Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths
World	210,801,995	+723,136	4,416,418
USA	38,231,787	+154,917	643,112
India	32,358,210	+37,312	433,622
Brazil	20,494,212	+35,991	572,733
Russia	6,684,531	+21,058	173,700
France	6,557,356	+23,973	113,103
UK	6,392,160	+36,572	131,373
Turkey	6,157,772	+19,320	53,891
Argentina	5,116,803	+10,596	109,841
Colombia	4,880,516	+3,193	123,901
Spain	4,758,003	+12,445	83,004
Iran	4,587,683	+31,266	100,255
Italy	4,464,005	+7,260	128,634
Indonesia	3,930,300	+22,053	122,633
Germany	3,854,509	+8,323	92,447
Mexico	3,152,205	+28,953	250,469
Poland	2,886,079	+197	75,311
South Africa	2,652,652	+13,671	78,694
Ukraine	2,270,226	+1,560	53,368
Peru	2,138,666	+1,371	197,716
Netherlands	1,911,699	+2,488	17,933
Iraq	1,809,376	+8,012	19,958
Philippines	1,791,003	+14,895	30,881
Czechia	1,677,037	+208	30,384
Chile	1,631,689	+858	36,524
Malaysia	1,489,460	+22,948	13,480
Canada	1,462,906	+2,731	26,783
Bangladesh	1,447,210	+6,566	24,878
Japan	1,202,012	+23,918	15,501
Belgium	1,159,366	+2,746	25,305
Pakistan	1,113,647	+4,373	24,713
Romania	1,089,189	+595	34,379
Portugal	1,012,125	+2,554	17,613
Thailand	989,859	+20,902	8,586
Israel	970,606	+5,116	6,752
Hungary	810,781	+123	30,046
Morocco	791,559	+9,462	11,472
Jordan	787,367	+782	10,264
Nepal	742,228	+2,321	10,429
Serbia	737,969	+1,656	7,188
Kazakhstan	715,716	+7,337	7,988
UAE	706,166	+1,077	2,012
Austria	672,819	+1,226	10,760
Lebanon	588,578	+1,993	7,999
Cuba	554,247	+8,972	4,319
Greece	550,459	+3,273	13,265
Saudi Arabia	540,743	+499	8,449
Georgia	501,297	+4,921	6,590
Bolivia	484,446	+715	18,236
Belarus	465,210	+1,355	3,649
Paraguay	457,349	+127	15,508
Panama	450,624	+862	6,990
Bulgaria	438,698	+1,371	18,438
Costa Rica	438,587	+2,311	5,296
Guatemala	428,096	+5,826	11,339
Kuwait	407,652	+276	2,399
Slovakia	393,799	+77	12,547
Uruguay	383,758	+113	6,013
Azerbaijan	380,918	+3,614	5,231
Sri Lanka	373,165	+3,806	6,790
Croatia	368,419	+486	8,294
Myanmar	365,759	+2,590	13,945
Denmark	334,799	+984	2,562
Ireland	331,206	+1,818	5,074
Honduras	323,625	+1,950	8,527
Palestine	323,582	+962	3,628
Venezuela	322,757	+830	3,859
Vietnam	312,611	+10,654	7,150
Oman	300,914	+186	4,020
Ethiopia	292,731	+928	4,518
Lithuania	292,015	+552	4,467
Libya	291,168	+1,949	4,001
Egypt	285,831	+131	16,647
Bahrain	271,353	+96	1,385
Moldova	263,500	+426	6,338
Slovenia	262,571	+381	4,438
Armenia	236,234	+559	4,727
S. Korea	230,808	+2,151	2,191
Qatar	230,221	+306	601
Kenya	225,663	+1,263	4,404
Zambia	203,553	+384	3,564
Algeria	190,078	+694	4,929
Mongolia	188,412	+1,875	891
Nigeria	185,267	+674	2,244
Kyrgyzstan	173,186	+249	2,468
North Macedonia	165,684	+1,155	5,608
Norway	147,058	+685	811
Botswana	146,461	+4,081	2,081
Uzbekistan	146,459	+844	1,002
Mozambique	141,383	+618	1,773
Latvia	140,651	+146	2,567
Estonia	138,157	+357	1,281
Albania	137,597	+522	2,473
Namibia	123,082	+197	3,316
Zimbabwe	121,902	+404	4,198
Finland	120,186	+866	1,008
Ghana	112,928	+550	945
Cyprus	110,518	+420	470
Montenegro	108,108	+532	1,662
Uganda	97,453	+159	2,931
China	94,546	+46	4,636
El Salvador	92,416	+281	2,817
Cambodia	87,723	+533	1,747
Suriname	27,070	+154	696
Aruba	13,719	+98	124

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

 

 

 

Scientists question evidence behind U.S. COVID-19 booster shot drive

By Deena Beasley and Ahmed Aboulenein

 

A woman receives the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine as a booster dose at Skippack Pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, U.S., August 14, 2021. REUTERS/Hannah Beier

 

The Biden administration's plan to provide COVID-19 vaccine boosters is based on concerns that a decrease in the vaccines' ability to protect against milder infections could also mean people will have less protection against severe illness, a premise that has yet to be proven, scientists said on Thursday.

