The pandemic has killed more than 2.12 million people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by Agence France-Presse (AFP). The United States is by far the country with the official death toll (417,441), followed by Brazil (216,445), India (153,339), Mexico (149,084) and the United Kingdom (97 329).
As for vaccination, it is progressing unevenly. At least 61.7 million doses of vaccines have been administered worldwide. If 64 countries or territories have started their vaccination campaign, thirteen of them concentrate more than 90% of the injected doses.
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Thousands of protesters against restrictions in the Netherlands, Madrid and Copenhagen
Clashes with the police and looting broke out on Sunday in several towns in the Netherlands on the sidelines of demonstrations against the curfew in place since Saturday, the first since World War II. A water cannon and police dogs were deployed to Museumplein, a square in central Amsterdam, to disperse hundreds of protesters, according to public television NOS.
In Eindhoven, in the south of the country, the police used tear gas to disperse a crowd of several hundred people, according to regional television Omroep Brabant. Several vehicles were set on fire and businesses in Eindhoven Central Station were looted, according to the channel. At least thirty people have been arrested, according to local police. In the village of Urk, in the north of the country, a Covid-19 testing center was also set on fire on Saturday evening, local authorities reported.
In Spain, thousands of people demonstrated in central Madrid on Saturday against the government’s restrictive measures to contain the epidemic and denounced the “Deception” of a virus which, according to some demonstrators, ” does not exist “. To the cries of ” Freedom ! “ and in an atmosphere hostile to the press, thousands of people marched from Atocha station to Plaza Colon.
Many protesters were not wearing masks, despite the legal obligation to wear them at all times on public roads and in the midst of the third wave, which has claimed more than 400 lives a day this week. In an attempt to stem the pandemic, the government has decreed a nighttime curfew and the restriction of mobility between regions. In Madrid, hotels must now close at 9 p.m.
A similar mobilization also took place in Copenhagen in the Denmark, late Saturday evening, when a radical group organized an anti-restriction demonstration, during which a model bearing the image of the Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, was burned. Seven people were arrested among the several hundred gathered.
Baptized “Men in Black Denmark”, this active Facebook group has been organizing protests for over a month against the “Coercion” and the “Dictatorship” the anti-Covid semi-containment in place in Denmark. Despite a radical tone of demonstrators dressed in black, most of the parade took place in peace, with a large police force. But tensions arose during the dispersion of the demonstration, with in particular the throwing of bottles at the police.
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Germany to use treatment touted by Trump
Germany will become the first country in the European Union to use the experimental synthetic antibody treatment administered to Donald Trump. “The government bought 200,000 doses for 400 million euros”, declared the Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, which represents 2,000 euros per dose, which patients will receive free of charge.
Two variations of this antibody-based treatment “Monoclonal” will be used in teaching hospitals next week. They were approved in November in the United States but have not yet received the green light from the European regulatory authorities.
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Sweden bans entry from Norway
Sweden banned on Sunday, for three weeks, entry into its territory from Norway, after the appearance of an outbreak of an English variant of the coronavirus near Oslo. The measure comes into effect from midnight Monday 25 January until February 14, when the bans on entry from the UK and Denmark, announced last month, were also extended.
“As Norwegian shops and liquor stores are closed, there is a risk that Norwegians will come to Sweden and contribute to contagion and the formation of groups”, Swedish Home Minister Mikael Damberg said at a press conference. There are, however, exceptions, especially for people living and working in Sweden.
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Israel suspends international flights
Israel on Sunday evening decreed the suspension, for nearly a week, of international flights as part of new health measures aimed at limiting the spread of Covid-19 variants in parallel with an ambitious vaccination campaign extending to teenagers.
The Hebrew state may have already vaccinated 2.5 million of its nine million inhabitants in the last month, January saw the number of cases of contamination explode again due in particular to non-compliance, according to health authorities , physical distancing measures by part of the population.
The government, which has already closed its businesses deemed non-essential, has also decided to crack down on travelers by decreeing that flights – from and to Israel – would be banned from midnight on Monday to Tuesday night until Tuesday. ” January 31, expected date of the end of the containment measures.
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Egypt begins vaccination campaign
Egypt began its vaccination campaign on Sunday with the product of the Chinese pharmaceutical group Sinopharm, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi announced on Saturday. The country, the most populous in the Arab world with some 100 million inhabitants, received its first batches of vaccine in December. The Chinese laboratory claims that its vaccine is 79% effective.
The Egyptian Minister of Health, Hala Zayed, had also specified in early January that her country would also receive doses of the vaccine from the British manufacturer AstraZeneca. Egypt has recorded more than 160,000 cases of Covid-19, including 8,850 deaths. Health officials estimate, however, that due to the low number of tests, the actual number of infections could be at least ten times higher.
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Brazil: Amazonas imposes a seven-day lockdown
The state of Amazonas in Brazil, faced with a new epidemic wave, decided on Saturday to impose a lockdown and ban the sale of non-essential goods in an attempt to stem a sharp rise in contaminations and deaths. These new restriction measures, which follow a ten-day nighttime curfew, will be in effect “For seven days from January 25”, said local authorities in a statement.
Only one person per household will be authorized to visit establishments open to the public, and only deliveries of essential products will be authorized. The state of Amazonas, which has 4.2 million inhabitants, suffers from a lack of intensive care units and oxygen.
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