UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – New measures, new assessments and highlights: Le Figaro provides an update on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic.
Boris Johnson sanctioned after parties during confinement, vaccination coverage still below 10% in 20 countries, the United States forces its staff to leave Shanghai… Le Figaro provides an update this Tuesday, April 12 on the latest information related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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156 dead in 24 hours, 24,692 hospitalized patients
Since its peak in early April, the Covid-19 epidemic has been on a plateau and contamination has stagnated for several days, while the number of hospitalized patients continues to increase and is approaching 25,000, according to daily figures published Tuesday.
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The wave still does not go away: with 190,762 positive cases recorded in 24 hours by Public Health France, the average for the last seven days stands at 133,586, after having oscillated between 133,000 and 136,000 for a week. However, after a brief passage above the threshold of 140,000 in early April, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, estimated last week that “the peak of the reboundhad passed.
An assertion that Public Health France was careful not to resume on Friday, for lack of power “confirm that we are in a declining phase of the epidemic“. On the other hand, the trend is clearly upward in the hospital, where there are now 24,693 infected patients, or 488 more than the day before and around 4,000 more in two weeks.
Among these patients, 1,644 are treated in critical care, i.e. 55 more over one day, but only 150 more compared to the end of March. The macabre count of the Covid has further increased by 156 in the hospital in 24 hours, bringing the total to 143,625 in France since the start of the pandemic, more than two years ago.
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Parties during confinement: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sanctioned
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be fined for breaking anti-Covid rules at parties in power circles in 2020 and 2021, Downing Street announced on Tuesday, prompting immediate calls for his resignation.
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His finance minister, Rishi Sunak, will also be fined for party offenses in power circles in 2020 and 2021, a scandal known as “party gatewhich shook the government. The British were at the time asked to drastically reduce their social interactions to combat the spread of Covid-19.
“The Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer today received notification that the police intended to issue them fines“said the spokesperson. The Labor opposition immediately reacted by demanding the departure of the head of government and the finance minister.
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Vaccination coverage still below 10% in 20 countries
Vaccination coverage against Covid-19 in some twenty countries, most of them African, does not exceed 10%, lamented Monday the WHO Committee of Experts in Immunization Policy (SAGE). The deployment of vaccines against Covid-19 has been carried out at a pace “unprecedentedin the world, almost all the countries having introduced the vaccine in less than 12 months, noted these experts in a press release.
However, 20 countries – up from 34 in mid-January – have still not exceeded 10% of their population vaccinated, said Kate O’Brien, the head of vaccination at the World Health Organization, at a press conference. Most of these countries are in Africa, with the rest being in the Eastern Mediterranean regions, America, Western Pacific, and Southeast Asia. “These are countries that are working really hard to push their agendas forwardof vaccination, underlined Kate O’Brien. The WHO and its partners, including UNICEF, are helping these countries to increase their vaccination coverage, particularly in Africa.
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Covid in Shanghai: the United States forces its personnel to leave
Worried about thewelfareof American citizens, the United States announced on Tuesday that it had ordered non-essential employees of its consulate to leave Shanghai, against the backdrop of an epidemic outbreak and strict confinement in the metropolis. China’s economic capital is facing its biggest surge of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. To deal with this, the authorities are confining almost all of the 25 million inhabitants to their homes. But the measure has led to logistical hiccups, with some Shanghainese struggling to get food supplies.
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Another controversial measure: people who test positive for the coronavirus, even asymptomatic, are placed in solitary confinement in improvised quarantine centers – with sometimes rudimentary comfort and hygiene. It is in this context that Washington hasordered“the departure from Shanghai of its non-essential personnel”due to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak“, a spokesperson for the United States Embassy said in a statement on Tuesday.
The number of people affected by this decision is not known and it was not immediately clear whether a departure from Shanghai meant an exit from Chinese territory. “The United States has no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens abroad, including China Mission personnel and their families.“, specifies the text. The embassy clarified that American diplomats informed the Chinese authorities “their concerns about the safety and well-being of American citizens“.
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Due to Covid in particular, 250 million people are at risk of extreme poverty, according to Oxfam
Covid-19, growing inequality and war-boosted food prices in Ukraine: More than 250 million people worldwide could be pushed into extreme poverty this year, Oxfam warned in a report on Tuesday. With this massive increase, it would be in all “860 million people who could live in extreme poverty by the end of the year“, That is to say with less than 1.9 dollars a day, explains the NGO fighting against poverty in a press release. “Rising global food prices alone will plunge 65 million peoplein such destitution, which will be added to the 198 million people affected by the pandemic and growing inequalities, says Oxfam.
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“Multiple global crises cause misery for millions” and an “herculean answeris needed, says Katy Chakrabortty, an Oxfam official, who calls for debt cancellations for low-income countries and taxation of the wealthy. Governments have generallyfailed to raise taxes on the wealthy“, while “the fortunes of billionaires have increased more since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic than in the previous 14 years“laments Oxfam.
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