours. However, the number of people in intensive care fell below 2,000 for the first time since March 22.

The Council of State, the highest French court, issued on Monday two decisions, the first prohibiting the surveillance of Paris by drones as part of the deconfinement, the second ordering the lifting of the " general and absolute  " ban  on meetings in places of worship.

• Franco-German couple preparing for recovery

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have proposed a 500 billion euro recovery plan in Europe in the face of the economic impact of the new coronavirus, which is plunging the continent into a recession of historic magnitude. “  Our aim is to provide Europe with very concrete skills in the area of ​​health. With common stocks of masks and tests, joint and coordinated purchasing capacities for treatments and vaccines, shared prevention plans for epidemics, common methods for identifying cases. This Europe of health never existed, it must become our priority  ", declared the French president.

• Europe accelerates its deconfinement 

From Portugal to Azerbaijan via Denmark, Ireland or Germany, several other European countries reopened this Monday restaurants, cafes and terraces, including the famous Biergarten, the open-air breweries of Bavaria.
In Italy , the daily toll of the victims of the Covid-19 passed Monday, for the first time in two months, under the bar of 100 dead. Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome opened its doors to the public on Monday morning, a symbol of the return to relative normality in Italy where the deconfinement enters its phase 2, with resumption of masses and reopening of shops, hairdressers, beauty salons, cafes and terraces.

The Irish began to soften late containment measures taken in March to fight against the spread of the coronavirus, allowing the reopening of some stores and the return to work of some employees. Garden centers, hardware stores and farmers' markets are once again authorized to resume their activities, while workers practicing their profession outside, such as construction workers or gardeners, return to work provided that social distancing measures are respected. The Portugal also began the second phase of decontainment . Museums and art galleries, bars and restaurants, which will all be subject to new food safety regulations, have started to reopen, as have colleges.

The Acropolis of Athens reopened to the public Monday morning like all archaeological sites in Greece , two months after its closure due to the pandemic. In Denmark and North Macedonia, colleges, cafes and restaurants also reopened on Monday while in the UK, training for Premier League clubs will be able to resume in small groups from Tuesday. No date for a return from competition is however suggested.

• Biergarten and new clusters reopen in Germany

While the Biergarten, the famous open-air breweries in Bavaria, reopened on Monday, the German health authorities are worried about new sources of contamination. More than 90 employees at a slaughterhouse in north-west Germany tested positive for coronavirus. Production has been suspended and the affected individuals have been quarantined, along with all those who have been in contact with them. The poor working conditions in these establishments are pointed out, as well as the massive recourse to foreign subcontracting companies for the hiring of the employees, making it possible “to take  responsibility  ” the sector, according to the German food union NGG.

• Reopening of the economy divides in the United States

In the United States, the threshold of 90,000 deaths was crossed on Monday. Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell says the pandemic economic crisis presents "  fundamental differences  " from the Great Depression and growth is expected to pick up faster despite very high unemployment and a deep recession. However, he believes that a peak in the unemployment rate at 20 or 25% is likely, and that the fall in the gross domestic product of the United States in the second quarter will be "  easily in the 20, 30%  ".

In addition, during the annual meeting of the World Health Organization, Washington condemned the "  exclusion of Taiwan  " from the assembly, saying that it "  further damaged the credibility  " of this agency. criticized for handling the pandemic. US Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo  Strongly Criticized "  Lack of Independence " of WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Accused of "Choosing  Not to Invite Taiwan Under Pressure from the People's Republic from China  ”.

• China pledges to make vaccine public

China has expressed support for a "  comprehensive assessment  " of the global response to the new coronavirus once the epidemic is halted, President Xi Jinping said at the WHO assembly on Monday. In a video message to the World Health Assembly, the secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party assured that his country, where the coronavirus appeared at the end of 2019, had "  always shown transparency and responsibility  »Facing the epidemic.

Accused by the Trump administration of having delayed reacting, China promised on Monday that any possible vaccine developed in the country will become a "  global public good  ". The Chinese president also said that his country would contribute $ 2 billion to the global fight against Covid-19, especially in developing countries. The United States and Australia have called for an international investigation into the origin of the virus. Beijing denounces a "  politicization  " of this question, regularly stressing that the "  zero patient  " of the Covid-19 has not been found and that it is "  not necessarily  " Chinese.

• Japan goes into recession 

The Japanese economy entered a recession , with a second quarter of a contraction in gross domestic product between January and March, as the coronavirus crisis began to strike. And for the first time in at least 60 years, the access trails to Mount Fuji will remain closed this summer, depriving hikers of the summer ascent of the archipelago's best known volcano.

• Back to school for New Zealanders

Hundreds of thousands of children returned to school in New Zealand on Monday after eight weeks of home schooling due to the coronavirus epidemic. "  Our message is to say that the conditions are safe for the return of children to school,  " said Minister of Education Chris Hipkins. New Zealand, which has a population of five million, has so far managed the epidemic relatively effectively, thanks to very strict containment imposed from the end of March. The archipelago has 1,149 cases of Covid-19, a disease that has killed 21 people.

Our selection on the coronavirus

• Listen to our Coronavirus Info column 

• Our  explanations  :
→  What we know about the mode of contagion
→  Disparities and inequalities in the face of the coronavirus: what must be remembered
→  Triple therapy, Discovery… update on research
→  The race for the vaccine is in full swing
→  How to make a mask and use it well

• Our series  : "  The response, country by country  "

• After Covid-19, towards a new world?

• Each evening, find the State of the world and Africa facing the pandemic

• See also the files of RFI Savoirs on the Covid-19:
→  Birth of a pandemic
→  Everyday life put to the test
→  The history of epidemics
→  Science facing the Covid-19
→  The geopolitical consequences

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• Coronavirus: the state of the world facing the pandemic