New epicenter of the pandemic, Latin America counts its dead. Brazil has passed the milestone of 30,000 deaths from coronavirus after a death record in 24 hours, even if that did not prevent Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo from initiating deconfinement. Colombia, a border neighbor, has exceeded 1,000 dead, less than three months after the detection of the first case of contagion. Mexico, which is also starting to resume economic activity, has more than 10,000 and Peru deplores more than 4,600.
In Europe, the pressure is still easing. Italy reopens its borders to European tourists this Wednesday, a month after the gradual resumption of activity in the country which hopes to approach the summer to save its tourism industry, a key sector of its economy sapped by the pandemic.
In France, where phase 2 of the deconfinement was launched on Tuesday, health indicators remain green. The number of patients hospitalized for a Covid-19 infection continues to decline, and most cafes and restaurants have reopened to welcome their first customers for more than two months.
The main information to remember
> The French StopCovid contact tracing application went live on Tuesday
> The Covid-19 pandemic has killed at least 379,585 people on the planet
> Italy reopens its borders to tourists
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Follow the events of this Wednesday June 3:
> Zoom videoconferencing service breaks all records
Between February and the end of April, Zoom saw its turnover increase by 169% over one year, to more than 328 million dollars. Or its best quarterly exercise ever.
In recent weeks, the company has experienced an unprecedented influx of new customers and users. Zoom had 14 million monthly active users of its mobile applications in early March, according to calculations by the company Apptopia, which estimates that this volume reached 173 million in late May. Or an increase of 1.135%.
> Berlin to lift its warnings on tourist travel in Europe
The German government has decided to lift from June 15 its warnings on tourist trips to Europe decreed in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Wednesday.
> In Brazil, the pandemic reveals the deficiencies of the health system
Brazil is the fourth country most affected by the coronavirus, with 30,000 deaths and 500,000 confirmed cases. Faced with the lack of respirators and resuscitation beds, a young doctor expressed his frustration: “It is the chronicle of an announced death. Because the structure of the public health system was already insufficient before this tragedy. The rulers hardly care about health. There is a lot of corruption and incompetence. It’s sad… ”explains Dr Guilherme Miranda.
> Russia tops 430,000 cases of coronavirus contamination
Russia reported on Wednesday 8,536 new coronavirus contaminations to reach 432,277 cases in total, the third heaviest toll in the world in terms of infections. The number of deaths attributed to Covid-19 now stands at 5,215, of which 178 in the past 24 hours, health officials said.
In contrast, the World Health Organization noted on Wednesday a “slow” decline in cases of infection in the country, especially in Moscow.
> Germany: further sharp rise in unemployment in May
Germany saw the number of unemployed increase by 238,000 in May, bringing the unemployment rate to 6.3% due to the health crisis, according to the seasonally adjusted indicator (CVS) published by the Federal Agency for employment.
“The job market is still under heavy pressure from the coronavirus pandemic,” said director Detlef Scheele. In raw data, the number of unemployed increases from 169,000 people in May to 2,813,000, after a historic increase of 308,000 in April.
Partial unemployment was requested in Germany for 11.7 million workers between March and May, including 1.06 million in May.
> Germany deploys an umbrella of 2 billion aid for start-ups
To re-prime the venture capital pump, Berlin has set up a € 2 billion fund for young tech companies. Funding is starting to arrive, but too little and too slowly in the eyes of the banks.
> Renault announces the implementation of its state guaranteed loan, the stock climbs
The manufacturer announced the establishment with a pool of banks of a credit opening agreement for a maximum total amount of 5 billion euros benefiting from a guarantee from the French State.
This credit facility, which may be used in whole or in part, will ensure the financing of the group’s liquidity needs, in a context of “unprecedented” crisis, said the group in a press release. The French State guarantee amounts to 90% of the total amount borrowed. At the opening of the stock market, Renault shares climbed more than 5%.
> Towards an overproduction of masks in France?
In Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, 45 textile companies have organized to manufacture or market 5 million washable masks per week. But orders from local communities and businesses are collapsing, and stocks are already starting to build up.
> Axa anticipates a significant impact of the crisis
The insurer Axa anticipates a total cost of claims related to the coronavirus pandemic of 1.2 billion euros after tax and net of reinsurance, and solidarity measures of around 0.3 billion euros after tax for a total impact of 1.5 billion on operating profit, according to a press release.
