Rio de Janeiro (AFP)

The coronavirus continues to hit Latin America hard, with more than 50,000 dead in Brazil, while Europe continues to cautiously return to normal life, France reopening its cinemas on Monday and making school compulsory again.

Brazil, the second country in the world most grieving by the Covid-19 behind the United States, has exceeded the threshold of 50,000 dead and two million confirmed cases, the megalopolises of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro being the most severely achieved.

Elsewhere in Latin America, epicenter of the pandemic and the southern part of which entered Sunday in winter, the death toll has exceeded in recent days the 20,000 dead in Mexico, the 1,000 dead in Argentina and the 8,000 dead in Peru.

Several European countries, submerged in the spring by the disease, on the contrary continue to lighten the precautionary measures in favor of a respite from the epidemic.

- Cinema at midnight -

Thus, Spain emerged Sunday from a state of health emergency and reopened its border with France, to the delight of tourists who have been able to find the beaches of the Mediterranean.

In France, cinemas and casinos have been allowed to reopen since Monday. Some cinemas, like the cinema Les 5 Caumartin in Paris, have scheduled screenings from 12:01 am. Spectators were treated to a VIP welcome and free popcorn.

"When we learned that there was a midnight session here to celebrate the day of recovery, we booked immediately. It's a great idea to mark the event. It's not our usual schedule but it will make us a nice memory after these difficult weeks, "enthusiastic Loriane, who came with a friend to attend a preview of the French comedy" Les Parfums ", by Grégory Montel.

Also in France, school becomes compulsory again on Monday for all pupils, with the exception of high school students, two weeks before the summer holidays.

French schools had already partially reopened in May, but parents were free to send their children there or not.

"They are clearly better at school with their friends, even for two weeks. It gives a little bit of discipline. Otherwise it would make them six months of vacation and to get that back, it's complicated," said Ghyslain Tinarage, father of two children aged 10 and 11 in the south of France.

- Azerbaijan reconfigured -

However, the situation remains worrying in Guyana, the French overseas department bordering on Brazil, where a reconfiguration is even envisaged.

Ditto in Azerbaijan, where faced with a doubling of the cases during the last two weeks, a very strict confinement has been decreed.

Until August 1, shopping centers, cafes, restaurants and beauty salons in the capital Baku and other major cities will be closed again. Residents will only be allowed to go out "once a day, for up to two hours after receiving permission by text" from the authorities, said Prime Minister Ali Asadov.

In Switzerland, the president of the Federal Scientific Task Force dedicated to the disease estimated Sunday that the deconfinement was too fast in his country.

"Over the past seven days, the number of cases has increased by 30%," said epidemiologist Matthias Egger to the Blick. "In this uncertain situation, we in the scientific working group consider it premature to take further steps to relax the rules."

Covid-19 officially killed at least 465,300 people worldwide and contaminated more than 8.8 million, including more than four million now considered cured, since China reported the outbreak in December of the disease.

In the United States, the worst affected country, the death toll was 119,959 died on Sunday for nearly 2.3 million cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania are below the threshold of one million cases. But a rebound has worried China since last week with more than 220 new cases including 22 on Sunday.

burx-roc / ob

© 2020 AFP