Paris (AFP)

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

- Outcry in the United States against compulsory vaccination -

In the country of individual freedoms, the announcement by Joe Biden that the anti-Covid 19 vaccination will soon be compulsory for two-thirds of American workers is causing an outcry among Republicans, who intend to launch proceedings against the Democratic government.

"It looks very much like a dictatorship," reacted Republicans in the House of Representatives, even as the President of the United States was still delivering his speech Thursday.

On Friday, the avalanche of outraged reactions from conservatives calling for "freedom" poured in again, accompanied by threats of prosecution.

- A former French Minister of Health indicted -

A former French Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn, was indicted on Friday for "endangering the life of others" after her hearing by magistrates of the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), who investigation into the management of the Covid-19 epidemic, we learned from the general prosecutor's office of the CJR.

Ms. Buzyn, the first personality to be implicated in this vast case, was also placed under the more favorable status of assisted witness for "voluntary abstention from fighting a disaster," said the same source.

Former Minister of Health Agnes Buzyn arrives at the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) in Paris on September 10, 2021 Lucas BARIOULET AFP

- Resignation of the Minister of Health of North Macedonia -

North Macedonian Health Minister Venko Filipce resigned on Friday after the explosion followed by a fire in a unit for Covid-19 patients that killed 14 people in this small Balkan country hit hard by the coronavirus.

- An American study reiterates the effectiveness of vaccines -

Fully vaccinated people are 11 times less likely to die from Covid and 10 times less likely to be hospitalized since the contagious Delta variant became the main strain of the virus in the United States, US health officials said on Friday.

- Sinovac launches vaccines for children in South Africa -

Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac has launched a phase of testing Covid vaccines on children and adolescents in South Africa, which will be carried out in five countries around the world.

- Congo: vaccination soon compulsory for drivers and traders -

Traders and bus and taxi drivers in Congo, like health workers and teachers, will have to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by the end of October, the authorities in Brazzaville have decided.

- Togo: places of worship closed for one month -

A caregiver takes the temperature of a patient in Banda Aceh in Indonesia on September 7, 2021 CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN AFP

The Togolese government has decided to close churches, mosques and voodoo temples for a month from Friday, "in the face of the worrying outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic" in the country.

- Demonstration against the health pass in Lithuania -

A few thousand people gathered in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, to protest against the health pass introduced by the center-right government.

From Monday, anyone wishing to go to shopping malls, restaurants and beauty salons will be required to hold a health pass.

- Vaccines: illusory collective immunity (WHO) -

Director of the World Health Organization in Europe Hans Kluge was more pessimistic on Friday about the ability of a high vaccination rate to curb the pandemic on its own, due to variants that have reduced the prospect of collective immunity.

- More than 4.6 million dead -

The Covid-19 pandemic has killed at least 4,602,565 people around the world since the end of December 2019, according to a report established on Friday midday by AFP from official sources.

The world facing the coronavirus Simon MALFATTO AFP

The United States is the country with the most deaths (656,412), ahead of Brazil (585,846), India (442,009), Mexico (266,150) and Peru (198,621), according to official figures.

The World Health Organization (WHO) 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.

burs / nzg / roc

© 2021 AFP