Paris (AFP)

France announced on Thursday a stimulus plan of 100 billion euros over two years, in the hope of overcoming the ordeal of the coronavirus epidemic, as the independent assessment committee on the global management of the pandemic begins its investigation.

With this recovery plan, the government intends to prepare France for 2030 and go beyond the mere rebound of the economy hard hit by the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, even if its priority remains employment.

"France has held on but it is undoubtedly weakened", underlined Prime Minister Jean Castex while presenting in Paris this plan of "historic ambition and scope".

Weekly jobless claims for their part fell in the United States, falling back under one million, and are lower than analysts' expectations, according to figures released Thursday by the Labor Department.

The total number of unemployment claimants in the United States also fell, to just over 13 million people in the week of August 16-22, according to data released a week later.

- "An open book" -

The investigation into the global management of the pandemic, one of the worst health crises on the planet, took off Thursday, the WHO, much criticized for its response to the Covid, having promised full access to its files to the independent evaluation committee.

"The WHO has made it clear to us that its files are an open book. Everything we want to see we will see," former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, co -President of the evaluation committee with former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Hope for a better treatment of the disease has emerged from the UK where a study shows that the inexpensive steroid hydrocortisone can reduce the risk of death in patients with severe forms by around 20%. Covid-19 disease.

Hydrocortisone, an anti-inflammatory drug widely used in the medical field, makes it possible to increase "the chances of survival" but also "to accelerate the cure" of patients suffering from the most severe forms of the new coronavirus, explained Thursday to the 'AFP Anthony Gordon, researcher from Imperial College London, at the head of the British team participating in this international study.

The pandemic has killed at least 864,510 people worldwide since the WHO office in China reported the onset of the disease at the end of December, according to an assessment compiled by AFP from official sources Thursday at 4 p.m. GMT.

The United States is the most affected country in terms of both deaths and cases, with nearly 186,000 deaths for 6.1 million recorded cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University count.

The epidemic also continues to grow in Brazil where the number of cases is now close to four million, according to the latest official count released Wednesday.

- Drysuits -

The Asian continent on Thursday exceeded the fateful mark of 100,000 deaths since the discovery of the disease in December, according to a count made by AFP from official sources.

India is the most affected country with nearly three quarters of the deaths recorded in the region (67,376 deaths for 3,853,406 cases), followed by Indonesia (7,616 deaths, 180,646 cases) and Pakistan (6,328 deaths, 297,014 case).

The continent, which had succeeded in controlling the virus after its discovery in December, has faced an increase in the daily number of cases and deaths recorded since August, with nearly 90,000 cases and 1,200 daily deaths on average since week.

Compared to the previous week, this represents an 11% increase in the number of cases and 6% in the number of deaths.

Despite the bad news, a gradual resumption of international flights to Beijing began Thursday with passengers greeted by airport staff dressed in drysuits.

Chinese authorities have authorized the arrival of international flights to Beijing from a selection of countries such as Thailand, Sweden, or Canada, considered low risk countries for cross-border contamination.

In Norway the authorities are not kidding with the quarantine measures: the police announced on Thursday the expulsion of a foreign traveler who had violated the quarantine rules, in addition to a ban on entering Norwegian territory for two years and a fine of 1,900 euros.

© 2020 AFP