Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths
World	182,187,185	+316,829	3,945,469
USA	34,511,636	+10,754	619,595
India	30,316,000	+37,037	397,668
Brazil	18,448,402	+27,804	514,202
France	5,770,530	+509	111,012
Russia	5,472,941	+21,650	133,893
Turkey	5,414,310	+5,283	49,634
UK	4,755,078	+22,868	128,103
Argentina	4,423,636	+18,389	93,142
Italy	4,258,456	+389	127,500
Colombia	4,187,194	+28,478	105,326
Spain	3,792,642	+3,332	80,789
Germany	3,734,812	+340	91,336
Iran	3,180,092	+12,351	83,985
Poland	2,879,689	+52	74,979
Mexico	2,505,792	+2,384	232,564
Ukraine	2,234,281	+285	52,295
Indonesia	2,135,998	+20,694	57,561
Peru	2,049,567	+1,452	192,163
South Africa	1,941,119	+12,222	60,038
Netherlands	1,683,828	+557	17,741
Czechia	1,666,958	+56	30,298
Chile	1,551,137	+4,034	32,454
Canada	1,414,134	+931	26,238
Philippines	1,403,588	+5,604	24,456
Iraq	1,332,046	+6,346	17,121
Belgium	1,083,384	+92	25,165
Romania	1,080,667	+37	33,311
Pakistan	955,657	+914	22,231
Bangladesh	896,770	+8,364	14,276
Portugal	875,449	+902	17,086
Israel	841,196	+308	6,430
Hungary	808,042	+132	29,989
Japan	795,756	+1,284	14,669
Jordan	750,389	+605	9,737
Malaysia	739,266	+5,218	5,001
Serbia	716,385	+84	7,039
Austria	650,324	+63	10,701
Nepal	635,188	+1,509	9,051
UAE	628,976	+2,040	1,802
Lebanon	544,520	+66	7,845
Morocco	529,895	+219	9,283
Saudi Arabia	484,539	+1,318	7,789
Ecuador	455,743	+1,407	21,523
Bolivia	433,935	+922	16,581
Bulgaria	421,646	+115	18,040
Greece	421,266	+361	12,663
Kazakhstan	419,800	+1,628	4,316
Paraguay	419,764	+1,434	12,641
Belarus	415,780	+441	3,122
Tunisia	408,931	+1,914	14,737
Panama	401,332	+666	6,529
Slovakia	391,566	+15	12,509
Uruguay	366,915	+1,049	5,524
Costa Rica	364,304	+792	4,648
Georgia	363,874	+352	5,275
Croatia	359,666	+14	8,202
Kuwait	353,133	+1,652	1,943
Azerbaijan	335,874	+38	4,970
Palestine	313,851	+130	3,561
Denmark	293,094	+151	2,533
Guatemala	291,977	+382	9,089
Egypt	280,770	+376	16,125
Lithuania	278,691	+17	4,381
Ethiopia	275,974	+39	4,315
Ireland	271,589	+329	4,989
Venezuela	270,654	+1,019	3,084
Bahrain	265,477	+230	1,348
Oman	264,302	+2,243	3,013
Honduras	260,331	+703	6,922
Slovenia	257,252	+12	4,419
Moldova	256,614	+55	6,187
Sri Lanka	255,508	+1,890	2,985
Thailand	249,853	+5,406	1,934
Armenia	224,851	+54	4,510
Qatar	221,810	+118	588
Libya	192,786	+316	3,191
Cuba	184,943	+2,589	1,253
Kenya	182,884	+287	3,612
Nigeria	167,532	+65	2,119
North Macedonia	155,676	+3	5,484
S. Korea	155,572	+501	2,015
Myanmar	154,385	+1,225	3,309
Zambia	149,661	+1,093	2,091
Algeria	138,840	+375	3,699
Latvia	137,240	+30	2,503
Albania	132,513	+1	2,456
Estonia	130,983	+15	1,269
Norway	130,744	+125	792
Kyrgyzstan	121,946	+1,081	1,982
Afghanistan	117,158	+1,407	4,794
Mongolia	111,505	+1,811	533
Uzbekistan	109,692	+469	731
Montenegro	100,204	+14	1,609
Ghana	95,476	+107	795
Finland	95,168	+84	969
China	91,753	+21	4,636
Cyprus	75,099	+314	374
Vietnam	16,041	+398	76
Aruba	11,132	+1	107

