The Covid-19 pandemic crossed a new threshold on Thursday, March 16, with more than 140,000 deaths worldwide, including more than 32,000 in the United States, but President Donald Trump judged it was time. of "Restart America".
Since its appearance in the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan (Hubei province) in December, the disease has infected more than 2 million people around the world and Western countries expressed doubts Thursday on the information provided by Beijing at the beginning of l 'epidemic.
In an attempt to curb its race, around 4.4 billion people, or almost 57% of the world's population, are currently confined, under emergency conditions or forced by their authorities to stay at home. And that weighs heavily on the world economy. Torn between health imperatives and the urgency of minimizing costs on jobs or growth, states are moving towards deconfinement in dispersed order.
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Trump wants three-step "America restart"
US President Donald Trump on Thursday revealed his plan to restart the world's largest economy. With more than 650,000 cases identified, the United States is the new front line. With whole swathes of the economy dormant, more than 22 million people have registered as unemployed in the past four weeks.
Determined to cut the economic bill, Trump said that due to the slowing pandemic "Large parts of the country could consider reopening". "The decision will be up to the governors", he said, while considering that some states could "Literally" start deconfinement " tomorrow (Friday) ".
Federal recommendations published by the White House provide that states rely on a number of specific criteria to return to the course of their activities in three stages. "We don't suddenly open, we reopen cautiously step by step"said Trump.
Europe still in the eye of the storm
Arguing from the slowdown in intensive care admissions and hospitalizations, several European countries have also started to prepare for a return to normal.
The Swiss announced Thursday a deconfinement "Progressive" from April 27.
While theGermany intends to reopen certain stores in the near future and, from May 4, schools and high schools.
Wednesday, almost half of schoolchildren in Denmark have regained their class.
TheAustria reopened its small non-essential businesses on Tuesday, and theItaly, the second most affected country with more than 21,000 deaths, has reopened some shops.
In Spain (more than 19,000 dead), part of the employees returned to work. However, the confinement should be extended beyond April 25.
Europe remains however in "Theœcyclone " and should not "Not lower your guard", warned the World Health Organization (WHO) by noting "Constant or increasing figures" of contamination in the UK and the east of the continent.
In fact, an additional 861 deaths have been recorded in the past twenty-four hours UK (nearly 14,000 dead in total) and the government has decided to extend the containment "For at least three weeks".
Postponed celebrations in Russia, health minister sacked in Brazil
The Russia she counts every day sinister reports of contaminations (27,938 patients and 232 dead), while the Muscovites do not respect confinement. President Vladimir Putin resolved to postpone the grand military parade of 9 May, a patriotic high mass celebrating the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. The risks "Are still extremely high", he recognized.
At Brazil, where hospitals are on the verge of saturation, the health crisis doubled on Thursday of a political crisis: the president, Jair Bolsonaro, dismissed his popular Minister of health, with whom he totally disagreed on the means to face the pandemic.
Westerners express doubts about information provided by Beijing
Washington, Paris and London also expressed doubts on Thursday about information provided by China at the start of the epidemic. "We are investigating everything we can learn about how this virus has spread", said American Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo. "There are obviously things that have happened that we don't know", engaged the French president, Emmanuel Macron. The UK has also warned China that it should respond to "Difficult questions" on the appearance of the virus.
The new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is believed to have appeared in an open-air market in Wuhan where exotic animals were sold live. Of animal origin and close to a virus present in bats, it could have been transmitted to humans and mutated.
But American media has opened up another path. According to Washington Post, the US Embassy in Beijing alerted Washington two years ago about insufficient security measures at a local laboratory studying coronaviruses in bats. And, according to Fox News, the current coronavirus originates from this laboratory, even if it is indeed a natural virus – and not a pathogenic agent created by the Chinese -, and that its "Flight" would be unintended, a consequence of poor security protocols.
A spokesperson for Chinese diplomacy, Zhao Lijian, brushed aside the accusations. "Many reputable medical experts around the world believe that the hypothesis of an alleged leak has no scientific basis," did he declare.
The Trump administration has repeatedly denounced China's lack of transparency, or even a "Concealment" from Beijing on the severity of the virus.
WHO accused of "lack of transparency"
Washington also accuses WHO of having aligned itself with Chinese positions, and has suspended American funds from the UN agency because of its " mismanagement " of the epidemic.
The role of WHO was discussed on Thursday by G7 leaders in a videoconference meeting. The White House said the talks focused on "The lack of transparency and systematic mismanagement of the pandemic by WHO".
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