Paris (AFP)

The obligation to vaccinate against Covid-19 is gaining ground, as in France where it was decided on Monday for healthcare workers in order to contain the Delta variant, whose meteoric progression raises fears of a resumption of the epidemic in many Many countries.

The pandemic, which has claimed at least 4.035 million lives, has contributed to a surge in the number of hungry people around the world in 2020 and will have long-term effects on global food security, FAO warned on Monday. UN agency for agriculture and food.

This worsening of hunger (+ 18% over one year), the most significant for at least 15 years, compromises more than ever the United Nations objective of eradicating hunger in the world by 2030, specifies the FAO.

While vaccination remains very uneven around the world, the international Covax partnership, which aims to guarantee access to vaccines for the poorest countries, will immediately receive 110 million doses from Chinese companies Sinovac and Sinopharm to cope with a shortage .

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The agreement between the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), one of the founding members of the Covax system, and the two Chinese pharmaceutical groups also includes options for the purchase of additional doses in the coming months.

While the highly contagious Delta variant is causing epidemic outbreaks in certain regions of the world, several countries where it is already dominant or in the process of becoming so have decided to tighten up their health system.

- "Freedom day" -

French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday compulsory vaccination for nursing and non-nursing staff in hospitals, clinics and retirement homes, as well as for professionals and volunteers working with the elderly.

The people concerned "will have until September 15 to be vaccinated" and after this date will be implemented "controls and sanctions", he added in a speech on television.

Mr. Macron also announced the generalization at the beginning of August of the health pass, a device which makes it possible to verify that a person is vaccinated or not contaminated.

The latter will apply in particular in cafes, restaurants, shopping centers, cinemas but also in planes, trains, places where only the vaccinated and people tested negative will be able to access.

Several countries have introduced the vaccination obligation for certain categories of the population, such as Greece which announced it on Monday for caregivers from September 1, or Italy for doctors and health personnel under penalty of sanctions for recalcitrant .

The UK announced it on June 16 for people working in English retirement homes, a measure that has yet to be approved by Parliament.

The British government also confirmed on Monday the lifting of almost all restrictions linked to the virus in England on July 19, dubbed "freedom day", while calling for caution in the face of a new outbreak of contaminations despite 'a widely vaccinated population.

Conversely, the tourist regions of Catalonia and Valencia have decided to put a stop to nightlife in order to curb the transmission of the Covid, which is on the rise throughout the country.

In the Netherlands, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte admitted on Monday that his government had made a mistake in relaxing some restrictions and apologized, as the Netherlands experiences a surge in Covid cases.

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- 3rd dose in Israel -

The government authorized the reopening of nightclubs two weeks ago, but faced with the rapid spread of the Delta variant, especially among young people, it has decided to backpedal.

Israel began administering a third dose of the vaccine to patients with weak immune systems on Monday amid rising Covid cases.

At the antipodes, the situation worries in Australia where the epidemic continues to spread in Sydney, despite a containment which is in its third week.

A total of 112 new cases have been identified over the past 24 hours in the city, a record since the start of this epidemic wave.

And New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced an extraordinary meeting of leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum on Friday to improve the response to the pandemic in this region.

In South Africa, most of the restrictions taken at the end of June will be extended until the end of July, but restaurants and gyms will be able to reopen if they meet certain constraints, announced President Cyril Ramaphosa.

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The worst-affected African country has recorded an average of 20,000 cases per day in the past two weeks.

The boss of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, denounced Monday the "greed" of those who are already thinking about the injection of a third dose of anti-Covid vaccine, the need for which is far from scientifically proven, when much of the world is waiting for its first vaccine.

The pandemic has killed at least 4.035 million people worldwide since the onset of the disease at the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Monday.

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