Paris (AFP)

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

- Italy, the most damaged country in Europe -

Italy on Saturday became the European country with the highest number of deaths since the start of the pandemic, with 64,036 deaths, ten more than in the United Kingdom, according to figures announced by the Minister of Health.

According to data compiled by AFP, these countries are followed in Europe by France (57,567 dead) and Spain (47,624).

- USA: start of vaccination Monday -

The first batches of Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines, authorized on Friday in the United States, will arrive Monday morning in vaccination centers to immediately begin to be administered to Americans.

This first phase concerns around three million people.

The United States is the most bereaved country in the world, with 295,000 dead and more than 15 million cases.

- Allergies: the FDA denies any pressure -

The American Medicines Agency (FDA) defended itself on Saturday for having suffered any political "pressure" to give the green light to a first vaccine against Covid-19, and put the risks linked to "serious allergies" into perspective. .

One of the FDA officials explained that the vaccine would only be recommended for patients who have had "serious allergic reactions" to its components or similar vaccines in the past, and not for all people prone to severe allergies in the broader sense. after two cases of severe allergies reported in the UK.

- Chinese trial suspended in Peru -

Peru temporarily suspends, as a precaution, the clinical trials of a vaccine developed by the Chinese laboratory Sinopharm, after the detection of neurological problems in one of the volunteers.

- Nearly 1.6 million deaths

Already responsible for more than 1.59 million deaths for around 71 million confirmed cases, the pandemic is particularly active in Europe and the United States.

During the past week, nearly three quarters of global contaminations have been recorded in these two areas.

- More than 180,000 dead in Brazil -

Brazil has passed the 180,000 death mark.

Only the United States has recorded more deaths.

In proportion to its population, the South American giant has as many deaths as France (85 per 100,000 inhabitants).

- China: confined after a single case -

Dongning, a town in northern China on the Russian border, confines itself and launches a massive campaign of tests, after the contamination of a man who works at the port.

Anyone wishing to leave the city must produce a negative test dating from the last 24 hours and, in the most risky areas, only one person per household is allowed to go out every other day for a maximum of two hours to shop.

Another Russian border town, Suifenhe, has also launched a testing campaign, without containment, after a worker in an import-export trade zone tested positive.

- Concern in South Korea -

The South Korean health authorities call for limiting interactions, after an increase in contamination affecting the Seoul region in particular.

New daily cases rose to nearly 1,000 on Friday, down from around 500 the previous days, a "very serious" situation according to President Moon Jae-in.

burx-jah-ang / ber / thm

© 2020 AFP