Washington (AFP)

Washington has broken with the World Health Organization (WHO) accused by Donald Trump of complacency towards Beijing, while Brazil sinks into the health crisis becoming the fifth nation to have recorded the most deaths from the new coronavirus.

The deconfinement continues at the same time Saturday especially in Europe, with among others Italy which will reopen to the public the famous Tower of Pisa, and the Ukrainian capital Kiev which restarts its shopping centers and hotels.

In France, the Parisian department store Galeries Lafayette also reopens on Saturday, with masks and safety distances required. French museums, parks, cafes and restaurants will reopen on Tuesday - only on the terrace in Paris. It will also be the end of the ban on going more than 100 km from home.

In Great Britain, dental offices will reopen on June 8, and in the meantime, a patient, Dominic Price from Salisbury (south), has been recommended by a stomatologist to replace his fillings himself.

Thanks to the decline of the pandemic, in Warsaw face masks are no longer compulsory in public.

The situation, on the other hand, is worsening in Brazil, which with 27,878 deaths has become the fifth most bereaved country in the world, behind the United States (102,201), Great Britain (38,161), Italy (33,229) , France (28.714), and ahead of Spain. What is more, scientists point out that the real numbers in Brazil are likely much worse.

Worldwide, the pandemic has claimed at least 362,028 lives since its onset in December in China, according to an assessment by AFP from official sources Friday at 19:00 GMT. Over 5.8 million cases have been diagnosed in 196 countries and territories.

- Trump divorces from WHO -

Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump, who had already cut his country's financial contribution to the WHO, has followed through on his threat to cut ties with the UN agency.

He announced "to end the relationship" between his country and the WHO, which he accuses since the beginning of the pandemic of being too lenient with China, where the coronavirus appeared in December before spreading over the planet.

As the first donor to WHO, the United States will "redirect these funds to other urgent and global public health needs that deserve them," he told reporters.

The pandemic continues to wreak havoc in the United States, Latin America and Russia, and to plunge the world economy into an unprecedented crisis. And countries that have used the strong way with convincing results, like South Korea, remain alert.

In Europe, the rescue to 9 billion euros from the airline giant Lufthansa passed a crucial new step on Friday with an agreement between the German government and the European Commission on the main conditions of this operation, to avoid the bankruptcy of the group. But when will traffic return to levels that allow companies to be profitable? No one knows.

In the United States, concerned about the worsening of the economic situation, the governor of the New York state, Andrew Cuomo, announced Friday that he planned a partial lifting of the containment for the city of New York the week of the 8 June, provided that the public health indicators are satisfactory.

This easing would initially concern only part of the economy, mainly construction and manufacturing. New York is by far the city most affected by the coronavirus in the world, which has killed more than 21,000 people.

The restaurants and hairdressing salons of Los Angeles, the main home of Covid-19 in California, were authorized to reopen on Friday, provided that the usual precautions are taken. All the employees of these establishments will have to wear a mask and the customers also, since they are not eating.

In California, the fifth largest economy in the world ahead of Great Britain and France, unemployment, almost nonexistent before the pandemic, hit 24% of the 40 million inhabitants.

- Anakinra -

Italy's gross domestic product (GDP) fell 5.3% in the first quarter compared to the previous one, as did that of France, which is entering a recession. That of Austria decreased by 2.9%.

The Canadian economy contracted 8.2% year-on-year in the first quarter, the sharpest drop since early 2009.

In India, the economy experienced its weakest growth in the first quarter in 20 years, while that of Brazil contracted by 1.5% compared to the previous quarter.

In Spain, the crisis has aggravated poverty and exploded the demand for food aid, pushing the government to approve the creation of a minimum living income on Friday.

This income has been set at 462 euros per month for an adult living alone. Some 850,000 households, or 2.3 million people, will receive 139 euros monthly for each additional person, adult or child, with a ceiling set at 1,015 euros per household.

On the medical front, a drug, anakinra, initially intended for rheumatic diseases, gives "encouraging" results for severe forms of Covid-19 by reducing the risk of death and the need to be put on a ventilator in intensive care. , according to a French study that offers a ray of hope.

burx-cn / hh

© 2020 AFP