Paris (AFP)

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

- WHO paves the way for a 3rd treatment -

The World Health Organization (WHO) officially recommended on Friday a third treatment against Covid-19, Regeneron's synthetic antibodies, but only in certain specific cases.

According to an opinion of WHO experts published in the medical journal The BMJ, this treatment is recommended on the one hand in "patients with non-severe forms of Covid who are at high risk of hospitalization", such as people the elderly or those with weakened immune systems (for example, from cancer or after an organ transplant).

- 3rd dose: decision of the European regulator at the beginning of October -

The European Union regulator announced Thursday that it would or would not give its approval in early October to a third dose of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 for the population over 16 years of age.

A homeless vaccination center in Los Angeles, California, September 22, 2021 Frederic J. BROWN AFP

At the same time, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) must decide on the booster doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for immunocompromised people, EMA vaccine strategy manager Marco Cavaleri told reporters.

- France: Chinese vaccines partly recognized for the health pass -

People vaccinated against Covid-19 abroad with Chinese vaccines will now be able to benefit from the health pass in France, on the condition, however, of receiving an additional dose of Pfizer or Moderna, the government has decided.

- France: 36,000 suspected false passes -

The hunt for fake health passes is increasing in France with nearly 350 procedures initiated to date, targeting some 270 caregivers suspected of fraud and 36,000 people suspected of having benefited from it, according to a report presented Thursday by Health Insurance.

A traveler shows his sanitary pass at the Gare de Lyon in Paris, August 9, 2021 GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT AFP / Archives

- Portugal: most of the restrictions lifted -

Portugal, which has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, will lift most of the health restrictions still in force from October 1, the government said on Thursday.

Closed since spring 2020, bars and nightclubs may reopen for customers with a health pass (vaccination or negative test).

This same pass will cease to be compulsory for staying in a hotel or having a meal inside a restaurant on weekends.

The capacity limits of shops, cafes and cultural spaces will also be lifted, but the mask will remain compulsory in closed places.

- GB: the red list discourages African candidates for the vaccine -

Britain, which has placed many African countries on the "red list", imposing strict quarantines on travelers arriving from these countries, risks discouraging vaccination efforts on the most struggling continent, the authority denounced on Thursday. of the African Union.

- No Nobel in Stockholm again -

For the second year in a row, the Nobel Prize winners in science and literature will receive their awards in their countries of residence and not in Stockholm because of the pandemic, the Nobel Foundation announced Thursday.

Preparations for the virtual Nobel Prize ceremony at Stockholm City Hall, December 10, 2020 Fredrik SANDBERG TT News Agency / AFP / Archives

For the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to him in Oslo, the option of a presentation in the Norwegian capital "remains open" and a decision must be taken in mid-October.

- Donation from the United States to Bangladesh -

The United States will deliver 2.5 million doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine to Bangladesh, bringing the total doses given to one of the poorest countries in the world to more than 9 million.

- More than 4.7 million dead -

The pandemic caused by the new coronavirus has killed at least 4,715,909 people around the world since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources Thursday at 10 am GMT.

The United States is the country with the most deaths (681,185), ahead of Brazil (592,964), India (446,050), Mexico (273,391) and Russia (201,445).

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.

burs-dth / roc

© 2021 AFP