[EN DIRECT 10 MARS] All the developments of the pandemic

Whether in Quebec or elsewhere on the planet, the COVID-19 pandemic has been disrupting our lives for nearly a year.

Here you will find all the news throughout the day related to this crisis affecting the population, governments and the economy.

The balance sheets

PLANETARY

Case: 117 641 483

Dead: 2,612,102

CANADA

Case: 897,737, whose 293 860 in Quebec

Death: 22,293, whose 10,493 in Quebec

HERE ARE ALL THE NEWS FOR WEDNESDAY MARCH 10

9:34 am | Biden wants 100 million more doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine

The United States wants to buy an additional 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, which would double its order from the pharmaceutical company, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

Joe Biden is due to speak on the matter during an afternoon meeting with executives from Johnson & Johnson and another U.S. group, Merck, who announced last week that they had made a deal to produce the vaccine.

“The president will announce that he is asking the HHS teams (the Ministry of Health, editor’s note) to obtain 100 million additional doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine,” the senior official said on condition of anonymity.

The United States has already placed enough orders to receive enough doses by the end of May to immunize all American adults.

Johnson & Johnson, whose remedy was urgently authorized at the end of February by the American health authorities and which requires only one injection, had already committed to deliver 100 million doses to the United States.

9:29 am | France: a touching advertisement to convince the population to be vaccinated.

9:04 am | In Alaska, vaccination for all.

Alaska became the first U.S. state on Wednesday to open up COVID-19 vaccination to all people 16 years of age and older, without restrictive criteria.

Its Governor Mike Dunleavy said in a statement, “with immediate effect,” that the vaccine was “available to all people living or working in Alaska and aged 16 and over, making Alaska the first state in the country to withdraw the eligibility conditions ”.

The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine will be available for people 16 years of age and older, while those from Johnson & Johnson and Moderna will be available for people 18 years and older.

The governor hailed a “historic step”, saying he expected with the acceleration of the vaccination campaign to “see without a doubt our economy grow and our businesses prosper”.

The vaccination campaign is in full swing in the United States, the country most affected in the world in absolute terms by the disease.

About 2.2 million people per day on average were vaccinated last week, with a record 2.9 million injections in a single day on Saturday, according to a White House adviser.

While the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention (CDC) have provided federal guidance on priority populations for the vaccine, states are then free to set their own criteria.

8:44 am | It’s the big day in Quebec with the start of the vaccination campaign in the general population. The ExpoCité mega-clinic has been buzzing since early Wednesday morning.

8:37 am | COVID-19: less than 20% of “green” stimulus plans in 2020, alarms the UN.

Less than 20% of spending intended to revive the economy in the face of the COVID-19 crisis has been environmentally friendly in 2020, the UN alarmed on Wednesday in a report calling on the world to step up to the plate. way of a green recovery.

“At this point, green spending globally does not measure up to the severity of the three global crises of climate change, loss of nature and pollution,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the Human Resources Program. United Nations for the Environment.

8:33 am | Virus: Portugal authorizes AstraZeneca for over 65s.

Portugal, like several other European countries, has authorized the administration of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to those over 65, the Directorate General of Health announced on Wednesday.

“This decision is based on data unveiled in recent days which indicate that the AstraZeneca vaccine is effective in people over 65,” said the health authority in a statement.

This vaccine can now be administered without reservation from the age of 18, whereas in Portugal it was hitherto reserved “preferably” for people aged 65 or less.

For the Ministry of Health, the goal is to have vaccinated 70% of the population in the summer.

Confined since mid-January, Portugal has meanwhile experienced a sharp drop in the number of new contaminations, after a record of nearly 16,500 new daily cases reached on January 28.

This country of 10 million inhabitants recorded 30 deaths on Tuesday and 847 new confirmed cases of contamination in 24 hours, according to the daily bulletin issued by the national health authority.

7:32 am | Italy: COVID-19 lowers life expectancy by almost a year.

Life expectancy has fallen in Italy by almost a year, to 82.3 years, due to the pandemic, the National Statistical Institute (Istat) reported on Wednesday.

