Confusion about masks in America and a warning about the danger of the second year of the "Corona" pandemic

The United States is witnessing a state of confusion and fierce controversy over a recommendation that allows those who received the anti-Corona vaccine not to wear masks, while the World Health Organization has warned that the Covid-19 epidemic is on its way to causing more deaths than the one recorded in 2020.

While there is hope in many countries to return to a more normal life, other countries such as India are still caught in the devastating spiral of the epidemic.

The Covid-19 epidemic has killed 3.3 million people since the end of December 2019, while the emergence of mutated versions of the virus and the disparity in the progress of vaccination campaigns continues to cause concern.

And in the United States, after the authorities canceled a recommendation to use masks by people who were fully vaccinated, who make up about 35 percent of the population, several commercial centers such as the giant chain "Walmart" and "Cosco" stores, for sale at low prices, announced on Friday that they abandoned the imposition of masks in their stores Although it remains mandatory when required by local legislation.

But the new, non-binding directives issued by the health authorities surprised local officials, experts and companies, and led to controversy and even altercations in Congress.

"Before that, masks were important, and suddenly they were no longer so," said Evan Mata, 47, who works for a tourism company in New York.

"What I fear is how it can be verified that people have been fully vaccinated? I think that there are many who will not use the muzzle anymore even if they are not vaccinated," he added.

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'More deaths' -

In Geneva, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that "at the pace at which things are going now", the epidemic in its second year "will cause more deaths than the first year."

He called for abandoning the immunization of children and adolescents against Corona virus and donating the doses that were released in this way to the Kovacs system to be redistributed to poor countries.

In this climate, tennis star Roger Federer said the athletes "need a firm decision" about maintaining the Tokyo Olympics.

He added that he would fully understand the cancellation of the event, which had been postponed for a year.

"We do not hear much information and this makes me think that the games will be held even though I heard that many people in Tokyo are against it," he told Swiss television station Lehman Blue.

In fact, Japan extended the state of emergency that had been imposed in six regions, including the capital, and added three more regions with the emergence of Coronavirus cases, just ten weeks before the Olympics opened.

- "Wonderful thing" -

At the same time, and based on results that the governments consider encouraging, several countries, especially in Europe, are reopening their weak economies.

Among these countries, Greece, on Friday, lifted all travel restrictions that had been imposed for seven months, in order to launch a long-awaited tourist season.

The only condition for traveling to this country is to receive a vaccine or to present a test result that proves that you do not have the disease.

"Restaurants are open and you can go to the beach, enjoy the good weather and do some shopping," said Caroline Falk, 28, a German tourist in Crete.

"It is wonderful to be able to get out again," she added.

In Poland, cafes and restaurants are able to receive customers on balconies from Saturday.

For its part, Italy announced the lifting of the limited quarantine that it imposed for five days, Sunday, for European tourists, while Portugal expects that hundreds of British vacationers, as of Monday, will benefit from the lifting of travel restrictions that Lisbon granted to its first tourist market.

- Mutated Indian in Britain -

England is also preparing to take a big step forward with museums, hotels and stadiums reopening Monday thanks to a sharp drop in the number of coronavirus infections after a long period of quarantine and vaccination campaigns carried out at full speed.

However, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Friday that the Indian mutant could impede the further lifting of the stone if it continued to spread, after an alarming number of injuries were recorded in some places, especially in the northwest and in London.

For its part, France announced that travelers coming from four new countries (Colombia, Bahrain, Costa Rica and Uruguay) from a list that included 12 countries, will be subject to a ten-day quarantine, starting from Sunday.

- "They let people die" -

In India, at the height of a devastating epidemic, many states are suffering with a shortage of vaccines, and the available doses of them have been allocated to the 600 million adults, between the ages of 18 and 44 years.

However, vaccination with the Russian "Sputnik-V" vaccine began Friday in this country of 1.3 billion people.

The campaign began in Hyderabad (center), after an emergency approval for the use of this vaccine by New Delhi on April 12th.

And after major Indian capitals plunged into chaos along with a shortage of medicines, oxygen reserves and sick beds, the virus continues to spread in the countryside deprived of infrastructure, where the dead are buried or their bodies sometimes dumped in rivers, while patients try to treat themselves with herbs.

In recent days, more than 100 bodies were washed away by the waters of the Ganges River, raising fears of a catastrophic situation elsewhere as well.

"They are letting people die," Kidway Ahmed told AFP in his village, Sadalapur, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

It is "the India that we hide from everyone," he added.

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