Spain lifted certain health restrictions overnight from Saturday to Sunday allowing its population to move between regions.
In France, twenty doctors and researchers deplore in a forum a deconfinement more "political" than "health".
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On the other side of the Pyrenees, Spain lifted during the night from Saturday to Sunday certain health restrictions imposed so far in the country because of the Covid-19 epidemic.
In France, twenty doctors and researchers deplore in a forum a deconfinement more "political" than "health".
Follow the evolution of the situation live.
Saturday's information to remember:
Partial lifting of health restrictions in Spain
Doctors denounce a more "political" than "health" deconfinement
Castex urges those over 55 to get vaccinated, "especially with AstraZeneca"
5,005 patients in intensive care, 100 less than the day before
Vaccination open to everyone over 50 on Monday, the remaining doses for everyone on Wednesday
Partial lifting of restrictions in Spain
While France experienced the first phase of its "deconfinement" at the beginning of the week, Spain lifted the state of health emergency in force since October, from Saturday to Sunday, allowing its inhabitants to get out of their region to get a change of scenery or find relatives they had not seen for months.
Apart from Christmas when the restrictions had been relaxed for a few days to allow family reunions, the Spaniards had not been able to leave their region since the start of the state of emergency at the end of October.
If it is synonymous with lifting the curfew and opening up regions, the end of the state of emergency does not mean the end of restrictions in Spain: the 17 autonomous communities can, for example, still limit working hours. or the capacity of bars, restaurants or shops.
EU skeptical about patent lifting
To accelerate the dissemination of vaccines to poor countries, Pope Francis on Saturday supported the lifting of patents, condemning "the narrow nationalism which prevents, for example, the internationalization of vaccines". Hailed by the UN, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the African Union, the surprise announcement on Wednesday of US support for the lifting of patents aroused skepticism among the 27 member states of the United States. 'EU, meeting in summit in Porto (Portugal).
Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, said on Saturday he was "ready to discuss this subject as soon as concrete proposals were put on the table", but, "on the question of intellectual property, we do not think not that, in the short term, it could be a magic solution ".
French President Emmanuel Macron called on "the United States to end export bans not only of vaccines but of components of these vaccines which prevent production".
In addition, the EU has announced a new contract to purchase up to 1.8 billion doses of Covid vaccine from BioNTech-Pfizer, whose deliveries are scheduled from this year until 2023.
It is the Indian variant that would ignite the epidemic in India
The Indian variant of the coronavirus is more contagious and appears to be resistant to vaccines, contributing to the galloping outbreak of the epidemic in India, World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan warned on Saturday. For the first time on Saturday, India recorded the deaths of more than 4,000 people from Covid-19 in 24 hours and more than 400,000 new infections, but experts believe that the official figures are largely underestimated.
In an interview with AFP, Soumya Swaminathanan, an Indian pediatrician and researcher, said that the B.1.617 variant, which was first detected in India in October, was undoubtedly a factor accelerating the epidemic. got out of control in the country. This variant could be classified by the WHO in the list of variants considered to be more dangerous than the original version of the virus because of their greater contagiousness, their ability to overcome the defenses provided by vaccination and the death rate of affected patients. , estimated the scientist.
The B.1.617 variant "has mutations that increase transmissions, and which can also potentially make it resistant to antibodies that have developed through vaccination or natural contamination," she explained.
But the variant alone cannot be blamed for the dramatic increase in cases in India, which seems to have let their guard down too soon, with "large mass gatherings", she noted.
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Three questions on the possible lifting of patents on vaccines, pushed by the United States
Doctors denounce a more "political" than "health" deconfinement
About twenty doctors and researchers deplore in a forum on the
JDD
site
that the gradual lifting of restrictions planned by the government in the face of Covid-19 is "more guided by political designs than by a health objective". Stressing that "according to the Pasteur Institute, only an optimistic scenario would make it possible to avoid an epidemic rebound during the summer", they also recall that the scientific council affirmed on April 21 that the health situation remained "worrying".
"We are witnessing the officialization of the transition from active to passive management of the epidemic. This is a daring gamble, with a particularly high threshold and not meeting control objectives", continue the signatories, including emergency physicians, general practitioners, researchers.
Castex calls on those over 55 not to abandon AstraZeneca
Prime Minister Jean Castex on Saturday called on the some 13 million French people over 55 who are not vaccinated against Covid to do so "with all vaccines, in particular with AstraZeneca". "Above 55 years old, the authorities are all unanimous in France as elsewhere that there is no danger. I urge you to be vaccinated with all vaccines, in particular with AstraZeneca", he said. it launched after a visit to a vaccine park in La Défense, near Paris.
The head of government explained that there were "still in France today two million doses of AstraZeneca which are not used", and that "we will receive three million in the next four weeks".
According to him, "Germany has come back to us in terms of vaccination only because the use of AstraZeneca is better there".
Everyone over 50 will also be able to be vaccinated from Monday May 10, instead of May 15, and the doses available at the end of the day will be open to everyone the following day "without age limit" from May 12.
Vaccination is now also open to minors aged 16 and 17 suffering from certain diseases which put them at "very high risk of severe form".
How will we travel in Europe this summer?
While the summer of 2020 had taken place with the slogan of blue white red tourism, the objective this year is to also facilitate departures to other countries of the European Union.
Invited on Saturday on Europe 1, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, indicated that the European digital certificate (or "health pass") would be available "in June".
According to him, there should therefore no longer be "septaines" when you arrive in these countries.
Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne also indicated that the government and its European partners were also working on a country categorization system for non-EU travel: "There will be green countries, orange countries and red countries."
To learn more about the trips possible this summer,
read our article
.
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GPS bracelets, dematerialized keys: with the Covid, soon a contactless tourism?
First weekend without the 10 km limit in France
This Saturday marked the first weekend since early April without a ban on travel beyond 10 kilometers around his home.
The French can move around again and benefit from it: bus and TGV reservations have exploded, particularly to the Atlantic coast.
Read our article.
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Here is how the vaccination without age limit will take place from Wednesday 12 May
Hospital pressure continues to drop
The number of Covid-19 patients identified in intensive care services continues to decline slowly. According to figures from Public Health France published on Saturday, 5,005 patients were in these services, against 5,106 the day before. The bar of 6,000 patients exceeded on April 26 is moving away. In 24 hours, 191 new patients with severe forms of Covid were admitted to intensive care units, compared to 269 the day before. This downward trend is also observed for all hospitalizations, with a total of Covid patients amounting to 25,800, against 26,331 on Friday.
A total of 106,277 people have died from Covid in France since the start of the epidemic.
This represents 176 more deaths since the last assessment.
The number of new cases identified stands at 20,745 positive people recorded in 24 hours.
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Nearly 3.3 million deaths worldwide
The pandemic has killed at least 3,272,332 people around the world since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Saturday. The United States is the country with the most deaths (581,504), ahead of Brazil (421,316), India (238,270), Mexico (218,657) and the United Kingdom (127,598). These figures are globally underestimated. They are based on daily reports from national health authorities, without including reassessments based on statistical bases.