The peninsula was one of the countries hardest hit by COVID-19, and the first to be affected in Europe by the first wave. This week, the country crossed the 100,000 dead mark.

The estimates for 2020 “suggest a sudden stop and a significant reversal of the positive trend observed in recent years in terms of life expectancy,” according to Istat.

The regions in the north of the country, the most affected by the virus, are also those where life expectancy has fallen the most: in Lombardy, the economic heart of the country, it falls from 83.7 to 81.2 years.

Before the pandemic, life expectancy had increased from 81.7 years in 2010 to 83.2 years in 2019, placing Italy in the top tier at European level.

According to Istat, the average in the EU in 2018 was 81, the latest figure available.

7:21 am | COVID-19: increased anxiety and fatigue among doctors

A survey examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on doctors reveals a high level of anxiety and an increase in fatigue in the past year.

TO READ | With the revival of the economy and the transition to the orange zone of several regions, COVID-19 bonuses, gift cards or temporary financial benefits now seem endangered for “essential workers”.

7:16 am | Switzerland is doubling its vaccine order from Pfizer / BioNtech.

Switzerland announced a new contract with the American giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNtech on Wednesday, doubling its order for anti-Covid vaccines, said the Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP).

The Confederation signed a new contract for three million additional doses, the Swiss Ministry of Health said in a press release.

The additional doses must be delivered in a staggered manner from April, added the FOPH.

“Good news: we were able to buy 3 million additional doses”, wrote the Minister of Health, Alain Berset, on his Twitter account, while Switzerland is like many neighboring countries facing uncertainties concerning production and vaccine availability.

The vaccine from Pfizer and its German partner BioNtech is the first to be authorized in Switzerland. Approved in mid-December, it had been used for the first vaccinations at the end of December.

7:12 am | Virus: record cases in Poland since the start of the year.

A record of coronavirus contamination cases for 2021 has just been recorded in Poland with 17,260 cases in 24 hours and 398 deaths, the Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday.

This result is due to a “growing relaxation” of the population, which does not sufficiently respect the rules of social distancing, and to the spread of the British variant in Poland, explained the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Wojciech Andrusiewicz.

Some 1,500 additional beds will be made available to infected people across the country over the coming days, including in temporary hospitals, the spokesperson said.

“We are far from being able to say that the third wave is on the decline,” said government spokesman Piotr Muller.

Poland had confined its population from the start of the pandemic, which had enabled it to avoid the worst, but a second wave had hit it head-on at the end of the year, then a third now.

The government had adopted this year an easing of the restrictive measures allowing hotels, museums, cinemas, theaters and swimming pools to open with a half-gauge, before having to backtrack in two regions of the north of the country during the last two weeks due to the number of new cases.

7:03 am | Mauritius is entering a second lockdown in the face of COVID-19.

Mauritius began national containment on Wednesday morning until March 25, for the second time since the appearance of COVID-19 in the Indian Ocean archipelago a year ago, announced Tuesday evening the Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth.

“This containment became necessary after the appearance of four new positive local cases of Covid 19, bringing to 14 the number of local positive cases recorded since March 5,” said the Prime Minister in a televised address.

“We had no other choice but total containment in order to prevent the spread of the virus and protect the population,” added Mr. Jugnauth.

On Wednesday, only essential services will be operational, including the port, airport, hospital services, emergency aid.

As of Thursday, supermarkets, bakeries, gas stations and pharmacies will be accessible on a principle of consumer rotation in alphabetical order.

4:20 | Hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles schoolchildren could return to class next month, almost a year after switching to virtual classes in the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic.

TO READ | The vaccination of people 65 years and over could finally allow the return of dinners at home with friends and families as well as lifting the curfew, in about two months, hopes the government.

1h00 | Primary school children do not seem unduly bothered by the compulsory wearing of the intervention mask in class, according to schoolchildren and parents interviewed by Le Journal.

0h00 | Today, the Quebec City region is launching with great fanfare its mass vaccination campaign in the general population.

Our columnists speak out

After the vaccine, will we live through the Roaring Twenties? —> Claude Villeneuve