Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths
World	194,802,141	+428,010	4,174,999
USA	35,199,465	+13,818	626,762
India	31,409,639	+38,153	420,996
Brazil	19,688,663	+18,129	549,999
Russia	6,126,541	+24,072	153,874
France	5,993,937	+15,242	111,622
UK	5,697,912	+29,173	129,158
Turkey	5,601,608	+14,230	50,934
Argentina	4,846,615	+7,506	103,721
Colombia	4,727,846	+11,048	118,868
Italy	4,317,415	+4,743	127,949
Spain	4,280,429	+31171	81,221
Germany	3,763,002	+1,152	92,037
Iran	3,691,432	+27,146	88,800
Indonesia	3,166,505	+38,679	83,279
Poland	2,882,146	+82	75,242
Mexico	2,741,983	+15,823	238,316
South Africa	2,377,823	+9,718	69,775
Ukraine	2,248,450	+286	52,847
Peru	2,104,394	+1,490	195,890
Netherlands	1,843,521	+4,584	17,800
Czechia	1,672,472	+130	30,357
Chile	1,609,177	+1,428	35,026
Iraq	1,552,648	+9,147	18,287
Philippines	1,548,755	+5,479	27,224
Canada	1,426,215	+228	26,547
Bangladesh	1,164,635	+11,291	19,274
Romania	1,082,292	+109	34,268
Malaysia	1,013,438	+17,045	7,994
Pakistan	1,004,694	+2,819	23,016
Portugal	953,059	+2,625	17,292
Japan	865,666	+3,582	15,124
Israel	860,652	+1,254	6,460
Jordan	764,983	+1,061	9,963
Serbia	720,112	+199	7,104
Nepal	680,556	+1,539	9,713
UAE	671,636	+1,528	1,920
Austria	656,270	+332	10,731
Morocco	579,272	+4,110	9,589
Tunisia	569,289	+5,359	18,600
Lebanon	555,302	+844	7,892
Kazakhstan	529,269	+6,631	5,382
Saudi Arabia	518,143	+1,194	8,167
Thailand	497,302	+15,335	4,059
Greece	475,919	+1,553	12,874
Bolivia	467,975	+632	17,637
Paraguay	449,341	+423	14,653
Belarus	440,708	+880	3,394
Panama	429,949	+866	6,759
Bulgaria	423,686	+57	18,194
Georgia	402,759	+2,061	5,688
Kuwait	392,617	+836	2,284
Slovakia	392,348	+46	12,534
Uruguay	380,431	+120	5,931
Croatia	362,621	+125	8,245
Guatemala	352,088	+1,272	10,100
Azerbaijan	340,443	+386	5,006
Cuba	332,968	+8,853	2,351
Palestine	316,088	+57	3,599
Denmark	311,520	+644	2,542
Venezuela	299,822	+1,018	3,492
Sri Lanka	296,516	+1,666	4,099
Ireland	292,996	+1,126	5,026
Egypt	284,024	+39	16,487
Lithuania	280,967	+190	4,410
Ethiopia	278,543	+97	4,369
Myanmar	269,525	+4,998	7,111
Bahrain	268,541	+128	1,383
Slovenia	258,651	+32	4,428
Moldova	258,624	+43	6,243
Libya	233,449	+3,845	3,375
Armenia	228,798	+166	4,587
Qatar	225,198	+126	600
Kenya	197,409	+664	3,865
Zambia	192,071	+544	3,272
S. Korea	188,848	+1,486	2,073
Nigeria	171,111	+216	2,132
Algeria	162,155	+1,287	4,063
Kyrgyzstan	157,147	+995	2,249
Mongolia	156,737	+1,513	774
Afghanistan	144,285	+414	6,480
Latvia	138,481	+56	2,550
Norway	135,767	+136	799
Albania	132,875	+22	2,456
Estonia	132,458	+90	1,271
Uzbekistan	124,290	+731	832
Namibia	116,603	+810	2,811
Mozambique	110,288	+1,528	1,282
Finland	102,972	+360	978
Ghana	101,170	+423	821
Montenegro	101,130	+69	1,624
Vietnam	98,465	+7,531	493
Cyprus	97,718	+727	401
Suriname	24,875	+78	631
Aruba	11,382	+28	109

 

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

 

 

 

Southeast Asia COVID-19 cases hit new highs, Malaysian doctors protest

By Mei Mei Chu

 

Government medical contract doctors participate in a walkout strike at Kuala Lumpur Hospital amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia July 26, 2021. REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng

 

Thailand reported a record number of coronavirus cases on Monday, while Malaysia has notched up more than 1 million infections, as the virulent Delta variant carves a deadly path through Southeast Asia - now a global epicentre for the virus.

