Tulsa (United States) (AFP)

The coronavirus has infected more than two million people in Latin America and more than 2.25 million in the United States, where President Donald Trump defied the disease on Saturday by organizing in a closed room his first post-containment meeting even as six event organizers tested positive for Covid-19.

The milestone of two million contaminations was crossed on Saturday in Latin America and the Caribbean, epicenter of the pandemic, according to an assessment established by AFP from official sources.

Half of these cases are recorded in Brazil, which, with nearly 50,000 deaths, is the second most bereaved country in the world behind the United States. In the latter country, the new coronavirus killed more than 119,000 people, according to a report by Johns Hopkins University on Saturday evening.

Defying the virulence of the epidemic, Donald Trump spoke to his supporters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in a closed room, Saturday evening, after asking those present to waive any legal action in writing if they ever contract the virus. on this occasion.

Like their idol, almost none of the spectators wore masks and few seemed to care to keep their distance. Hours before the rally, six members of the Trump campaign team tested positive for Covid-19 and were placed in quarantine. The organizers said they were not in contact with the president.

While declining in New York and the Northeast, the pandemic continues to spread to the United States. So far relatively spared, Oklahoma, a conservative state in the South, is experiencing a strong surge of patients.

In South America, particularly affected, Brazil crossed the bar of a million cases of contamination on Saturday and should exceed in the next hours that of 50,000 deaths, after having reached 49,976 deaths on Saturday.

In Peru, which is experiencing its 13th week of total containment, the official death toll exceeded 250,000 contaminations on Saturday for 7,861 dead. The death toll also exceeds 7,000 dead in Chile. He passed 20,000 dead Friday in Mexico.

If the virus slows its progression in Europe, where deconfinement continues, more than 2.5 million cases have been officially declared on the Old Continent, more than half of which in Russia, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy , according to a count made by AFP.

- Spain reopens to tourists -

With at least 192,432 deaths, Europe remains the most affected continent. But it continues its progressive deconfinement. Spain thus lifted the state of alert decreed on March 14 at midnight, and reopened its land border with France and its ports and airports to nationals of the European Union.

The head of the Spanish government Pedro Sanchez, whose country deplores more than 28,000 dead and comes out of a severe confinement of 14 weeks, reminded the population that it remains vulnerable. "We have to be on our guard and strictly follow hygiene and protection measures," he warned.

The pandemic is still far from receding elsewhere in the world. Iran announced on Saturday that it has recorded more than 100 deaths and more than 2,000 infections in 24 hours in the country, which has entered its fifth month of fighting the epidemic.

Morocco has reported a record increase in the number of infections with 539 new cases, the highest daily toll in the kingdom since the announcement of the first case in March. In the province of Kenitra (west), a field hospital for 700 patients was erected after the discovery of sources of contamination in red fruit packaging plants.

The new coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 461,230 people worldwide since China officially reported the onset of the disease in December, AFP reported on Saturday.

More than 8,722,233 cases of infection have been officially diagnosed in 196 countries and territories since the start of the epidemic, of which more than four million are now considered cured.

burx-roc / ob

© 2020 AFP