United States, which registered the first coronavirus-related death in early February, is the most affected country with 905,333 confirmed cases and 51,949 deaths.
In Europe, the continent hardest hit with more than 120,000 deathss, according to an AFP count, several countries are beginning to ease their restrictions, encouraged by positive indicators in the number of sick and deceased.
Spain, which recorded a slight rise in the number of deceased on Saturday with 378 new deaths (22,902 in total), will allow children to go for a walk after Sunday, after six weeks confined. In Italy (almost 26,000 deceased), project the gradual opening, only on May 4.
Latin America is already close to 150,000 infections and exceeds 7,300 deaths. In Brazil, the most affected country in the region with 3,670 people killed by the virusPresident Jair Bolsonaro is accused of inaction in the face of the pandemic and the inhabitants of the favelas decided to act.
The Muslim world, on the other hand, began the month of fasting in Ramadan without collective prayers or shared meals. Most Muslim countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia have closed mosques and banned family gatherings.
Second wave and economic crisis
The WHO continues to insist that a second pandemic wave can come at any time. Germany, one of the first countries in Europe to initiate unconfinement, is already preparing with the construction by the army of a hospital with a thousand additional beds in Berlin.
The pandemic also continues to devastate economies, forcing authorities to try to develop plans to incentivize recovery quickly. The collapse of oil, due to lack of demand caused by the economic slowdown due to confinement measures, pushed the Venezuelan barrel to $ 9.9, its lowest level in two decades.
Trump signed a new aid plan of nearly $ 500 billion for small and medium-sized businesses and hospitals on Friday, after learning that the GDP of the world’s leading economy will contract 12% this quarter.
But in Europe, the 27 are unable to agree on a vast plan to boost the economy. And in the tourism sector, where up to 75 million jobs are threatened, the G20 countries pledged on Friday to “support the economic boost.”
No to immunological passports
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned about the delivery of “immune passports” that may favor the spread of the pandemic, an idea proposed by several countries to accompany unconfinement.
The organization shattered the hopes of those who were betting on an eventual immunity of people who have suffered from COVID-19, at a time when some countries will perform serological tests in the face of deconfusion. “There is no evidence at this time that people who were cured of COVID-19 and who have antibodies are immunized against a second infection,” the WHO said in a statement.
Beating the current pandemic, which forces half the population to stay indoors and exposes the planet to an unprecedented recession, will be the “most massive public health effort in history,” said the UN Secretary-General. , Antonio Guterres.
Vaccines must be safe, accessible and available to all, Guterres stressed in a virtual meeting, in which the leaders of France and Germany participated, but not of China, the cradle of the pandemic that emerged in late 2019, or the United States. , which accuses the WHO of not warning early enough about the crisis.
The WHO launched a “historic collaboration” to accelerate the production of vaccines and treatments against COVID-19, explained its director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
While in Europe the contagion curve seems to be entering a descending phase and in Latin America an ascending one, the race to find the right product has already started in laboratories, with half a dozen clinical trials, especially in the United Kingdom and Germany.
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