With restrictive measures for the coronavirus the Easter of the Catholics

Millions of people around the world are spending today on Catholic Easter Sunday under health restrictions for the second time since the beginning of the pandemic coronavirus, while vaccination campaigns are accelerating, as in the United States, where more than 100 million people have now received at least one dose of vaccine.

In Europe, the continent hit by a third wave of Covid-19, the whole of Italy has been designated a “red zone”, with a high risk of transmission and stricter restrictions for the Easter holidays, which are usually an opportunity for family reunions.

“We have no restaurants, we have no tourists, we have no one,” protests a vendor at the Campo de Fiori market in central Rome.

Not far from there, in Navona Square, which is usually crowded at this time of year, only a few people have taken their dog for a walk or cycling.

The Italians, however, could leave the country and some were preparing to go on holiday abroad.

“I find it absurd to be able to travel to Europe and not to Italy, with all the precautions we have taken, the tests and the permits they ask of us,” said Tina Epifani, a 46-year-old woman who left the Canary Islands from Milan airport.

Pope Francis, who will address today the blessing “Urbi et Orbi” (in the city of Rome and in the universe), celebrated the day before yesterday, Good Friday of the Catholics, for the second time in his papal term in the Sequence of the Way of the Cross in a square of St. Peter without an audience.

Travel to France is tolerated

In France, before a month-long lockdown, authorities allow travel between regions until Monday night, allowing those who can go to the countryside and children to their grandparents.

The rest of Europe is stepping up its efforts to curb the spread of the virus, especially through travel: Germany is stepping up controls at its land borders for a week or two.

As the country discusses toughening measures as it faces an outbreak of infections, thousands gathered in Stuttgart on Saturday, most without masks, to demand “the end of Covid’s dictatorship”. “The measures are excessive,” said Evelyn, a protester who “does not believe” the official figures for the cases.

Desert the sanctuary of Lourdes

In the Middle East, Lebanon is in full swing from yesterday, Saturday, until Tuesday morning to prevent a new increase in cases in this country of six million inhabitants.

In contrast to Jerusalem, where restrictive measures have been lifted, Christians feel they are “living again”: hundreds of worshipers filled the streets of the Old City on the occasion of Catholic Good Friday. “It’s so much, but so much better than last year,” says Angel Pernesita, a domestic helper who has lived in Israel for more than 10 years and in 2020 watched Easter services online.

The great sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, on the other hand, was almost empty: yesterday, Holy Saturday of the Catholics, about 500 pilgrims were in the alleys leading to the miraculous cave where, according to Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared in 1858.

In Canada, which yesterday exceeded one million coronavirus cases, provinces have stepped up restrictions in recent days to deal with a third wave.

And in Latin America, where the situation is alarming with more than 25 million reported cases of Covid-19, countries have also stepped up restrictive measures.

Chile, 90 percent of which has been in Lockdown for almost a week, announced on Thursday that it would close its borders for the whole of April. Bolivia closed for at least a week with Brazil, while Peru is back in the lockdown for the Easter weekend.

In Brazil, where the epidemic seems out of control, the city of Rio de Janeiro announced yesterday, Friday, that it is extending some restrictions.

As of the end of December 2019, the pandemic has claimed the lives of a total of at least 2,829,051 people worldwide, according to a current report by Agence France-Presse.

Record vaccination in Bhutan

In Asia, Bhutan is vaccinating at a record rate its population, which is less than one million, and 60% of them have already received at least one dose. Within a week, this small Himalayan kingdom had given the same number of vaccines as the population of Israel, the world’s most advanced country in a month and a half. sector.

Guinea-Bissau, one of the poorest countries in the world, began vaccinating Covid-19 yesterday, Saturday, with the AstraZeneca vaccine, of which there are currently 12,000 doses available to a population of about two million.

The country most affected by both the death toll and the number of cases, the United States, yesterday, Friday, exceeded the limit of 100 million people who have received at least one dose of vaccine.

It was an opportunity for President Joe Biden to salute a breath of “hope” while urging citizens not to stop taking precautions.

But questions have been raised about the sometimes fatal thrombosis, which is thought to be a side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The British Medicines Agency (MHRA) announced on Saturday that seven people who had been vaccinated with the Swedish-British vaccine had died of blood clots in the UK, out of a total of 30 cases that have been identified so far.

These figures, however, must be reduced to a total of more than 18 million doses of this vaccine already administered.

As for the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, which is being promoted by the Kremlin and is the subject of discussions for its possible licensing within the European Union, this saw its image slightly affected by the announcement made yesterday, Friday, by the President of Argentina, Alberto Fern. , who announced that he was diagnosed positive, although he had taken two doses of this vaccine in January and February.