Thailand had 15,376 new coronavirus cases, a daily record for a second consecutive day in the nation of more than 66 million.

Malaysia, which has one of Southeast Asia's highest per capita infection rates, reported on Sunday 17,045 new cases, bringing the total to 1,013,438 and nearly 8,000 deaths, despite a being under lockdown since June.

Like many parts of the region of more than 650 million people, Malaysian hospitals and medical staff have borne the brunt of the outbreak amid shortages of beds, ventilators and oxygen.

Thousands of Malaysian contract doctors on Monday staged a walkout over the terms of their employment, though they pledged patients would not be affected by the protest.

The doctors, who want permanent postings, as well as better pay and benefits, said an offer by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to extend their contracts did not go far enough.

Malaysia's vaccine rollout, however, has outpaced that of many neighbours, with about 16.9% of its 32 million people fully inoculated.

Thailand's government last week imposed tighter lockdown measures in the capital, Bangkok, and 12 high-risk provinces, suspending most domestic fights and expanding curfew area.

The Thai central bank has said the wave of infections is expected to reduce gross domestic product in the tourism-dependent country by up to 2% this year.

INDONESIA RELAXING SOME CURBS

Indonesia, the region's most populous country, with more than 270 million people, has Southeast Asia's biggest caseload. It has reported more than 3.1 million infections and 83,000 deaths.

Still, amid economic pressures, the government on Sunday announced that although coronavirus curbs would be extended by a week, some measures would be relaxed, including allowing traditional markets and restaurants with outdoor areas to reopen.

Hospitals have been filled with patients in the past month, particularly on the densely populated island of Java and in Bali, but on Sunday President Joko Widodo said infections and hospital occupancy had declined, without specifying by how much.

"The decision doesn't seem to be related to the pandemic, but to economics,” said Pandu Riono, an epidemiologist at the University of Indonesia, urging people to maintain health protocols.

Indonesia last week reported record-high deaths on four separate days, the last of which was 1,566 fatalities on Friday, bringing cumulative deaths to more than 83,000, as authorities pledged to add more intensive-care units.

After successfully containing the virus for much of the pandemic, Vietnam has been facing a renewed outbreak, with southern business hub Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding provinces accounting for most new infections.

The health ministry reported 7,531 infections on Sunday, down from Saturday's record daily increase of 7,968.

Myanmar has also seen a surge in infections since June and on Sunday reported 355 deaths, a new record, while daily cases topped 6,000 on Thursday last week.

Medics and people working in the funeral industry there say the actual death toll is far higher, with turmoil since February's military coup hindering the pandemic response.

In the Philippines, authorities have been scrambling to curb the spread of the Delta variant.

 

 

 

Australia sees COVID-19 cases climb, police warn against protest repeat

By Renju JoseByron Kaye

 

A lone woman, wearing a protective face mask, walks across an unusually quiet city centre bridge on the first day of a lockdown as the state of Victoria looks to curb the spread of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Melbourne, Australia, July 16, 2021. REUTERS/Sandra Sanders/File Photo

 

Australia's most populous state reported a rise in new COVID-19 cases on Monday despite a weeks-long stay-at-home order, while police vowed to crack down on any repeat of a anti-lockdown protest which turned violent at the weekend.

New South Wales, which has had more than 5 million people in Sydney city under lockdown for a month, reported 145 new cases of the virus, from 141 a day earlier, as it struggles to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant.

The state also reported two new deaths, a man and a woman both in their 80s, taking its total fatalities to 10 since the flare-up began a month ago and the national total to 920 since the start of the pandemic.

Of particular concern, 51 of the newly diagnosed were active in the community before testing positive, raising the risk of transmission. The authorities have said they want that number near zero before lifting the city's most restrictive lockdown of the pandemic at a July 30 target date.

"We might need to go harder in some areas and release some settings in others," state premier Gladys Berejiklian said at a televised news conference, apparently referencing five government areas of Sydney's suburbs at the epicentre of the outbreak.

