Country,	Total	New	Total
Other	Cases	Cases	Deaths
World	183,401,092	432,029	3,971,139
USA	34,561,403	16,949	620,645
India	30,453,937	43,360	400,271
Brazil	18,622,304	63,140	520,189
France	5,777,965	2,664	111,111
Russia	5,538,142	23,543	135,886
Turkey	5,430,940	5,288	49,774
UK	4,828,463	27,989	128,162
Argentina	4,491,551	21,177	94,772
Colombia	4,269,297	28,315	107,137
Italy	4,260,788	882	127,587
Spain	3,821,305	12,345	80,883
Germany	3,736,940	717	91,530
Iran	3,218,860	14,303	84,389
Poland	2,880,010	98	75,044
Mexico	2,519,269	6,105	233,047
Ukraine	2,235,801	705	52,391
Indonesia	2,203,108	24,836	58,995
Peru	2,057,554	3,079	192,687
South Africa	1,995,556	21,584	61,029
Netherlands	1,685,825	825	17,748
Czechia	1,667,435	151	30,304
Chile	1,558,557	2,655	32,588
Philippines	1,418,337	5,795	24,797
Canada	1,415,310	26	26,295
Iraq	1,353,458	7,554	17,216
Sweden	1,090,553		14,592
Belgium	1,085,131	581	25,173
Romania	1,080,823	31	33,861
Pakistan	958,408	1,037	22,321
Bangladesh	921,559	8,301	14,646
Portugal	882,006	2,449	17,101
Israel	842,067	290	6,429
Hungary	808,160	32	29,992
Japan	799,978	1,819	14,781
Malaysia	758,967	6,988	5,254
Jordan	751,937	533	9,756
Serbia	716,643	81	7,047
Switzerland	703,176	172	10,894
Austria	650,474	62	10,706
Nepal	640,662	1,857	9,145
UAE	634,582	1,675	1,819
Lebanon	545,016	150	7,854
Morocco	532,150	789	9,298
Saudi Arabia	489,126	1,534	7,832
Ecuador	459,538	1,034	21,605
Bolivia	439,624	2,001	16,767
Tunisia	426,879	6,776	15,065
Kazakhstan	425,573	2,436	4,375
Paraguay	424,998	1,716	13,017
Greece	423,185	729	12,691
Bulgaria	421,902	73	18,067
Belarus	418,212	1,023	3,153
Panama	404,983	1,205	6,552
Slovakia	391,659	17	12,511
Uruguay	370,600	1,250	5,619
Costa Rica	369,540	1,602	4,674
Georgia	367,058	980	5,327
Croatia	359,975	103	8,209
Kuwait	358,511	1,824	1,979
Azerbaijan	336,122	75	4,975
Dominican Republic	326,193	972	3,840
Palestine	314,288	121	3,565
Guatemala	296,438	2,855	9,282
Denmark	294,152	475	2,535
Egypt	281,524	242	16,194
Lithuania	278,809	25	4,384
Ethiopia	276,250	76	4,325
Venezuela	274,024	1,312	3,136
Ireland	272,784	448	5,000
Oman	270,504	1,959	3,140
Bahrain	265,975	148	1,353
Thailand	264,834	5,533	2,080
Honduras	262,760	691	7,005
Sri Lanka	260,972	1,883	3,120
Slovenia	257,358	23	4,419
Moldova	256,816	82	6,194
Armenia	225,221	126	4,517
Qatar	222,217	146	591
Bosnia and Herzegovina	205,032	10	9,667
Cuba	193,945	2,952	1,302
Libya	193,905	431	3,198
Kenya	184,537	376	3,640
Nigeria	167,692	74	2,121
Myanmar	159,347	2,070	3,347
Zambia	157,832	2,884	2,271
S. Korea	157,723	762	2,021
North Macedonia	155,689	5	5,485
Algeria	140,075	449	3,726
Latvia	137,500	71	2,520
Albania	132,523	2	2,456
Norway	131,509	193	794
Estonia	131,085	21	1,269
Kyrgyzstan	126,395	1,392	2,009
Afghanistan	122,156	1,940	5,048
Mongolia	117,963	2,485	578
Uzbekistan	111,153	476	740
Montenegro	100,272	20	1,613
Finland	95,964	222	973
Ghana	95,914		796
China	91,792	12	4,636
Suriname	21,936	204	531
Vietnam	17,576	713	81

 

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

 

 

 

Pets can catch Covid from owners, study suggests

By Jim Reed BBC

 

IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES

Most infected pets tend to be asymptomatic or display mild Covid symptoms

 

Covid is common in pet cats and dogs whose owners have the disease, research suggests.

