UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – New measures, new reports and highlights: Le Figaro takes stock of the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic.
The mask requirement for indoor use ends on Wednesday in Spain, Johnson & Johnson suspends sales forecasts for its vaccine, Warsaw refuses to accept and pay for new shipments of vaccines… Le Figaro takes stock of the latest this Tuesday, April 19 Information related to the Covid -19 pandemic.
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181 dead in 24 hours, 25,276 hospitalized
According to Public Health France, 181 people have died from Covid in the last 24 hours. 25,276 patients are currently hospitalized (up from 24,990 on Monday), including 2,195 since Tuesday. 1681 patients are treated in the intensive care unit.
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Warsaw refuses to accept and pay for new shipments of vaccines
Poland is refusing to receive and pay for new shipments of anti-Covid vaccines, the health minister said on Tuesday, noting that his country still has 25 million unused doses.
“Late last week we invoked the force majeure clause and informed both the European Commission and the main vaccine manufacturer (Pfizer, ed.) that we have refused to receive these vaccines and that we also refused to make the payments,” Adam Das told TVN24. This situation will lead to a lawsuit. In fact, it’s already happening,” he added, noting that the contract for the vaccines was signed “between the Commission and the manufacturers” and that his country was not a direct party to that contract.
According to him, Poland, a country of 38 million people, still has 25 million doses of vaccine while 67-70 million others have been ordered. Currently, about 51% of Poles are fully vaccinated, 59% received a single dose, and the vaccination rate has fallen sharply, according to the Ministry of Health.
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The indoor mask requirement ends on Wednesday in Spain
The Spanish government on Tuesday approved the decree that will lift the mask requirement indoors from Wednesday except in transport, hospitals and retirement homes. Spain will thus abandon one of the last restrictions since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic more than two years ago, thanks to “a favorable epidemiological context” resulting from a “very high vaccination rate”, explained the Health Minister, Carolina Darias , at the end of the Council of Ministers. “We are moving towards a return to pre-pandemic normality,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Twitter.
However, the mask remains mandatory in health centers, hospitals, retirement homes, as well as on public transport, according to the decree adopted on Tuesday, which will come into force on Wednesday morning once published in the Official Journal.
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After the airlines, Uber is also making the mask optional in the United States
Uber announced Tuesday that drivers and passengers in its vehicles in the United States will no longer be required to wear masks, following a lead by American airlines that made wearing sanitary masks on their planes optional on Monday.
“If you don’t feel well, you can cancel your ride at any time,” Uber notes on its website, noting that health officials continue to recommend wearing a mask in the event of personal risk or a high rate of transmission of Covid-19 in of the region.
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Johnson & Johnson is suspending sales guidance for its Covid vaccine
Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) suspended sales forecasts for its vaccine against Covid-19, for which demand is lower than that of Moderna and Pfizer serums, during the release of its quarterly results on Tuesday. On Wall Street, J&J’s e-commerce action ahead of the New York Stock Exchange’s opening brought 0.37% to $177.00.
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In the fourth quarter of last year, the American giant had expected sales of between $3 billion and $3.5 billion in 2022 for its adenoviral vector vaccine. In comparison, Pfizer has projected to earn about $32 billion this year from sales of its messenger RNA vaccine co-developed with BioNTech. Moderna estimated in March that sales of its Spikevax vaccine would bring it $21 billion.
Aside from being less popular than its competitors, J&J’s Janssen vaccine has encountered a number of problems, including the rare occurrence of blood clots in some patients.
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Covid number rises in Shanghai with 10 dead
The city of Shanghai on Tuesday announced seven new deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths in China’s economic capital to 10 since the beginning of the month, when companies like Tesla resumed work.
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Since the supply chains were blocked by the restrictions, companies had to stop production in the 25 million metropolis after the lockdown was introduced. Local authorities, like the rest of China and unlike many countries choosing to coexist with the virus and lifting restrictions, continue to follow a “zero Covid” policy in the face of the worst epidemic outbreak in China since the Covid-19 end 2019