Paris (AFP)
New reports, new measures and highlights: an update on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.
- More than 1.2 million deaths
The pandemic has killed more than 1.201 million people worldwide since the end of December, according to a report established by AFP on Monday.
Some 46.5 million cases have been officially counted, of which more than 30.9 million have been cured.
The United States have the most deaths (231,003), ahead of Brazil (160,074), India (122,607), Mexico (91,895) and the United Kingdom (46,717).
Europe is the continent where the pandemic is progressing most currently.
- Europe: new restrictions
In Germany, closures of restaurants, bars, sports, cultural and leisure facilities went into effect on Monday.
Residents are urged to avoid unnecessary travel, but schools and shops remain open.
Belgium, the country in the world where the coronavirus circulates the most, also entered a second six-week confinement on Monday, lighter however than that of spring.
In Italy, head of government Giuseppe Conte will unveil details of a nationwide nighttime curfew and travel restrictions on Monday evening.
Other curfews and re-containments will come into effect in the coming days in Greece, Austria, Portugal and England.
- Not the last wave
The second wave that Europe is currently fighting is probably not the last, and we can fear "several successive waves during the end of winter" and next spring, warns the Scientific Council responsible for advising the government French.
- "Reduced" festivals in Germany -
Chancellor Angela Merkel warns that the holiday season, especially Christmas, will be reduced to limited family reunions.
"It will be a Christmas under the conditions imposed by the coronavirus but it will not be a Christmas in loneliness (...), we must think about meetings of close family, perhaps with precautionary measures", a declared the German leader, warning that there would be "no celebrations of New Year's Eve of magnitude".
- Havana reopens its schools -
Some 200,000 Cuban children have returned, face masks over their noses, to schools in Havana, closed for more than seven months due to the coronavirus pandemic, now under control in Cuba.
Students must, however, follow a strict sanitary protocol, including disinfecting their hands and the soles of their shoes with a chlorine solution before entering classrooms.
- Pensioners under curfew in Kosovo -
Kosovo announces the return of the curfew for the elderly and the limitation of restaurant hours in order to combat the resurgence of the pandemic which threatens the collapse of health services already in poor condition.
- Ambulance policeman in Bulgaria -
The Bulgarian government has decided to call on the police forces to transport Covid-19 patients to hospitals, ambulances no longer sufficient in the face of the virulence of the second wave of the pandemic.
The number of new cases is up 80% in seven days, for a total of 54,000 which probably underestimates the reality, in this country which practices few tests.
- The WHO chief in quarantine
The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has placed himself in quarantine after coming into contact with a person who tested positive.
He assured that he had no symptoms.
- Prince William infected in April
Prince William, second in line to the British crown, was infected in April and suffered breathing difficulties, The Sun newspaper reveals.
In accordance with government instructions, William had then isolated himself in his family home in Anmer Hamm, in Norfolk (eastern England), but had continued to keep his commitments by telephone or videoconference.
burs-jah-kd / mw / lpt
© 2020 AFP