pandemic update

New measures, new reports and highlights: an update on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.

– India: mega vaccination campaign –

India, the second most populous country in the world with 1.3 billion people and the second worst hit nation by the pandemic, began one of the largest vaccination campaigns on Saturday, planning to immunize 300 million people by July.

– Pfizer: limited delays –

The American group Pfizer, associated with the German laboratory BioNTech, announced on Saturday a “plan” to limit the delivery delays of the vaccine against the Covid-19 to one week, while Europe feared to see these deliveries weaken for “three to four weeks”.

This plan will “increase manufacturing capacity in Europe and provide many more doses in the second quarter” according to the two groups.

– Anti-mask demonstration in Vienna –

About 10,000 opponents of health measures against the coronavirus demonstrated in Vienna on Saturday afternoon, police said.

The government is due to release new measures on Sunday. The Austrian scientific council recommended making telework compulsory and extending the current confinement.

– Spain: no reconfinement for the moment –

The Spanish government for the moment excludes a new confinement in the face of the third wave but could allow the regions to advance their curfew, the Minister of Health announced on Saturday.

Five regions this week called on the central government to put in place strict containment, as cases have exploded since the holidays.

– France: general curfew –

France applies a general curfew on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. local (5:00 p.m. GMT), a new turn of the screw to which resigned traders comply.

Prime Minister Jean Castex specified that 390,000 people had been vaccinated to date in France and that a million vaccination appointments had been made.

– Suspended links –

A case of the South African variant of the coronavirus has been detected in the French overseas territory of Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean. The authorities have decided to suspend international sea and air links for 15 days from Sunday.

Italy on Saturday banned flights from Brazil due to a new variant discovered in that country.

– More than two million dead –

The pandemic has killed at least 2,009,991 people worldwide since its discovery in China in December 2019, according to a count made by AFP from official reports provided by the authorities on Saturday.

More than 93,803,240 cases of infection have been officially diagnosed.

The United States is the most affected country with 392,139 deaths, followed by Brazil (208,246 deaths), India (152,093), Mexico (139,022) and the United Kingdom (87,295).

These figures are globally underestimated. They are based on daily reports from national health authorities, without including reassessments based on statistical bases.

– Chinese vaccine in Serbia –

One million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine arrived in Serbia on Saturday, which had started vaccination before Christmas, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced.

This vaccine can begin to be administered as soon as official authorization has been given, probably Sunday or Monday, according to the authorities.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Li on Saturday pledged to the Philippines a donation of 500,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

– Guinea: the president vaccinated –

Guinean President Alpha Condé, 82, received a first dose of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, as part of a pilot phase which has so far mainly benefited members of the government, according to a source close to the presidency.

burs-fm-ang / ber / hba