 

Retrieved from:  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 

 

 

Worried by the Delta variant, W.H.O. officials urged vaccinated people to keep wearing masks

By  Roni Caryn Rabin

 

 

Dia King, 49, left, and Shakeara Mingo dancing to a local band during a Juneteenth celebration and reopening party in Washington this month.Credit...Sarahbeth Maney/The New York Times

World Health Organization officials, concerned about the easing of precautions meant to stop the spread of the coronavirus even as the most contagious variant to date has emerged, have urged even fully vaccinated people to continue wearing masks and to keep taking other measures to prevent infection.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on the other hand, told fully vaccinated Americans in May that they no longer needed to wear masks indoors or to maintain a distance of six feet from other people. The agency also eased advice about testing and quarantine after suspected exposure to the virus.

Asked on Monday about the new cautions expressed by the W.H.O. — the world’s largest public health organization — a C.D.C. spokesman pointed to the existing guidance and gave no indication it would change.

A highly infectious form of the virus, called the Delta variant, was first detected in India and has been identified in at least 85 countries. In the United States, where its prevalence has doubled in the last two weeks, the variant is responsible for one in every five Covid-19 cases. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease doctor, has called it “the greatest threat” to eliminating the virus in the United States.

The rise of new variants “makes it even more urgent that we use all the tools at our disposal to prevent transmission,” including consistent use of both vaccination and public health and social measures, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the W.H.O., said at a news briefing on Friday.

Dr. Mariângela Simão, the W.H.O.’s assistant director-general for access to medicines, vaccines and pharmaceuticals, emphasized at the briefing that even vaccinated people should continue to consistently wear masks, avoid crowds and maintain social distance from others, make sure they are in well-ventilated spaces, wash hands frequently, and avoid sneezing or coughing around other people.

“What we’re saying is, ‘Once you’ve been fully vaccinated, continue to play it safe, because you could end up as part of a transmission chain.’ You may not actually be fully protected,” said Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior adviser to the W.H.O.

He added, “I think the first message we want to be careful about is saying, ‘Once you’re vaccinated, you can just go ahead and do whatever.’”

The comments were made in the context of broader statements criticizing the inequitable distribution of vaccines around the globe and the lack of access to vaccination in many parts of the world where the virus is spreading.

Covax, the W.H.O. program that poor countries rely on for vaccines, has “zero doses” of AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson vaccines, or those made by the Serum Institute of India, available for distribution, Dr. Aylward said. While less than 2 percent of the population of Africa is vaccinated, some countries are purchasing vaccines for young people who are at relatively low risk from the virus, he noted.

Even in countries where there are ample supplies of vaccine, full vaccination rates are lower than they could be, Dr. Alyward said.

Though fully vaccinated people are largely protected from symptomatic and asymptomatic coronavirus infections, studies suggest the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine’s efficacy against the Delta variant is slightly lower than against other variants; the efficacy is significantly lower for individuals who have received only one dose of the vaccine.

And countries with relatively high vaccination rates have seen an uptick in infections driven by the Delta variant: Britain, where some two-thirds of the population has received at least one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccine and just under half have received two doses, is nonetheless grappling with a sharp rise in infections from the variant.

In Israel, which has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, a rise in cases attributed to the Delta variant has led the government to reimpose mask mandates indoors and at large outdoor gatherings.

Given how pernicious and fast moving the variant is, “the vaccine approach is not enough,” said Eric Feigl-Ding, senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington. “We’re not at the level of vaccinations where we can release the brakes on everything else and herd immunity will grind transmissions to a halt.”