Berejiklian added that she would give an update on movement restrictions in the next few days.

At the weekend, thousands of people marched in an anti-lockdown protest which turned violent in central Sydney, an event that state chief health officer Kerry Chant called "distressing". read more

As images and videos of the protest circulated on social media, including one image of a man apparently punching a police horse in the head, state police commissioner Mick Fuller said some 10,000 people had called the police hotline to report people suspected of breaking lockdown orders.

The calls to police were "an amazing outcry by the community, not just in terms of their disgust at the protest but at the way the police were treated", said Fuller.

Police knew of plans for a repeat protest and similar behaviour "won't be tolerated again", he added.

Victoria state, also under lockdown, reported 11 new cases, although all were in quarantine during their infectious period. Authorities said they would decide the next day whether to lift restrictions as hoped.

Neighbouring South Australia said it was on track to exit its snap one-week lockdown on Wednesday, after reporting one new local case, also in quarantine through their infectious period.

VACCINE RUSH

The outbreak, sparked by an infected airport transit driver in Sydney, has resulted in thousands of new cases of the fast-moving Delta variant and reimposed lockdown on more than half the country's 25 million population.

With only about 16% of Australians aged over 16 years so far fully vaccinated, the country's main drug regulator on the weekend changed its recommendation to encourage wider takeup of the AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) vaccine.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) had previously recommended restricting the AstraZeneca shot, the main vaccine in the country's immunisation arsenal, to people aged over 60 due to an extremely rare risk of blood clots in younger people.

Many Australians including those over 60 had opted to wait for an alternative made by Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) which has had its use restricted to people aged 40 to 60 due to supply constraints.

ATAGI on the weekend recommended that all adults in Sydney should now "strongly consider the benefits of earlier protection" with the AstraZeneca jab.

The move was supported by lawmakers, with Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg telling reporters that "getting vaccinated is our ticket out of this crisis".

AstraZeneca welcomed the change, saying regulators around the world had "stated that the benefit(s) of using our vaccine significantly outweigh the risks".

With about 32,900 cases and less than 1,000 deaths, Australia has kept its coronavirus numbers relatively low although the Delta strain and low vaccination numbers among developed economies have worried residents.

 

 

 

The European Union’s drug regulator authorizes the Moderna vaccine for children 12 and older

By Monika Pronczuk

 

A 14-year-old receiving Moderna’s Covid vaccine in February during a clinical trial in Houston.Credit...Brandon Thibodeaux for The New York Times

The European Medicines Agency, the European Union’s main drug regulator, on Friday authorized the use of Moderna’s Covid vaccine for children age 12 and older, clearing the way for final approval by the bloc.

The agency approved the vaccine for those older than age 18 in January. The vaccine is also licensed for those 18 and older in the United States, Canada and Britain.

The protocol for children will be the same as for adults — two shots four weeks apart — the regulator said. Sore arms, headache and fatigue were the side effects most commonly reported among teenagers receiving the vaccine, it said, similarly to adults.

The agency’s recommendation will go to the European Commission, the bloc’s administrative arm, for a final approval. Deciding if and when to begin using the vaccine on children is up to the E.U.’s 27 national governments.

Until now, the only vaccine approved for those 12- to 17-years-old in Europe and North America has been the one from Pfizer-BioNTech. The bloc’s drug regulator recommended it for children in late May, and the European Commission swiftly approved it. More than a dozen E.U. countries have since begun vaccinating children.

The E.U. vaccination campaign has accelerated considerably in recent weeks, and even overtook the immunization level in the United States, with over 67 percent of the population now inoculated with at least one dose, and 53 percent fully immunized according to data gathered by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. Fifty-six percent of the U.S. population has received at least one dose, and 49 percent are fully vaccinated.

The bloc has obtained enough doses to reach its goal of fully vaccinating 70 percent of the adult population by the end of July, the commission said earlier this month. But despite the overall high level of immunization, important divergences remain between the bloc’s member nations.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control warned on Friday in a joint statement with the World Health Organization that the Delta variant is now dominant in the majority of the bloc’s nations, and urged the “fast rollout of vaccinations,” highlighting that full inoculation significantly reduces the risk of severe disease and death.

