On Friday, several European countries resumed vaccination with the British AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, after the recommendation of the World Health Organization, while France imposed a new closure on nearly a third of its population, and Germany announced an "accelerated" increase in the number of infections.
The World Health Organization confirmed that the benefits of the "AstraZeneca-Oxford" vaccine outweigh its risks, according to what its experts concluded after reviewing the safety data related to the possibility of causing blood clots.
Germany and France, like Italy, Bulgaria and Slovenia, have resumed vaccination campaigns with this vaccine, and other countries will do so next week, including Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands.
And 15 precautionary countries have suspended the use of the "AstraZeneca-Oxford" vaccine, after recording side effects such as blood clots.
Boris Johnson is about to receive a vaccine (Getty Images)
Johnson and Merkel
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson received the first dose of the "AstraZeneca-Oxford" vaccine, and urged citizens to do the same, saying he "did not feel anything."
Johnson, 56, received the vaccine in the same hospital he was admitted to about a year ago in the intensive care unit after he was infected with the virus.
And German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed yesterday, Friday, that she is ready to receive the "AstraZeneca-Oxford" vaccine when her turn comes, while her country faces a "very clearly accelerating" increase in the number of Coronavirus infections, according to the vice president of the Robert Koch Institute for Public Health.
Million deaths
The number of deaths due to infection with the Coronavirus in the European region exceeded the one million mark yesterday, at a time when countries seek to expand the vaccination campaign to overcome new strains that spread a third wave of infection that may push hospitals again to reach their full potential.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Europe has recorded at least 37 million 221,978 injuries, and 2 million 62 deaths, according to a Reuters count.
On Thursday, the French government announced the imposition of a closure, which is the third in a year, but it is more flexible than the previous two rocks, indicating that there is a "third wave" of the epidemic in the country where the number of deaths is close to the threshold of 100,000 due to the virus.
Belgium followed the example of France in tightening measures to limit the spread of the new Corona virus, in order to avoid a third wave and to preserve plans to open the economy next May.
French train stations are witnessing great overcrowding before the lockdown takes effect
Record numbers in Brazil
In Latin America, the Brazilian Ministry of Health announced yesterday, Friday, that 90,570 cases of the virus had been recorded during the past 24 hours, and 2,815 deaths from Covid-19, the second highest daily number of deaths since the start of the pandemic a year ago.
The Mexican Ministry of Health data also showed that Mexico recorded 613 new deaths from the Corona virus on Friday, bringing the total deaths in the country to 197,219 cases.