Copenhagen (AFP)
Often misunderstood, the "long Covid" must be a priority for health authorities in the global fight against the pandemic, urged the WHO on Thursday, a few hours before a virtual summit during which EU countries will try to cope common in the face of the threat of variants.
People suffering from symptoms for a long time "must be heard if we are to understand the long-term consequences and the cure of Covid-19", said Hans Kluge, the director of the European branch of the World Health Organization. health (WHO).
This call comes at a time when health authorities are particularly focused on vaccination campaigns to try to curb the pandemic and are scrutinizing the rise of British and South African variants which raise the specter of new outbreaks of contamination.
The issue of "Covid long" is "a clear priority for the WHO, and of the utmost importance. It must be for all health authorities", insisted Mr. Kluge during a press conference, deploring that these long-term symptoms are too often met with "disbelief or a lack of understanding".
If some studies are starting to lift a corner of the veil, we still do not really know why some patients with Covid-19 then display symptoms such as extreme fatigue, breathing difficulties and sometimes very severe neurological and cardiac disorders for months. .
WHO Europe has called on the countries of the area it covers and the European institutions to set up "a common research program", and wants "a regional strategy" in this area.
- Second generation vaccines -
In the meantime, European Union leaders were due to meet on Thursday afternoon at a virtual summit to try to display a common strategy in the face of the threat of the coronavirus variants, despite uncoordinated traffic restrictions and sharp differences on the future "vaccination passport".
The Europeans want to be prepared in particular in the event that new, second-generation vaccines are made necessary by mutations in the virus: Brussels has already promised an accelerated regulatory green light.
The Pfizer / BioNTech alliance announced Thursday that it would test the effectiveness of a third dose of its Covid vaccine against variants.
The day before, the American biotechnology company Moderna had announced that a modified version of its vaccine, specifically developed against the South African variant, was ready for clinical trials.
The same day, the American authorities had for their part confirmed the effectiveness of the single-dose remedy from Johnson & Johnson, including against variants circulating in South Africa and Brazil, on the basis of clinical trial data.
Injecting a vaccine against Covid-19 will be mandatory for Filipino soldiers, as the army prepares to receive the first doses from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac.
Sierra Leone, a poor country in West Africa, is due to receive 200,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China on Thursday.
The US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the same day called on the G20 states to increase their support to poor countries, to help them obtain vaccines, but also to continue to provide support to their own economies, affected by the pandemic. .
International institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank have provided “essential” emergency aid since the start of the pandemic and must remain major players to overcome the current health and economic crisis, she also said.
Having failed to convince eligible people to receive an injection, Bulgaria became the first country in the European Union to abandon the priority groups strategy, now offering immunization to the entire population.
- New restrictions -
To stem an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in all or part of their territory, several countries also continue to announce restrictions.
Finland will therefore strongly tighten the measures in force and in particular close its bars and restaurants for three weeks from March 8.
France, for its part, will ask for negative PCR tests of less than 72 hours from next Monday for non-professional cross-border travel between Germany and the Moselle department, one of the most affected by the pandemic.
And the rugby match of the Six Nations Tournament between France and Scotland, scheduled for Sunday, had to be postponed after the detection on Thursday of a new positive case of Covid-19 in the French ranks, already decimated by the coronavirus .
In Italy, the Championship match scheduled for Friday night between Torino and Sassuolo has also been postponed due to grouped cases of this disease in the Turin club.
China also denied Thursday having inflicted anal Covid-19 screening on diplomats from the United States, in the hope of defusing an emerging controversy between the two powers.
According to American media, State Department employees stationed in China complained of having undergone rectal screening "by mistake", considered more reliable than traditional methods, although they are in principle exempt from it .
burx-ode / bds
© 2021 AFP