“When called to do so, people should get vaccinated,” Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, the W.H.O.’s director for Europe, said in a statement.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/23/world/eu-moderna-vaccine-children.html

 

 

 

Biden officials now expect that vulnerable Americans are likely to need booster shots

By  Sharon LaFraniere

 

Doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine readied for a mass vaccination site in Newark, N.J., in June.   Credit...Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

As research continues into how long coronavirus vaccines remain effective, Biden administration health officials increasingly think that vulnerable populations will need booster shots.

Senior officials now say they expect that people who are 65 and older or who have compromised immune systems will most likely need a third shot from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, two vaccines based on the same technology that have been used to inoculate the vast majority of Americans thus far.

That is a sharp shift from just a few weeks ago, when the administration said it thought there was not enough evidence to back boosters yet.

The growing consensus within the administration that at least some Americans will need a booster is tied in part to research suggesting that the Pfizer vaccine is less effective against the coronavirus after about six months. More than half of those fully vaccinated in the United States so far have received Pfizer’s vaccine.

Pfizer’s continuing global study of its clinical trial participants shows that four to six months after the second dose, the vaccine’s effectiveness against symptomatic infection drops from a high of 95 percent to 84 percent, according to the company.

Data from the Israeli government, which has fully vaccinated more than half of its population with Pfizer doses since January, also points to a downward trend in effectiveness against infection over time, though not against severe disease. Administration officials are viewing that data cautiously because of wide margins for error.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, who heads the infectious disease division of the National Institutes of Health, said the apparent steep falloff in the Pfizer vaccine’s effectiveness against infection in the Israeli data had epidemiologists “raising their eyebrows a bit.”

The administration has already purchased more than enough vaccine to deliver third doses of both Pfizer and Moderna, and has been quietly preparing to expand the distribution effort, should it become necessary.

Dr. Paul A. Offit, a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s outside advisory committee of vaccine experts, said a rise in mild or moderate cases of Covid-19 among vaccinated people did not necessarily mean a booster was required.

“The goal of this vaccine is not to prevent mild or low, moderate infectious disease,” he said. “The goal is to prevent hospitalization to death. Right now this vaccine has held up to that.”

Prematurely dangling the prospect of a third dose could also work as a deterrent against vaccination, making people less likely to get their initial shots, other health experts said.

“We don’t want people to believe that when you’re talking about boosters, that means that the vaccines are not effective,” Dr. Fauci said a congressional hearing Tuesday. “They are highly effective.”

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/23/world/covid-variant-vaccine-updates/biden-officials-now-expect-that-vulnerable-americans-are-likely-to-need-booster-shots

 

 

 

Pfizer’s shot remains strong against disease, but Israeli data raise the prospect of it waning against infection

By Carl Zimmer

 

A man receiving a third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine last week at a medical center near Tel Aviv.Credit...Amir Levy/Getty Images

As Israel struggles with a new surge of coronavirus cases, its health ministry reported Thursday that although effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine remains high against severe illness, its protection against infection by the coronavirus has diminished significantly compared with this winter and early spring.

Analyzing the government’s national health statistics, researchers concluded that Pfizer’s shots, while offering vaccinated people 90 percent less risk of severe disease, gave them only 39 percent less risk against infection in late June and early July, compared with 95 percent from January to early April.

Israeli scientists cautioned that the new study is much smaller than the one in May and measured cases in a narrower window of time. As a result, a much larger range of uncertainties flanks their estimates, which could also be skewed by a variety of other factors.

Nevertheless, the new estimates are raising concern in Israel and elsewhere, including the United States. Possible reasons for the apparent loss of effectiveness against infection include the rise of the highly contagious Delta variant or a waning of protection from the shots over time.

Dr. Ran Balicer, the chairman of Israel’s Covid-19 National Expert Advisory Panel, said that the challenges of making accurate estimates of vaccine effectiveness are “immense.” He said that more careful analysis of the raw data was needed to understand what is going on.

Israel launched an aggressive campaign with the Pfizer vaccine on Dec. 20, and 58 percent of the population is now fully vaccinated, one of the highest rates in the world. Cases have increased 165 percent over the last two weeks, but hospitalizations, a measure of severe disease, continue to trend downward, according to Our World in Data, a project at the University of Oxford.

The vaccinations, paired with tight restrictions that the government imposed on travel and meetings, helped bring the country’s daily caseload down from a peak of over 8,600 cases a day in January to just a few dozen.

