New containment was ordered in Melbourne on Friday, forcing the Australian Open to take place behind closed doors, while the vaccination campaign accelerates in the United States, the country most affected by the coronavirus epidemic, where Americans can now get vaccinated in thousands of pharmacies across the country.
The Prime Minister of the State of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, announced that the new five-day confinement was necessary to stop a “hyper-infectious” cluster of contaminations with the English variant of the coronavirus, which appeared in one of the hotels used for the quarantine of several players and participants in the Australian Grand Slam.
So far 13 people have been infected among hotel staff and their families.
The rest of the tournament, which began on Monday and brings together most of the best players in the world, will therefore be held behind closed doors at least until Wednesday.
A sanitary bubble will be put in place, and “only players and their teams, as well as staff members who will not be able to do their work from home, will be allowed on the site”, according to tournament director Craig Tiley .
In a subcontinent largely free of the coronavirus, the Australian Open had been authorized to welcome 25,000 to 30,000 spectators per day, sometimes giving the world tennis circuit the impression of having returned to the passionate atmosphere of the pre-pandemic.
In the United States, President Joe Biden announced on Thursday the purchase of 200 million additional doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, which should allow the country to have enough doses by the end of July to vaccinate the vast majority of population.
“We are now on track to have enough doses for 300 million Americans by the end of July,” President Biden said.
To these massive purchases are added the distribution of doses of vaccines on Thursday to some 6,500 pharmacies in the country, where Americans are used to being vaccinated against the flu.
– Chaotic beginnings –
The first doses will be injected this Friday. In total, around 40,000 pharmacies will be part of the program. The government has also ramped up vaccine production, opened additional vaccination sites and launched a campaign for the less privileged such as the homeless.
After a chaotic start in December, the United States has stepped up the pace: 44.8 million doses have been administered and at least 33.8 million people have received one or two doses, or about 10% of the population.
The United States is the country most affected by the pandemic in terms of both death and cases, with more than 475,000 deaths for more than 27.3 million cases, according to the latest count from Johns Hopkins University.
But since the January 8 peak, the curves of positive cases, hospitalizations and deaths have been declining steadily.
The situation is however more fragile in Europe, the continent most affected by the epidemic with more than 790,287 deaths (for about 35 million cases), according to official figures compiled by AFP.
“The overwhelming majority of European countries remain vulnerable,” said Hans Kluge, the European director of the WHO, for whom “at present, there is a fine line between the hope” aroused by vaccines and “a false sense of security “.
Because the question of the variants of the coronavirus comes to shake up the optimism born of the development of vaccines, and leads to new restrictions.
Germany, which extended most of the restrictions in place until March 7, decided on Thursday to close its border with the Czech Republic and Austrian Tyrol. German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer indicated that this measure would take effect on Sunday evening, and that Tyrol and the Czech regions bordering Germany would be included in the list of territories highly affected by mutations of the virus.
– British variant –
This list already includes several countries such as Great Britain, South Africa, Brazil or Portugal with which Germany banned most travel at the end of January.
The Czech government announced Thursday isolating three cantons, including two on the border with Germany due to the prevalence of the British variant of the coronavirus.
Greece tightened its national containment Thursday, and Ireland extends its until early April, probably until Easter.
The EU, which on Tuesday crossed the symbolic threshold of 500,000 deaths, has however seen the trend improve in recent days, with contaminations and daily deaths down slightly.
But few countries are still inclined to ease the pressure, when vaccination campaigns are delayed.
Poland reopens its theaters, hotels and swimming pools on Friday, after the reopening of museums, libraries, art galleries and shopping centers on Monday.
– Boost production –
In the EU, only 3% of the population has received at least one dose of the anti-Ovid vaccine, according to an AFP count on Thursday.
Globally, more than 155.7 million doses have been administered in 91 countries or territories. Israel is largely in the lead, in proportion of vaccinated compared to its population (42%).
The rich countries of the planet concentrate nearly six injected doses out of ten (59%), while they only host 16% of the world population.
This “inequitable access to vaccines can backfire on us”, once again warned the WHO on Thursday: “The longer the virus persists, the greater the risk of dangerous mutations”.
The G7 countries will meet at a virtual summit on Friday to discuss “the health situation”, “the situation of low-income countries” and the possibility that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) comes to their aid.
burs / ob / at / jhd
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