Slight respite on the front of the epidemic in France. Since the peak reached in early April, at 140,000 cases per day on average, the daily number of Covid-19 contaminations continues to decrease slowly. 19,810 new SARS-CoV2 contaminations were exactly recorded on Monday April 18 by Public Health France. A figure traditionally low on Monday because it takes into account the results of the day before, when many laboratories and pharmacies are closed.
The average of infections over the last seven days, which smooths out statistical jolts, stands at 116,852, compared to 117,664 on Sunday April 17 and 135,338 a week ago. With 24,990 patients, including 1,635 in intensive care, hospitalizations remain stable, however, according to figures published late Monday by the health authorities. Elsewhere, in China, the toll is getting heavier in Shanghai, unlike in Argentina, which recorded no deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours for the first time in two years.
- China: death toll rises in Shanghai with ten dead
The city of Shanghai, confined since the beginning of the month, announced on Tuesday April 19 seven new deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths in the Chinese economic capital to ten.
The town hall had reported its first three deaths on Monday, a surprisingly light toll in a city which counts some 20,000 new cases of contamination every day. Since the start of the epidemic, initially detected in central China at the end of 2019, Beijing has managed to limit the total toll to less than 5,000 dead and less than 190,000 contaminations, if we stick to official figures. , much lower than international counts.
But the Omicron variant hit the 25 million inhabitants of Shanghai hard, placed under confinement for an indefinite period, in sometimes Spartan conditions. The low mortality is a concern, especially since vaccination rates are low among the oldest. City health officials said Sunday (April 17) that less than two-thirds of over-60s had received two injections and less than 40% a booster dose.
The seven people who died in the past 24 hours were between the ages of 60 and 101 and suffered from pre-existing conditions, according to the town hall. None were vaccinated. All of them “fell seriously ill after being admitted to hospital”, health authorities said on Tuesday.
- Argentina: for the first time in two years, no deaths from Covid in 24 hours
Argentina has for the first time since the start of the pandemic and the first deaths more than two years ago, recorded 24 hours without death linked to Covid-19, according to data from the Ministry of Health. According to these data published on Sunday evening, 428 new cases of Covid have been recorded in the last 24 hours but no deaths, which had not happened since the beginning of March 2020, the date of the first death.
Over the past week, however, 146 coronavirus-related deaths have been recorded in the country. And 412 patients are still in intensive care units. But the indicators are in clear and continuous decline, such as the number of new daily cases, still around a thousand on average ten days ago. Argentina, which has 45 million inhabitants, has recorded more than 128,000 deaths attributed to Covid since the start of the pandemic, for more than 9 million cases.
- A world summit on Covid-19 on May 12
A global summit to end the Covid-19 outbreak and prepare for future health threats will take place on May 12, the White House announced on Monday. This meeting, which will take place virtually, will be co-chaired by the United States, Germany, currently at the head of the G7, Indonesia, at the head of the G20, Senegal, at the head of the African Union and Belize, at the head of Caricom (Caribbean country).
“The summit will redouble our collective efforts to end the acute phase of the Covid-19 outbreak and prepare for future health-related threats,” the countries said in a joint statement released by Washington. It will be the second global summit on the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than six million people worldwide and disrupted the global economy, since it began to spread in December 2019. US President Joe Biden had organized a similar summit on September 22, 2021 during which he had advocated for a strengthening of vaccination in the world.
- India disputes the 4 million deaths attributed to it by a WHO study
India challenges the methodology of a forthcoming study by the World Health Organization (WHO) which draws up a new toll of the victims of Covid-19 in the world and revises the death toll to at least four million. country.
Official Indian figures show 520,000 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic, the third highest death toll in the world, behind the United States and Brazil. According to the New York Times last week, New Delhi blocked the publication of a WHO study for several months, according to which this figure would be eight times higher.