Paris (AFP)

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

- AstraZeneca: London wants to reassure -

The British government is trying to reassure the population about the safety of vaccines, the day after the announcement that AstraZeneca serum would be reserved for over 30s as a precaution.

All Covid-19 vaccines used in the UK are "safe for all ages", but due to the "extremely rare" risk of suffering from a blood clot, those under 30 will be offered the Moderna vaccine or Pfizer / BioNTech, explained Health Minister Matt Hancock, who toured television sets Thursday morning.

- AstraZeneca: restriction in the Philippines -

The Philippine Ministry of Health on Thursday announced the suspension of AstraZeneca vaccine injections for those under 60 following reports confirming a link to rare cases of blood clots.

- Over 700 million doses -

At least 708.4 million doses of anti-Covid vaccines have been administered worldwide, according to a count made by AFP from official sources Thursday at 10:00 GMT.

Almost the entire planet has now started to vaccinate, since 95% of humanity lives in countries that have started their campaign.

But strong inequalities remain between "high income" countries as defined by the World Bank, which concentrate nearly half of the doses administered worldwide, and "low income" countries, where only 0.1 % of doses.

- Poland: record of deaths -

Poland announced on Thursday 954 deaths from Covid-19, a daily record, increasing the number of victims to 56,659, according to statistics from the Ministry of Health.

According to the spokesperson for the ministry, this high number of deaths is due to the delay in registration related to the Easter period and it is an accumulation of deaths of a few days.

- Over 2 million cases in Iran -

Iran crossed the threshold of two million confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Thursday against the backdrop of the accelerating epidemic.

According to the Ministry of Health, the epidemic has killed 63,884 people in Iran out of a total of 2,006,934 people infected.

In the last 24 hours, the country recorded 22,586 contaminations, a new record.

- A German mayor suspended -

The city councilor of a city in central Germany was temporarily suspended from his functions by the city council for having been vaccinated in January against the Covid without being part of the priority populations.

64-year-old Bernd Wiegand, the mayor of Halle, a town in the Land of Saxony-Anhalt, received a dose in January, while older people were given priority.

- Roland-Garros postponed -

The Roland-Garros tennis tournament, which was to take place from May 23 to June 6 in Paris, has been postponed for a week, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) announced on Thursday.

The main draw of the tournament will take place from May 30 to June 13, which could accommodate a larger number of spectators if the health restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic are eased.

- Spain: no mask at the beach -

In Spain, people going to the beach will no longer be forced to wear a mask "if they stay in a specific place and they respect the minimum distance of 1.5 meters from people who do not live under the same roof. that, "announced the Ministry of Health.

A law imposing it permanently, even sitting on his briefcase, had caused an uproar, a few months before the tourist season.

- More than 2.89 million dead -

The pandemic has killed more than 2.89 million people worldwide, according to a report established by AFP from official sources Thursday in the middle of the day.

The United States is the country with the most deaths (559,117), ahead of Brazil (340,776) and Mexico (205,598), India (166,862) and the United Kingdom (126,927).

These figures are globally underestimated.

They are based on daily reports from national health authorities, without including reassessments based on statistical bases.

burs-kd / mw

© 2021 AFP