India became the third country in the world to cross the four million coronavirus case mark, after a record day of new cases on Saturday.
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With 86,432 new cases recorded on Saturday, India now has 4,023,179 infections since the start of the pandemic, just behind the United States (more than 6.3 million) and Brazil (4.1 million).
While the government has eased restrictions, India is currently the country with the fastest growing number of cases, with more than 80,000 a day. The number of daily deaths is also the highest in the world, over 1,000.
Grim situation in Iraq
Another record, that of Iraq on Friday, where the surge of new cases prompted authorities to warn that hospitals may no longer be able to handle the growing number of hospitalizations.
According to the health ministry, Iraq registered 5,036 new cases on Friday, bringing the total to 252,075, including 7,359 deaths and 191,368 recoveries.
The ministry attributed the increase to recent “large gatherings” which took place without observing precautionary measures, such as wearing a mask or physical distancing, especially during Ashura, one of the most important religious gatherings in the country. Shiite Islam.
WHO caution
The pandemic has killed at least 875,703 people around the world since the end of December, according to a report established by Agence France-Presse (AFP) from official sources on Saturday.
On the day of Friday, 5,693 new deaths and 305,583 new cases were recorded worldwide. The countries that have recorded the most new deaths in their latest reports are India with 1089 new deaths, the United States (998) and Brazil (888).
The United States is the most affected country, both in number of deaths and cases, with 187,777 deaths for more than 6.2 million recorded cases, according to the count of Johns Hopkins University.
The WHO announced on Friday that it would not expect a widespread vaccination against Covid-19 before mid-2021.
“A considerable number of applicants have now entered phase 3 of the trials. We know of at least 6 to 9 who have already come a long way in terms of research, WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris told a press briefing in Geneva.
“But in terms of a realistic timeline, we really don’t expect to see widespread vaccination until the middle of next year,” she added, as preparations for vaccine distribution accelerate. , especially in the United States.
The WHO “will not endorse” a vaccine against the coronavirus if it is not safe and effective, said the organization’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, when asked about concerns raised by the anti-vaccine movement.
On the other hand, the organization recommends “the systematic use of corticosteroids in patients with a severe or critical form of Covid-19”, in the light of studies showing that these drugs reduce mortality, according to guidelines published on Friday in the BMJ medical journal.
In Russia, nearly a month after an announcement with great fanfare from the authorities, researchers published a first study which shows that their coronavirus vaccine candidate, Sputnik V, is giving encouraging preliminary results.
The vaccine under development by the Gamaleïa research institute triggers an immune response and did not cause serious adverse effects, concludes the article by Russian researchers published by the prestigious British journal The Lancet, after evaluation by a committee proofreader composed of independent scientists.
These results do not yet prove that the vaccine effectively protects against infection with the new coronavirus, which will be shown by larger studies, however, experts point out.
Rebound
Switzerland for its part recorded on Friday more than 400 new cases in 24 hours for the first time since mid-April, contaminations which now mainly concern those under 40 years old.
In Brazil, organizations for the defense of Native American peoples and the environment launched an application on Friday to report on the spread of the coronavirus around indigenous lands in Brazil, in order to protect the inhabitants.
“This application makes it possible to monitor in real time the situation of the pandemic in cities located within a radius of 100 km around each indigenous land”, explained in a press release the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations (COIAB) and the Research Institute. environmentalists of the Amazon (Ipam), instigators of the project.
The objective is to reduce the risk of contamination by allowing indigenous peoples to identify the most affected areas and avoid going there when they have to move in the city.
One of Brazil’s best-known indigenous chiefs, Brazilian cacique Raoni Metuktire, estimated to be 90 years old, was released from Sinop hospital on Friday in Mato Grosso (center-west). , where he was admitted at the end of August after suffering from COVID-19.