Paris (AFP)

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

- More than 1.77 million dead -

The pandemic has killed at least 1,775,272 worldwide since the WHO office in China reported the onset of the disease at the end of December 2019, according to an assessment established by AFP from official sources Tuesday at 11:00 GMT.

More than 81,517,140 cases of contamination have been officially diagnosed.

The United States is the most affected country in terms of both deaths and cases, with 334,967 deaths for 19,310,597 cases, followed by Brazil (191,570 dead), India (148,153), Mexico (122,855) and Italy (72,370).

These figures exclude ex post revisions by statistical agencies, such as in Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom.

- Beginning of vaccination in Argentina and Belarus -

Argentina on Tuesday began a vaccination campaign against Covid-19 with the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, becoming the first Latin American country to use it.

Belarus did the same with the arrival in the country of the first batch of vaccines.

The American authorities, for their part, began to vaccinate their forces deployed in South Korea on the day the country, struck by a third epidemic wave, recorded a record number of deaths from the coronavirus.

- France is considering a new confinement -

While the authorities are considering local reconfigurations to prevent a new rebound in the pandemic, a defense council chaired by Emmanuel Macron took place Tuesday morning, but could not give rise to any immediate communication.

The Head of State will speak publicly no later than Thursday, for the traditional New Year's greetings, although it is not known whether he will announce new health measures.

- England: peak of the 1st wave exceeded -

The number of Covid-19 patients hospitalized in England exceeded the peak of the first wave of April, standing at 20,426 on Monday, and the number of contaminations reached a new record of 41,385, plunging caregivers "into the heart of the storm, "according to a health services official.

- Germany: new strain present from November -

The new strain detected in the United Kingdom was already present in northern Germany as early as November when it was identified in a patient, German health authorities said on Tuesday.

- Spain: first large delivery of vaccines -

Spain received more than 350,000 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 on Tuesday, the day after a logistical incident in Belgium which had prevented this delivery early Monday, announced the Spanish government.

The Minister of Health indicated that if all went as planned, "around 70%" of the population could have been vaccinated by next summer, an estimate significantly higher than the official forecasts of the government.

- The Latin American bolero in mourning -

Mexican singer-songwriter Armando Manzanero, Latin American bolero icon, died Monday at the age of 86 from Covid-19, Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador announced.

burx-fm / mw / cac

© 2020 AFP