The weekend was marked by the start of the vaccination campaign in many European countries, including France.
In the United States, Donald Trump, under pressure, ratified overnight a stimulus plan of 900 billion dollars crucial for households and businesses hit by the pandemic.
Follow the evolution of the situation live.
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This is a huge relief for many unemployed and small businesses in America.
On the night from Sunday to Monday, Donald Trump, still president for a few days, ratified, under pressure from many elected officials, a $ 900 billion stimulus plan intended to help households and businesses hit by the pandemic of coronavirus.
But in Europe, it is the vaccine that is gaining attention.
Several countries launched their campaign over the weekend, including France.
Follow the evolution of the situation live.
The main information to remember:
- Donald Trump ratified a $ 900 billion stimulus package for the US economy
- The vaccination campaign has started in many European countries
- In France, the situation remains worrying, and the hypothesis of a third confinement is openly mentioned
Under pressure, Donald Trump ratifies a $ 900 billion stimulus plan
In the United States, the country most affected both in terms of death toll (at least 333,069) and cases (19.1 million), President Donald Trump finally ratified Sunday evening, after days of resistance, the new plan to $ 900 billion economic stimulus that was passed on Monday by forceps by Congress.
"I ratify this legislation to restore unemployment benefits, stop (rental) evictions, provide assistance to donors, add additional funds to the business loan program, allow airline employees to return to work and give substantial additional funds for the distribution of vaccines, "Donald Trump said in a statement.
This sudden turn of events is a turnaround for the American president, who created a political drama last Tuesday by threatening to veto this aid plan negotiated between Republicans and Democrats with the consent of his minister of Economy and Finance.
But the expiration on Saturday at midnight of two federal assistance programs for 12 million people who lost their jobs because of the pandemic was a game-changer and forced the Republican billionaire to retreat.
Especially since critics have rocketed from all political stripes on Sunday, urging him to act as quickly as possible to avoid an economic and social disaster.
One thing is certain, the United States is far from having finished with the virus.
The famous American immunologist Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that he feared that the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic was yet to come, following the end of the year holidays.
The world's leading power, which has the most deaths from Covid-19 in the world, has indeed experienced a spectacular rebound in the epidemic, with regularly more than 200,000 confirmed cases and more than 3,000 deaths per day, for nearly three weeks.
In France, the specter of a third confinement
France recorded 175 additional deaths from the virus on Sunday, for a total of 62,746 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Regarding hospital pressure, 107 new patients were admitted to intensive care in 24 hours, bringing the total in this type of intensive care unit to 2,650 patients.
All departments combined, 589 new patients were hospitalized, for a total of 24,620 patients hospitalized for Covid-19.
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The circulation of the virus therefore remains high in the country, to the point that the hypothesis of a new containment is openly mentioned by the authorities, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, in the
JDD
, in this case.
The authorities are calling for great restraint on New Year's Eve on December 31, the evening during which the curfew, between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., is maintained.
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Why the hypothesis of a third confinement is no longer a taboo
More than ever, hope therefore rests on the vaccine, the first dose of which was inoculated on Sunday in Mauricette, 78, a patient at the René-Muret hospital in Sevran, in Seine-Saint-Denis.
But reluctance will have to be overcome.
Emmanuel Macron, recalling on Twitter that the vaccine was free and not compulsory in his country, hoped that "reason and science (would) guide us", while the majority of French people (56%) do not consider get vaccinated against Covid-19, according to a survey.
I have said it, I will repeat it: the vaccine will not be compulsory.
Let us have confidence in our researchers and doctors.
We are the land of the Enlightenment and the Pastor, reason and science must guide us.
- Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) December 27, 2020
Vaccination campaigns have started in many European countries
Like France, many other European countries started their vaccination campaign over the weekend.
Delivered on Saturday, the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, the only currently approved, were injected in
Italy
shortly before 8 a.m. to nurse Claudia Alivernini and Professor Maria Rosaria Capobianchi, director of the virology laboratory. at the Spallanzani hospital in Rome.
In Cremona, in Lombardy (north), the most affected region of the country, the hospital administered its first vaccines, where less than a year ago the patients were sorted in tents erected in the emergency.
The most damaged country in the EU with nearly 72,000 dead, re-confined since mid-December, "Italy is waking up", reacted Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Twitter.
In
Spain
, 96-year-old Araceli Rosario Hidalgo Sanchez was the first to be vaccinated in a retirement home in Guadalajara (center).
She said, with a smile, that she "felt nothing" when the vaccine was given to her.
The
Germany
, the
Hungary
and
Slovakia
had opened the march on Saturday in the EU, with a day ahead of the official launch of the campaign.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the start of the campaign a "touching moment of unity" and a "European success story", adding that it would "help to gradually return to our normal lives".
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AstraZeneca says it has 'the winning formula' for its vaccine
The British pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca, whose vaccine developed with the University of Oxford could be approved in the coming days in the United Kingdom, claims to have found "the winning formula" to be as effective as its competitors Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
Clinical trials had shown an average efficacy of 70% in November, against around 95% for the other two vaccines.
But one of the protocols, tested by mistake by the British laboratory on a small group of volunteers, showed an effectiveness of 90%, pushing the company to carry out an "additional study".
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is eagerly awaited because it is relatively inexpensive and easier to store, which facilitates large-scale vaccination.
Restrictive measures, again
Faced with worrying levels of contamination, several countries are once again subject to restrictive measures.
Poland begins on Monday a partial containment of three weeks throughout the territory.
Shopping malls, hotels and ski resorts will close and only grocery stores, pharmacies and a few other businesses will remain open.
Israel began a third general containment on Sunday, for at least two weeks, Austria confined its population on Saturday, until January 24.
Italy and Ireland, for their part, re-confined themselves before Christmas, and local lockdowns or severe restrictions affect millions of people in the United Kingdom.
80 million contaminations
In total, the pandemic has killed more than 1.75 million people around the world since the end of December, out of more than 80 million confirmed infections, according to a report established by AFP on Sunday.
The United States is the country with the most deaths (333,069) and cases (19.11 million) since the start of the pandemic, ahead of Brazil (190,795 deaths for 7.47 million cases) and India (147,622 deaths for 10.19 million cases).
But in proportion to their population (respectively 100, 90 and 11 dead per 100,000 inhabitants), these three countries are less bereaved than Belgium (165), Italy (118), Peru (113), Spain (107 ) or the United Kingdom (104).