[En continu] Switzerland bought 3 million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech

The essential

On Tuesday, the FOPH was cautious about the evolution of the epidemic. He insisted that the number of cases tends to slightly increase In every region. The reproduction rate is less than 1 in only four cantons.

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our follow-up of the day on Tuesday

■ Three million more doses

Switzerland “was able” to buy three million additional doses of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech, rejoices Alain Berset. “A million will already be available to the cantons in April, May and June,” announces the Minister of Health.

“This allows Switzerland to strengthen its vaccination campaign,” he adds. According to the website of the Federal Office of Public Health, the Confederation had so far ordered three million doses from Pfizer.

An update on orders to date:

■ American airlines to receive third public support

Joe Biden’s stimulus package is expected to pass on Wednesday. Airlines will receive a new lifeline. The plan provides $ 14 billion for air transport companies. In return, they must agree not to fire anyone by October.

This third wave of massive support for the sector should allow them to keep their heads above water while air ticket sales really start to rise again.

In the immediate future, AFP recalls, this should lead United Airlines and American Airlines, which had warned in early February that they could lay off up to 27,000 people if the aid was not extended, to reconsider their decisions.

■ 14 countries have still not reopened their schools

Fourteen countries in the world have still not reopened their face-to-face schools since March 2020, reports Unicef. Panama is the country in the world where schools have been closed the longest.

Two-thirds are located in Latin America. This affects some 98 million schoolchildren, says a recent report from the UN agency for children. In number of days closed, Panama is ahead of El Salvador, Bangladesh and Bolivia.

In the small Central American country of 4.2 million inhabitants, this long period without school is no longer sustainable and reveals enormous disparities according to geographical or social situations. The Panamanian Minister of Education, Maruja Gorday, assures that the schools will soon reopen, in a “progressive” way thanks to the advance of the vaccination. Maybe even as early as April if the health authorities give the green light.

AFP tells the story of Milena Mendosa, who lives in a poor suburb of Panama. His 8-year-old daughter Brithany has also been riveted on her mobile phone for a long time to take courses offered by her public school on the internet. But the virtual classes with nearly thirty children are difficult to follow and Brithany dropped out. Single mom Milena Mendosa says she can’t seem to cope between her job and the tutoring her daughter would need.

For Erica Luna, a fruit and vegetable seller in a market in her inner city in the suburbs of Panama, mother of little Yoselin, 3, “the pandemic has changed everything: I used to take my daughter to daycare, but now there are none left and sometimes I have to take her with me, ”says the 29-year-old Nicaraguan migrant.

Most of the time Yoselin is busy on his mother’s cell phone, until she falls asleep at his feet, on a cardboard box.

Ana Maria Areiza is sad for her son Rafael, 5, who “sees his friends on the computer but does not interact with them”. “He has nothing more to tell me after school,” she sighs.

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