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The coronavirus continues its ravages in Europe, where the most affected countries are stepping up their fight against the pandemic which has already killed more than 30,000 people worldwide, while in the United States, Donald Trump has given up on closing New York. In the absence of a vaccine or proven treatment, more than three billion people remain confined to their homes on Sunday on all continents, willingly or by force.
The United States is also hit by a sharp acceleration in the number of infections with Covid-19 disease, almost half of the approximately 124,000 cases recorded affecting New York State and its emblematic metropolis.
After discussing the quarantine of the states of New York and New Jersey, US President Donald Trump gave it up on Saturday evening. At first, he said he was considering it, causing an outcry in the New York area. Finally, at Mr. Trump’s request, the National Health Authority’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) urged “residents of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to avoid non-essential travel (in the country) for the next 14 days with immediate effect ”.
The United States also deplored Saturday the death of a baby under the age of one, in the state of Illinois, one of the youngest victims of this disease which generally spares children.
Two thirds of the 30,000 deaths are to be deplored in Europe, the most affected continent, Italy far ahead with 10,023 dead (889 in 24 hours), followed by Spain with 5,690 deaths (+832) and France with 2,314 deaths ( +319).
Food stamps
Faced with this worsening, the countries most affected are multiplying the means and measures to deal with this health crisis unprecedented for a century.
The head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sanchez, announced on Saturday evening that all “non-essential” economic activities will be halted for the next two weeks, a measure to be approved on Sunday at an extraordinary council of ministers.
In Italy, food vouchers will be distributed to the most disadvantaged, particularly affected by the shutdown of the Italian economy, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced on Saturday evening.
Police were stationed in front of supermarkets to prevent looting in Sicily after customers tried to leave a supermarket without paying for the food, saying they no longer had the money to buy it.
In France, the government has ordered a billion masks and plans to increase to 14,000 beds in intensive care against 5,000 initially.
The epidemic is also accelerating in the United Kingdom, where Prince Charles, heir to the crown, as well as Prime Minister Boris Johnson are contaminated. The death toll exceeds the 1,000 death mark, with 260 new deaths in a single day, according to an official report published on Saturday. “We know things are going to get worse before they get better,” Johnson said in a letter released by his staff, which will be sent to 30 million households across the country next week. He urged the population to respect the general confinement put in place Monday evening for three weeks.
Equipment is lacking
However, the first effects of containment are beginning to be felt in Italy, the contagion continues to slow slowly. “In all emergency departments, there is a reduction (in patient arrivals). In some, it is mild, in others more pronounced, “said Giulio Gallera, health manager in Lombardy, the most affected region in the north of the country.
Good news also in Canada where the Prime Minister’s wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, announced on Saturday evening that she was cured of the coronavirus.
To prevent the contamination of cases of “imported” coronavirus, China has since Saturday temporarily closed its borders to most foreigners and drastically reduced its international flights.
Russia, the last major country to have taken no general containment measures, will close its borders as of Monday, after having already ordered the closure of its restaurants and most of its shops before a busy week. As a result, the streets of Moscow were unusually empty on Saturday.
In New York, as in many places in the world, doctors and healthcare workers are considered heroes, at the forefront of this “war” against the pandemic. But they face a shortage of equipment.
” We have to eat “
“There is both a feeling of hopelessness and of solidarity between us. Everyone is afraid, we are trying to support each other, “said Diana Torres, 33, a nurse in intensive rehabilitation at a hospital in the economic capital of the United States.
In the poorest countries, especially in Africa, travel restrictions are complicated to implement and cause a wave of urban exodus, especially in Kenya and Madagascar.
Hundreds of Malagasy people are stretching in single file, leaving behind their capital Antananarivo. “We stopped working to respect the discipline of confinement, when we have to eat and feed our children,” said Richard Rakotoarisoa, a 30-year-old father. “For me, it was being unruly or leaving” from the capital Antananarivo.
Faced with another looming economic disaster, the international community is trying to mobilize astronomical sums. In addition to the 2,000 billion announced by the United States, the G20 countries have promised this week to inject 5,000 billion dollars to support the world economy.
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