Israel began relaxing its restrictions in the spring. In late June, with the Delta variant spreading, cases surged again. Now, over 1,000 people are testing positive each day, including among fully vaccinated people. Epidemiologists had expected such breakthrough infections, as they do with all vaccines.

Adding to the uncertainty of the new findings is that the surge has not spread evenly across the country. Some travelers infected with the highly contagious Delta variant have brought it back to neighborhoods where vaccination rates are relatively high, while new outbreaks have yet to swamp Orthodox Jewish and Arab Israeli communities, where vaccination rates are lower. That imbalance could appear to make the vaccine seem less effective.

Also, the people who got vaccinated at the start of the campaign were over 60; those who got them later were younger. Infections among those who got vaccinated early may have more to do with their age, or some other factor that researchers have yet to take into consideration.

However, if the vaccine’s protection against infection is indeed waning after six months, the implications could be enormous, including on deliberations about whether to give people a third shot.

Dr. Balicer said that he and colleagues at Clalit Health Services, where he is the chief innovation officer, were working on their own study on the effectiveness of the vaccine, using Clalit’s health care records to take into account such confounding factors.

“I think there is definitely some waning, but not as much as hypothesized based on the crude data,” said Dr. Balicer, noting that other factors may be in play. “We are now trying to figure it out in a clean way.”

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/23/world/covid-variant-vaccine-updates/israel-pfizer-effective

 

 

 

In Europe, France takes the lead in making life unpleasant for the unvaccinated

By Roger Cohen

 

A woman showed her health pass to an Eiffel Tower employee before her visit in Paris on Wednesday.Credit...Bertrand Guay/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

PARIS — As Europe and the United States scramble to find an appropriate balance between curbing the Delta variant of the coronavirus and curbing personal freedom, President Emmanuel Macron has led the way down a narrow path combining limited compulsion to get vaccinated with widespread coercion.

His approach of ordering health workers to get vaccinated by Sept. 15, and telling the rest of the French population they will be denied access to most indoor public venues if unvaccinated or without a negative test by Aug. 1, has prompted other countries including Italy to follow suit, even as it has stirred pockets of deep resistance.

“You are creating a society of generalized control for months, maybe years,” Éric Coquerel, a lawmaker from the far-left France Unbowed party, said during a tumultuous 48-hour parliamentary debate on Mr. Macron’s measures that ended early Friday with a relatively narrow victory for the president.

Barreling through 1,200 proposed amendments, defying accusations of authoritarianism and chaos from the hard right and left, the lower house voted by 117 to 86 to back President Macron’s attempt to strong-arm the French to get vaccinated by making their lives miserable if they do not.

Europe’s problem is similar to that of the United States: vaccination levels that at around or just under 60 percent are inadequate for herd immunity; surging Delta variant cases; and growing divisions over how far getting an injection can be mandated.

But where the United States has generally not gone beyond hospitals and major health systems requiring employees to get Covid-19 vaccines, major European economies including France and Italy are moving closer to making vaccines mandatory for everyone.

Mr. Macron’s measures, announced July 12 as the only means to avoid yet another French lockdown, have spurred both protests and an extraordinary surge in vaccinations, with 3.7 million booked in the first week after the president spoke, and a record of nearly 900,000 vaccinations in a single day on July 19. In this sense, his bold move has been a success.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/23/world/covid-variant-vaccine-updates/in-europe-france-takes-the-lead-in-making-life-unpleasant-for-the-unvaccinated

 

 

 

Debates over booster shots, vaccination requirements, Olympics updates and new mandates: Covid news this week

By Lauren Hard

 

A Vaccines being administered in the Bronx on Tuesday. Mayor Bill de Blasio is urging private businesses to require their employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19.Credit...James Estrin/The New York Times

As research continues into how long coronavirus vaccines remain effective, Biden administration health officials increasingly think that vulnerable populations will need booster shots.

Senior officials now say they expect that people who are 65 and older or who have compromised immune systems will most likely need a third shot from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, two vaccines based on the same technology that have been used to inoculate a vast majority of Americans thus far.

That is a sharp shift from just a few weeks ago, when the administration said it thought there was not yet enough evidence to back boosters.

The growing consensus within the administration that at least some Americans will need a booster is tied in part to research suggesting that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is less effective against infection with the coronavirus after about six months, though it remains strong in protecting against severe disease. More than half of those fully vaccinated in the United States so far have received the Pfizer vaccine.

