The official toll of the Kovid-19 pandemic now faces 2.5 million deaths worldwide. Following the United States (486,332 dead), the countries with the most deaths are Brazil (239,773), Mexico (174,657), India (155,813) and the United Kingdom (117,396). The vaccination campaign continues in several countries, including Japan, which made its debut on Wednesday.

In France, 3.16 million doses have been administered, and 815,000 people have already received their second injection. At the same time, as the epidemic is at a high level, contamination figures remain stable, such as hospitalizations. In anticipation of a possible outbreak of epidemics due to the variety roaming the region, a call has been given to call French hospitals by Thursday.

>>> Follow the news of this Wednesday 17 February live

> Boris Johnson has been considering deconfiguration since May

The Daily Mail reported on Wednesday that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been considering a gradual lifting of preventive measures imposed since May as part of the fight against the Kovid-19 epidemic.

This will result in pubs and restaurants reopening in May, while the resumption of hospitality and tourism activities at the national level will not take place until July.

“Vacation companies cannot return to normalcy before July, as part of a roadmap,” the daily writes. According to the newspaper, the Prime Minister’s final decision on the matter has not been taken yet. Boris Johnson will outline his deconfiguration plan on 22 February.

> New Zealand will lockout in Auckland

Prevention measures will be taken in New Zealand’s country’s largest city of Auckland on Wednesday midnight and health restrictions will be relaxed in the rest of the country.

Auckland, where about 2 million people live, was put into express containment on Monday after a case of a British version of Coronovirus was detected.

> Disneyland Hong Kong will re-open this Friday

The amusement park announced a reopening on Wednesday 19 February. It closed on 2 December due to a sharp increase in cases in the area.

> Kering limits sales decline in 2020

The Kering Group reported a limited decline in sales (-17.5%) to 13.1 billion euros in 2020, which led to a decrease in activity in Asia and North America in the second half and a surge in online sales, according to a statement on Wednesday. .

CEO François-Henri Pinault said, “We have come out of the crisis and are ready to take advantage of the recovery. The group reduced net profit by 6.9% to 2.1 billion euros in a year.”

> New cases and deaths on decline in Belgium

According to the Sciensano Public Health Institute, the average number of coronovirus infections is 1,785.9 per day between February 7 and 13, a 19% decrease from the previous week. The number of deaths was 8.6% compared to the previous week.

> Mexico exceeds 2 million case mark

According to the latest official report published on Tuesday, Mexico has crossed the threshold of two million cases of Kovid-19 since the onset of the epidemic, killing approximately 176,000 people in the country. The Health Ministry said that a total of 2,004,575 cases and 175,986 deaths have been recorded, including 8,683 new cases and 1,329 deaths in the last twenty-four hours.

Mexico is the third most bereaved country in the world by Kovid-19, behind the United States and Brazil. The vaccination campaign started there on 24 December.

> Top start for vaccination campaign in Japan

Japan has launched the first phase of its coronavirus vaccination campaign, which aims to protect 40,000 employees in its medical field. The first injections of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, the first to be authorized in Japan on Sunday, occurred at a hospital in the capital on Wednesday morning.

The government expects vaccination of all healthcare personnel or 3.7 million people in the country by March. Vaccination of people 65 and older should begin in April.

> Detention protest in Melbourne, supporters of Open pending

The lockdown order will be lifted on Wednesday evening for 6 million Australians living in the state of Victoria, but doubts still hang over the possibility of tennis fans participating. Melbourne

Last Friday, Australia placed a five-day lockdown, after discovering a cluster with the British version in a hotel where passengers returning from overseas were quarantining themselves.

> According to WHO, new cases of Kovid fell by 16%

The World Health Organization announced on Tuesday that the number of new cases of Kovid-19 had reached 2.7 million. According to WHO’s weekly epidemiological update, based on data on Sunday, the number of new deaths fell by 10% compared to the previous week, reaching 81,000.

The WHO recorded a double-digit decline in the number of new cases in five of the six regions of the world, with a 7% increase only in the eastern Mediterranean. Africa and the Western Pacific fell 20% last week, 18% in Europe, 16% in the US, and 13% in Southeast Asia.

WHO Director General Tedros Adnom Ghebayeus said on Monday that the number of new cases had dropped for the fifth consecutive week, almost half of the more than 5 million cases reported in the week of January 4.

> Curfew confirmed in Netherlands

Dutch justice, seized by opponents of the health ban after violent riots, suspended a ruling earlier in the day on Tuesday, repealing the national curfew, pending a decision on the merits, as European governments introduced more infectious or dangerous coronavirus viruses Tries to stop the spread of

The curfew imposed in the Netherlands in late January has seen the country’s worst riots in decades.

> Quebec reopens theaters, but increases coverageFire again

The cinema and swimming pool will reopen everywhere in Quebec, but under conditions, and the curfew is extended for at least two weeks, the province’s head, François Legault, announced on Tuesday.

The state of the epidemic has improved a lot in recent weeks in Quebec, one of the most affected provinces in Canada, with a decrease in covids, deaths and new cases of hospitalization.

> China reports 7 new cases

China had identified 16 new cases in the last twenty-four hours, health officials reported on Wednesday. The National Health Commission said that all new cases involve people from abroad.

According to commission data, 89,795 infections have been confirmed in mainland China. No additional deaths were reported on Wednesday. The epidemic in the country is 4,636 dead.

> At UN, London appeals for ceasefire for vaccination against Kovid-19

The United Kingdom will call on the UN Security Council on Wednesday to insist on a temporary cease-fire in conflict zones for vaccination against coronovirus, ensuring that it is about “moral duty”.

The British Foreign Minister said in a statement, “Global vaccination coverage is necessary to defeat coronovirus.” In conflict areas such as Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia, the need for a temporary cease-fire to help immunize more than 160 million people at risk.

> Death toll in Brazil exceeds 240,000

The Health Ministry said on Tuesday that Brazil recorded 55,271 new confirmed cases and 1,167 deaths related to the epidemic in the last twenty-four hours. The death toll in the South American country now officially stands at over 9.9 million infections and 240,940 deaths.

In addition, the federal government had signed a contract with the Chinese laboratory Synovac for the purchase of 54 million additional doses of its vaccine. Bringing the number of vaccine doses ordered by Brasilia to 100 million, which will send them to the states for deployment by September.

> Hospitalized in France

According to data released by the Ministry of Health, France has recorded an additional 586 deaths, including 351 in hospitals in the last 24 hours. The toll has now been 82,812 dead since the onset of the epidemic. The number of people hospitalized in serious cases in intensive care is 26,239 (-283) and 3,348 (-33) respectively.

“Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign in France, the first injection of 2,347,088 vaccines (ie 3.5% of the total population and 4.4% of the major population) and 815,547 is the second injection”, the Directorate General of Health indicated (DGS).