Other scientists disagreed, saying guidance has to be more nuanced and tailored to local communities, varying according to vaccination rates and infection rates.

“The W.H.O. is looking at a world that is largely unvaccinated, so this makes sense,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.

In parts of the United States with low vaccination rates, too, masks may be appropriate, and recommendations should be tailored appropriately, he added: “If I were living in Missouri or Wyoming or Mississippi, places with low vaccination rates, I would not be excited about going indoors without wearing a mask — even though I’m vaccinated.”

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/06/28/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-mask/worried-by-the-delta-variant-who-officials-urged-vaccinated-people-to-keep-wearing-masks

 

 

 

Mixing Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines provides strong protection, according to a preliminary study

By Carl Zimmer

 

 

General practitioner displaying empty vials of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines in Berlin in April.Credit...Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters

Early results from a British vaccine study suggest that mixing different brands of vaccines can provoke a protective immune response against Covid-19. In the trial, volunteers produced high levels of antibodies and immune cells after getting one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and one dose of the AstraZeneca-Oxford shot.

Administering the vaccines in either order is likely to provide potent protection, Dr. Matthew Snape, a vaccine expert at the University of Oxford, said at a news conference on Monday. “Any of these schedules, I think could be argued, would be expected to be effective,” he said.

Dr. Snape and his colleagues began the trial, called Com-COV, in February. In the first wave of the study, they gave 830 volunteers one of four combinations of vaccines. Some got two doses of either Pfizer or AstraZeneca, both of which have been shown to be effective against Covid-19. Others got a dose of AstraZeneca, followed by one of Pfizer, or vice versa.

For the first wave of volunteers, the researchers waited four weeks between doses. Studies have found that the AstraZeneca vaccine provides stronger protection if the second dose is delayed for up to 12 weeks, so the researchers are also running a separate 12-week trial which should deliver results next month.

The researchers found that volunteers reported more chills, headaches and muscle pain than people who get two doses of the same vaccine. But the side effects were short-lived.

Dr. Snape and his colleagues then drew blood to measure the immune response in the volunteers. They found that those who got two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech produced levels of antibodies about 10 times as high as those who got two doses of AstraZeneca. Volunteers who got Pfizer followed by AstraZeneca showed antibody levels about five times as high as those with two doses of AstraZeneca. And volunteers who got AstraZeneca followed by Pfizer reached antibody levels about as high as those who got two doses of Pfizer.

Dr. Snape said that the differences would most likely narrow in the volunteers who get a second dose after 12 weeks, when the AstraZeneca vaccine has had more time to strengthen its effects.

The study also found that using different vaccines produced a higher level of immune cells primed to attack the coronavirus than did giving two doses of the same vaccine. Dr. Snape said it wasn’t clear yet why mixing had that advantage. “It’s very intriguing, let’s say that much,” he said.

Dr. Snape and his colleagues have begun a similar trial, adding vaccines from Moderna and Novavax to the list of possibilities.

For now, he said, the best course of action remains getting two doses of the same vaccine. Large clinical trials have clearly demonstrated that this strategy reduces the chances of getting Covid-19. “Your default should be what is proven to work,” Dr. Snape said.

But there are many cases in which that may not be possible. Vaccine shipments are sometimes delayed because of manufacturing problems, for example. Younger people in some countries have been advised not to get a second dose of AstraZeneca because of concerns about the small risk of developing blood clots. In such situations, it’s important to know whether people can switch to another vaccine.

“This provides reassuring evidence that should work,” Dr. Snape said.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/health/mixing-pfizer-astrazeneca-results.html

 

 

 

A third dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine is found to boost immune response

By Rebecca Robbins

 

Nurses preparing AstraZeneca vaccine doses in Bratislava, Slovakia, in April.Credit...Akos Stiller for The New York Times

A third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford generated a strong immune response in clinical trial volunteers, Oxford researchers reported on Monday.

