Brussels (AFP)

Several European leaders including Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron want to prepare for the next pandemic and ask the EU to draw lessons from the shortcomings facing the Covid-19 to prepare for the next pandemic, as deconfinement continues in Europe like Moscow.

Traffic jams returned to the streets of the Russian capital for the first time since late March under the bright sun.

"The weather is nice and there are a lot of people on the street. It's a beautiful day," smiles Olga Ivanova, a 33-year-old marketing manager.

The country remains in third place in the world in number of contaminations (485,253 cases, including 6,142 deaths).

- "Future pandemics" -

While easing restrictions is on the agenda around the world, several European leaders on Tuesday asked the EU to study ways to better prepare for the next pandemic, saying that the European Union 'had not been up to the Covid-19.

The chaotic response to the coronavirus, which officially made 184,256 in the EU, "raised questions" about the level of preparedness, and stressed the need for a Europe-wide approach, particularly when they are talking about a second wave of the pandemic, they analyze in a letter to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, which accompanies a guidance document.

The letter is signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Pole Mateusz Morawiecki, Spaniard Pedro Sanchez, Belgian Sophie Wilmes and Danish Mette Frederiksen.

The day before, the boss of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, had issued a warning from Geneva: "Although the situation in Europe is improving, in the world it is getting worse". The death toll is over 407,000.

Some 75% of new cases recorded on Sunday, a record day with 136,000 new cases, were in 10 countries, mainly on the American continent and in South Asia.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), a regional arm of WHO, said Tuesday that the southern winter and hurricanes threaten the fight against Covid-19 on the American continent.

Eleven public sector doctors in Nicaragua were fired on Tuesday for demanding serious containment measures to fight the epidemic, while Daniel Ortega's government is criticized by associations for the lack of adequate responses and the "cult of secrecy. "

- "Hungry" -

The UN is also concerned about the consequences of the pandemic: its secretary general Antonio Guterres has warned of a "global food crisis" with long-term repercussions.

According to Tomas Ojea Quintana, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea, "more and more families are eating only twice a day, or eating only corn, and some are starving."

To try to curb the potentially disastrous effects of the health crisis on the economy, the French government unveiled on Tuesday a plan to support the aeronautics sector, representing "a total effort of 15 billion euros", including 1.5 billion devoted to research towards a carbon neutral aircraft in 2035.

Worldwide, airlines could suffer more than $ 84 billion in losses in 2020, and more than $ 15 billion in 2021, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) estimated on Tuesday.

- Eiffel Tower by the stairs -

In Europe, deconfinement continues. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower will reopen on June 25 with the wearing of a mandatory mask and mounted only by the stairs, with a limited number of visitors.

In Spain, which has recorded more than 27,000 deaths, the Football Championship resumes on Wednesday, after three months of interruption. The mask will nonetheless remain mandatory under penalty of a fine once the deconfinement is complete.

Latin America, where the progression of the pandemic remains worrying, is also fading.

In Brazil (38,406 dead), the third most bereaved country in the world after the United States (111,750) and the United Kingdom, the governor of Rio de Janeiro announced the relaxation of restrictions.

In the United Kingdom, deconfinement is done drop by drop. Anyone arriving in the country from abroad must observe a quarantine of 14 days, a measure with the contested effectiveness which frightens the air and tourism sectors.

The death toll officially rises to 40,883 people in the UK, but if you add the deaths for which the Covid-19 is suspected and not the proven cause, that figure rises to almost 50,000, said Tuesday the National Bureau of Statistics.

burs-glr / mm / bfi / ybl

© 2020 AFP