12:05 p.m.: UK to test health passport system
The British government said this Sunday to plan to test a health passport system in England from mid-April to allow the resumption of activities very affected by the pandemic, such as football matches and indoor events.
While the United Kingdom has started to gradually lift strict restrictions that have been in place for many months, building on the success of its vaccination campaign, this project will be detailed on Monday by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who will also announce new rules for holidays abroad, prohibited until at least May 17.
11:34 am: The Philippines tightens the screw
In the Philippines, authorities will extend the confinement of more than 24 million people while deploying tents and health workers to overwhelmed hospitals in the capital Manila, where cases are increasing.
11:12 am: A clandestine party of 150 people interrupted by the gendarmes near Aix-en-Provence
About 150 people gathered for a clandestine party in a disused hangar in Fuveau (Bouches-du-Rhône), near Aix-en-Provence, were interrupted and some fined on Saturday evening.
The gendarmes were warned in the early evening, around 7 p.m., by residents, alerted by an abnormal circulation of vehicles to an abandoned building and squatted for several months.
11:10 am: Seine-St-Denis: elected officials to “expand without delay” vaccination to school staff
The mayor of Saint-Denis, Mathieu Hanotin, and the president of the department Stéphane Troussel, both socialists, call on Prime Minister Jean Castex to “extend without delay” the vaccination to school staff during the holidays, in a column published in the Sunday newspaper.
“Let us intelligently use these three or four weeks of closure of nurseries, schools, colleges and high schools to vaccinate their staff and give every opportunity to their reopening from April 26,” write the two elected, who ask “to expand without waiting for the vaccination in Seine-Saint-Denis ”.
10:48 am: Maracineanu does not rule out a postponement of Roland Garros
The Minister Delegate for Sports Roxana Maracineanu does not rule out a postponement of Roland Garros, she explained yesterday on France Info.
“Reporter Roland-Garros is currently a possibility discussed with the organizers of the tournament. We are in discussion with them to see if it is necessary to change the date so that it coincides with a possible resumption of all sporting practice and major events ”.
The tennis tournament should, in principle, take place from May 23 to June 6.
10:25 am: The return to the cinema, already a puzzle
Date uncertain but puzzle guaranteed. The cinema is already preparing for post-confinement and its high-risk reunion with the public, between an avalanche of films and health constraints.
The 2,000 French cinemas, a unique park in the world, have been closed for five months. But this week, gleam at the bottom of the tunnel: the presidential address of Wednesday gave hope for a reopening in mid-May “of certain places of culture”.
The dark rooms, where a strict protocol had been put in place after the first confinement, will they be part of it? The exhibitors hope so, even if “we know very well that the date will depend on the health evolution”, underlines the general delegate of the Federation of cinemas, Marc-Olivier Sebbag.
Cinemas are already phosphorous for the “D” day, counting on a reopening in “three phases separated by one month each”, with gauges of one third of attendance, two thirds, then a return to normal. Without certainty on the possibility of scheduling evening sessions, if the curfew continues.
9.45 a.m .: Verbalizations in sports halls in Marseille
Checks took place Thursday in Marseille sports halls, while their access is prohibited (with exceptions) due to the health crisis.
According to Provence, 23 people were fined for non-production of proof saying that they had the right to be in the room, 2 rooms were put on formal notice and one room, already warned, was administratively closed for 15 days.
8:32 am: Companionship for the pandemic: Germans’ pet scramble
Animal shelters crumbling under adoption requests and families that sometimes pay little attention to the origin of puppies and kittens: the Germans have filled the isolation imposed by the pandemic by looking for four-legged companions.
With cats and dogs at the top of the list, nearly a million additional animals have entered German homes, where there are nearly 35 million furry, feathered and other turtles and fish. , for a country of 83 million people, according to estimates by the German Pet Products Federation.
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8:17 am: Here is the new exit certificate, valid for trips over 10 km
The Ministry of the Interior has put online the new exit certificate, valid throughout France for trips over 10 km. More information in our article.
8:03 am: With pandemic, Puerto Rico faces critical manpower shortage
In Puerto Rico, farms are calling on workers from Central America in the face of a shortage of local labor, some employees choosing to live off unemployment and pandemic aid rather than tending to the crops , which bring in less money.
7.45 a.m .: Deprogramming in hospitals: a risk of collateral damage in patients outside Covid
Anxiety, loss of opportunity, excess mortality: patients do not want to be the “collateral victims” of the deprogramming of care decided to deal with the third wave of the pandemic. Find out more in our article.
7:18 am: In Serbia, plethora of vaccines … and vaccine-skeptics
When much of the planet struggles to obtain anti-Covid vaccines, Serbia has doses galore. But disinformation is spreading as fast as the pandemic, and doctors fear that skeptics will derail the vaccine campaign.
The small Balkan country of seven million people used to playing on rival influences from the East and the West is in the front line of vaccination in Europe.
Pfizer, Sputnik V, AstraZeneca and to a very large extent the Chinese Sinopharm serum: already three million doses and Belgrade plans to acquire twelve million more, more than enough to vaccinate the adult population.
But at a time when Serbia is facing, as elsewhere, a virulent wave due to more contagious variants, only a quarter of the eligible population has applied for the vaccine, according to government figures.
7:10 am: Easter under a sanitary bell around the world
Millions of people around the world are resigned to an Easter Sunday under the sign of health constraints, for the second time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, while vaccination campaigns are accelerating, as in the United States where over 100 million people have received at least one dose.
In Europe, a continent hit by a third wave of Covid-19, all of Italy is classified in the “red” zone, with a high risk of contagion and maximum restrictions for the Easter holidays which are usually the occasion for family reunions.
The rest of Europe is stepping up measures to try to limit the spread of the virus, in particular concerning travel: Germany is thus strengthening controls at its land borders for one to two weeks.
6:55 am: Government lowers 2021 growth forecast to 5%, down from 6% previously
The new restrictive measures taken to fight the Covid-19 pandemic are leading the French government to lower its growth forecast for 2021 by one point, to 5%, announced the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire in Sunday newspaper.
“Closing schools and 150,000 businesses is essential to curb the circulation of the virus. But these measures will have an impact on the French economy. We are therefore going to revise our growth from 6% to 5% for 2021 ”, explained the minister, while the French GDP had contracted by 8.2% in 2020.
“This estimate (for 2021) is both sincere and prudent,” assured Mr. Le Maire.
6:48 am: Seven vaccinated with AstraZeneca died of blood clots in UK
The AstraZeneca vaccine is more closely monitored than ever. Suspicions mount on possible serious side effects, but rare, after the observation in people vaccinated with AstraZeneca of cases of atypical thrombosis, blood clots. Dozens of cases have already been identified, several of which have resulted in death. In the UK, there have been 30 cases and seven deaths out of a total of 18.1 million doses administered as of March 24.
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6:47 am: 96,000 deaths and 5,273 patients in intensive care
The third wave is present in hospitals, with 5,273 patients in intensive care on Saturday evening, including 399 admitted in the last 24 hours. The number of hospitalizations is still on the rise, with 28,886 patients treated for Covid-19, including 1,730 new admissions in 24 hours. Since the start of the epidemic, the disease has killed 96,493 people in France.
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