The finding indicates that the AstraZeneca vaccine could be an option should third shots end up being needed, for example, to extend immunity. To date, the vaccine has been given as two doses, typically between four and 12 weeks apart.

The new data, detailed in a preprint manuscript that has not yet been peer reviewed, came from 90 study volunteers in Britain who were among the earliest to receive the shots in a clinical trial last year. This past March, they were given a third dose, roughly 30 weeks after their second.

Laboratory analyses showed that the third dose increased levels of antibodies to the virus in the volunteers to a point higher than seen a month after their second dose — an encouraging sign that the third shot would be likely to bring greater protection if the effectiveness of two doses waned over time.

“We do have to be in a position where we could boost if it turned out that was necessary,” Prof. Andrew Pollard, an Oxford researcher who has led studies of the vaccine, said in a news conference on Monday. “I think we have encouraging data in this preprint to show that boosters could be used and would be effective at boosting the immune response.”

Scientists and policymakers do not yet know whether booster shots may be needed.

Scientists reported Monday that the vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna set off a persistent immune reaction in the body that may protect against the coronavirus for years, but it isn’t clear if the same is happening with other vaccines, including AstraZeneca.

Emerging coronavirus variants could also accelerate the need for booster shots. If third shots are deemed necessary in the coming months, their availability could be severely limited, especially in poorer countries that are lacking enough supply to give first doses to their most vulnerable citizens.

Earlier this month, the National Institutes of Health announced that it has begun a new clinical trial of people fully vaccinated with any of the three authorized vaccines in the United States. The goal is to test whether a booster shot of the vaccine made by Moderna will increase their antibodies against the virus. Initial results are expected later this summer.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has won authorization in 80 countries since last December but is not approved for use in the United States, which already has more than enough doses of its three authorized vaccines to meet demand. The shot has been the backbone of the struggling Covax program to provide vaccines to poor countries, accounting for more than 88 percent of the doses shipped out to middle- and low-income nations through last week.

AstraZeneca announced on Sunday that the first volunteers had been vaccinated in a separate study assessing a new version of the vaccine designed to protect against the Beta variant of the virus first seen in South Africa. Some study results suggested that the original version of the AstraZeneca vaccine may not be effective against that variant. Professor Pollard said the study would compare the effects of a third dose of the original vaccine against those of boosting volunteers with the new Beta-targeted vaccine.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/world/astrazeneca-vaccine-booster-shot.html

 

 

 

Migrant workers flee Bangladesh’s capital ahead of a new lockdown

By Saif Hasnat

 

On the move in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Monday as the government began to implement new lockdown measures.Credit...Munir Uz Zaman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Bangladesh will return to national lockdown by the end of the week, responding to a wave of infections that on Monday brought its highest single-day death toll of the pandemic so far.

The looming restrictions, imposed in a series of steps, have sent tens of thousands of migrant laborers in Dhaka, the capital and largest city, scrambling to get to their villages in scenes reminiscent of neighboring India’s migrant exodus last year.

The garment industry, which employs 4.5 million people and makes up 80 percent of the country’s exports, will remain open. But other businesses were instructed to limit their operations to minimum levels of required staffing, and almost all public transportation systems are either closing or already closed.

Residents of Dhaka expect to be largely confined to their homes after Thursday, the first day of what the government has called a “hard lockdown,” though how strictly the measures will be implemented remains to be seen. The government has said the army, police, and border guard will be deployed for strict enforcement.

Bangladesh had slowed the spread of the virus with sporadic restrictions and reduced movement while trying to keep much of the economy open. But a fast-spreading wave now, with barely 3 percent of the population vaccinated, has forced officials to take more drastic measures.

The country reported 119 deaths on Monday, the highest daily toll since the pandemic began, while the test positivity rate was over 20 percent. Bangladesh has officially reported a total of nearly 900,000 infections and 14,172 deaths from the virus, though experts believe the true numbers are much higher.

