Germany: first crisis meeting for Scholz

The new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will chair Thursday his first crisis meeting with the 16 Länder of the country, which is experiencing a very degraded health situation despite a rush on the third doses of vaccine in recent days.

Germany recorded more than 70,000 new infections and 465 deaths on Thursday and the country's vaccination commission is due to issue an opinion on the vaccination of children during the day.

First cases of Omicron in Lebanon

Two first cases of the contagious Omicron variant were detected in Lebanon during screening at the airport, announced the Minister of Health.

The two travelers came from "Africa" ​​and are "in quarantine".

- China approves treatment for Covid -

China first gave the green light to treatment against Covid-19, two years after the disease appeared on its soil, against the backdrop of an epidemic recovery.

In a notice published Wednesday, the National Medicines Agency said it had granted "emergency approval" for a Chinese treatment based on monoclonal antibodies.

The treatment, administered by injection, was jointly developed by the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing, the No.3 Hospital in Shenzhen (south) and the company Brii Biosciences.

Clinical trials show that it can reduce hospitalizations and the risk of death in frail patients by 80%, according to Tsinghua University.

Denmark / mink crisis: the Prime Minister defends herself

Summoned to a parliamentary committee on Thursday, the Danish Prime Minister defended her "good" decision to slaughter the 15 million mink raised in her country to avoid mutations from Covid-19.

Arrived to the boos of a hundred demonstrators gathered in front of the Frederiksberg court in Copenhagen, Mette Frederiksen is threatened with a trial before a special court due to the lack of a legal basis for her controversial decision, taken in early November 2020.

It was the discovery of a problematic mutation of the coronavirus in mink - capable both of being contaminated by Covid-19 and of infecting humans - which had imposed this brutal choice.

Foot: postponement of the C4 Tottenham-Rennes match

The Europa League Conference match between Tottenham and Rennes, scheduled for Thursday evening in London, has been postponed to an unspecified date due to cases of Covid-19 within the English team, UEFA announced.

A sign that the current coronavirus outbreak is catching up with European football, eight players and five staff members have tested positive at Tottenham, while Leicester travel to Naples in the Europa League without seven of their players.

More than 5.2 million dead

The pandemic has killed at least 5,278,777 people worldwide since the end of 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources Thursday at 11:00 GMT.

The United States is the most bereaved country with 793,228 dead, ahead of Brazil (616,251), India (474,111), Mexico (295,894) and Russia (286,004).

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 in the world could be two to three times higher.

burs-ang / mw / clr

© 2021 AFP