Washington (AFP)

The European Union reopens its borders to 15 countries on Wednesday, but not to the United States, where health officials have declared that they do not "completely" control the coronavirus pandemic and fear an explosion in the number of cases.

The health situation is also worrying in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the death toll could exceed 400,000 in three months if more stringent health measures are not taken in this region, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) .

In the United States, due to the epidemic, the Democratic candidate for the White House, Joe Biden, 77, gave up organizing meetings for the presidential election in November, unlike Republican President Donald Trump.

"I'm going to follow the doctor's instructions, not just for me but for the country. And that means that I'm not going to organize meetings," said former Barack Obama vice president in his state of Delaware.

Earlier, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a prominent member of the Presidential Coronavirus Crisis Cell, admitted that health officials "did not have total control" over the pandemic.

"I would not be surprised if we reach 100,000 (new cases, note) per day if we do not reverse the trend," he added. Currently, 40,000 new cases are detected daily.

He testified, along with three other doctors from major American health organizations, before senators. All called on Americans, especially young people, to wear a mask and to respect physical distancing.

- Extended quarantine

Witnessing the worsening of the situation, New York State, which was for a long time the epicenter of the American epidemic but has seen the epidemic decline for several weeks, brought Tuesday to 16 the number of states whose visitors are subject to quarantine. Among these states is California, which now has more than 220,000 cases.

In this context, the EU countries have decided to exclude the United States from a list of 15 countries whose nationals will be welcome again from Wednesday.

The list of countries with nationals admitted to the EU and the Schengen area, which will be revised every two weeks, includes Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.

It includes China, but only on condition that Beijing admits visitors from the EU to its soil, which is currently only the case on a limited basis.

The criteria retained by the EU - in particular a rate of new cases of Covid-19 close to or below 16 per 100,000 inhabitants (average in the EU) over the last 14 days - exclude the United States, the country the most heavily hit by the Covid-19.

With 1,199 additional deaths in 24 hours, the daily balance sheet of the United States started again on the rise according to the counting published Tuesday by the university Johns Hopkins. This brings the total US death toll to 127,322 dead.

Globally, the pandemic, which has just crossed two symbolic thresholds - more than half a million dead and ten million cases - "is far from over" and even "is accelerating", warned Monday l 'World Health Organization (WHO).

According to a count made by AFP from official sources, 506,818 deaths and 10.3 million cases were officially recorded Tuesday at 19:00 GMT.

The number of deaths worldwide has doubled in just under two months (250,000 on May 5) and an additional 50,000 deaths have been recorded in the past ten days.

Besides the United States, the virus continues to wreak havoc in South America.

- Possible quadrupling -

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), headquartered in Washington, warned on Tuesday that the death toll in Latin America and the Caribbean, currently around 114,000, could almost quadruple by October 1 in the absence strengthened health measures.

At the current rate, "Latin America and the Caribbean are expected to have more than 438,000 deaths from Covid-19" by October 1, said Carissa Etienne, director of PAHO.

Brazil is the first country in Latin America and the second most affected country in the world, with 1.4 million confirmed cases and 59,594 deaths, according to an official report published on Tuesday.

In this country, President Jair Bolsonaro has not stopped challenging the containment measures taken by the governors of the Brazilian states. A judgment that forced the far-right president to wear a mask in public was overturned Tuesday by a Brazilian judge.

The epidemic seems to be starting again in China, where the WHO will send "next week" a team to determine the origin of the coronavirus which appeared there in December.

Donald Trump once again castigated responsibility for China. "When I watch the pandemic spread its horrible face around the world, including the damage that has been done to the United States, I become more and more angry with China," he tweeted.

The city, which like the rest of England was preparing to reopen pubs, restaurants, cinemas and hair salons on Saturday, saw non-essential stores close on Tuesday, and most schools will close on Thursday.

- Airbus cuts 15,000 jobs -

The pandemic continues to strain, including industrial giants, such as Airbus.

Very dependent on orders from airlines, the European aircraft manufacturer announced Tuesday that it would cut "approximately 15,000 jobs", or 11% of its workforce worldwide by the summer of 2021, without excluding dry layoffs.

The world of sport is a little more upset every day. The African Cup of Nations is postponed for one year and will take place in 2022 in Cameroon.

Despite the gravity of the situation, the UN Security Council is struggling to deliver a first resolution on the pandemic, at the risk of losing all credibility.

After more than three months of blockages, France and Tunisia on Tuesday asked the Council to adopt a resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities to facilitate the fight against the coronavirus. The result of the vote, which will be in writing, is expected on Wednesday.

burx-cat / seb / plh / am

© 2020 AFP