London (AFP)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced the imminent end of wearing a mask in England, despite a surge in Covid-19 cases attributed to the Delta variant, which worries the rest of the world and in particular Africa, where the pandemic is in full swing rebound with a record number of contaminations.

The spread of the Delta variant also threatens Spain, where authorities plan to reinstate restrictions, while Norway has pushed back its full reopening and in Asia, Bangladesh has extended its containment.

Despite this uneasy context, Boris Johnson announced Monday that he intended to lift on July 19 most of the latest health measures related to the coronavirus in England, including the compulsory wearing of a mask and social distancing.

The British government must confirm this choice on July 12.

While acknowledging that the pandemic was "far from over" and that contaminations continued to increase and could reach "50,000 per day by July 19", the Prime Minister explained that he wanted "to allow people to take their own informed decisions on how to handle the virus ".

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Contaminations are also on the rise in Africa, where more than 36,000 daily cases have been recorded over the past seven days, a record on the continent since the start of the pandemic, according to an AFP count from official reports.

Among the countries with more than 1,000 daily infections, the main increases were observed in Zimbabwe, Tunisia and South Africa, where more than half of the new cases detected on the continent are concentrated.

- Clear deterioration in Spain -

The situation is not encouraging either in Spain, where contaminations are exploding, especially among young people.

The Spanish Ministry of Health identified 32,607 new cases of Covid-19 on Monday in the last 72 hours and 23 deaths.

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"The figures of the day are not good at all", commented Monday evening Fernando Simon, the chief epidemiologist of the Ministry of Health, explaining that "this data was very variable between the different age groups" and that " among the youngest, we have an incidence rate close to 600 ".

In view of the deterioration of the situation, several regions of Spain such as Andalusia and Catalonia are planning to reinstate restrictions this week while since June 26, masks are no longer mandatory outdoors.

In Luxembourg, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, diagnosed positive for Covid-19 and hospitalized since Sunday "as a precaution", is in a "serious but stable" state, said his services.

He will remain hospitalized for another "two to four days".

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Elsewhere in Europe, Norway, worried about a possible fourth wave, postponed Monday "to the end of July, beginning of August" at the earliest the almost total lifting of health restrictions.

"The evolution remains positive", said Prime Minister Erna Solberg but "we choose to wait and see how (...) the Delta variant affects the situation".

In France, government spokesman Gabriel Attal estimated that a fourth wave of the pandemic from the end of July was "a possibility" but "not inevitable" thanks to vaccination, confirming a warning from the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.

- Fears in Israel about the Delta variant -

In Israel, where more than half of the population is fully vaccinated with Pfizer / BioNTech, the rebound in contaminations is a "preliminary sign" of potentially lower vaccine efficacy in "moderate cases" of the Delta variant, an estimated Monday. expert.

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As of June 21, Israel has recorded more than 100 new cases a day, after recording only a handful daily for weeks.

On Sunday, 343 new infected people were identified.

Israel's health ministry said on Monday that according to an epidemiological analysis, the efficacy of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 appeared to have declined to 64% since June 6 and the spread of the Delta variant but it retained a 93% effectiveness in preventing severe forms of illness and hospitalizations.

In Asia, Bangladesh, on Monday extended its strict containment, cases of contamination and deaths having reached new records.

This confinement, which entered into force Thursday for a week, is extended for an additional week.

It is only possible to leave your home in an emergency and to buy basic necessities.

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Authorities announced that 164 people had died from Covid in 24 hours, while nearly 1,000 people tested positive, the highest number of infections in a day since the detection of the first case in March 2020.

Indonesia, which is facing a new wave of Covid-19, on Monday called on all oxygen suppliers to give priority to hospitals stormed by patients with the virus.

This country imposed on Saturday for two weeks a partial containment in the capital Jakarta, on the main island of Java and in Bali.

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© 2021 AFP