The current lockdown has been gradual. The government stopped trains and long distance buses last week. It also imposed lockdowns in seven districts surrounding Dhaka, aiming to avert a surge there. Shopping malls are closed, and restaurants are limited to takeout orders only.

The full lockdown, initially expected to last one week, begins on Thursday. All transportation systems except for auto-rickshaws will be shut.

The government has instructed garment factory owners to arrange transportation for their workers during previous rounds of restrictions. When the public transportation was shut in April to slow the spread of the virus, factory owners who did not arrange transportation were accused of violating the order, and workers had to walk for miles twice a day to get to work.

As the latest lockdown approached, ferry stations in Dhaka have been swamped by people trying to cross the river to the southern districts.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/world/asia/bangladesh-lockdown.html

 

 

 

Australia faces simultaneous outbreaks, fueled by the Delta variant

By Damien Cave and Yan Zhuang

 

New cases overnight prompted the state of Queensland, Australia, to issue a lockdown order for its capital, Brisbane.Credit...Darren England/EPA, via Shutterstock

 

After months with hardly any community transmission of the coronavirus, Australia is facing a grim and unfamiliar challenge: simultaneous outbreaks in several parts of the country, fueled by the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant.

On Tuesday, the state of Queensland announced a three-day lockdown in the capital, Brisbane, and surrounding areas. The announcement came after two positive coronavirus cases were detected in the community overnight, including a woman working as a receptionist at a hospital’s coronavirus ward who had not been vaccinated.

The most notable outbreak centered in Sydney, Australia’s most populous city, which is now in at least a two-week lockdown and reported 18 new cases on Monday, bringing its total to 130. Other states across Australia also reported new cases and toughened restrictions, and an expansion of Australia’s lagging vaccination program was announced after an emergency cabinet meeting.

Tens of thousands of people in the state of New South Wales, which includes Sydney, rushed to get tested for the coronavirus, with more than 300 locations around Sydney having been identified as visited by people who were infectious.

That raised concerns that the outbreak is far from over. Still, no deaths from the new outbreak have been recorded, and no one in Australia has died from the virus this year. Two people are in intensive care, and officials encouraged everyone who is eligible for a vaccine to line up for one — and otherwise, stay home.

Not everyone heeded that warning, and one case in particular made much of Australia smile.

Two nude sunbathers were caught violating lockdown rules when a deer chased them from their beach. The two men were found by emergency responders, separately, at about 6 p.m. on Sunday, after one of them called for help, according to a police statement. Each were fined 1,000 Australian dollars ($758).

As news of the case traveled across the country, Mark McGowan, the premier of Western Australia, joked: “I hope the deer is OK.”

(An earlier version of this item misidentified Mr. McGowan as Australia’s prime minister.)

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/06/28/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-mask/sydney-lockdown-fines

 

 

 

A cascading series of failures left hospitals across India without medical oxygen

By Jeffrey Gettleman, Emily Schmall, Suhasini Raj and Hari Kumar

 

Workers refilling oxygen cylinders at a factory in Delhi in early May.Credit...Atul Loke for The New York Times

 

At 9:45 p.m., alarms blared across the intensive care unit of Jaipur Golden Hospital. Over two dozen patients on ventilators couldn’t breathe. Some flailed their arms and legs. Others cried for help, choking sounds coming from their throats as if they were being strangled.

Mechanics sprinted to the maintenance room to see what was wrong. Nurses grabbed small plastic pumps to fill the lungs of critically ill patients by hand.

It wasn’t enough. Jaipur Golden, a respected hospital in Delhi, had run out of medical oxygen. Over the next seven hours, 21 coronavirus patients died.

“Nobody can forget that night,” said Shaista Nigar, the hospital’s nursing superintendent. “It was a total breakdown.”

Across India, amid a devastating second wave of Covid-19, hospitals ran out of beds and critical supplies, contributing to deaths and worsening an already tragic outbreak. By one count, oxygen shortages alone have killed at least 600 people over the past two months.

