The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the pandemic continues to worsen worldwide, especially in the United States where a record level of new cases was reached Wednesday with more than 50,000 new infections in 24 hours.
These new infections bring the total number of cases detected on American soil to nearly 2.7 million, out of a total of around 10.6 million worldwide to date.
Since its appearance in China six months ago, the Covid-19 has killed at least 514.803 people on the planet, according to an AFP count.
For a week – the worst in terms of infections since the start of the epidemic – the number of infections has exceeded 160,000 per day, according to WHO. And “60% of all Covid-19 cases identified so far have been reported in the past month,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.
“The best way out of this pandemic is to take a holistic approach,” he said, again calling for compliance with the rules of distancing, detecting and isolating cases, quarantining their contacts and carrying a mask as much as necessary.
But as the summer tourist season begins, many countries are trying, despite this worrying development, to limit an already considerable shortfall in tourism and the sectors which depend on it: it could reach between 1,200 and 3,300 billion dollars, ‘UN.
The EU, where the epidemic is marking time even if there are still foci of contamination, notably in Lisbon, has reopened its borders on Wednesday in a targeted manner.
It authorized flights from 14 countries from all continents, as well as from China subject to reciprocity, which is currently not the case.
The Greek island of Corfu thus saw its first tourists land on Wednesday.
“It’s fantastic, we are very happy to be here and enjoy the sun,” enthusiastic Molnar Istvan, Hungarian tourist disembarking from the first flight of the day.
Other countries are trying to save the tourist season, like Egypt which, despite more than 1,000 new infections daily since the end of May, reopened the famous pyramids of the Giza plateau on Wednesday. Or Cuba, which reopened part of its territory on Wednesday to foreign tourists – the paradisiac islands of Cayos – even if no tourist flight has yet landed there.
– Return of restrictions to the United States –
Among the great excluded from the European reopening are the United States: the world’s leading power, the country most mourning the world by the pandemic with more than 128,000 deaths, where contagion has resumed in many regions in recent weeks.
As the long weekend of the 4th of July national holiday approaches, traditionally marked by family reunions and rallies to attend the fireworks, local authorities have often decided to act in an attempt to regain control of the epidemic.
The outbreak is particularly striking in California, long a model of prevention, where some of the restrictions lifted in late May are back.
The governor of this state of 40 million inhabitants thus decided Wednesday to close for “at least three weeks” the dining rooms in Los Angeles and in 18 other counties representing more than 70% of the Californian population. The ban also applies to bars, cinemas and museums.
As in southern California, some beaches in Florida have also been closed for National Day.
The mayor of New York announced to him that the dining rooms would not reopen on July 6, as foreseen by the cautious plan of deconfinement of the American economic capital which counted more than 22,000 deaths of the epidemic.
A study released Wednesday indicates that the pandemic has caused at least 18% more deaths than a normal year in the United States, and up to three times more in New York, which has been hit hard.
Three months before an American presidential election already turned upside down by the pandemic, Donald Trump, very criticized for his management of the crisis, nevertheless said on Wednesday convinced that the coronavirus would “simply disappear” at “some point “
But in neighboring Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said he feared a “second wave” epidemic “that could strike very hard”.
The country has extended until July 31 the ban on foreigners, except – paradoxically – Americans, and until August 31 mandatory quarantine upon arrival in the country.
– 60,000 dead in Brazil –
In Latin America and the Caribbean, the situation also remains worrying, especially in Brazil: the country crossed the milestone of 60,000 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, after having registered an additional 1,038 deaths in the last 24 hours, announced the Ministry of Health. .
Colombia, the 4th largest economy in Latin America, has passed the 100,000 mark, with 4,163 new infections in one day.
The death toll on this part of the continent could exceed 400,000 dead within three months if more stringent health measures are not taken, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
The UN Security Council finally adopted on Wednesday, unanimously, its first resolution directly linked to the pandemic: it calls for “an immediate and general cessation” of conflicts around the world, with the exception of fighting against jihadist groups, to facilitate the fight against the coronavirus.
LNT avec Afp
