La Nación / 40,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine arrived

The coronavirus pandemic is killing more people in the world in its second year than in the previous, warned this Friday the WHO, which asked rich countries not to vaccinate their minors and give those doses to poor countries, overwhelmed by the tragedy .

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused at least 3.3 million deaths in the world since the end of December 2019 and the appearance of variants, as well as the uneven progress of vaccination campaigns, continue to worry. According to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “as things are going, the second year of the pandemic will be” much more deadly than the first. “

He also called on countries to renounce vaccinating children and adolescents and donate the doses to the Covax system to distribute them to disadvantaged countries. People vaccinated against COVID-19 should keep the mask in regions where transmission of the virus is high, the WHO also indicated on Friday, a day after the American farewell to the mask.

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The United States, where the number of COVID-19 cases fell sharply, announced on Thursday the lifting of the recommendation to wear a mask for vaccinated people. “Even in situations where vaccination coverage is high, if there is a lot of transmission, the mask is not removed,” said the director in charge of urgent health affairs at WHO, Michael Ryan, at a press conference.

The WHO scientific director, Soumya Swaminathan, said for her part that “very few countries are in a position to abandon the measures.” Italy announced on Friday the elimination of the five-day quarantine imposed so far on travelers from European Union countries and reiterated the restrictions for those from Brazil. Travelers from the European Union, the Schengen zone, Great Britain and Israel will be able to enter Italy with a negative anti-COVID test and are not required to comply with the mini-quarantine in force so far, the ministry explained in a statement.

British tourists will be able to travel to Portugal from Monday, after this Friday the country decided to remove the ban on “non-essential” travel imposed in January. The decision comes after the United Kingdom included Portugal in its “green list” of countries and territories to which its citizens will be able to travel without having to quarantine upon their return. The lifting of restrictions will also allow English fans to travel to Porto (north) on May 29 to attend the final of the Champions League, which will be played by Chelsea and Manchester City.

In India, ravaged by a devastating wave of the pandemic, many states are short of vaccines and limit availability for the 600 million adults aged 18 to 44 who can now be officially vaccinated.

Vaccination with Russian Sputnik V began on Friday in the country of 1.3 billion people. The first injections were in Hyderabad (center), following an emergency approval of the use of this vaccine by India on 12 April. After plunging the great Indian metropolises into chaos – for lack of medicines, oxygen and beds for the sick – the virus continues to devastate the countryside, lacking infrastructure.

The dead are buried or abandoned in rivers, while the sick try to heal themselves with home remedies. In recent days, a hundred corpses were thrown into the Ganges River, raising fears of a situation as disastrous as elsewhere. “They let people die,” Kidwai Ahmad told AFP from his village of Sadullahpur, in the state of Uttar Pradesh (north).

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The Japanese authorities extended the state of emergency already in force due to the coronavirus pandemic in six departments of the country to three other regions, due to an increase in infections, with ten weeks to go before the start of the Tokyo Olympic Games. In relative terms, Japan has not been as affected by the pandemic as other countries.

However, the organizers of the Tokyo Games (July 23 – August 8) ensure that these can be held in “total safety” thanks to strict health protocols, the vaccination of a large number of participants and the success of the tests recently held in the Japanese capital.

Source: AFP.

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