Paris (AFP)

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

- Lifting the mask in the United States -

The lifting by the US health authorities of the recommendation to wear a mask for people vaccinated against Covid-19 took local officials, experts and companies in the United States by surprise, causing heated debate and some confusion in the process on Friday. country.

Several American retail chains, such as the giant Walmart or the low-cost supermarkets Costco, announced on Friday that the mask is no longer mandatory in their stores but that it remains de rigueur when local legislation still requires them to be worn. .

The main federal public health agency in the United States (CDC) said Thursday that anyone who is fully vaccinated can now do without wearing the mask, except in transport and hospitals.

But each state, county or even city can decide to maintain the obligation.

- The 2nd year of the deadliest pandemic -

The second year of the pandemic is poised to kill more people than last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday.

The WHO boss also called on countries to give up immunizing children and adolescents and donate the doses thus released to the Covax system to redistribute them to underprivileged countries.

- Reopening in Portugal -

Hundreds of British holidaymakers are expected from Monday in Portugal to take advantage of the lifting of travel restrictions granted by Lisbon to its first tourist market, a boon for a sector affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

- Peru: no black market according to the authorities -

The Peruvian Ministry of Health on Friday denied any existence of a black market in vaccines against the coronavirus after its investigation into suspicions of vaccination of patients with empty syringes.

The Ministry of Health had seized on Tuesday three cases where "apparently, the syringes for the vaccination were not loaded with the dose against the Covid-19" and had "opened an investigation to determine if there is a responsibility of health personnel or if these are fortuitous events ".

- GB: deconfinement plan disrupted?

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Friday that the Indian variant risked disrupting further deconfinement in England if it continued to spread there.

The number of cases attributed to the Indian variant in the UK climbed from 520 last week to 1,313 this week.

- Japan: extended state of emergency -

Japan extended the state of health emergency to three additional departments on Friday in the face of the resurgence of the pandemic, just ten weeks before the opening of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, a city where the state of emergency has already been applied since April 25.

"The athletes need a firm decision" on whether the Tokyo Olympics will continue, tennis star Roger Federer said on Friday, adding that he would fully understand if the event, already postponed for a year, was finally canceled.

- More than 3.3 million dead -

The pandemic has killed more than 3.346 million people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Friday at midday.

After the United States (585,222 deaths), the countries with the most deaths are Brazil (432,628), India (262,317), Mexico (219,901) and the United Kingdom (127,651).

These figures, which are based on daily reports from national health authorities, are generally underestimated.

burs-mlb / ybl

© 2021 AFP