Concern reigns in Japan where yet another outbreak of contaminations, although moderate, threatens again the holding of the Olympics.
In France, the drop in hospital pressure is being confirmed, while vaccination against Covid-19 will be made available to all adults on May 12.
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President Emmanuel Macron accelerated the French campaign calendar on Thursday, by opening vaccination against Covid-19 to everyone over 50 from May 10, and the doses available the next day to over 18s, from 12. As for hospitals, and in particular resuscitation services, the decline in the number of patients treated is continuing slowly.
Amnesty is calling on Covax to publish its contracts with vaccine manufacturers, while European authorities have shown little enthusiasm for the American proposal on Thursday for a temporary lifting of patents to speed up vaccine production.
In Japan, a new outbreak of contamination, admittedly less significant than those experienced in recent weeks in Europe, calls into question the holding of the Olympic Games this summer.
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Information to remember:
5,231 patients in intensive care on Thursday evening
Vaccination open to everyone over 50 on Monday
From Wednesday, the remaining doses at the end of the day will be offered to everyone over 18 years old.
Extension of the state of health emergency in several departments of Japan, including Tokyo
Extension of the state of emergency in Japan and concern for the Olympics
Reinstated since April 25 in Tokyo and in three other departments in the west of the country (Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo), the state of emergency should be extended until May 31, when it was initially due to end on Tuesday. next, according to the Japanese media.
Japan is facing a fourth local wave of the coronavirus, currently with some 5,300 new cases on a weekly average.
The scale of the pandemic thus remains limited compared to other regions of the world, but the health crisis is exhausting the Japanese hospital system, especially as the vaccination campaign is progressing only very slowly.
"We are not in a situation where we can lift the state of emergency. I think we must extend it," said Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike on Thursday. On the same line, the governor of Osaka, Hirofumi Yoshimura, pointed out that the medical system was reaching a "breaking point".
The new outbreak of infections also represents a threat for the Tokyo Olympics (July 23-August 8), postponed for a year in 2020 because of the pandemic. Fearing that the Olympics will further worsen the health situation in the country, a majority of Japanese are opposed to their holding this summer, wanting either a new postponement or an outright cancellation, according to all polls for several months. Spectators from abroad have already been excluded from the Olympics, and the organizers have yet to decide the question of the public residing in Japan.
The health situation is already complicating the running of the Games test events, as well as that of the Olympic torch relay, which started at the end of March in Japan.
Some runners give up participating, and many stages are organized behind closed doors by the local authorities.
The governor of the department of Fukuoka announced on Friday such an intention in his territory.
France is speeding up vaccinations
Everyone over 50 can be vaccinated from May 10, instead of May 15, and the doses available at the end of the day will be open to everyone the next day "without age limit", French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday. .
Vaccination is also open to minors aged 16 and 17 suffering from certain diseases which put them at "very high risk of severe form".
17,130,308 people have received at least one injection, and 7,386,030 are fully vaccinated with two doses (i.e. 11% of the total population and 14.1% of the adult population), specifies the General Directorate of Health (DGS) .
>> READ ALSO -
Here is how the vaccination without age limit will take place from Wednesday 12 May
The decline continues in the sheave services
The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care continues to decline slowly, as does that of all hospitalized patients, according to figures from Public Health France published on Thursday.
On Thursday, the critical care services (which bring together resuscitation, intensive care and continuous monitoring) received 5,231 patients, against 5,402 on Wednesday.
Seven days ago, 5,804 patients occupied the beds of these services.
This indicator, monitored very closely by the health authorities, is slowly moving away from the bar of 6,000 patients exceeded on April 26, and from the alarming peak of the first wave of spring 2020 (about 7,000 patients).
In 24 hours, 273 new patients with severe forms of Covid were admitted to intensive care units, against 312 the day before.
Same downward trend across all hospitalizations, with a total of Covid patients amounting to 26,985 (27,686 Wednesday).
A week ago, hospitals welcomed nearly 30,000 coronavirus patients.
The disease killed 222 people in 24 hours (245 the day before), bringing the death toll to 105,879 since the start of the epidemic in spring 2020, including 79,612 who died in hospital.
21,712 people have tested positive for Covid and the positivity rate for the tests over the last 7 days, consolidated on D-3, was 6.9% (against 7.4% the day before).
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Vaccines: lively debate around the lifting of patents
Europeans said Thursday they were ready to discuss US support for the proposal to lift patents on anti-Covid vaccines, hailed by Russia, the African Union and the United Nations, while poor countries are sorely lacking in doses. However, the German government expressed strong reservations, believing that patents should be "protected". The CEO of the Pfizer laboratory, Albert Bourla, said for his part that he was "not at all" in favor of a temporary suspension.
All were speaking after US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that, "to end this pandemic, (the US government) supports the temporary lifting" of these patents.
Hitherto reluctant, Emmanuel Macron has finally also said "completely in favor".
Vaccines: Human Right Watch and Amnesty call on Covax to publish its contracts
NGOs Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International on Thursday called on Covax, the anti-Covid vaccine sharing system, to "increase transparency" by making its contracts with vaccine manufacturers public in particular.
The anti-Covid vaccine sharing device Covax has notably just concluded an agreement with the American biotechnology company Novavax to secure 350 million doses of the vaccine candidate which will begin to be distributed in the third quarter.
For its part, the regional office for Africa of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday warned of the risk of a new wave of coronavirus on the continent because of increasing delays in vaccination compared to to the rest of the world.
Brazil reports delivery delays to produce CoronaVac
The Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo, which produces CoronaVac in Brazil, said on Thursday that the Brazilian government's repeated criticism of China is affecting the supply of active ingredients needed to manufacture the main vaccine used in the country. against Covid-19.
Moderna vaccine for teens
Moderna announced on Thursday that its vaccine was 96% effective in adolescents aged 12 to 17, according to preliminary results from clinical trials.
Germany will be able to offer vaccination to adolescents over 12 years of age by the end of August, subject to the green light from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
India: new daily records
India announced Thursday a record of nearly 4,000 deaths and 412,000 new cases in 24 hours, bringing to more than 230,000 deaths and 21.1 million contaminations since the start of the pandemic.
More than 3.2 million deaths worldwide
The pandemic has killed at least 3,244,598 people around the world since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources Thursday at 10:00 GMT.
The United States is the country with the most deaths (580,025), ahead of Brazil (416,949), India (230,168), Mexico (218,007) and the United Kingdom (127,570).
These figures are globally underestimated.
They are based on daily reports from national health authorities, without including reassessments based on statistical bases.