Technology: Latin America overtakes Europe in the number of corona infections

© Ulrich Perrey The drug Remdesivir from the US manufacturer Gilead is provisionally approved in Europe for the treatment of corona patients. The EU Commission granted a conditional market approval on Friday.

For the first time since the start of the corona pandemic, Latin America has recovered in Europe in the number of corona infections. As of Friday's AFP census, the South American authorities reported a total of 2.73 million cases and Europe just under 2.7 million cases. With more than 2.8 million cases, including over 2.7 million in the United States alone, North America remains the hardest hit by the pandemic. Worldwide, the number of infected people rose to almost 10.9 million and the number of deaths to at least 521,000.

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The attempt to keep the virus out of the country exposed thousands to infection as they crossed the Atlantic and came after U.S. cases had reached critical mass.“To keep new cases from entering our shores,” Trump said in an Oval Office address on March 11, “we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days.

Despite all efforts, it will still be months before a vaccine against the virus can reach the market. States around the world are now hoping for an effective drug to treat Covid-19. The EU Commission has now given the drug Remdesivir conditional approval. It was about "meeting an unmet medical need," she said on Friday.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommends approval of remdesivir for the treatment of patients aged 12 years and over who have pneumonia and need to be supplied with oxygen. According to a study from April, the active ingredient shortens the recovery time of patients, but it cannot save the terminally ill from death.

Remdesivir was actually developed by the US manufacturer Gilead for the treatment of Ebola. In the United States and several Asian countries, the drug has already received exemptions for the treatment of infections with the novel coronavirus. The US government also announced earlier this week that it had secured almost all of the drug's production for the next few months.

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According to the Federal Ministry of Health, the drug is still sufficiently available in Germany because there are reserves. In addition, the approval also entails an obligation for Gilead to deliver "to a reasonable extent" Remdesivir to Europe. The US company said it was working with the EU to meet patients' treatment needs across Europe. "

The UK government has now eased its corona entry restrictions to England for people from more than 50 countries, including Germany and France , Spain, Italy and New Zealand are included, but not the United States. As a result, affected countries will no longer be required to go into 14-day quarantine on July 10 when traveling to England. However, other parts of the United Kingdom Rules apply: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are still to issue their own rules, according to London, and the London Department of State also announced that it would lift its travel warning for countries with low risk of coronavirus infection from Saturday onwards.

Brazil, Mexico see record deaths as virus rages across Latin America

Brazil and Mexico reported record daily coronavirus death tolls as governments in Latin America battled to fortify their defenses against the pandemic with fresh lockdown orders and curfews. Mexico on Wednesday announced more than 1,000 coronavirus deaths in a day for the first time, while Brazil, the region's worst-hit country, reported a record 1,349 daily deaths. © Michael DANTAS Brazil is Latin America's worst-hit country Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has staunchly opposed lockdowns but many local authorities have defied him and, with the crisis deepening, a vast section of Bahia state was placed under curfew.

© Ernesto BENAVIDES the corona pandemic has helped Latin America recover in Europe in the number of corona infections AFP's Friday report saw a total of 2.73 million cases reported by the South American authorities and nearly 2.7 million cases by Europe.

Because of the quarantine obligation, the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin has so far warned against trips to all of Great Britain. The British government, however, expressed the expectation that the current partial repeal of the regulation would lead to a corresponding relaxation of the states concerned.

London had imposed the quarantine requirement on June 8th. It also applied to British citizens returning from abroad. Great Britain is the country most affected by the pandemic in Europe with around 44,000 corona deaths. However, the infection rates have recently decreased.

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