La Paz (AFP)

The coronavirus continues its ravages in the Americas, and affects its leaders: the Bolivian president and the Venezuelan number two announced Thursday to have contracted it, a few days after the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, while the United States and Mexico have known a new daily record of infections.

"I am positive at Covid-19, I'm fine, I will work in isolation. Together, we are going to move forward," tweeted Bolivian Janine Añez, who is also a candidate for the September 6 presidential election. .

"I will be in quarantine for fourteen days and will do another test. I feel good," added the 53-year-old right-wing leader in a video posted on her Twitter account. Three members of his government had said in recent days that they had been infected.

She became interim president of Bolivia after the resignation and exile of leftist president Evo Morales in November 2019.

Bolivia - eleven million inhabitants - has recorded 42,984 cases of contamination and deplores 1,577 deaths linked to Covid-19.

Almost at the same time, in Venezuela, the president of the National Constituent Assembly and number two of the presidential party (PSUV) Diosdado Cabello revealed to have been contaminated. He had interrupted his weekly program on Wednesday, saying he was "fighting a strong allergy".

"All my solidarity (...). He is resting, he is fine," reacted President Nicolas Maduro, announcing on this occasion that Omar Prieto, governor of the state of Zulia (west) who is located on the border with Colombia and where is located the most important focus of Covid-19 in Venezuela, was also affected by the disease.

- "Very well" -

According to official figures - which are underestimated according to the opposition and NGOs like Human Rights Watch -, 8,372 cases and 80 deaths have been confirmed in the country.

This is much less than in Brazil, the most affected Latin American country and the second in the world, where the latest assessment on Thursday reported 69,184 deaths (+1,220 in 24 hours) and 1.75 million cases (+42,619 ).

Its far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, openly skeptical of the pandemic and opposed to protective measures against the virus, announced Tuesday that he had been infected. He trumpeted two days later that he was "very well".

Since the start of the pandemic, the 65-year-old leader has multiplied the crowd - most of the time without a mask and shaking hands -. On Thursday, he again advocated the use of hydroxychloroquine, a controversial drug.

The situation continues to worsen in Latin America, with Peru which crossed the threshold of 11,000 dead Wednesday or El Salvador whose capital is in "critical phase" according to the NGO Doctors Without Borders.

And Mexico recorded a new record of daily cases (+7,280) on Thursday for a total of 282,283, and 33,526 deaths.

The virus is also spreading at high speed in the United States. They also broke a new record for the number of infections in a day, with more than 65,500 additional cases identified, according to the 8:30 p.m. local count at Johns Hopkins University.

The total number of cases registered now stands at over 3.11 million. The previous daily record dated Tuesday (more than 60,200 new cases).

And a thousand people have succumbed to Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, for a total of 133,195 deaths in the United States.

- Trump minimizes -

President Donald Trump downplayed these daily records on Thursday: "For the hundredth time, the reason we have so many cases, compared to other countries that are no better than us by far, is that we are testing a lot more and better, "he tweeted.

But "we are in a very difficult situation," said infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, who advises the White House on the Covid-19 crisis, on Thursday.

The reopening of the country took place by "skipping all the recommended steps", he criticized during a teleconference organized by the media The Hill. "It is not the right way to do it. We need to rethink it and do it differently."

The World Health Organization called on Thursday for unity against the virus, when the milestone of 12 million reported cases had just been crossed worldwide. More than 550,900 deaths have been recorded.

"We will not be able to overcome the pandemic if we are divided," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO, two days after the United States confirmed its withdrawal from the international body they accuse of to have mismanaged the crisis and to have been too lenient towards China where the virus appeared in December.

While the American continent is slow to reach the peak of the epidemic, the virus has ebbed elsewhere in the world, not without resurgence.

In Australia (approximately 9,000 cases for 106 dead), the five million inhabitants of Melbourne were placed in confinement for six weeks and the borders of the State of Victoria closed.

The situation in Europe appears to be under control despite new outbreaks. The continent remains the hardest hit with more than 200,000 deaths, including more than two thirds in the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Spain.

© 2020 AFP