Paris (AFP)

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

- "State of emergency" in a Chinese province -

China's northeastern province of Heilongjiang, which shares a long border with Russia, has declared an epidemic "state of emergency", ordering its 37.5 million residents to stay put and cancel everything gathering, after the discovery of 28 cases of contamination in the last 24 hours, including 12 asymptomatic.

China has largely eradicated the epidemic, which began in the country at the end of 2019. The last officially reported death dates back to last May.

But several sources of contamination have appeared in recent days, prompting a firm response from the authorities.

- Towards new restrictions in France -

A Health Defense Council could decide on new measures on Wednesday to contain the increase in coronavirus contaminations and to face its most contagious variant, which is starting to settle in France.

The addition of territories to the 25 departments already under curfew from 6:00 p.m. or even its generalization to the whole country are envisaged, according to several sources close to the government.

- Beginning of vaccination in Indonesia -

The Indonesian regulator gave the green light this week to CoronaVac, the vaccine produced by the Chinese group Sinovac.

Indonesia's highest Islamic authority last week declared the vaccine "halal," or conforms to the Muslim rite, an important step in facilitating the campaign in the Southeast Asian country with the largest Muslim population. in the world.

The goal is to vaccinate 182 million people in 15 months.

- ... and in Jordan -

Jordan launched its vaccination campaign against the new coronavirus on Wednesday, starting with healthcare workers, people with chronic diseases and those over the age of 60.

Amman announced on Saturday that it had granted an "emergency license" to use Sinopharm's Chinese vaccine, the second vaccine to be approved in Jordan after Pfizer-BioNTech's American-German.

- Nearly two million deaths worldwide -

The pandemic has killed at least 1.96 million people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources, Wednesday at 11:00 GMT.

More than 91.5 million cases of infection have been officially diagnosed since the start of the epidemic.

The United States is the country most affected with 380,821 deaths.

Brazil follows with 204,690 dead, India (151,569), Mexico (135,682) and the United Kingdom (83,203).

The global death toll is globally underestimated.

It is based on the daily reports from the national health authorities.

burs-paj / mw / hba

© 2021 AFP