Paris (AFP)

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

- Half of the American population fully vaccinated -

"50% of Americans (all ages) are now fully vaccinated. Let's keep it up!" Tweeted Cyrus Shahpar, White House virus data monitor.

This figure covers the more than 165 million people who received the two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, or the single dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, the three sera authorized in the United States.

More and more American companies impose vaccination on their employees, even if it means laying them off otherwise.

- Philippines: Manila confined -

A new lockdown has come into force in Manila, as authorities in the Philippines attempt to contain an upsurge in cases linked to the Delta variant of Covid-19.

Filipinos line up to get vaccinated in Marikina City, near Manila (Philippines) on August 6, 2021 Ted ALJIBE AFP

Police checkpoints were set up in the metropolis where more than 13 million people live, causing long queues, with police ensuring that only people working for essential sectors were in cars.

- Germany: quarantine for travelers from the south of France -

Germany will impose from Sunday a quarantine for unimmunized travelers coming from three regions of the south of France - Occitanie, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur and Corsica - facing a resurgence of cases of Covid-19, announced the Robert Koch health watch institute.

Travelers coming from these tourist regions will have to observe a ten-day quarantine if they do not have a health pass proving that they have been vaccinated twice or are considered cured.

- Macron: "Get vaccinated" -

"Get vaccinated": French President Emmanuel Macron launched in a video on social networks an urgent call for vaccination, which he presented as "a question of citizenship", "the very pact of a nation" , while the number of hospitalizations is increasing in France.

Demonstrations are planned for Saturday in more than 150 cities in France against the extension of the health pass and compulsory vaccination for caregivers, validated Thursday by the Constitutional Council.

- Risk of reinfection of non-vaccinated -

Unvaccinated people are more than twice as likely to be re-infected with the Covid-19 virus than fully vaccinated people, according to a study released by U.S. health officials on Friday.

Researchers are still struggling to determine the exact duration of acquired immunity after infection and this could be altered by the emergence of new variants, according to the study.

A man gets vaccinated against Covid-19 in a village near Guwahati, India, August 6, 2021 Biju BORO AFP

- 200 million cases worldwide -

More than 200 million cases have been recorded worldwide since the end of 2019 and the pandemic has killed at least 4.26 million people, according to a count made by AFP on Friday from official reports.

The United States is the country with the most deaths (615,856), ahead of Brazil (560,706), India (426,754), Mexico (243,165) and Peru (196,760).

Funeral directors carry the coffin of a Covid victim in Bogor (Indonesia) on August 6, 2021 ADITYA AJI AFP

The World Health Organization estimates, taking into account the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19, that the toll of the pandemic could be two to three times higher than that officially established.

- 5 million cases in Argentina -

The Argentine Ministry of Health said Friday that the threshold of 5 million cases had been crossed in the country (5,002,951 precisely), where 107,213 people have succumbed to the coronavirus.

The number of cases has fallen for ten weeks as has the number of deaths for eight weeks, prompting the authorities to relax restrictions.

Nearly 26 million of the 45 million people received a dose of the vaccine, of which 8 million received the two necessary doses.

80% of those over 18 have had a first injection.

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© 2021 AFP