Latin America and the Caribbean has become the second region after Europe in which the deaths of Corona exceeds half a million, and while the new strain of the virus reached the United States, Britain announced the expansion of the fourth level restrictions to include new regions, and the European Union announced its contract to purchase 100 million additional doses of the vaccine against it within days From launching a comprehensive vaccination campaign against the virus.

Colorado State Governor Jared Polis wrote on Twitter, "Today we discovered the first infection in Colorado of a mutated type of Covid-19 (B-7.1.1), the same type that was discovered in Britain."

His post was attached to an official statement issued by his office and state health officials stating that the injured "was mentioned in his twenties, and he is currently under isolation in Albert County, and he has no travel record."

The Washington Post reported that Colorado was the first infection with a mutated virus to be recorded in the United States.

And the first two cases of the new version of the virus were detected in North America in Canada at the end of the week.

The new version of Covid-19 raised concerns around the world after experts said it was likely to spread faster.

More than 3 thousand cases of the mutated type were recorded in Britain and dozens of countries in Europe and around the world, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention.

In South Africa, more than 300 other mutated infections were recorded, and 3 cases of it were confirmed in Europe, two in Britain and one in Finland, but the three infections were linked to people returning from South Africa.

fourth level

In Britain, the government expanded the fourth level restrictions to combat the Corona virus, with the steady increase in infections, as the Kingdom recorded, on Tuesday, more than 53 thousand new infections and 414 deaths.

The newspaper "The Times" reported that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had agreed to impose fourth-level restrictions to combat the Corona virus in other parts of the country, with the government's growing concern about the rapid spread of a new strain of the virus.

The report added that ministers are studying imposing stricter restrictions in parts of the southwest and Cumbria where the new strain appears to be spreading, despite the relatively small number of cases.

Warning

In turn, the US President-elect Joe Biden warned that the next few weeks and months will be very difficult for the American people, due to the outbreak of the Corona epidemic and the failure of his predecessor Donald Trump's administration plan to distribute the vaccine to achieve its goals.

In his speech on Tuesday evening, addressing the American people before the New Year arrives from Delaware, Biden added, "If the vaccination program continues at the current pace, it will take years to vaccinate the American people."

Biden warned that the coming period will be very difficult for the American people due to the outbreak of the Corona epidemic (French)

Biden warned that the next few weeks and months will be very difficult for the American people, and it may be the most difficult period for the epidemic, as he put it.

He pledged to vaccinate more than 100 million Americans during his first 100 days in office, and that he would make the vaccine available to all Americans.

The US President stressed that "if the necessary measures are taken into account during the next few weeks, it is possible to save the lives of between 60 thousand to 100 thousand citizens," calling on Americans to wear masks.

In a related context, Kamala Harris, US Vice President, received the Moderna vaccine against Covid-19 live on Tuesday, and urged the public to trust in this process, while her choice of hospital highlighted the plight of the severely affected African-American community.

Harris received her first dose of the vaccine at the United Medical Center, which is located in the Washington area, which is home to a large number of African Americans.

Half a million deaths

On Tuesday, Latin America and the Caribbean became the second region, after Europe, where deaths due to Covid-19 exceeded the half-million mark, according to a France Press census based on official statistics.

At least half a million and 800 deaths were recorded in the region's 29 countries, more than half of them in Brazil (192,000) and Mexico (120,000).

This toll comes 12 days after Europe crossed the barrier of half a million deaths.

This brings the total death toll in the world due to Covid-19 to more than one million and 780 thousand, including more than 350 thousand in the United States and Canada and about 217 thousand in Asia.

Statistics

About 82 million people have contracted the virus in the world, including more than 15 million in the Latin America region, which is the third largest toll after Europe (26 million) and the United States and Canada (20 million).

Brazil recorded the largest number of injuries in Latin America, reaching 7 and a half million.

A number of health workers in Argentina are preparing to receive the "Sputnik V" vaccine in a hospital in the country (Getty Images)

On Tuesday, Argentina joined Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica to become the fourth country in Latin America to launch a comprehensive vaccination campaign against the emerging corona virus, despite its use of the controversial Russian "Sputnik V" vaccine.

The other three countries began their campaigns last week with the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine.

100 million additional doses

In a related context, the European Union announced, Tuesday, that it will buy 100 million additional doses of the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine, bringing the total to 300 million doses after the first shipment last week.

Europe launched a comprehensive vaccination campaign against Corona (Getty Images)

"We have decided to take an additional 100 million doses of the Pfizer-Biontec vaccine, which is already used to vaccinate citizens across the European Union," Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said on Twitter.

She added that the European Union will subsequently receive 300 million doses of the vaccine, which was approved for use by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on December 22.

The European Union has concluded agreements with 6 companies that have so far conducted "promising" vaccine studies, and are scheduled to purchase about two billion doses of vaccine, including 300 million from Pfizer and Biontech.

The union also signed contracts with American Moderna, British Swedish, AstraZeneca, Germany's Curvac, American Johnson & Johnson, and British GlaxoSmithKline.