“We just passed the tragic milestone of four million listed covid deaths“This is what the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on July 7, adding that this assessment was”certainly“undervalued.

The world is at a “dangerous point”

He warned that the “world was at a dangerous point in this pandemic“, due to the new variants and the lifting of health restrictions. WHO then warned against lifting the restrictions too broadly, including in countries with a high vaccination rate.

To read also: Covid-19: “We stole his death and his dignity”

Delta variant in the United States and Brazil

In the United States, for example, where the vaccination campaign was a success, the cases of covid are increasing again and the Delta variant, which initially appeared in India, is now the majority in the number of cases.

In Brazil, the second most affected country in the world by the pandemic after the United States, this particularly contagious variant has appeared in the metropolis of Sao Paulo.

Risk of a rapid fourth wave in France

In Europe, after 10 consecutive weeks of decline, cases of covid started to increase again at the end of June.

And in France, the government calls for a “massive vaccination“against covid,”master Card“to face the”risk of a rapid fourth wave“with the rise of the Delta variant. This now represents more than 40% of contaminations in the country.

Read also: Covid: who could be affected by the fourth wave?

Outbreak in Indonesia, state of emergency in Japan …

In an Asia hard hit by the new epidemic outbreak, Indonesia, one of the new fronts of the pandemic, for the first time crossed the threshold of 1,000 daily deaths from covid and extended its health restrictions to the whole country .

Same concern in Japan, two weeks before the opening of the Olympic Games, where the government is preparing to declare a new state of emergency throughout the period of the Games, from July 23 to August 8.

China, cradle of the epidemic in 2019 and almost free of covid since 2020, for its part reported on July 7 of a growing outbreak in a small town on the border with Burma.

In Australia, finally, the authorities announced that the confinement in force since the end of June in Sydney would be extended by at least a week in the face of an epidemic resurgence.