Washington is close to vaccinating 100 million Americans

Europe begins a difficult Easter vacation as infections rise

A group of Belgian policemen examining Corona restrictions in a public park.

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Europe, which is witnessing an increase in the number of cases of the "Covid-19" epidemic, begins again a difficult Easter holiday, while vaccination is still slow compared to the United States, which is close to vaccinating 100 million Americans.

In France, it is feared that there will be great chaos in the stations as many seek to leave to celebrate Easter, before the one-month travel ban, while it is still uncertain that the country will be able to achieve the goal of gradually reopening certain facilities from mid-May.

Yesterday, the World Health Organization criticized the slowdown in the vaccination campaign in Europe, describing it as "unacceptable."

"Currently, the regional situation is the most worrying of what we have witnessed several months ago," said the Director of the World Health Organization in Europe, Hans Kluge.

In the European region, which includes, according to the classification of the World Health Organization, about 50 countries, including Russia and several countries of Central Asia, the number of deaths exceeded 24 thousand last week and "quickly" approaches the one million threshold, according to the organization.

Yesterday, Kazakhstan recorded the largest number of daily infections with the Coronavirus since the beginning of the epidemic, while the slow launch of vaccination campaigns raises fears of a difficult summer in this country in Central Asia.

On average, according to Agence France-Presse data, 0.31% of the population in the Europe / Russia and Central Asian countries receives a dose of vaccine every day.

If this rate is almost twice higher than in the rest of the world (0.18%), it is much lower than that of the United States / Canada (0.82%), which leads the world in this field.

Emphasizing the amazing progress of the US vaccination campaign, President Joe Biden promised that 90% of adults will be eligible for the vaccine by April 19, and set a goal of giving 200 million vaccine shots in the country 100 days after taking office.

The goal of the Democratic president is for Americans to meet "in small groups" to celebrate National Day on the Fourth of July.

Meanwhile, in the face of the third wave of the epidemic, Europe is stepping up measures to try to limit the spread of the virus, especially restrictions on movement and travel.

And Germany decided, where President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had just received his first dose of AstraZeneca, to reinforce surveillance on its land borders "for the next eight to 14 days."

The night curfew came into effect in the German states of Berlin and Hamburg on Friday, and this measure aims to combat the spread of the Corona epidemic.

The ban was implemented in the two states daily, starting from nine in the evening until five in the morning, and the authorities in the two states announced the strengthening of police monitoring to follow up on the implementation of the ban.

Residents of the state of Hamburg will be prevented from leaving their homes during the ban, except for acceptable reasons, until the 18th of this month.

In Berlin, residents will be allowed to be outside at night for one or two people, at most.

As for the day period, the state will maintain the current rule that permits meetings between members of two families with a maximum of five people, whether in the open air or in closed rooms, with the exception of children up to the age of 14 years of this number.

In Finland, which was intending to impose stone on a part of its population, the government decided to review its decision after reservations about its legality.

On the other hand, Bulgaria decided to ease restrictions three days before the legislative elections, despite recording one of the highest death rates.

Yesterday, the British government announced the allocation of about 400 million pounds (470 million euros) to support the reopening of 2,700 cultural organizations affected by the Corona virus, including the Glastonbury Festival.

And Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford announced that the Canadian province will activate the "emergency brakes" starting Saturday and for a period of at least four weeks.

Quebec, which is the second most affected province by the epidemic, imposed containment measures in many regions in addition to maintaining the curfew in effect since early January.

In Asia, the situation is complicated in Japan, where new regional restrictions are expected to be imposed, especially in Osaka, where the regional authorities have requested that the Olympic torch be avoided in this city to reduce injuries.

"Covid" has killed more than 2.8 million people in the world, according to a toll prepared by "France Press", and the highest deaths were recorded in the United States and Brazil, which recorded a record number of deaths last month.

While more than 580 million doses of "Covid" vaccines were given around the world, according to a tally prepared by Agence France-Presse last Wednesday, their distribution is still very uneven.

A study conducted in Britain showed that one out of every seven people who tested positive for the Coronavirus still suffers from symptoms of the disease three months after infection.

According to this study conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics on what is known as "long Covid" and included more than 20 thousand people who contracted the virus between April 26, 2020 and March 6, 2021, 13.7% of these people experienced symptoms such as fatigue and muscle pain for at least 12 weeks.

Providing 580 million doses of "Covid-19" vaccines worldwide.

Saudi Arabia: 11 cases of "Corona" among worshipers closes 11 mosques

Yesterday, the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs closed 11 temporary mosques in five regions after 11 cases of Coronavirus were confirmed among worshipers.

The Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs said in a statement yesterday that the total of mosques that were closed during the past 54 days amounted to 441 mosques, 416 of which were opened after the completion of sterilization and the completion of readiness.

On the other hand, the Saudi Ministry of Health announced in a statement today, Friday, that the total number of new infections with the new Corona virus, which causes the "Covid-19" disease, has increased in the Kingdom to 391 thousand and 325 confirmed cases, an increase of 728 cases compared to the recorded yesterday, which amounted to 590 cases.

Yesterday, the number of injuries recorded was the highest since September 10.

And 404 new recoveries were recorded, bringing the total cases of recovery to 378,873 cases (97% of the total recorded injuries).

The Ministry also announced the registration of eight new deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 6,684 deaths.

Riyadh - D.P.A.

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