New reports, new measures and highlights: an update on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.
The pandemic has killed at least 1.034 million people worldwide since the end of December, according to an assessment established by AFP on Sunday at 11:00 GMT. About 35 million cases have been officially recorded and at least 24.1 million people have recovered.
The United States is the country with the most deaths (209,399), ahead of Brazil (145,987), India (101,782), Mexico (78,880) and the United Kingdom (42,317).
“Maximum alert” in Paris
Paris and its surrounding suburbs will be placed in a maximum alert zone due to the increased circulation of the coronavirus epidemic and new restrictions will be announced on Monday, the French government told AFP. Restaurants will be able to remain open in the maximum alert zone with a reinforced health protocol to fight against Covid-19.
The new “binding measures”, which concern Paris but also the three departments of the inner suburbs, will come into force on Tuesday and will be detailed on Monday at a press conference at 11:30 am by the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo and the prefect of police Didier Lallement.
New York towards partial containment
New York City is ready to close schools and non-essential businesses in nine neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens where the number of coronavirus cases is on the rise, according to its mayor Bill de Blasio. This elected Democrat declared that he wanted to reconfigure these districts from Wednesday, and that he awaited the approval of the governor of the State Andrew Cuomo.
Of the nine affected neighborhoods, six are in Brooklyn, in areas where the Orthodox Jewish community is strongly represented and where the epidemic has resumed thanks to gatherings marking the recent Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The other three are in Queens, including an area very close to John F. Kennedy Airport.
These nine neighborhoods have in common that they have seen their positivity rate remain above 3% over the last seven days, despite multiple interventions by the health services to ensure compliance with the wearing of masks, barrier gestures and get people to get tested.
Kenzo victim of Covid
The fashion world lost one of its legends on Sunday: the Japanese Kenzo, a word at 81 near Paris consequences of Covid-19. Kenzo Takada was the first Japanese designer to win in Paris, where he has spent his entire career.
Iraq: pilgrimage despite the virus
The Shiite holy city of Kerbala in Iraq has started to welcome tens of thousands of Muslim pilgrims including a large number of foreigners for the Arbain pilgrimage, despite the global Covid-19 pandemic.
The Iraqi government has authorized the arrival of 1,500 pilgrims by plane to each country. More than 375,000 Iraqis have contracted the disease, of which nearly 9,500 have died.
Iceland tightens the screw
As of Monday, gyms, bars and nightclubs will be closed again in Iceland and gatherings of more than 20 people banned for “two to three weeks”. This country has faced, like many others in Europe, a sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 cases since mid-September.
First case in the Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands recorded its first-ever case of coronavirus contamination, a student who recently arrived from the Philippines on a repatriation plane carrying 96 passengers. There are only nine small, isolated countries and territories that have never recorded a single case: Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
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