Fewer masks in New York
After being at the epicenter of the pandemic in the spring of 2020 and observed extreme caution in the face of the coronavirus for months, New York marks the lifting of many restrictions on Wednesday, especially in restaurants.
The rise in the vaccination rate – more than 60% of New Yorkers have received at least one dose – and the fall in the rate of positive cases for COVID-19, now below 1.5%, have also pushed several major banks such as JP Morgan Chase or Goldman Sachs to ring the end of widespread teleworking.
To these relaxations was added the authorization for vaccinated people to no longer wear the mask, even indoors: after a few days of hesitation, the governor of the State of New York ratified this authorization from the federal authorities, to from Wednesday.
While some took the opportunity to drop the mask, others continued to be cautious.
“It’s difficult to know exactly what to expect, it’s a bit annoying” confided Miranda Maxwell, 41, fully vaccinated. “I continue to wear the mask when there are people, in a busy street for example, and of course indoors”.
“Let’s not give up”
In the United Kingdom, the government has launched clinical trials, billed as the first in the world, on the immune response generated by a third dose of the anti-Covid vaccine for a recall campaign.
This hope of Western countries, where vaccination is in full swing, contrasts with the still catastrophic situation in India, where immunization campaigns had to be stopped in several places due to the passage of Cyclone Tauktae, which made at least 55 dead.
India, which has 1.3 billion inhabitants, on Wednesday counted a new record of 4,529 deaths, and 267,334 contaminations in 24 hours, bringing the total toll to 25.5 million cases and 283,248 deaths. Everywhere, hospitals are saturated, nursing staff at the end of their rope, oxygen and medicines are lacking.
The situation is also worrying in Argentina, which on Tuesday recorded record numbers of new cases (35,543) and deaths (745) for a single day.
“Do not give up, we know that we are going through difficult times,” said President Alberto Fernandez, who has promised to speed up vaccination.
In Japan, IOC President Thomas Bach was reassuring by indicating that at least 75% of residents of the Olympic Village for the Tokyo Games “have already been vaccinated or have planned to do so” before the Olympics, while many of Japanese fear that the event will put further pressure on their health care system.
In Malaysia, a record number of cases was recorded on Wednesday (6,075) and hospitals are close to saturation.
The coronavirus has killed at least 3.4 million people since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP on Wednesday.
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