Swabs were taken from 310 pets in 196 households where a human infection had been detected.

Six cats and seven dogs returned a positive PCR result, while 54 animals tested positive for virus antibodies.

"If you have Covid, you should avoid contact with your cat or dog, just as you would do with other people," Dr Els Broens, from Utrecht University, said.

"The main concern is not the animals' health but the potential risk that pets could act as a reservoir of the virus and reintroduce it into the human population."

The authors of the study said no evidence of pet-to-owner transmission had been recorded to date but it would be difficult to detect while the virus was still spreading easily between humans.

Most infected pets tend to be asymptomatic or display mild Covid symptoms

Researchers from Utrecht University sent a mobile veterinary clinic to households in the Netherlands that had tested positive for Covid at some point in the past 200 days.

Swabs were taken from their pet cats and dogs to test for evidence of a current infection, while blood samples were also tested for antibodies suggesting a past exposure to Covid.

The results were presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases:

• .4.2% showed evidence of a current infection
• .17.4% tested positive for antibodies

Follow-up tests showed all the PCR-positive (polymerase chain reaction) animals cleared the infection and went on to develop antibodies.

The researchers say the most likely route of virus transmission is from human to animal, rather than the other way round.

"We can't say there is a 0% risk of owners catching Covid from their pets," Veterinary Microbiological Diagnostic Centre Dr Broens said.

"At the moment, the pandemic is still being driven by human-to-human infections, so we just wouldn't detect it."

Vets in Russia have started vaccinating some animals against the disease.

But Dr Broens said: "I don't see the scientific evidence for that now.

"It seems unlikely that pets play a role in the pandemic."

A separate study run by the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, found cats that slept on their owner's bed seemed to be at particular risk of infection.

A total of 48 cats and 54 dogs from 77 households were tested for Covid antibodies and their owners asked about their interaction with their pets.

About 67% of the owned cats and 43% of the owned dogs tested positive, compared with 9% of dogs and cats from an animal shelter and 3% of stray cats in the area.

A quarter of the pets displayed a symptom of the disease, from loss of appetite to difficulty breathing.

And although most cases were mild, three were severe.

The study's authors said cats' biology may make them more susceptible to Covid.

Cats are also more likely to sleep near their owner's face than dogs, increasing their exposure to any infection.

'Robustly conducted'

Cambridge University veterinary medicine department head Prof James Wood said the two studies added to other evidence suggesting a substantial proportion of cats and dogs may catch the virus from their owners.

"The Dutch study is robustly conducted and shows that around 20% of exposed pets may be infected and that they eventually clear the infection just as most humans do," he said.

"Most reports are that this infection appears to be asymptomatic.

"It also seems that the virus does not normally transmit from dogs and cats to either other animals or their owners."

 

Retrieved from:  www.bbc.com/news/health-57666245

 

 

 

India logs 400,000 deaths amid vaccine ramp-up

 

IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES

Experts warn that the real number of fatalities might be much higher.

 

The number of deaths linked to coronavirus in India has moved past the 400,000 mark as the country tries to speed up its vaccination drive.

Experts warn that the real number of fatalities might be much higher as many deaths are not officially recorded.

India is only the third in the world behind the US and Brazil to record more than 400,000 deaths.

The country has recorded 30 million cases - second only to the US.

The number of average daily cases in India has fallen to just over 40,000 in recent days, down from the peaks of 400,000 in May. The drop in numbers has largely been attributed to strict lockdowns by states.

But experts have warned of an impending third wave.

Less than 5% of the country's population has been fully vaccinated since the beginning of the drive in January.

The federal government aims to vaccinate all Indians by the end of this year, but the drive has been hobbled by slow pace, shortage of doses and vaccine hesitancy.

The country is currently using two homegrown vaccines: Covishield and Covaxin. Russia's Sputnik V has been also approved for use and is being used in some quantities.

The government is now racing to shore up its vaccine supplies, hoping to be well-prepared after a deadly second wave overwhelmed the country's fragile healthcare system.

It is gearing upto use a local version of Novavax vaccine, which will be produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII). The government has also ordered 300 million doses of another vaccine from Indian firm Biological E.

Earlier this week, the country's health ministry also gave approval to Indian pharma company Cipla to import Moderna vaccine, which has shown nearly 95% efficacy against Covid-19.

 

Retrieved from:  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57676223

 

 

 

White House prepares for COVID-19 outbreaks due to highly contagious Delta variant

Carl O'donnellAndrea Shalal

 

Jeff Zients, U.S. President-elect Biden's choice to be coronavirus disease (COVID-19) czar to oversee the response to the pandemic, addresses a news conference as Biden listens at his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., December 8, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

WASHINGTON, July 1 (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday said it would send out special teams to hot spots around the United States to combat the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant amid rising case counts in parts of the country where vaccination rates remain low.

