n this file photo taken on Feb 17, 2021 a nurse administers the COVID-19 vaccine to an elderly patient at the Dunkirk hospital. (DENIS CHARLET / AFP)
PARIS / SAO PAULO / BUENOS AIRES – France is to start offering a fourth COVID-19 vaccination shot to people over 80 years old who had their previous booster dose more than three months ago, French Prime Minister Jean Castex told daily Le Parisien in an interview published on Saturday.
The prime minister had said in January that France was ready to launch a campaign for fourth vaccine shots, or second booster, as soon as health authorities gave the green light.
In the interview with Le Parisien, Castex said a rebound in coronavirus infections would not change the government's plans to ease COVID-19 restrictions from Monday, since pressure on French hospitals continued to ease.
Truck drivers wait to be tested for COVID-19 in Uspallata, Mendoza province, meters from the Argentine customs office, before the Cristo Redentor-Libertadores international crossing between Argentina and Chile, on Jan 30, 2022. (ANDRES LARROVERE / AFP)
Argentina
The Argentine Ministry of Health on Saturday reported 2,986 new cases and 71 deaths from COVID-19, raising its total caseload to 8,970,196 and national death toll to 127,122.
A total of 8,769,953 people have recovered from the disease, and there are currently 73,121 active cases of the disease, with 738 patients hospitalized in intensive care units, whose occupancy at the national level is 38.1 percent.
The province of Buenos Aires, the most populous in the country, has registered the highest number of infections with 3,511,644 cases, followed by the autonomous city of Buenos Aires with 1,006,039, and the province of Cordoba with 960,978.
As of Saturday, Argentina had administered 94,928,629 vaccine doses against the disease, according to the Public Vaccination Monitor.
A patient gets medical treatment at the Health Care Center specialized in Flu and COVID-19 at the Complexo do Alemao Olympic Village, located in Complexo do Alemao favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Dec 10, 2021. (MAURO PIMENTEL / AFP)
Brazil
Brazil registered 45,020 new COVID-19 cases and 389 related deaths in the past 24 hours, raising its total caseload to 29,350,134 and national death toll to 654,945, the Ministry of Health said Saturday.
Many cities and states eased masking and social distancing requirements this month after the surge in cases caused by the Omicron variant at the beginning of this year faltered due to widespread vaccination campaigns, according to experts.
As of Friday, 157.3 million people, or 73.24 percent of the population, had been fully vaccinated and 68.8 million, 32.05 percent of the population, had received a booster dose, according to official data.
Brazil ranks second worldwide in the number of COVID-19 fatalities, behind the United States, and third in caseload, following the United States and India.
