Paris (AFP)

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

- The Philippines reopens schools -

The Philippines will reopen, for the first time in more than 18 months, up to 120 schools closed due to Covid in order to allow a limited number of students to attend face-to-face classes, authorities announced on Monday.

While almost all the countries of the world have partially or fully reopened their schools, the Philippines has kept them closed since early 2020 and the appearance of the first cases of Covid-19 in the country.

- Auckland extends its confinement -

The lockdown of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, is being extended for two weeks, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday.

New Zealand is following a "zero Covid" strategy aimed at eradicating all traces of the coronavirus from its territory.

The toll is currently 27 deaths out of five million inhabitants since the start of the pandemic.

- Vientiane is locked -

Residents of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, have been ordered to confine themselves until September 30, in an attempt to stem the wave of the coronavirus epidemic, official media said on Monday.

These are the first containment measures decreed by this country largely spared last year by the health crisis.

- The "safe" Pfizer vaccine for 5-11 year olds -

The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 is "safe" and "well tolerated" by children aged 5 to 11 and the right dosage triggers a "robust" immune response, according to the results of a study announced Monday by the laboratories.

The two companies plan to submit this data to the authorities "as soon as possible", according to a statement, which specifies that the immune reaction was "comparable" to that observed in 16 to 25 year olds who received a higher dose vaccine.

- Fiji wants to reopen -

Fiji, still in the grip of a Covid-19 epidemic, wishes to welcome tourists again from November, in the hope of reviving an economy devastated by the pandemic.

The archipelago is heavily dependent on tourism, which represents 40% of its economy.

This sector is therefore essential to limit the growing pauperization of the population.

- France: towards an extension of the health pass -

A bill to extend the health pass beyond November 15 "is being prepared and will be presented on October 13 in the Council of Ministers," Prime Minister Jean Castex's entourage told AFP on Monday.

Faced with an improvement in the situation of the Covid-19 epidemic in France, President Emmanuel Macron said he was ready to "lift certain constraints" in "territories where the virus circulates less quickly", without giving a deadline .

Since the introduction of the health pass, the government has claimed good figures in terms of vaccination, with the crossing of the threshold of 50 million first-time vaccines on Friday.

- More than 4.68 million dead -

The pandemic of the new coronavirus has killed at least 4,689,140 people around the world since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Monday at 10 a.m. GMT.

The United States is the country with the most deaths (673,765) ahead of Brazil (590,752), India (445,133), Mexico (271,503), and Peru with (199,066).

The WHO estimates, taking into account the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19, that the results of the pandemic could be two to three times higher.

burs-kd / cds / lch

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