The speedy U.S. vaccination campaign has dramatically reduced COVID-19 cases among residents. The peak seven-day-average of more than 250,000 cases per day in January fell to around 11,000 in mid-June.

But daily cases have since leveled out and in the past week rose about 10% to about 12,500, driven by case increases in the Midwest and Southeast where vaccination rates are low and where the highly contagious Delta variant, first found in India earlier this year, is spreading.

White House COVID-19 senior adviser Jeffrey Zients told reporters that "surge response" teams would be ready to speed additional testing supplies and therapeutics to communities that were experiencing increases in COVID-19 cases.

More than 180 million people and more than 66% of adults in the United States have received shots, but around 1,000 counties still have vaccination rates below 30%, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on a Tuesday news call.

"It is clear that communities where people remain unvaccinated are communities that remain vulnerable," Walensky said.

Nevada and Missouri now have the highest rates of COVID-19 infection, and there have been recent outbreaks in states including Utah, Wyoming and Nebraska, Michael Newshel, a healthcare analyst for Evercore ISI, wrote in a Tuesday analyst note.

The more easily transmitted Delta variant is thought to have become the second most prevalent coronavirus variant in the United States, Walensky added.

The Delta variant previously contributed to a surge in COVID-19 cases in India that resulted in the highest daily deaths in the world. It also prompted the United Kingdom to delay its reopening by one month in June. read more

Recent studies suggest that existing vaccines are highly effective against the Delta variant. The protection is strongest in those who received both doses of two-dose shot regimens, such as those made by Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc

Both shots, which have been the mainstays of the United States vaccination campaign, have been shown to be highly effective against the original variant COVID-19 and several newer variants.

Zients said the White House is mobilizing federal personnel to assist communities with public health staffing and the CDC will provide assistance in containing potential outbreaks.

Zients said that the White House will have exported around 40 million shots by the end of the week to countries including Bangladesh, Ecuador and Taiwan.

The Biden administration is planning a 1,000-person Fourth of July celebration on the White House lawn with essential workers and military personnel, partly to celebrate the United States' success in driving down COVID-19 cases.

"Right now it's an appropriate time to step back and celebrate the progress we've made; at the same time, we've got a lot more work to do," Zients said.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-sending-special-teams-covid-19-hot-spots-combat-delta-variant-2021-07-01/

 

 

 

J&J's COVID-19 vaccine shows promise against Delta variant

 

Vials labelled "COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine" and sryinge are seen in front of displayed Johnson&Johnson logo in this illustration taken, February 9, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) said late Thursday that its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine showed strong promise against the Delta variant and other emerging strains and also provided durable protection against the infection more broadly.

Data showed that the durability of immune response for recipients of its vaccine lasted at least eight months, the healthcare company said, adding that its vaccine was 85% effective and could also help prevent hospitalization and death.

First identified in India, Delta is becoming the globally dominant variant of the coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization.

"Current data for the eight months studied so far shows that the single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine generates a strong neutralizing antibody response that does not wane; rather, we observe an improvement over time," Mathai Mammen, head of research & development at J&J's drugs business, said in the statement.

Recipients of the vaccine produced strong neutralizing antibodies against all variants including the Delta, the U.S.-based company said.

The Delta variant contributed to a surge in COVID-19 cases in India that resulted in the highest daily death tally in the world, and also prompted the UK to delay its reopening by one month in June.

J&J has submitted data as a preprint to the website bioRxiv ahead of peer review.

 

Retrieved from:https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/jjs-covid-19-vaccine-shows-strong-activity-against-delta-variant-2021-07-02/

 

 

 

Digital vaccination cards go into effect in Europe, with some turbulence

By Elian Peltier

 

Tourists arriving this week in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The country has built a system that uses a Q.R. code that can be checked before a passenger travels to the airport.Credit...Jaime Reina/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

 

Digital Covid-19 certificates aimed at facilitating free movement in the European Union came into force across the bloc on Thursday, a long-awaited milestone for countries hoping to boost their ailing tourism industries — but also a point of friction over the number of vaccines that do not qualify.

Free movement is a key pillar of European integration, and E.U. officials said last month that the certificates would “again enable citizens to enjoy this most tangible and cherished of E.U. rights.”

So far, the European Union lists four vaccines as qualifying for the certificate, all of which have been authorized for use across the bloc. They are the vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca.