And as schools are preparing to reopen and more employees are planning to return to offices in the fall, political leaders across the United States are weighing whether to require vaccinations to guard against a resurgence of the virus, especially the highly transmissible Delta variant.

This week, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City urged private businesses to require their workers to be vaccinated, days after he announced that all employees in the city’s public health system would have to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. The requirements would take effect after the Food and Drug Administration grants full approval to at least one Covid vaccine, which are all now being administered under an emergency order.

Vaccine mandates have remained relatively rare among municipal governments, which have faced strong opposition from unions. But some educational institutions are requiring students, teachers and staff members to be vaccinated or take other steps to prevent the spread of the virus. This week, Chicago’s public school system said it would require everyone in school buildings to wear masks this fall, regardless of vaccination status.

America’s most popular sports league, the N.F.L., had stopped short of mandating vaccinations, until now. Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo on Thursday to all 32 teams outlining Covid-19 guidelines for the 2021 season, including severe penalties for teams with unvaccinated personnel, including possibly having to forfeit games.

In other news from the past week:

The Tokyo Olympic Games is underway, as the city and athletes try to dodge a worsening outbreak in Japan. The opening ceremony was held in a near-empty stadium. Tokyo Olympic organizers announced 10 new positive tests on Sunday among people connected to the Games, bringing the total to at least 137, including 16 athletes. On Saturday, a Czech women’s beach volleyball team did not play because of a coronavirus infection, giving the win to Japan.

England’s months of lockdown rules ended on Monday, but the coronavirus-weary nation is being battered by a new crisis: a “pingdemic.” With virus case numbers surging again, hundreds of thousands of people have been notified — or pinged — by a government-sponsored phone app asking them to self-isolate for 10 days because they were in contact with someone who had tested positive. Supermarkets, trucking firms and food producers have warned of staff shortages.

In addition to the rise of the Delta variant, there is also a Beta variant, which was first detected in South Africa and has now been reported in 123 countries. It remains far less prevalent than Delta and is not common in the United States. Beta contains several mutations that help the virus bind more tightly to human cells. It also contains the E484K mutation, sometimes known as “Eek,” which appears to help the virus partially evade antibodies.

Canada announced that it would reopen its borders to travelers from the United States beginning on Aug. 9. Citizens and permanent U.S. residents will be allowed to enter as long as they have been fully vaccinated for at least 14 days before travel. But the United States is retaining its bar against nonessential travel from Canada, instituted in concert with Canada in March 2020.

New federal data showed that life expectancy in the United States suffered its steepest drop since World War II, with Black and Hispanic residents seeing the biggest declines. From 2019 to 2020, Hispanic people’s average life expectancy declined by three years, while Black residents had a decrease of 2.9 years. The smallest decline was recorded in white people, whose life expectancy fell by 1.2 years.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/23/world/covid-variant-vaccine-updates/debates-over-booster-shots-vaccination-requirements-olympics-updates-and-new-mandates-covid-news-this-week
 

 

 

Summary

 

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

· UK health secretary Sajid Javid has apologised for a tweet which suggested the nation need not “cower” from coronavirus.

· In the UK, it is being reported that only fully-vaccinated football fans may be able to attend Premier League matches and other events with more than 20,000 spectators from October under government plans

· Young people are getting “seriously ill” from Covid-19, a member of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has warned, as he urged them to get vaccinated.

· In Australia, New South Wales logged its second-highest daily increase of the year in locally acquired Covid-19 cases on Sunday amid fears of a wave of new infections after thousands of people joined an anti-lockdown protest.

· Malaysia’s total coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic surpassed 1 million on Sunday after the country’s health ministry reported a record 17,045 new cases.

· Russia reported 24,072 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, including 3,406 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 6,126,541.

· South Korea is to tighten social distancing rules across most of the country this week, warning that its worst-ever Covid-19 wave might spread further in the summer holiday season.

· Fresh concerns have been raised in the UK over police being forced into isolation over Covid-19 contacts after it was said the number of absent Metropolitan Police officers reached nearly one in five.

· Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike met on Sunday to discuss the Olympic Games being held in the capital and anti-coronavirus measures.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/jul/26/coronavirus-live-news-china-reports-highest-cases-since-january-france-adopts-vaccine-passports-law?page=with:block-60fe31548f0814e7a3172585#block-60fe31548f0814e7a3172585