Paris (United States) (AFP)
The Covid-19 pandemic threatens to start again in Europe, where the inhabitants are tempted to lower their guard, and is gaining momentum in the United States as in several Latin American countries.
Crowded beaches in England under the blow of a heat wave, flights resuming at Paris-Orly, Europe is tempted to relax its vigilance while the WHO warned Thursday of the risks of a new wave on the Old Continent .
Proof of this persistent threat, Ukraine recorded 1,109 cases of new coronavirus on Friday, a record, contagions accelerating since the lifting of restrictions on May 11. A "serious wave" according to the authorities who are preparing new hospitals.
In the United States, contagions are increasing in the West and especially the South, in particular in Texas, Florida and California.
Texas, one of the first American states to have reopened its economy, suspended its ongoing deconfinement process on Thursday.
The threshold of 5,000 new cases was crossed there two days in a row and hospitalizations more than doubled in two weeks.
"This temporary pause will help our state contain the spread," Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott said on Thursday.
It has suspended non-essential surgical operations in large cities to maintain hospital capacity.
Many American officials from a large fringe covering the South and West have been watching their hospitals fill up with Covid-19 patients for the past few weeks.
Thursday at 8:00 p.m. GMT, the United States had more than 37,000 new cases diagnosed and 692 additional deaths for Thursday, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).
A second wave was feared for the fall and winter, in conjunction with the seasonal flu, but it is a summer wave which is beginning.
In total, the pandemic has killed 485,549 officially registered people worldwide, according to an AFP report Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (0030 GMT). After the United States, Brazil suffered the most deaths (54,971).
Mexico deplored Thursday more than 25,000 deaths from the virus and some 200,000 people infected since the start of the epidemic in this country of 127 million inhabitants, according to authorities.
More than half of the nearly 105,000 deaths in the Caribbean and Latin America have been recorded in Brazil.
In Europe, the WHO warned Thursday against a new wave which is preparing while authorities and inhabitants are tempted to turn the page on the pandemic which put the continent to a halt in the spring.
After three months of stopping, the Paris airport of Orly welcomed the takeoff of a first flight, watered by the water cannons of the firemen during a ceremony known as "water salute".
In the UK, the government has called on the British to respect social distancing, threatening to close the beaches where thousands of people have gathered in recent days in the heat wave.
The town council of the seaside resort of Bournemouth (South) brought in the police when the beaches were crowded in temperatures above 30 ° C.
Thousands of Liverpool supporters have also defied health recommendations to celebrate the club's first English championship title in 30 years outside the Anfield Road stadium on Thursday evening.
Police also had to intervene to disperse several parties on the streets of London and at least 22 police were injured Wednesday evening after being thrown from bottles in Brixton, in the south of the capital.
The World Health Organization however warned the continent on Thursday against any temptation to lower its guard: "In eleven countries, the acceleration of transmission has led to a very significant upsurge which, if it is not controlled, will push healthcare systems to the brink once again in Europe, "warned WHO Director of the Europe Branch Hans Kluge.
Symptoms of fear of a new wave, Australian supermarkets have again imposed limits on the number of rolls of toilet paper that can be purchased, due to a new fever of purchases by panicked customers in the face of renewed cases of coronavirus in Melbourne.
On the economic front, the president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde estimated that "the worst is probably over", insisting that the recovery will nevertheless be "incomplete" and that it will "transform" the economy.
In Italy, Italy's public deficit reached 10.8% of GDP in the first quarter, against 7.1% a year earlier.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan deplored that the pandemic "swept away" years of economic growth in Southeast Asia at a summit of regional leaders.
burx-cac / cr
© 2020 AFP