The health situation in India is increasingly worrying, with more than 20 million cases of COVID recorded on Tuesday and a suffocating health system, Europe and the United States for their part easing restrictions in the face of an improvement in the situation .
• Read also: Ecuador bans the export of medical oxygen
• Read also: Australia reconsiders threat to jail Australians from India
• Read also: UK / India free trade agreement negotiated in autumn, according to London
More than 350,000 new cases were recorded Tuesday in India, a slight drop from the peak of 402,000 cases recorded last week.
“There is a very early signal of movement in the right direction,” Lav Aggarwal, a senior health ministry official, said on Monday, while being cautious.
The Asian giant has recorded more than 222,000 deaths, an outbreak attributed to religious and political gatherings authorized in recent months, as well as to the inaction of the government of Narendra Modi. Many experts believe the real toll from the pandemic, which has claimed more than 3.2 million lives worldwide, is much higher.
Hospitals are overwhelmed and short of oxygen, medicine, beds, despite the influx of international aid in recent days.
And the Indian Premier League cricket, an eight-team tournament scheduled to be held in May across the country, has been postponed “with immediate effect” due to the surge in COVID-19 cases in India, the reports said. Tuesday the organizers.
On the other hand, several thousand Shiite Muslims took part in a religious procession on Tuesday in Lahore, in neighboring eastern Pakistan, ignoring social distancing measures even as the country struggles to contain the COVID-19 epidemic.
Table Of Contents
Australia
In Australia, anger is being shown against the government: thousands of Australians are stranded in India, since Canberra has banned entry into its territory from India in the face of the COVID outbreak, including for its nationals.
“If our government cared about the safety of Australians, it would allow us to go home. It’s a shame!!! Mr Prime Minister, you have blood on your hands, ”notably tweeted the former Australian cricketer Michael Slater, stranded in the Maldives.
Australia had warned its fellow citizens on Saturday returning from India via stop-over flights that they risked five years in prison.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison backpedaled on the threat of imprisonment on Tuesday but upheld his decision to prevent returns from India.
In Brazil, the second most affected country in the world after India, vaccine delivery has been delayed.
And in seven major Brazilian cities, including Porto Alegre, injections of the second dose of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine have been suspended for lack of doses.
The United States, meanwhile, is expected to authorize Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 12 and older starting next week, US media reported Monday.
In Canada, the scientific committee advising the government on vaccination recommended on Monday that the use of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine against COVID-19 be reserved for people aged 30 and over.
A cross on Johnson & Johnson
As for Denmark, the first country in Europe to abandon the AstraZeneca vaccine in April, it announced on Monday that it would also do away with that of Johnson & Johnson because of possible serious side effects, despite the green lights of the European regulator and the ‘WHO.
The Nordic kingdom announced on Tuesday new stages of its reopening, thanks to an epidemiological situation under control and with the support of its health passport of which it is one of the pioneers in Europe.
In addition to cinemas and theaters, fitness centers can reopen from Thursday, on presentation of a “coronapas”, a health passport certifying a negative test of less than 72 hours, vaccination or recent recovery. of Covid-19.
Bars and restaurants, which already welcome customers on presentation of the health passport, will no longer be subject to compulsory reservation.
In France, where travel restrictions have been lifted, against a backdrop of a slow decline in hospitalizations, it will be necessary to wait until May 19 for the limited reopening of shops, cinemas, museums, theaters and terraces of bars and restaurants.
The ambassadors of the 27 member states of the European Union are due to examine on Wednesday a proposal from the European Commission in favor of entry into the Union to travelers from third countries who have received the necessary doses of vaccines.
But despite the improvement of the situation, the Oktoberfest, scheduled to bring together millions of people from September 18 to October 3 in Munich, has been canceled for the second year in a row due to the pandemic.
The health situation remains too “uncertain” for the “most global gathering there to be” in the fall, said Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder.
In the United States, the country most affected in terms of both deaths and cases by the pandemic, Florida announced on Monday the lifting of all restrictions linked to the pandemic, highlighting the effectiveness of the vaccine campaign.
The time has also come for relaxation in New York, which was the epicenter of the epidemic in its infancy: the governor of the state, Andrew Cuomo, notably announced on Monday the imminent resumption of the opening of the new subway. -Yorkis 24 hours a day.
And from May 19, the gauges in restaurants, cinemas, shops and museums will also be revised upwards, said the governor.