LThe outbreak of the epidemic shows no sign of slowing down in the United States, the most bereaved country in the world with more than 347,500 dead from the virus.
The world’s leading power reached the 10 million mark on November 9, and the pace of new infections has skyrocketed since.
This spectacular rebound in the epidemic since the fall has been worsened by the travel of millions of Americans for the big Thanksgiving family celebration at the end of November and the end-of-year celebrations, despite numerous calls from the authorities to stay at home .
Hopes of an eradication of the disease fueled by the arrival of vaccines have for their part been dampened by the slowness of the American vaccination campaign, weighed down by logistical difficulties and overwhelmed hospitals.
Only 2.8 million Americans received the first dose of their COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, far from the Trump administration’s stated target of 20 million people vaccinated by the end of the year .
A delay deplored by the president-designate Joe Biden, who was however determined to step up the pace. “Let’s be clear: the Biden-Harris administration will not spare any efforts to ensure that people are vaccinated,” he assured Friday.
“I am more optimistic than ever (…) we have the most efficient teams in the world,” the Democrat who will take office on January 20 also declared the day before.
Slow vaccination
Vaccination campaigns are also the subject of criticism in Europe. German doctors have complained that hospital staff is not a priority in their country. In France, it is the slowness of the process that alarms.
Part of the difficulty is the relatively low number of orders placed by the EU for its 27 member countries, with a contract signed only in November, later than other countries.
The German company BioNTech explained that it planned to rapidly increase the production of its vaccine in Europe, developed with its American partner Pfizer, in order to fill a “gap” in the absence of other approved vaccines.
BioNTech intends in particular to run a new manufacturing unit in Marburg in Germany from February.
The queen of Denmark Margrethe II, very popular in her country, was vaccinated on Friday. The sovereign celebrated her 80th birthday in 2020, which placed her in the first cohort of Danes who could benefit from a vaccine.
In the meantime, the pandemic has killed at least 1,820,970 people worldwide for more than 83 million people infected, according to a report established by AFP on Friday around 8:30 p.m. GMT according to official figures.
In France, the curfew in force throughout the country from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. will start at 6 p.m. from Saturday in a large part of the country where the health situation is considered particularly alarming, especially on the Côte d’Azur.
This curfew was generally observed throughout France during New Year’s Eve, but a huge rave party in Brittany (west) brought together up to 2,500 people from all over the country and abroad and continued in the night from Friday to Saturday. The area was surrounded by the police who systematically imposed fines on all people leaving the premises.
Norway, where the COVID-19 contamination rate is one of the lowest in Europe, is making a COVID-19 screening test mandatory from Saturday to enter its territory.
This decision comes after the discovery in Norway of five cases of COVID-19 linked to the new variant of the coronavirus which appeared in the United Kingdom and presented by the British government as more contagious.
This new variant was detected for the first time this week in the United States in Colorado, California and now in Florida. But the famous American immunologist Anthony Fauci assured “not to be surprised” or particularly worried, believing that it was already circulating “probably in other States”.
The British mutant strain has also been spotted in Turkey, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Friday, in 15 people who recently traveled to the UK. Flights from the UK have been suspended until further notice.
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