Paris (AFP)

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

- No end of the pandemic without equitable access to the vaccine -

Vaccines will not end the pandemic if all countries do not receive doses quickly and fairly, experts warned on Saturday.

While several countries are considering the implementation of vaccine passports before the resumption of international travel, the authors of this open letter published in The Lancet believe that the accumulation of vaccine doses in the richest countries risks prolonging the health crisis .

- Peru: record number of hospitalizations -

Peru, facing its second wave of Covid-19, recorded its record of hospitalizations linked to the coronavirus, with 14,333 hospitalized patients, announced the Ministry of Health.

In the past 24 hours, 213 new admissions have taken place, bringing the total number of hospitalized patients to 14,333, according to official figures.

The previous record, 14,181, was reached on August 17.

The number of contaminations and deaths has quadrupled compared to the end of December.

- Iran: warning against a "4th wave" -

President Hassan Rouhani warned on Saturday of a "fourth wave" of Covid-19 in Iran, after an increase in the number of cases in some areas.

After several weeks of low levels of contamination, some towns in Khuzestan province, in the south-west of the country, are now "red" zones, he warned.

Iran is the country in the Middle East hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic with nearly 59,000 deaths out of more than 1.5 million people infected.

- France: no local containment for the time being in the east -

In Moselle (east), a French department hard hit by the epidemic, in particular with a progression of the South African variant, schools remain open and there is no local confinement, the current measures appearing "to date sufficient" , the authorities announced on Saturday.

- More than 2.38 million dead -

The pandemic has killed more than 2.38 million people around the world since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP on Saturday from official sources.

After the United States (480,902 dead), the most bereaved countries are Brazil (237,489), Mexico (172,557), India (155,550) and the United Kingdom (116,287).

The number of victims is globally underestimated.

It is based on the daily reports of the national health authorities but excludes the revisions carried out a posteriori by statistical organizations.

burs-frd / mw / ia

© 2021 AFP