C’s a direct consequence of the coronavirus epidemic. France recorded some 53,900 more deaths in 2020 than in 2019, i.e. an excess mortality of 9%, from all causes, according to a provisional report made public by INSEE, this Friday, January 15, 2021. In total, “667 400 deaths from all causes are recorded in 2020 in France, or 9% more than in 2018 or 2019 ”, specifies the statistical institute. During the “first wave” of Covid-19, between Sunday 1is March 2020 and Thursday April 30, the excess mortality reached 27,300 deaths (+ 27% compared to 2019) and even 33,000 deaths (+ 16%) during the “second wave” of Tuesday 1is September to Thursday December 31. In total, the two “waves” therefore caused 60,000 more deaths than in 2019.
INSEE also suggested that the real toll of the epidemic during these two waves could be even higher, since the confinement could have had a “protective effect” by reducing certain causes of death, such as traffic accidents by example. In detail, the metropolitan regions with the highest excess mortality compared to 2019 are Île-de-France (+ 18%) and Grand-Est (+ 13%), particularly affected during the first wave, as well as the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (+ 14%) and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (+ 11%) regions, which were most affected in the fall.
Nearly two million dead in the world
Europe now has more than 30 million coronavirus infections. A new threshold was indeed exceeded on Friday, January 15, with two million cases in Germany alone. 30,003,905 contaminations were officially identified, according to a count carried out at 8 hours GMT by Agence France-Presse on Friday from reports provided by the health authorities. The Covid-19 pandemic is now approaching two million deaths worldwide since the end of December 2019 and 94 million cases of infection.
The emergency committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) must make recommendations during the day in the face of the appearance of more contagious variants of the coronavirus, likely to cause a new explosion of the pandemic. According to the WHO, the number of countries and territories where the variant initially identified in Great Britain is now found stands at 50 and it is 20 for the variant identified in South Africa, but the organization considers this assessment strong. probably underestimated.
Reconfinement in Portugal, advanced curfew in France
Another mutation, originating in the Brazilian Amazon and whose discovery Japan announced on Sunday, could impact the immune response according to the WHO, which mentions “a worrying variant”. The United Kingdom has decided to close its borders on Friday to arrivals from all South American countries as well as from Portugal, because of this mutation discovered in Brazil.
Portugal, for its part, began a new general confinement on Friday, which will remain in force for at least a month. The new restrictions essentially correspond to those of March and April. Everyone will have to stay at home, non-essential shops, cafes and restaurants are closed, and teleworking becomes compulsory again as soon as possible. But, this time, the schools remain open, like the courts or the churches.
France is going to extend a curfew from 6 p.m. for at least 15 days on Saturday throughout its territory, and will require travelers wishing to enter from a country outside the European Union to test negative for Covid-19. The situation in the country “is under control compared to our neighbors, but fragile because the virus is still actively circulating”, declared Prime Minister Jean Castex.
In Italy, the government extended the state of emergency until April 30, and adopted a budget extension of 32 billion euros to deal with the devastating effects of the pandemic on the economy and support households and businesses.
In the United States, Joe Biden is active even before his inauguration
In the United States, the country most affected by the pandemic, US President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a new emergency stimulus package of 1.9 trillion dollars, supposed to bring the United States out of its worst crisis in years 30. Checks to families, funds to reopen schools, money to speed up tests and vaccines, cash for small businesses, or even more food aid: This “safeguard plan” must respond to the emergency, and prevent the country from sinking. ‘to sink deeper into the crisis.
The resurgence of Covid-19 does not spare China, where the disease was first reported at the end of 2019 in Wuhan (center). This country has forcibly quarantined 20,000 inhabitants of rural areas in the northeastern province of Hebei, where there is an outbreak of Covid-19, according to state media. China also reported 144 new Covid-19 patients on Friday, a figure not seen since March. Most of the new cases are in Hebei, where 22 million people are already under some form of containment. China had recorded Thursday in Hebei its first death from the virus since May. A WHO team arrived in Wuhan on Thursday to investigate the origins of the disease. The visit is ultra-sensitive for the Chinese power, which seeks to exclude any responsibility in the pandemic.
In Japan, the Minister of Administrative Reform, Taro Kono, did not rule out that the Tokyo Olympics could be canceled, while the country is suffering a new wave of the coronavirus, almost six months before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games , already postponed last year. “Anything can happen,” he admitted.
In Latin America, Mexico has just experienced its deadliest week since the start of the pandemic, with an average of 983 deaths per day for seven days, according to figures released Thursday. The country has recorded a total of 137,916 deaths and 1,588,369 cases of contamination.
In Brazil, the state of Amazonas (North) announced the establishment of a curfew due to the saturation of hospitals, overwhelmed by the influx of patients with Covid-19, with serious problems of oxygen supply.
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