Paris (AFP)

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

- Daily record of cases in New Zealand -

New Zealand on Tuesday recorded a record number of coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, the Delta variant forcing the archipelago to abandon its "zero Covid" strategy.

Health authorities have announced 94 new cases, a figure that exceeds the previous record of 89 contaminations recorded in April 2020, during the first wave of Covid-19.

- Takeover in the rich countries of the Middle East -

The Middle East and North Africa are on the road to recovery, with the Gulf countries leading the way, but rising social tensions threaten the region's most fragile economies, the Monetary Fund told AFP on Tuesday. international (IMF).

Thanks to rapid vaccination campaigns, especially in the rich Gulf countries, GDP growth could reach 4.1% this year, according to the international institution based in Washington.

The affected region, which includes Arab countries and Iran, excluding Israel, saw its real gross domestic product (GDP) growth contract by 3.1% in 2020, due to the pandemic. Covid-19 and falling oil prices.

Covid-19: AFP global report

- No Australian Open for Djokovic?

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Tennis players not vaccinated against Covid-19 could have difficulty obtaining a visa to participate in the Australian Open, an Australian politician warned on Tuesday, as world No.1 Novak Djokovic lets the doubts about his participation.

In an interview with the Serbian daily Blic, broadcast before the warning of the Australian authorities, Djokovic for his part expressed his doubts about his participation in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year 2022. He has in the past publicly taken stand against vaccines and decline to say whether he himself has been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

- Freedom of expression hampered according to Amnesty -

Many governments around the world have taken advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to put in place "unprecedented" barriers to freedom of expression and silence critics, Amnesty International said.

Combined with a wave of disinformation, these repressive measures have often prevented populations from having access to exact information on the virus, however essential to enable them to face it from the emergence of the pandemic in early 2020, underlined the human rights organization in a report released Tuesday.

- More than 4.9 million dead -

The pandemic has killed at least 4,902,638 people around the world since the end of December 2019, according to an assessment established by AFP from official sources, Tuesday at 10 am GMT.

The world facing the coronavirus Simon MALFATTO AFP

The United States is the most bereaved country with 726,201 dead, followed by Brazil (603,465), India (452,454), Mexico (284,477) and Russia (225,325).

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.

burx-paj / cds / lpt

© 2021 AFP