With a record of Covid-19 considerably revised upwards, Russia became on Monday one of the most bereaved countries in the world, when in South Africa the milestone of one million infected people was crossed, forcing the government to more severe restrictions.
The sale of alcohol is prohibited and the wearing of a mask is now compulsory everywhere in South Africa, announced Monday evening President Cyril Ramaphosa, who also decided to extend the curfew, in effect from 9:00 p.m. instead of 11:00 p.m.
With nearly 26,000 dead in November, and 186,000 this year, Russia suddenly saw its death toll from the Covid-19 epidemic tripled, after the adoption by the Russian statistics office (Rosstat) new accounting closer to international standards. The country had previously recorded some 55,265 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
These new figures place Russia in third place in the world, behind the United States (nearly 335,000 dead), according to the latest figures released Monday night, and Brazil (more than 191,000).
Despite this alarming new assessment, the Russian authorities rejected the idea of any new confinement, relying on the effectiveness of the national vaccine, Sputnik-V, deployed in early December.
– Prepare for “worse” than Covid-19 –
Despite the severity of this pandemic, which has killed over 1.7 million people and infected tens of millions more, WHO is concerned about what lies ahead in the future, and who could be “worse”.
“It’s a wake-up call,” warned Michael Ryan, WHO’s head of emergency situations at the organization’s last press conference of the year, on the front line in the fight against the worst pandemic in 100 years.
“This pandemic has been very severe. It has spread across the world very quickly and it has affected every corner of the planet, but it is not necessarily the worst”, warned the doctor, who in his career has had to grapple with some of the deadliest pathogens in the field.
Meanwhile, vaccination campaigns against Covid-19 are linked in European countries, including France where the government meets on Tuesday a health defense council, before a possible strengthening of restrictions.
The first injections of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine took place this weekend, days after the EU green light.
The delivery of doses to eight European countries will however suffer a slight delay, due to a logistical problem at the Pfizer plant in Belgium, announced the Spanish Ministry of Health, without specifying which were the other seven affected countries.
After Spain – which officially crossed the 50,000 dead mark on Monday, Italy and France this Sunday, Belgium made first injections in three retirement homes, and Luxembourg vaccinated the first health professionals .
– New strain on several continents –
Germany, Hungary and Slovakia led the way in the EU on Saturday, a day ahead of the official launch of the campaign.
Before them, many other countries around the world had started to vaccinate against Covid-19, which has killed at least 1,765,049 people and infected more than 80.6 million people around the world, according to a report drawn up on Monday at midday by AFP, before the announcement of new Russian statistics.
A variant of the coronavirus that appeared recently in Britain, arguably more contagious than the original strain, has been spotted in more and more countries. This new strain has been spotted in several European countries and on other continents, including Canada, Jordan and Japan.
Five cases have been detected in Spain, specifically in Andalusia, eleven in the Netherlands, and two in Finland.
Sri Lanka on Monday welcomed its first foreign tourists for nine months, with a charter flight from Ukraine with 185 passengers, a “pilot project”, according to the government, as a new strain of the virus emerged on the island since October.
– The fiesta at Neymar –
In China, a “citizen journalist” who had covered the epidemic in Wuhan, was sentenced Monday to four years in prison, when the Chinese authorities are praising their success in the fight against the disease.
Faced with worrying levels of contamination, several countries are again subject to restrictive measures, while the prospect of the New Year raises concerns.
In Australia, no spectators will be allowed on Thursday evening on the shores of Sydney Bay to admire the traditional New Year’s fireworks display.
Poland began a three-week partial lockdown on Monday, Israel began a third general lockdown for at least 15 days on Sunday, and Austria confined its population on Saturday until January 24.
And football was also a news caught by the virus: the shock of the 16th day of the English Championship (Premier league) between Everton and Manchester City was postponed to a few hours before kick-off, players and players. members of the Citizens’ management team who have tested positive for the new coronavirus.
All this will apparently not prevent the Brazilian star of Paris SG and striker of the Seleçao (Brazilian selection), Neymar, from celebrating New Year’s Eve as he sees fit: Brazilian media assure that he is preparing to organize a giant party of end of the year in an annex of his luxurious villa near Rio de Janeiro, which his entourage fiercely denies.
In the meantime, the authorities in Rio de Janeiro announced Monday the closure of access to the beaches for the New Year in order to avoid any gathering.
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