Paris (AFP)

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

- Anti-containment protests in Australia -

Thousands of people demonstrated against containment measures on Saturday in Sydney, where violent clashes with police took place, and in Melbourne.

The protesters, who were not wearing masks, broke rules on non-essential travel and public gatherings issued by the authorities, the latter having hinted that the measures could apply until October.

- Opponents of the sanitary pass in the street in France -

"For freedom" and "against the health dictatorship": after a first national mobilization of at least 114,000 people on July 17, dozens of demonstrations again took place on Saturday throughout France, against the extension of the health pass and compulsory vaccination for certain professions.

Nearly 110,000 demonstrators were again expected across the country, according to the authorities.

- Quarantine measures in Spain -

Spain will impose a ten-day anti-Covid quarantine on travelers from Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia and Namibia from July 27, the government said.

This quarantine may be reduced to seven days if the traveler presents a negative test on the seventh day.

- Hanoi confined in turn -

Vietnam placed the eight million inhabitants of its capital Hanoi in containment on Saturday in an attempt to contain the rise in Covid-19 cases.

After successfully containing the onslaught of the epidemic last year, Vietnam has seen the number of cases explode since the end of April, and about a third of its 100 million inhabitants are already confined.

- Russian humanitarian aid for Cuba -

Russia has announced that it has sent two planes filled with humanitarian aid, including one million masks, to Cuba to help cope with a sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 cases and the economic embargo from the United States.

The island of 11 million inhabitants is currently experiencing a worrying increase in the number of contaminations and deaths due to Covid-19: it is respectively 316,383 and 2,203 since the start of the pandemic, according to official figures dating from Friday.

- Concerns for hospitals in Lebanon -

Lebanon's economic collapse and power shortages make hospitals very vulnerable and less equipped to deal with a possible new wave of the Covid-19 epidemic, warned Firass Abiad, director of the country's largest public hospital. .

In addition to the emigration of nursing staff and drug shortages, hospitals are facing power cuts sometimes approaching 22 hours a day as well as a scarcity of fuel oil, essential for the operation of private electricity generators which take over when the national company offloads.

- Over 40 million cases in Latin America -

The Latin America and Caribbean region, the most bereaved in the world by the coronavirus pandemic, exceeded the threshold of 40 million declared cases on Saturday, according to an AFP count from official figures.

The number of deaths there is over 1.3 million.

burs-paj / ber / bq / sg

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