World 'better prepared' for upcoming variants, says BioNTech

The world is now "better and better prepared" to face the new variants of Covid-19 with which we will have to live for years to come, assured Thursday Ugur Sahin, boss of the BioNTech laboratory, at the origin of the first RNA vaccine. messenger.

G20: financing the fight against pandemics

The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has urged the G20 countries to urgently provide the 16 billion dollars that are still missing to finance its current plan to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. 19, Thursday, as a two-day meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Indonesia opened.

On the menu of the discussions is notably the need for better preparation in the face of future pandemics, and the creation of a fund in which the WHO would have a central coordinating role.

Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and her Australian counterpart Josh Frydenberg in Jakarta, February 17, 2022 BAY ISMOYO POOL/AFP

Japan eases border restrictions

Japan will ease its strict border restrictions to allow foreign students and workers to enter the country, but tourists will remain banned for now due to the pandemic, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Thursday.

The number of daily new arrivals will remain capped, but the quota will be increased to 5,000 people per day, compared to 3,500 currently.

Japan closed its borders from March 2020, initially even preventing foreigners with resident status from returning.

End of restrictions in the Dominican Republic

All restrictions related to the coronavirus epidemic in the Dominican Republic, which has a population of 10.5 million, were suspended on Wednesday, President Luis Abinader announced.

“Measures such as the use of masks, the need to present the vaccination certificate to access all places or restrictions in public spaces are now the individual responsibility of each of us,” said the chief. of State.

Two girls who have just received a dose of anti-Covid vaccine at the Salome Urena school in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on February 14, 2022 Erika SANTELICES afp/AFP

Air France KLM cuts losses, record profit for Airbus

After two years of pandemic, Air France-KLM said it was optimistic for the future on Thursday but first intends to settle the consequences of Covid-19, which caused it to lose another 3.3 billion euros in 2021, by launching a new recapitalization with the help of the public authorities.

The net loss of the Franco-Dutch airline group is less than half that of 2020 (7.1 billion euros), but its net debt remains very high, at 8.2 billion.

After two years in the red, the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus published a net profit of 4.2 billion euros, beating its 2018 record (3.1 billion) when it produced almost a quarter of had more.

The aircraft manufacturer is returning to the payment of a dividend after having abolished it for the past two years.

More than 5.8 million dead

The pandemic has officially killed more than 5,848,104 people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP on Thursday at 11 a.m. GMT.

In absolute value, the United States is the country with the most deaths (928,519), ahead of Brazil (640,774), India (510,413) and Russia (343,173).

The world facing the coronavirus Simon MALFATTO AFP

Reported to the population, the countries where the epidemic has caused the most damage are Peru, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Hungary and North Macedonia.

The WHO 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 than that officially established.

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© 2022 AFP