The respite was short-lived. The restriction measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus are multiplying every day, amid alerts for new upsurges in the pandemic, which is now leaving more than 800,000 dead in the world.
Partial reconfinement and the use of a mask are once again mandatory in many countries in the face of a virus that does not stop and has already killed 800,004 people and has infected 23 million since it emerged in December in China, according to an AFP balance from official sources.
In Europe the outbreaks are more than disturbing. In France, where more than 4,500 new cases of covid-19 were registered in the last 24 hours, the mask, already mandatory in sectors of Paris and cities such as Nice, is now also mandatory in Toulouse and as of this Saturday in Lyon.
Mandatory but not without reservations or criticism. “And why don’t we put them on animals (…) since they can transmit the virus? It’s a great joke. It’s just a big deal, ”estimated merchant Bernard Brouquisse.
But the reality seems to be far from being a joke. Germany exceeded 2,000 new cases in the last 24 hours, a figure that had not been reached since the end of April, during the peak of the pandemic. “It’s worrying,” admitted Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesperson, Steffen Seibert.
In Madrid, the population is now recommended to confine itself to the areas most affected by the coronavirus, when the total number of cases diagnosed in Spain has increased by more than 8,000 in 24 hours.
The same rigor reaches England, where confinement tightened in several areas of the North West and the second most populous city in the country, Birmingham, was placed under surveillance.
“The situation is critical”
And beyond Europe the situation is also worrying. South Korea, which was considered an example in the fight against the pandemic, registered more than 300 cases declared in two consecutive days and announced this Saturday that will increase restrictions from Sunday.
“We are in a very unstable phase that could be the beginning of a second national wave”, estimated the Minister of Health, Park Neung-hoo.
So far a recommendation, as of this Saturday the mask will be mandatory on public transport in Denmark, which faces a resurgence of outbreaks and cases of contamination.
In another corner of the planet, after almost 100 days free of covid-19, the Argentine province of Jujuy, bordering Bolivia, suffers an exponential increase in cases that have it on the brink of healthcare collapse. “The situation is critical,” Sergio Barrera Ruiz, a doctor in the area, told AFP.
“We hope to end this pandemic in less than two years. Above all, if we manage to unite our efforts ”, said on Friday the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Often rare, the good news is greeted with hope amid the pandemic. The WHO considered that the situation stabilized in Brazil, the worst hit in Latin America, second country in absolute numbers of infections (3.5 million cases) and deaths (113,358).
The most affected country in the world, the United States, adds 5.6 million cases and more than 175,416 deaths. But infections have decreased in the last three weeks and the number of deaths, stable at 1,000 a day since the end of July, should begin to decline.
“You can expect that next week we will start to see a reduction” in deaths, the director of the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), Robert Redfield, told the medical journal Jama on Thursday.
Transparent masks
But for many in forced unemployment, the two years the WHO is talking about can seem like an eternity.
Latin America, which suffers almost a third of the death toll of the pandemic, with 254,897 deaths (6,575,960 cases), poverty and inequality have increased.
Only in the region, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the pandemic will plunge 45 million people into poverty, bringing the total to 231 million, 37.3% of the Latin American population .
Meanwhile, the efforts do not stop. Dressed in safety suits and with equipment in hand to detect the virus, some 1,800 brigade members began an unprecedented raking on foot through La Paz neighborhoods to try to prevent an outbreak of the pandemic.
And since this is going to go on for a long time, while the long-awaited vaccine arrives, there are initiatives such as making transparent masks in Europe, North America and other regions. Fundamental to communication of the deaf, although they will have to drop in price to be accessible to everyone, as has happened with surgical or fabric ones in recent months.
And leisure also begins to adapt to this new situation. In Germany, researchers began a gigantic experiment this Saturday with 4,000 participants to try to determine if it is possible to authorize pop concerts again despite the covid-19.
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