India’s leaders knew the country was vulnerable. Yet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and local officials alike failed to prepare for the second wave, according to interviews and a review of government documents by The New York Times.

India is a major producer of compressed oxygen. But the Indian government moved too late to distribute supplies.

State governments feuded over oxygen and seized tankers, creating bottlenecks and delays.

Delhi city officials didn’t build systems to produce or store oxygen and struggled to allocate dwindling supplies. When tight supplies and government missteps led oxygen to run out at Jaipur Golden, some families said the hospital offered no warning.

Without a comprehensive coronavirus plan, Mr. Modi’s government has left much of the burden to states, cities, hospitals and even individuals. The oxygen crisis tragically revealed the limits of a do-it-yourself approach.

That approach will be tested again. Though infections have dropped, a vaccine shortage puts India at risk of a third wave. Without adequate preparations, the second wave’s tragedies could return.

“With an effective surge plan,” said Robert Matiru, a director at Unitaid, a health initiative affiliated with the World Health Organization, “this could have been averted.”

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/06/28/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-mask/a-cascading-series-of-failures-left-hospitals-across-india-without-medical-oxygen

 

 

 

Summary

 

Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:

· British health secretary Sajid Javid said restrictions must come to an end in July. He said taking the step on 19 July was “not only the end of the line, but the start of an exciting new journey for our country”.

· Hong Kong has banned passenger flights from the UK and will stop anyone who has spent two hours in the UK from boarding a plane. The city has deemed the UK “extremely high risk” because of rising cases and the spread of the Delta variant.

· Greece plans to boost its vaccination rates by offering young people €150 to take the vaccine. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called it “a gift out of gratitude” to young people.

· Italy dropped the obligation to wear a face mask outdoors from Monday as the whole country entered the lowest-risk ‘white zone’ category of coronavirus restrictions. People will still have to wear masks in shops, restaurants and on public transport.

· Russia has administered at least one dose to 23 million people and says there is increased demand. The country has been suffering a new spike in cases, including in Moscow and Saint Petersburg - where there are questions about insisting on hosting a Euro 2020 quarter-final on Friday.

· Parts of Australia are imposing local lockdowns as the country battles an outbreak of the Delta variant. Some cities are facing their first lockdowns having been able to get through most of the pandemic relatively unscathed because of strict restrictions imposed at the first sign of an outbreak.

· The head of Indian vaccine manufacturer Serum Institue India has lobbied the EU over excluding recipients of its vaccine from “green passes” for travel to Europe. SII licensed the vaccine from AstraZeneva and supplies most Indians and much of the world - especially low and middle-income countries that rely on the vaccine sharing initiative Covax.

· South Africa reimposed a stricter lockdown, closing restaurants and shops selling alcohol because of a third wave that is already approaching the peak hit during the previous outbreak in January.

· Thousands of people were stranded in Bangladesh’s capital as authorities halted almost all public transport ahead of a sweeping lockdown imposed to combat a deadly resurgence of Covid-19 infections.

· AstraZeneca has said it is on schedule to meet its commitments for supplying coronavirus vaccines in south-east Asia, after some initial delays in regional production and delivery.

· Spain will start to demand a negative Covid test or proof of vaccination from British tourists who want to enter Mallorca, Ibiza and the surrounding Balearic islands, prime minister Pedro Sanchez said.

· Portugal’s authorities have said that British tourists will need to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival if they are not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus or cannot show a negative PCR test.

· Indonesia’s health minister is leading a push for stricter controls as coronavirus cases surge to unprecedented levels, according to Reuters’ sources familiar with government discussions. There is also concern in the country about the effectiveness of China’s Sinova vaccine after at least 10 out of 26 Indonesian doctors who died from Covid-19 this month were fully vaccinated with it.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/jun/28/coronavirus-south-africa-tightens-restrictions-italy-mask-free-from-today