Paris (AFP)

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

- "Historic moment" at the G7 -

Boris Johnson hailed Saturday as a "historic moment" the declaration proposed by the G7 to prevent future pandemics, which aims in particular to reduce the time to develop vaccines and to reform the World Health Organization (WHO).

"With this agreement, the main democracies in the world will commit to preventing a global pandemic from happening again, so that the devastation caused by Covid-19 will never be repeated," the British Prime Minister said on his Twitter account.

- 60,000 vaccinated people allowed in Mecca -

Saudi Arabia will allow 60,000 of its residents vaccinated against the coronavirus to make the hajj, a great Muslim pilgrimage that takes place each year in Mecca, the Hajj ministry announced on Saturday, according to the official SPA agency.

Last year, only tens of thousands of worshipers residing in Saudi Arabia were able to perform the hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, against 2.5 million participants from around the world in 2019.

- First home Covid test kit in India -

An Indian start-up, Mylab Discovery Solutions, has just launched a Covid home test kit, the first of its kind in India, and hopes, thanks to its inexpensive device, to help trace the coronavirus among the approximately 1.3 billion people. inhabitants of the country.

India is gradually emerging from a powerful second wave of the epidemic, which has overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums, with nearly 30 million people infected and more than 350,000 dead.

- Delta variant cluster in eastern France -

The health authority of the Grand Est of France announced on Saturday an "immediate action plan" after the detection of a "Delta variant cluster (called Indian)" within the Haute Ecole des Arts du Rhin in Strasbourg.

Four positive cases are "already identified" and 43 contact cases are "under investigation", specifies the Regional Health Agency.

Targeted vaccination operations are planned over the weekend, the prefecture has declared the school closed.

- Night party in the heart of Paris -

Young people gathered by the hundreds on Friday evening for a party on the Esplanade des Invalides in Paris, often clustered together and without masks, until the police intervened to disperse them at curfew time.

"We danced, did pogos (dances from the punk movement consisting of jumping in all directions trying to jostle each other) but from 11:00 p.m., the + cops + arrived and charged, it dispersed everyone," said to AFP one of the revelers, Gaspard, 17 years old.

- More than 3.77 million dead -

The pandemic has killed more than 3,787,127 worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Saturday at 10:00 GMT.

After the United States (599,180 dead), the countries recording the highest number of deaths are Brazil (484,235), India (367,081), Mexico (229,823) and Peru (188,100), the latter country deploring the higher death toll in relation to its population.

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

They exclude the upward revisions carried out a posteriori by certain statistical organizations.

The WHO even estimates, taking into account the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19, that the results of the pandemic could be two to three times higher than that officially recorded.

burs-paj / mw / ia

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