Los Angeles (AFP)

California on Monday ordered the closure of certain businesses and public places in the face of the persistent growth of Covid-19 in its population, soon after WHO worried about the too many countries that "are going in the wrong direction "facing the pandemic.

"If basic principles are not followed, this pandemic can only go in one direction. It will get worse and worse," warned the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , in the aftermath of a record day of 230,000 new cases of coronavirus worldwide.

California, one of the main sources of the disease in the United States, was the first state in the country to impose general containment in March, but the number of cases has continued to explode for several weeks. To stem the phenomenon, the governor announced Monday the widening to all the State of the closing of the bars, rooms of restaurant in interior, cinemas, zoos and aquariums.

The return to restrictions also involves the closure of a series of public places and shops - including offices, shopping centers, hairdressers and places of worship - in around thirty counties at risk, including Los Angeles.

In Los Angeles, the 600,000 students also learned on Monday that they would not return to school in mid-August as planned but would take distance courses until the health situation improved.

Across the south and west of the United States, such as Texas and Florida, which are also experiencing a Covid-19 explosion, local officials are planning to go even further and declare a reorganization, but political disagreements between the different jurisdictions prevent a unified and coherent response.

For his part, President Donald Trump maintains his line: "When we test, we create cases," he said on Monday.

The mayor of Miami (Florida), Francis Suarez, yet also a Republican, meanwhile deemed it necessary to consider a return to containment measures, saying that the epidemic was "out of control".

- Latin America number 2-

Latin America and the Caribbean on Monday became the second most affected region in the world by the pandemic, behind Europe, with more than 144,840 deaths officially recorded.

It thus exceeds the balance sheets of the United States and Canada (more than 145,900 dead).

In Colombia, the "alarming" increase in contagion caused on Monday the strict confinement of about 3.5 million people, in the capital Bogota where this measure will concern neighborhoods in turn as well as in Medellin, the second city of country.

Brazil remains the most bereaved country in the region and alone accounts for 72,833 deaths. The epidemic knows no respite: it is the country to have recorded the most new deaths in 24 hours (733 dead), followed by India (500) and the United States (334).

The entire planet was facing a resurgence of virus outbreaks, as in Morocco, where the city of Tangier (about one million inhabitants) was also to be reconfigured from Monday, just like 250,000 inhabitants of Manila in the Philippines.

The situation in Catalonia (northeast of Spain) is the subject of a standoff between the regional authorities who want to place in isolation nearly 200,000 people from the city of Lleida and surrounding municipalities , and the justice that opposes it.

While the city's court "decided not to ratify" these "lawless" measures, Catalan separatist regional president Quim Torra said he would adopt a legislative decree to impose them.

"If one says one thing, the other says the opposite, people themselves do not know what they can or cannot do," noted Eugène Badila, a 41-year-old sales agent in Lerida, while that her colleague, Sabrina Pigaro, 32, said: "We should confine ourselves again for a while, until all of this has passed".

In South Africa, the most affected country on the continent, President Cyril Ramaphosa decided to reimpose a curfew on Sunday due to the rise in daily cases of contamination. Family visits will also be prohibited.

- Masks in British shops -

Concern remains as strong in Australia: after the six week reorganization decided last week for Melbourne, the inhabitants of Sydney were asked on Monday to limit the festive evenings on Monday after the appearance of a new epidemic focus in a pub.

In Britain, where a second wave of Covid-19 this winter could cause up to 120,000 additional deaths according to a study, the government has decided to make the wearing of masks compulsory in shops from July 24, under penalty a fine of 100 pounds sterling (110 euros).

The pandemic has claimed the lives of some 570,000 people worldwide since the World Health Organization (WHO) office in China reported the disease in late December.

burx-ban / dax

© 2020 AFP