Paris (AFP)

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

- EU opens to unvaccinated travelers from the US -

The ambassadors of the 27 EU countries gave the green light on Wednesday to add the United States to the list of third countries whose travelers, even not vaccinated against Covid-19, can be admitted to the European Union .

In addition to the United States, Albania, Lebanon, North Macedonia, Serbia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao were added to this list which until then included eight countries (Japan, Australia, Israel, New Zealand , Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand).

The EU also decided in May to allow vaccinated travelers from third countries.

- Reopening of the Taj Mahal -

India's biggest tourist attraction, Taj Mahal, reopened on Wednesday after two months of closure at the height of the second epidemic wave.

The building had already been closed for the first time in March 2020, at the start of the global pandemic, only to reopen in September.

- Green light from the EU to the first national recovery plans -

The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Lisbon on Wednesday and will then travel to Madrid to give the green light from Brussels to the first national recovery plans, financed by an unprecedented joint loan in order to mitigate the economic damage of the pandemic.

The 750 billion euros European recovery plan had been bitterly negotiated by the 27 until its adoption in July 2020.

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- Compulsory vaccinations in Moscow -

The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, announced an obligation of vaccination against Covid-19 for all employees in the service sector, in order to counter a "dramatic" epidemiological development of the situation.

- "Tense food situation" in North Korea -

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un admitted his country was facing a "tense food situation", state media reported on Wednesday.

The regime maintains that the pandemic did not arrive on its soil, which many experts doubt.

It is "very likely" that it "worsened" the humanitarian situation in the North, where 10.6 million people are in need, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) recently estimated.

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- The mask in the street "soon" abandoned in Spain -

Spain, where the obligation to wear the mask outdoors has been extremely strict since the end of the first wave of the pandemic, will be able to abandon it "soon", Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez promised Wednesday.

- Japan sets a limit of 10,000 spectators -

Japan will set a limit of 10,000 spectators for various events, including athletes, said the Japanese minister in charge of the Covid-19 file, Yasutoshi Nishimura, on Wednesday.

This scheme, which should be formalized this week, could set the limits of a decision by the organizers of the Tokyo Olympics (July 23-August 8) on the number of local spectators, if any, at the venues of competition.

- More than 3.8 million dead -

The pandemic has killed more than 3,824,885 people around the world since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Wednesday at 10 a.m. GMT.

After the United States (600,285 dead), the countries with the highest number of deaths are Brazil (490,696), India (379,573), Mexico (230,428) and Peru (189,261).

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

The WHO estimates that the toll of the pandemic could be two to three times higher than that officially recorded.

burs-paj / cds / thm

© 2021 AFP