Paris (AFP)

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

- India: 4,200 dead in 24 hours -

India, an Asian giant of 1.3 billion inhabitants, recorded on Saturday 4,197 additional deaths in a single day - a new national record, which brings the total death toll to 238,270 deaths.

The epidemic is stabilizing in large cities such as New Delhi and Bombay which have received additional supplies of oxygen but is flaring up in the rural South, prompting authorities to order local lockdowns.

- France: a "political" deconfinement?

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About twenty French doctors and researchers denounce in a forum a deconfinement more "political" than "health", warning against the risks of lifting certain restrictions while the country still records a high daily number of cases and hospitalizations.

"We are witnessing the formalization of the transition from active management to passive management of the epidemic", they deplore, calling "for the establishment of a new national protocol, which sets precise thresholds, triggering automatic measures, decided and discussed in advance ".

- Easing in Spain -

A wind of freedom rose Sunday in Spain, where residents are now allowed to leave their region.

In most regions, the end of this exceptional regime also meant the lifting of the curfew, as in Barcelona (north-east) where cries, applause and music marked this new found freedom.

- And in Germany for the vaccinated -

The more than 7 million people vaccinated in Germany will benefit from the relaxation of strict health rules as of Sunday, with for example the possibility of going to the hairdresser without providing a negative test or of meeting together.

These new measures, which come into force after express adoption by parliament, also affect people considered cured after being infected with the virus.

- Festivals this summer in Belgium?

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Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo considers it "possible" to organize again "a few big festivals" in "the second half of the summer", like the electronic music meeting Tomorrowland, his cabinet said on Sunday.

Details are to be announced on Tuesday.

According to this source, "one of the options considered is to grant access on the basis of the + green + European certificate", which should make it possible to certify that its holder has been vaccinated, has passed a negative test or is immunized after having been infected with Covid-19.

- In "Dracula's castle" -

Hundreds of people crowded this weekend in front of "Dracula's castle", Bran Castle (central Romania), to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

All the people vaccinated on the spot received a diploma attesting to their "recklessness and responsibility", as well as the promise to be welcomed at the castle "for the next 100 years".

- Almost 3.3 million dead -

The new coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 3,284,783 people around the world since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources.

After the United States (581,516 deaths), the countries most affected are Brazil (421,316 deaths), India (242,362 deaths), Mexico (218,928 deaths) and the United Kingdom (127,603 deaths).

© 2021 AFP