> Lufthansa slowly resumes activity
The air transport giant Lufthansa has announced its objective of increasing its offer to reach in September “up to 40%” of what was planned before the coronavirus pandemic, which put almost all of its passenger traffic.
The German group, which resumed some flights in early June after having offered in May only 3% of the usual number of seats on its flights, however predicts that 300 of its 763 aircraft will remain grounded again in 2021 and 200 in 2022, a sign of his anticipation of a slow recovery in demand.
> 26 billion euro stimulus package in South Korea
The South Korean government has announced an unprecedented 26 billion euro stimulus package to support the economy hit by the new coronavirus epidemic.
> Guyana: partial ban on religious gatherings
In a decree, the prefect of Guyana on Tuesday prohibited religious gatherings in 11 of the 22 communes of Guyana, those affected by the coronavirus.
> Italy reopens its borders to tourists
In the hope of saving its tourist industry undermined by the health crisis, Italy – including one of the regions, Lombardy (north), was the epicenter of the epidemic on the Old Continent – reopens this Wednesday borders to European tourists.
If Italians will also be able to move freely between regions, the prohibitions on large gatherings and the obligation to wear a mask in enclosed spaces and on public transport remain in force.
> The threshold of 200,000 cases crossed in India
India has registered 8,909 new cases of coronavirus contamination in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 207,615 since the start of the epidemic. The Ministry of Health has expressed concern that the peak of the epidemic may occur only in several weeks in the second most populous country in the world.
> Only one additional case identified in China
Only one new case of coronavirus contamination has been reported in mainland China in the past 24 hours, Chinese health officials said, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 83,021. It is about a person arrived from abroad, that is to say a case called “imported”.
> The Assembly votes the “leave gift” to caregivers
The National Assembly voted Tuesday evening a LREM bill allowing employees to “give” leave in the form of holiday vouchers to caregivers, a text deemed “irrelevant” even “a little obscene” by the left opposition, given the difficulties of the hospital.
> With protests, the US fears a rebound in cases
After more than two months of confinement, some health experts fear that the daily gatherings of thousands of people in dozens of cities in the United States will again cause contaminations to Covid-19.
Fears are also fueled by the fact that in many states, the lifting of activity and traffic restrictions was done quickly, before a significant drop in cases of contamination.
> Peru: 20 journalists died from Covid-19
Twenty journalists have died in Peru in recent weeks from the new coronavirus, most of them covering the pandemic, announced the National Association of Journalists (ANP). Most caught it while covering events related to Covid-19.
> In Venezuela, Maduro and Guaido reach an agreement
In Venezuela, the Covid-19 unleashed an unexpected rapprochement between two sworn enemies. Socialist President Nicolás Maduro and opponent Juan Guaido, who have reached an agreement to jointly seek funds against the disease.
> Daily death record in Brazil
The Latin American giant of 212 million inhabitants recorded a daily record of deaths due to the virus, bringing to 31,199 the number of deaths, for 555,383 confirmed patients of Covid-19, according to the Ministry of Health.
These figures, which the scientific community considers grossly undervalued, place Brazil in 4th place in the world for the dead, behind the United States – which remains by far the hardest hit country with 106,180 dead -, the United Kingdom (39,369) and Italy (33,530).
> South Korea approves use of remdesivir
South Korea has announced that it has authorized emergency use of remdesivir, Gilead Sciences’ experimental antiviral, as a treatment for Covid-19.
> 29 more deaths in Germany
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus contamination in Germany has increased to 182,370, 342 more than the previous day, according to data reported by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases. Twenty-nine additional deaths have been recorded, for a total of 8,551 deaths since the start of the epidemic in the country.
> Latvia opens borders to more than 20 countries
Latvia will lift this quarantine requirement for travelers from more than 20 European countries on Wednesday. A measure already adopted by neighboring Estonia and Lithuania.
> EDF terminates its Arenh contracts
EDF announced on Tuesday that it had notified the termination of their nuclear power purchase contracts to Total Direct Energie, Alpiq and Gazel, which had considered that the health crisis constituted a case of force majeure to suspend these contracts.
Such termination is provided for in the contracts which bound EDF to these suppliers “in the event of suspension of these contracts beyond a period of two months”, according to an EDF press release. An EDF spokesperson said that the terminated contracts covered the whole of 2020.
> Australian universities could lose 10 billion euros
Australian universities have estimated that losses due to the absence of foreign students due to the closure of borders to fight the coronavirus could amount to 10 billion euros.
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