Paris (AFP)

New assessments, new measures, highlights: an update on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.

- More than 616,000 dead -

The novel coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 616,965 people around the world since the end of December, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Wednesday at 11:00 GMT. More than 14,977,470 cases of infection have been officially diagnosed in 196 countries and territories.

The United States is the most affected country in terms of both deaths and cases, with 142,068 deaths, ahead of Brazil (81,487), the United Kingdom (45,422), Mexico (40,400) and Italy (35,073) .

- Increase in contamination in Belgium -

Belgium, which had 64,258 cases recorded since the start of the pandemic and 9,805 deaths on Wednesday, has recorded a significant increase in contamination by Covid-19, and must "act quickly" to avoid new containment measures, warned the National Center crisis.

The number of new infections during the period from July 12 to 18 increased by 89% and "these are young people, between 20 and 59 years old, infected during parties or gatherings," said the spokesperson. speech.

Among the hardest hit countries, Belgium is the one that deplores the highest number of deaths in relation to its population, with 85 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.

- Australia on the alert -

Australia announced 501 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, the highest count since the arrival of the pandemic on the island-continent, little affected so far with nearly 13,000 cases of Covid-19 and 128 deaths for a total population of 25 million.

The vast majority of cases have been identified in the past 24 hours in the state of Victoria (south), where the authorities are fighting major outbreaks of epidemics in Melbourne and its suburbs, which have been submitted for nearly two weeks to new containment measures.

- France: balance sheet still uncertain -

It is still too early to assess the exact death toll from Covid-19 in France, in particular because of the uncertainties about deaths occurring at home, the French public health agency warned on Wednesday.

"The number of deaths directly associated with the Covid-19 epidemic cannot be determined precisely at this stage", she concludes while 18,861 deaths in hospitals and 10,335 deaths in nursing homes and medico-social establishments have been officially counted as related to the coronavirus, for a total of 29,186 between March 2 and May 31 (the figure has since exceeded 30,000).

- Tokyo confined for the weekend -

The governor of Tokyo on Wednesday called on her constituents to stay at home on the eve of a long weekend in Japan, while the number of new daily cases is sharply increasing in the Japanese capital.

- China defends itself from cyberattack -

China has accused the United States of defamation after the indictment of two Chinese people implicated in computer attacks against Californian companies engaged in the search for an anti-Covid-19 vaccine.

- No Olympics in 2021 without vaccine or treatment -

The development of a vaccine or a treatment against the new coronavirus will be a fundamental element to allow the Olympics-2020, postponed for one year, to be able to open on July 23, 2021, the chairman of the committee said on Wednesday. organization Yoshiro Mori.

"If the situation continues as it is at the moment, we will not be able to (organize the Games)," added the official. The Olympics-2020 should have opened this Friday without the postponement linked to the pandemic.

burs-jba / ang / dga

© 2020 AFP