New Zealand: Trucks around Parliament

A convoy of trucks and motorhomes blocked the streets around New Zealand's Parliament in Wellington on Tuesday to protest against health measures and vaccination, a movement inspired by that which paralyzes Canada's capital, Ottawa.

Canada: Trudeau calls on truckers to lift their siege

“It has to stop”, hammered Mr. Trudeau, at the end of a week of isolation due to Covid, during an organized emergency debate in the House of Commons.

Tuesday in the streets of Ottawa, truckers, who have been banned since the day before from honking after a court decision, opted for a new tactic to make themselves heard: rev the engines of their trucks, making the air unbreathable, noted an AFP journalist.

France: relaxation for vaccinated non-Europeans

France will lift "in the coming days" the obligation of Covid-19 screening tests for all travelers from outside Europe who have been vaccinated, the government announced on Tuesday.

For the time being, any traveler entering French territory from a country outside the European Union - including the United Kingdom - must present a negative PCR or antigen test less than 48 hours old.

New super-fast test designed in China

Chinese scientists have designed a new coronavirus screening method that is as reliable as a laboratory PCR test and gives a result in minutes, according to an article in a scientific journal.

The American pharmaceutical group Pfizer plans to sell this year for 32 billion dollars of its vaccine against Covid-19 developed with BioNTech Daniel MUNOZ AFP / Archives

Pfizer's results boosted by the Covid

The American pharmaceutical group Pfizer plans to sell this year for 32 billion dollars of its vaccine against Covid-19 developed with BioNTech as well as for 22 billion dollars of the antiviral intended to treat this disease.

The grotto of Lourdes reopens to pilgrims

After two years of closure due to the health crisis, the cave of Lourdes (south-west of France) will reopen its doors to visitors on Friday, the sanctuary announced on Tuesday.

Again, pilgrims will be able to "pass through the hollow of the Rock of Massabielle, under the feet of the Virgin Mary, Immaculate Conception, touch the rock and approach the source", we rejoice on the side of the sanctuary in a communicated.

- More than 5.7 million dead -

The pandemic has officially killed more than 5,748,498 people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP on Tuesday at 11:00 GMT.

In absolute value, the United States is the country with the most deaths (905,544), ahead of Brazil (632,621), India (504,062) and Russia (336,721).

Reported to the population, the countries where the epidemic has been the deadliest are Peru with 628 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, Bulgaria (486), Bosnia (451), Hungary (435) and Montenegro (416).

Covid-19: global assessment AFP

The WHO estimates, taking into account the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19, that the overall assessment of the pandemic could be two to three times higher than that established from official national figures.

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© 2022 AFP