Passers-by walk on a pedestrianized street in Wuhan, China, January 23, 2021 (AFP / Hector RETAMAL)
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One year to the day after the spectacular confinement decreed in Wuhan, a Chinese city now free of the coronavirus, several countries are imposing new restrictions on Saturday in the face of an epidemic that does not abate and the concern raised by the variants of the virus.
“We are at 400,000 dead” and their number “should reach much more than 600,000”, declared Friday the new US President Joe Biden, who had never mentioned such a heavy toll.
A limited epidemic resurgence has materialized in recent days in parts of China. Beijing, for example, began screening two million of its inhabitants on Friday after a few cases of Covid, including some of the English variant.
But in Wuhan, a metropolis of 11 million inhabitants and the cradle of the pandemic which has killed more than two million, from where the virus stopped circulating last May, nothing recalls the apocalyptic atmosphere that reigned. one year earlier.
Party-goers savor their new-found freedom and residents indulged in their physical exercises along the Yangtze River on Saturday morning, while groups of retirees danced in a park in foggy weather.
European countries that have identified cases of British or South African variants, according to WHO data as of January 22 (AFP /)
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While it is too early to know if the Covid-19 has its origin in China, said Friday the World Health Organization (WHO), which is carrying out a mission in this country, Wuhan today appears as a haven of health peace, with regard to the rest of the world.
– Restrictions and weariness –
New restrictions are being imposed in many countries to respond to the growing concern about the dangers represented by the variants of the coranavirus, despite the weariness which is also growing.
A nighttime curfew goes into effect in the Netherlands on Saturday, as does a new weekend lockdown in Colombia. And now you need a test to be allowed to enter Israel.
Norway announced on Saturday semi-containment measures in the capital Oslo and its region, the strictest since the start of the epidemic, after the detection of cases of the English variant.
Earlier this week, several European states announced tightening restrictions. Belgium has therefore decided to ban its population from non-essential travel outside its borders from Wednesday until March 1.
Employees leave a closed school in Bobadela in Loures, a suburb of Lisbon, January 22, 2021 (AFP / PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA)
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Under confinement for a week, Portugal closed its schools, nurseries and universities for 15 days on Friday.
In Spain, the end-of-year celebrations have caused contaminations to jump. The Madrid region, one of the hardest hit, released new restrictions on Friday, bringing the curfew times forward and the closing of bars and restaurants.
Hong Kong has established a first lockdown for this weekend, in a poor and densely populated district.
These new restrictions are not going smoothly with part of the population, which is desperate to find its former life, at restaurant tables, at the theater, at the cinema or on the terrace of cafes.
They reopen on Saturday in Jince in the Czech Republic to protest against their closure. In Copenhagen, a demonstration by opponents of the restrictions is due to take place in the afternoon.
– Even more deadly –
Adding to the concern, the coronavirus variant first discovered in Britain could be even more deadly, according to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Mathematical models showing the progression of the number of deaths according to scenarios relating to an increase in mortality and contagiousness (AFP /)
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For men in their 60s, the risk of death is 10 in 1,000 with the virus, a figure that reaches 13 to 14 in 1,000 with the new variant, said the government’s scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance.
The European agency responsible for epidemics has for its part raised to “high / very high” the risk associated with new variants, predicting “a rapid escalation of the stringency of measures in the weeks to come”.
Another bad news, the deliveries of the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine in Europe will be less important than expected due to a “drop in yield” at a manufacturing site, the British group told AFP on Friday.
France, for its part, asked the American laboratory Pfizer on Friday to meet its delivery commitments. But the vaccination plan in this country is not called into question, assured the Minister for Industry, Agnés Pannier-Runacher on Saturday.
Russia’s “Sputnik V” vaccine has not yet been authorized in the EU, but the Hungarian government, criticizing European “delays”, announced on Friday an agreement to buy up to two million doses.
The other Moderna vaccine caused him some fears due to cases of severe allergies. But these are rare and have affected only 10 people out of more than four million first doses administered in the United States, said US health authorities on Friday.
– Rio gives up its carnival –
After a peak, the pandemic has nevertheless decelerated everywhere this week (634,200 new daily cases on average, or -12%), except in Latin America where the city of Rio de Janeiro has given up organizing its traditional carnival this year.
Members of the Beija Flor samba school during the last night of the Rio Carnival on February 25, 2020 (AFP / MAURO PIMENTEL)
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Brazil, in the middle of the second wave, has just started its vaccination campaign and is already experiencing hiccups, while scientists are warning of a possible lack of doses, components and even syringes.
Among the good news, a citizens’ crowdfunding initiative in Malawi raised $ 100,000 in one week to increase resources to fight Covid-19 in public hospitals.
In Sri Lanka, Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi, who publicly endorsed witchcraft and a magic potion to stem the outbreak of new cases on the island, has for her part tested positive and will isolate herself.
The epidemic killed 2,107,903 people and infected more than 98 million people, according to an AFP count. Europe and North America concentrate two thirds of new contaminations.
burx / ob / ybl / ode / bds
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