That leaves out a vaccine that the international Covax mechanism has distributed across Africa: Covishield, a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine that is manufactured in India. It is, however, accepted in a handful of E.U. member nations.

Without naming the E.U., the Covax facility on Thursday urged “all regional, national and local government authorities to recognize as fully vaccinated” all people who have received a vaccine approved by the W.H.O. when easing travel restrictions, warning that not doing so would create a two-tiered system.

Through a Q.R. code issued by their country of residence, certificate holders will be able to show that they have been either fully vaccinated, tested negative or have immunity after a recent recovery. That will exempt them from most travel or quarantine restrictions.

Many European governments have already eased such rules, and each member nation can still revive protective measures if a country’s health situation deteriorates. Germany, for instance, has imposed restrictions on travelers coming from Portugal, which has faced a surge of new cases driven by the spread of the Delta variant.

While countries have agreed that national health authorities will issue the certificates — most E.U. countries have already been doing so — they are divided over who should check them, where and when.

Germany’s health minister, Jens Spahn, holding a phone with the CovPass Covid-19 certificate last month in Berlin.Credit...Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Citing privacy concerns, Germany and Austria have not given airlines access to verification devices that they would need to scan the Q.R. codes. France has distributed such tools in airports, and Spain has built a system whereby Q.R. codes can be checked before passengers travel to the airport.

And one country, Ireland, has yet to set up a verification system for the digital certificates, after its national health system was recently targeted by cyberattacks, according to E.U. officials.

The divergences have highlighted the challenges that the E.U. faces in allowing free movement across the bloc.

This week, a group of airlines and airport representatives urged member states to set up verification systems before departure — alongside online check-ins, for instance — to avoid chaotic situations at airports upon arrival.

Echoing some concerns shared by the travel industry, the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, noted that the 27 E.U. member states had planned more than 10 verification processes.

“The digital Covid-19 certificate is an important tool that ideally will give people confidence in the easing of travel restrictions,” said Thomas Reynaert, the managing director of Airlines for Europe, an organization based in Brussels that represents the bloc’s largest carriers. “But this can only work for travelers if member states implement it in a harmonized way.”

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/world/europe/eu-digital-covid-certificates.html

 

 

 

The virus is soaring in Myanmar, where a junta that seized power holds the vaccines

By Richard C. Paddock

 

Children in face masks arriving last week for school in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, on Myanmar’s northwest coast.Credit...EPA, via Shutterstock

Three days before she was arrested by soldiers, Myanmar’s civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, received her first dose of a coronavirus vaccine. Her high-profile inoculation was part of a nationwide campaign to combat the virus through testing, mask-wearing, lockdowns and vaccination.

But like the civilian government that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi headed, her program to contain Covid-19 was cast aside by the military when it seized power in the Feb. 1 coup.

“There had been a real push toward testing, surveillance and vaccination and all of that just crumbled after the first of February,” said Alessandra Dentice, the head of Myanmar’s UNICEF office.

Now, the country, reeling from a brutal military crackdown and crippled by a monthslong national strike, is paying the price for the junta’s neglect of the pandemic. According to data reported by the regime’s health ministry, the number of daily reported Covid cases has risen sharply, and with limited testing underway, the positivity rate jumped to nearly 22 percent on Thursday. Health experts believe many more cases are going undetected.

Most worrisome are outbreaks in the three largest communities near the border with India, the country where the highly contagious Delta variant was first identified. The variant has been detected among the cases.

As of Thursday, 20 townships in six states and regions have been placed under pandemic-related stay-at-home orders by the military. Outbreaks have also been reported in Yangon, the largest city, and Naypyidaw, the capital. In Mandalay, the second-largest city, all seven townships were placed under stay-at-home orders on Thursday. The six hospitals in the city that accept coronavirus patients have been filled to capacity since last week, according to a local medical charity.

The ousted government in the Southeast Asian nation had acquired 3.5 million vaccines from India before the coup. The junta commandeered most of the shots, but ignored plans to prioritize vaccinations for the elderly. Some shots went to vaccinate soldiers, according to a doctor at a Yangon military hospital. In protest, many doctors refused to get a second dose from the regime.

The military’s unwillingness to provide details about its vaccination program prompted Covax, the global vaccine-sharing program, to delay a shipment of 5.5 million doses in March, said Dr. Stephan Paul Jost, the World Health Organization’s representative for Myanmar. No new shipment has been scheduled.

With doctors and other health care workers on strike against the coup, Myanmar’s health care system may buckle under the outbreak.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/01/world/covid-19-vaccine-coronavirus-updates/the-virus-is-soaring-in-myanmar-where-a-junta-that-seized-power-holds-the-vaccines