UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – New measures, new reports and highlights: Le Figaro takes stock of the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic.
Increase in hospital patients in France, South Korea lifting its social distancing restrictions, the automotive sector under pressure due to the lockdown in China… This Friday, April 15, Le Figaro takes stock of the latest information related to the coronavirus -Pandemic Covid-19.
Read the fileCovid-19: the coronavirus pandemic in numbers and infographics
Almost 25,000 patients hospitalized in France
According to the Public Health France daily report, 143 people died in hospital from Covid-19 this Friday. The number of hospitalized patients has risen slightly: 24,909 patients are currently hospitalized (up from 24,827 on Thursday), including 1,953 who have arrived in the past 24 hours. 1,652 patients are being treated in intensive care units, compared to 1,648 the day before. 125,394 new cases were also detected in the last 24 hours, compared to 137,342 cases the previous day.
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“Serious risk” of overspending on healthcare in 2022
The health spending target for 2022 linked to the Covid-19 epidemic, set at 4.9 billion euros, “risks that it will be significantly exceeded”, according to the Health Insurance Spending Development Alert Committee. Referring to “the great uncertainty related to the evolution of the epidemic (of Covid-19)”, the committee, in a statement published on Friday on the social security website .Fr. was published, certain overruns for the current year are already established. Such as a payment of 1.2 billion euros, which is not covered by this provision and is mainly intended for orders for vaccines and anti-Covid drugs that will be placed at the end of 2021.
Or even the expenses related to the tests, which at the end of the first quarter exceeded the annual provision by 0.5 billion euros of 1.6 billion due to the resurgence of the epidemic at the beginning of the year. Add to that the surge in work stoppages, which hit 0.6 billion in January and February alone.
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South Korea lifts physical distancing restrictions
South Korea will lift all physical distancing restrictions, the government announced on Friday. “The midnight curfew” on shops and gatherings with a limit of 10 people “will be lifted from Monday,” Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum announced. The move marks the end of two years of strict pandemic restrictions that have weighed on small businesses and suggests a return to normalcy in South Korea.
However, mask-wearing will remain mandatory indoors “for a significant period of time,” authorities said, adding that they could lift the requirement to wear masks outdoors in two weeks if the number of cases continues to fall. . The context for South Korea’s lifting of restrictions seems favorable: the country weathered the epidemic wave caused by the Omicron variant, and daily cases fell below 100,000 last week after peaking at more than 620,000 daily cases in mid-mid had reached -march.
Also readCovid-19: South Korea lifts physical distancing restrictions
Covid in Brazil: Higher mortality in pro-Bolsonaro cities
The death toll related to Covid-19 is “significantly” higher than the average in communities that overwhelmingly voted for far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in the last presidential election, authors of a study revealed on Thursday. Researchers compared the results of the 2018 election to mortality rates in communities in Minas Gerais state (southeast) and found that the coronavirus wreaked more havoc in those where President Bolsonaro received the most votes. The study, which analyzed data from January 21 to November 10, 2021, found that the infection rate was 30% higher in communities where Jair Bolsonaro was elected in the second round by a majority of voters, at 7,600 per 100,000 people .
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The result of the study, carried out by the Society of Infectious Diseases of Minas Gerais and the Association for Epidemiology and Infection Control of the same Brazilian state, is even more edifying for the mortality rate, which is 60% higher than in the municipalities that had not voted the majority for Jair Bolsonaro with 212 per 100,000. “Bolsonaro denied the seriousness of Covid-19, promoted treatments that have never proven effective, opposed social distancing, mask-wearing, containment and other protective measures,” recalled Carlos Starling, co-author of the study. According to him, the head of state’s positions “probably resulted in higher infection and mortality rates among his supporters,” he added in a press release.
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China: The automotive sector is under pressure given the restrictions
Several automakers in China fear a halt to production, while containment measures in Shanghai and several regions are eroding the country’s supply chains. China, which had largely brought the Covid-19 epidemic under control on its soil for two years, has been facing the worst outbreak of the entire pandemic since last month. Tens of millions of Chinese live primarily in the north-east of the country, the cradle of the automotive industry, and in the economic metropolis of Shanghai. These measures seriously affect logistical transportation and supply chains and have resulted in the closure of many businesses.
Also readThe Covid scare in China weighs on global activity
If there is no quick improvement, “all Chinese equipment manufacturers will have to stop production in May,” said the head of the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng, He Xiaopeng, on Thursday. XPeng is one of the competitors in China of the American Tesla, which itself suspended the activity of its gigantic factory in Shanghai for more than two weeks due to anti-Covid restrictions. Sales of new vehicles in China thus fell in March by 10.5% over the year. The big international manufacturers are also being penalized by the restrictions. Volkswagen said on Thursday they were having a “serious impact” on its business in China, where the group has joint ventures in Changchun (northeast) and Shanghai. Due to travel restrictions, the German car giant is temporarily unable to meet the strong demand in the Chinese market.
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