China, Australia step up COVID restrictions as Delta variant spreads

China and Australia stepped up COVID-19 restrictions on Saturday as cases of Delta variants increased and tens of thousands of people gathered in France against restrictions designed to stop the pandemic.

The Delta variant, which was first identified in India, is forcing governments to reimpose tough measures, while other countries are reconsidering their plans to open up their economies.

The variant has spread to 132 countries and territories. The pandemic has killed more than four million people and shows no signs of slowing down.

“Delta is a warning: it is a warning that the virus is evolving but it is also a call to action that we must act now before more dangerous variants appear,” the emergency manager told reporters. from the World Health Organization, Michael Ryan.

The epidemic in China now covers 14 provinces, the most widespread for several months, calling into question the country’s first successes in the fight against the disease after its first detection in the city of Wuhan at the end of 2019.

China has taken more than a million people into custody and has reinstated mass testing campaigns.

“The main strain currently circulating is the Delta variant (…) which poses an even greater challenge to virus prevention and control work,” said Mi Feng, spokesperson for the National Health Commission (NHC ).

In Australia, where only around 14% of the population has been vaccinated, the third-largest city of Brisbane and other parts of Queensland entered rapid containment on Saturday after six new cases were detected.

“The only way to beat the Delta strain is to act fast, to be quick and to be strong,” said Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles, announcing three days of strict stay-at-home orders for millions of people.

“Paralyze the economy”

The imposition of stop-start restrictions is wreaking havoc on weary populations.

“This government (…) is paralyzing the economy and also destroying the democracy of our country,” Karmun Loh told AFP, participating in a protest in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

France, meanwhile, endured months of curfews and closures to enter a new era of “health passes” in July. Access to cafes, restaurants and cultural places is restricted to people who have been vaccinated or to those who can prove that they have been vaccinated or have a negative test.

More than 200,000 people demonstrated across France on Saturday for a third week in a row, with angry clashes.

Paris police used tear gas and water cannons and made several arrests.

“Macron resign”, shouted demonstrators in the southern city of Marseille, in reference to President Emmanuel Macron.

“I am neither a guinea pig nor a QR code,” one protester wrote on a sign.

The French authorities have reimposed restrictions in some of its overseas territories, where cases are increasing, more recently in Martinique, Reunion Island and French Polynesia.

Bangladesh, however, relaxed restrictions despite a push from the Delta, prompting hundreds of thousands of textile workers to rush to major cities after the government said export factories could reopen from Sunday.

“The police stopped us at many checkpoints and the ferry was packed,” said Mohammad Masum, 25, a factory worker, who left his village before dawn and walked more than 30 kilometers. to get to the ferry port.

Increase in deaths in Africa

In Africa, official figures put the number of deaths per day at 1,000 on average over the past seven days: 17% more than the previous week and the highest recorded since the start of the pandemic.

Here as elsewhere, the official figures are underestimated, as the World Health Organization has pointed out.

Rwanda has, however, ordered the lockdown of the capital Kigali and eight other districts to be lifted, even though COVID cases are still on the rise with the new measures in effect from August 1 to 15.

And Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, has received 302,400 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine donated by the United States.

“The war has changed”

Meanwhile, millions of Americans could be left homeless as of Sunday as the nation’s ban on evictions expires.

President Joe Biden this week urged Congress to extend the moratorium by 11 months, after a recent Supreme Court ruling prevented the White House from doing so.

But Republicans have backed down from Democrats’ efforts to extend the deportation ban until mid-October, and the House of Representatives has postponed its summer recess.

The latest analysis from the US Centers for Disease Control found that people fully immune to the so-called “breakthrough” infections of the Delta variant can spread the disease as easily as unvaccinated people.

While jabs remain effective against serious illness and death, the US government agency said in a leaked internal document Friday that “the war has changed” in the wake of Delta.

© 2021 AFP