Coronavirus in the world: most of Italy is reconfigured from Monday, new infections at their highest since mid-January in the Netherlands

ASIA

Thailand:

Thailand has decided to delay the launch of its vaccination campaign with AstraZeneca, a health official said on Friday, amid fears of the vaccine being linked to blood clots.

The vaccination campaign with the Oxford / AstraZeneca was due to start on Friday, with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha expected to be the first to be injected with the product.

“The administration of vaccines to Thais must be safe, we must not hurry,” Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, adviser to the national committee in charge of the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 in the country.

“Although the quality of AstraZeneca is good, some countries have requested that (its use) be delayed” and “we will delay it as well,” he added.

The day before, Denmark, Iceland and Norway announced the suspension of injections of AstraZeneca’s vaccine against Covid-19, invoking the principle of “precaution”.

AMERICA

USA:

US President Joe Biden affirmed that “all American women over the age of 18 will be able to be vaccinated (against Covid-19) no later than May 1,” in an official speech.

EUROPE

Italy:

Most of Italy, facing the third wave of the pandemic, will be confined again from Monday, the Italian Ministry of Health announced on Friday.

The most populated regions of the peninsula, notably Lombardy, the economic heart of the country, and Lazio, the region of Rome, will be classified as “red” (high risk), resulting in the closure of schools as well as bars and restaurants. . Travel will be limited to work requirements, the purchase of basic necessities and health emergencies.

Netherlands:

The Netherlands recorded 6,068 new infections with the coronavirus between Thursday morning and Friday morning, the highest number of new infections in 24 hours since January 14, according to data from the Royal Netherlands Institute of Public Health (RIVM) . The Netherlands has for some time recorded an average of 4,500 new cases of infection every day, a figure that has long remained stable but has been increasing for a few days.

The RIVM has identified 34,775 new cases in the last seven days, or 4,968 per day, the highest average since January 26.

The number of deaths continues to drop. Twenty-seven people have died from the virus in the past 24 hours. Two hundred and sixty-four deaths have been reported in the past seven days, or 38 per day on average. This figure was still 100 at the start of the vaccination campaign in January.

Since the start of the epidemic, just over a year ago, more than 1.1 million Dutch people have tested positive for SARS-Cov-2 and more than 16,000 have certainly died from it. The actual numbers are probably higher.

Portugal:

The Portuguese government authorized Friday the sale from Saturday of self-testing for Covid-19 to do yourself and without a prescription, as part of its strategy of progressive deconfinement unveiled the day before. These rapid antigenic tests, by nasal sampling carried out by the patient himself at home and with a result in a few minutes, will be on sale in particular in pharmacies and drugstores, according to a decree published in the official journal.

The government, which is preparing to reopen several sectors of activity from next week, establishes “an exceptional and provisional regime” of six months, during which time it “authorizes the realization of rapid self-tests” within the framework of its massive screening strategy.

After two months of general confinement to deal with a violent third wave of the Covid-19 epidemic, the government unveiled on Thursday a plan for the gradual and differentiated unlocking of its system to fight this disease.

Thus, from Monday, nurseries, primary schools and certain non-essential businesses such as hairdressing salons by appointment, real estate agencies, bookstores and libraries, will be reopened.

To prepare for this return of students to schools, the government has planned to rely on the deployment of mass screening.

He also chose to make school staff, especially teachers, a priority for the Covid-19 vaccine.

Self-tests are already present in countries such as Germany and Austria, recalls the Ministry of Health in the decree.

France :

The Covid-19 epidemic has killed more than 90,000 people in France since it began a year ago, according to figures released Friday evening by the French public health agency.

According to these figures updated daily, 90,146 people have died from Covid-19 since the start of the epidemic in hospitals and nursing homes, including 64,835 in hospitals.

The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care, still on the rise, exceeded the 4,000 mark on Friday.