Washington (AFP)

The United States on Tuesday accused the heaviest daily toll of coronavirus-related deaths in more than two months, with nearly 1,600 dead, while the pilgrimage to Mecca is severely limited and many countries in Europe tighten their health restrictions .

Only 1,000 to 10,000 faithful Muslims, against 2.5 million last year, take part in the great pilgrimage from Mecca to Saudi Arabia from Wednesday.

Subjected to screening tests and placed in quarantine upon their arrival in Mecca, the faithful selected will still have to observe a quarantine after the pilgrimage.

In normal times, the hajj, and the umrah "little pilgrimage", bring in around 12 billion dollars (10.3 billion euros) per year but this year the restrictions will worsen the economic slump in the kingdom, affected by falling oil prices.

-new report since May-

On Tuesday, the United States deplored 1,592 additional deaths linked to the coronavirus in 24 hours, a heavy daily toll that had not been reached since mid-May, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

The country has also recorded more than 60,000 new cases in one day, after a slight decrease in the last two days.

President Donald Trump has once again scrambled the message on Covid-19 after making a dramatic shift a week ago, acknowledging the seriousness of the health crisis and calling for a mask to be worn.

On Tuesday he retweeted a video showing a group of doctors explaining that masks are not necessary and that "there is a drug" to treat the coronavirus, hydroxychloroquine. The video was deleted by Facebook, YouTube and Tweeter for misinformation.

The American Medicines Agency (FDA) recommended in mid-June not to prescribe hydroxychloroquine to Covid-19 patients because of the risks to the heart.

- Tourism at half mast -

Globally, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimated Tuesday that the pandemic had already cost, from January to May, 320 billion dollars to the tourism sector.

Over this period, the number of international tourists fell by 56% compared to 2019, or 300 million fewer visitors.

The UNWTO expects the number of international tourists to fall by 60 to 80% for 2020, with losses of 910 to 1.2 trillion dollars.

Greece like Spain, or the Portuguese island of Madeira where the mask is compulsory in the street and the visitors detected, are among the countries very affected by the collapse of tourism.

Spain has seen the number of new daily cases more than triple in the past two weeks, to exceed 1,800. After France and the United Kingdom, Germany has advised its nationals against traveling there.

And Greece has announced for its part that it is once again making the mask compulsory in almost all closed places.

- Infected slums -

In Mumbai, a study commissioned by the city and published on Tuesday, shows that more than half of the slum dwellers of the city in western India appear to have had the coronavirus and have antibodies.

India is already the third most affected country in the world after the United States and Brazil, with nearly 1.5 million cases.

Experts have warned that due to the shortage of tests, the actual figure could be much higher.

Bombay, of which some 40% of the population lives in slums, has recorded just over 110,000 contaminations and more than 6,000 deaths so far.

Worldwide, the disease has already killed 654,477, according to the latest report established by AFP on Tuesday. The United States remains the most bereaved country with more than 149,000 deaths, ahead of Brazil (88,539). Colombia has passed the 9,000 death mark.

- Vaccines: promising results -

On the front of trials for the discovery of a vaccine, the American biotech Moderna in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced promising results in monkeys.

The serum, one of two Western vaccines along with that from Oxford University / AstraZeneca to have started large-scale trials, triggered a "robust" immune response and prevented replication of the virus in the lungs and noses monkeys, according to results released Tuesday.

"This is the first time that an experimental vaccine against Covid-19 tested on primates has demonstrated its ability to produce rapid viral control in the upper respiratory tract", welcomed the NIH.

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© 2020 AFP