In France, the epidemic and hospital situation continues to improve, with in particular less than 2,000 patients treated in intensive care.
Contact case, Prime Minister Jean Castex was able to get out of the imposed isolation period on Wednesday, at the end of the Council of Ministers, he announced the end of wearing a mask outside from Thursday, except in certain cases, and the lifting of the curfew on Sunday.
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End of wearing a mask outside, lifting of the curfew ... Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Wednesday a series of relaxations, a sign of the health improvement in France.
The decline continues, and France has fallen below the symbolic threshold of 2,000 patients treated in intensive care units.
The vaccination of adolescents against Covid-19 has been possible since Tuesday, with the aim of increasing the collective immunity of the French to face Covid-19 and the threat of new variants such as the Delta, which continues to progress in the Landes.
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Information to remember:
Jean Castex announces the end of wearing a mask outdoors, except in certain cases
The curfew will be lifted on Sunday
Less than 2,000 patients in shifts
30% of contaminations in the Landes are due to the Delta variant
American travelers soon to return to Europe
Castex announces the lifting of the mask outside on Thursday, and the end of the curfew on Sunday
Wearing a mask outside will no longer be compulsory from Thursday, except in certain circumstances such as gatherings, crowded places or stadiums, Jean Castex announced on Wednesday.
This decision was taken because the health situation "is improving faster than we had hoped", explained the Prime Minister after the Defense Council and the Council of Ministers.
The curfew at 11 p.m. will be lifted from Sunday, June 20, announced Jean Castex on Wednesday after the Council of Ministers.
The lifting of this restriction, in force since June 9 at 11:00 p.m. but started in October at an earlier time, will therefore apply to the music festival of June 21, even if the other "protocols will be maintained. "for this event, he said.
France returns to below 2,000 patients in real life
France fell back on Tuesday under the bar of 2,000 Covid-19 patients hospitalized in intensive care units - that is to say the most serious cases -, a first since mid-October, according to official figures. Currently, 1,952 Covid patients are in these services. You have to go back to October 18 to find a comparable figure (1,939) and, at the time, the trend was upwards while it is now down.
All services combined, 12,008 patients are currently hospitalized, steadily declining since mid-April.
France has never gone back below the 12,000 mark since October 19.
During the last 24 hours, 300 people have been hospitalized because of the Covid, including 69 in the intensive care unit.
At the beginning of April, these daily admissions peaked at values ten times higher (more than 3,000 and more than 600).
The number of new cases detected in 24 hours also continues to decline: it is 3,235 against more than 15,000 a month ago.
Finally, 76 people have died from Covid in hospital in 24 hours (for a total of 110,563 deaths since the start of the epidemic in 2020.
22% of the population fully vaccinated, the time between two injections shortened
In addition, vaccination is progressing: while it opened Tuesday to adolescents, 30.7 million people received at least one injection (45.9% of the total population and 58.6% of the adult population. ), including 14.7 who had two (22.0% of the total population and 28.1% of the adult population). A total of 16.5 million people have been fully vaccinated, either with two injections or with just one in cases where this is sufficient (for people who have had the Janssen vaccine, the only one requiring only one dose , or for those who have already had the Covid in the past).
The Ministry of Health also announced Tuesday that the time between two injections of an anti-Covid vaccine with messenger RNA, Pfizer or Moderna, is reduced to a minimum of three weeks.
The stated objective is to vaccinate the French more quickly before leaving on vacation and to fight against the spread of the Delta variant, of Indian origin.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister set a target of 35 million French people fully vaccinated by the end of August.
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The Delta variant is progressing in the Landes, with some 250 cases
The Delta variant is progressing in the Landes but the overall health situation is improving in the department, authorities said on Monday. "We have 114 proven cases, that is to say sequenced and screened, in the Landes" and 134 "probable" cases, detailed during a press point Tuesday Didier Couteaud, departmental delegate of the Regional Health Agency (ARS ) Nouvelle-Aquitaine, commenting on the results - still partial - of the sequencing of some 250 positive Covid-19 tests carried out last week after the announcement of the existence of this variant in this southwestern department and the first operations of contact-tracing.
Now in the Landes, "30% of those contaminated (by Covid-19) are by the Delta variant", added the prefect Cécile Bigot-Dekeyzer, specifying that 15 of the 18 communities of municipalities in the department were now concerned, against six the previous week when only about thirty cases were confirmed.
According to Didier Couteaud, 63% of the positive for the Delta variant are under 50 years old and 66% are not vaccinated.
"Less than 10% of them have a complete vaccination schedule (2 doses, note) which, for some, does not necessarily date from 15 days (before contamination, note)", he added, specifying that two of the three Covid patients in intensive care in the department were cases of the Delta variant.
The curfew (almost) respected after the victory of the Blues against Germany
The victory of the Blues against Germany on Tuesday night (1-0) was followed by many supporters from bars or cafes.
Curfew requires, everyone was asked to be home at 11 pm.
But in a letter addressed to the prefects, the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin had asked them to "show leniency" to allow the return in peace of football fans to their homes.
As Europe 1 could see in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, at 11:30 p.m. the streets had already largely regained their calm.
The compromise between curfew and the French team's match will once again be on the table next Wednesday, during the match between France and Portugal (9 p.m.).
No problem, however, for the match against Hungary on Saturday, since it will take place in the afternoon (3 p.m.).
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The return of American travelers to the EU, even unvaccinated
The ambassadors of the Twenty-Seven gave the green light on Wednesday to add the United States to the list of countries and territories whose travelers, even not vaccinated against Covid-19, can be admitted to the EU, said from European sources to AFP.
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).
This does not prevent travelers from these countries or territories from being subjected by the States of destination to measures such as tests, or even quarantine.
The EU also decided in May to allow vaccinated travelers from third countries
To draw up their list, the Europeans are based in particular on the epidemiological situation of the country and the progress of its vaccination campaign, the number of tests carried out as well as on the reliability of the data.
Countries can be included if they have recorded less than 75 cases of Covid per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days.
In the United States the rate is 73.9, according to figures from the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC).
The United States crosses the milestone of 600,000 dead
More than 600,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the United States since the start of the pandemic, a sad threshold crossed as the country gradually completes its reopening, with the lifting of restrictions in two of the most populous states.
The virus has claimed more than 600,185 people nationwide, according to benchmark Johns Hopkins University figures Tuesday afternoon.
A "sad milestone", lamented President Joe Biden, calling on Americans to get vaccinated "as soon as possible".
Thanks to the immunization campaign, the number of daily deaths has indeed dropped considerably, and allowed a near return to normal in most of the country.
More than 3.8 million dead
The pandemic has killed more than 3,813,990 people around the world since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Tuesday at 10:00 GMT.
After the United States, which has 600,263 dead, the countries with the highest number of deaths are Brazil (490,696), India (377,031), Mexico (230,187) and Peru (188,921).
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.