Brussels (AFP)

Threshold of 4 million cases of Covid-19 crossed in the United States, threshold of 3 million exceeded in Europe, the progression of the epidemic also worries in Asia and Australia, and forced many countries to tighten health measures.

In total, 627,307 people have died from Covid-19 worldwide, for more than 15 million infections, according to a report established Thursday by AFP.

It is on the American continent that the situation remains the most worrying.

A little more than two weeks after having crossed the milestone of 3 million infections, the United States exceeded Thursday that of 4 million official cases, according to Johns Hopkins University, which refers.

The threshold of four million cases has also been crossed in Latin America and the Caribbean, where Brazil alone now has more than 2.2 million cases. Due to the spread of the epidemic, Bolivia announced the postponement to October 18 of the general elections scheduled for September 6.

In Europe, the region has officially declared 3,007,088 cases of Covid-19 for 206,714 deaths. But two days after the agreement of the 27 on an unprecedented stimulus plan amounting to 750 billion euros to deal with the historic recession due to the coronavirus, MEPs blew the cold.

This does not however call into question the recovery plan, for which the approval of the parliament is not necessary.

The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen underlined that by adding the recovery plan and the multiannual budget, Europe had "an unprecedented financial strike force", of 1,800 billion euros, while acknowledging that the EU budget was "very meager".

- The mask is essential -

Faced with the resurgence of contaminations, wearing a mask is becoming compulsory in certain areas.

In Australia, which had so far succeeded in containing the epidemic, the state of Victoria (south), of which Melbourne is the capital, recorded 422 new infections on Thursday.

Melbourne residents have been required to wear a mask since Thursday. In the morning, the instructions were widely followed: "We are not used to seeing that", told AFP Zoie Dicker, a passerby.

The same is true in Hong Kong but also in Austria, where the wearing of a mask is once again compulsory in supermarkets, banks and post offices.

In Belgium, the mask will be compulsory from Saturday on markets, flea markets and in shopping streets. The same is true in hotels, cafes and restaurants, except at the table.

After long hesitation, England have also decided to make the mask mandatory in shops and supermarkets from Friday.

In the United States, which is by far the most bereaved in the world in absolute terms with 143,000 deaths, wearing a mask is compulsory in Washington.

Long accused of denial about the pandemic, US President Donald Trump recently admitted a "worrying increase in cases" in the south and the country has already massively pre-ordered a future vaccine (100 million doses).

The surge in contamination caused unemployment to rise for the first time since the end of March.

Several countries have chosen to reimpose partial reconfinements.

Thus, the approximately 10 million inhabitants of Tokyo have been invited to stay at home from Thursday, the first day of a long holiday weekend in Japan.

- "The storm has arrived" -

India has also resigned itself to ordering Kashmir strict containment for at least a week in the face of the resurgence of the virus. Indian authorities have also decided to cancel the annual Hindu pilgrimage to Amarnath, a first in more than a century.

South Africa has seen an almost 60% rise in the total number of natural deaths in recent weeks, leading experts to believe the number of coronavirus-related deaths is much higher than official statistics indicate.

The president announced Thursday a new closure of public schools for a period of one month.

"South Africa is in fifth place in the world for the number of confirmed cases, and is home to more than half of all cases in Africa. The coronavirus storm has indeed arrived," said Cyril Ramaphosa.

In the country, the virus has wiped out funeral rites. Undertakers are no longer in black but with bright yellow protective gear. And for the families, neither handful of red earth thrown on the coffin, nor flower: they are kept at a distance from the deceased who are quickly buried.

"Usually, we had a whole week of preparations", there it was "a nightmare", sighs Charles Motlhabane, who buried his brother in a cemetery in Johannesburg in less than 30 minutes.

In New York, the UN called for aid to some three billion of the poorest people on the planet, who will stay away from stimulus plans "for big markets and big companies".

© 2020 AFP