U.S. officials, citing data showing waning protection against mild and moderate illness from the Pfizer-BioNTech (PFE.N), and Moderna (MRNA.O) vaccines more than six months after inoculation, on Wednesday said boosters will be made widely available starting on Sept. 20. read more

The additional dose will be offered to people who received their initial inoculation at least eight months earlier.

"Recent data makes clear that protection against mild and moderate disease has decreased over time. This is likely due to both waning immunity and the strength of the widespread Delta variant," U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told reporters.

"We are concerned that this pattern of decline we are seeing will continue in the months ahead, which could lead to reduced protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death."

Data on so-called "breakthrough" infections in vaccinated people shows that older Americans have so far been the most vulnerable to severe illness.

As of Aug. 9, almost 74% of the 8,054 vaccinated people that were hospitalized with COVID-19 were above the age of 65, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost 20% of those cases ended in deaths.

Based on available data on vaccine protection, it is not clear that younger, healthier people will be at risk.

"We don't know if that translates into a problem with the vaccine doing what is most important, which is protect against hospitalization, death, and serious disease. On that, the jury is still out," said Dr. Jesse Goodman, an infectious disease expert at Georgetown University in Washington and a former chief scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Several countries have decided to provide booster shots to older adults and people with weak immune systems. European Union officials said on Wednesday they do not yet see a need to give booster shots to the general population.

Other experts said the U.S. plan requires thorough vetting by the FDA and a panel of outside advisers to the CDC. A meeting of those advisers to discuss boosters set for Aug. 24 is being rescheduled, the CDC said on Thursday on its website.

The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC and FDA, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Some experts questioned the focus on booster shots when around 30% of eligible Americans have yet to get even a first vaccine dose, despite new COVID-19 cases and deaths surging across the country.

"The more important thing, I think, at this point than boosters is making sure we get the vaccine in any arm that hasn't had one as fast as we can," said Dr. Dan McQuillen, an infectious disease specialist in Burlington, Massachusetts, and the incoming president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

All experts interviewed by Reuters also emphasized the need to inoculate the vast number of people around the world who have yet to access COVID-19 vaccines.

"You could end up in situation where you are chasing your tail, giving more and more boosters in the U.S. and Western Europe, while more dangerous variants are coming from other places," said Dr. Isaac Weisfuse, epidemiologist and adjunct professor at Cornell University Public Health.

"In reality you should be vaccinating the rest of the world to avoid new variants."

 

Retrieved from：https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/scientists-question-evidence-behind-us-covid-19-booster-shot-drive-2021-08-19/

 

 

 

Japan to ramp up COVID-19 tests as it battles worst wave of infections

By Rocky Swift

 

Japan plans to dramatically ramp up daily COVID-19 tests, borrowing from anti-contagion measures used in the recent Tokyo Olympics, as it battles its worst wave of infections, driven by the Delta variant.

New infections exceeded 25,000 on Thursday for the first time, a tally by national broadcaster NHK showed, with the surge mainly among those in their 40s and 50s, most of whom are unvaccinated.

The speed and severity of Japan's Delta-driven infections are overtaking the strategy of targeted cluster tracing it has favoured over the mass testing used by many nations.

The cabinet office said Japan intends to employ its full daily capacity of about 320,000 polymerase-chain reaction (PCR) tests, or about triple the use now.

"At least in a big city like Tokyo, the cluster methodology won't work anymore," said Kazuaki Shindai, a doctor and public health researcher at Kyoto University.

"If individuals can get more PCR testing, it may be helpful to find out their condition and isolate themselves and then prevent them going about."

The government wants to use the full capacity of public and private testing "as much as possible," said Makoto Shimoaraiso, a cabinet official guiding the pandemic response.

Free PCR screenings are being offered to passengers on some airline flights, and local governments plan to use high-speed antigen tests in shopping areas, he added.

Although Japan widened a state of emergency this week over Tokyo and much of the country, the effect on public behaviour is diminishing in its fourth emergency of the pandemic.

Top national health adviser Shigeru Omi urged the government to step up testing and add hospital beds, suggesting that the law may have to be amended for tougher lockdowns.

Japan's COVID-19 testing, or the lack of it, has been a controversial topic throughout the pandemic, standing at just 150 tests per 1,000 people now, versus 230 in South Korea and 1,520 in the United States, website Our World in Data shows.

But massive, regular testing, with close to 600,000 tests, was a key feature of infection control at the recently completed Tokyo Olympics.

It was a "double standard" that mass testing figured at the Games but not more widely for Japan, said Kenji Shibuya, the former director of the Institute for Population Health at King's College London.

It is never too late to increase testing in the virus battle, however, he said, adding, "This should also be combined with the efforts to isolate and monitor the infected people."

 

Retrieved from：https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-ramp-up-covid-19-tests-it-battles-worst-wave-infections-2021-08-20/

 

 

 

Thailand reaches 1 million COVID-19 cases

 

 Thailand's passed the 1 million mark in coronavirus cases on Friday, 97% of which were recorded in the past five months, as the country struggles to get on top of one of Asia's most severe COVID-19 outbreaks.

Authorities on Friday reported 19,851 cases and 240 fatalities, taking total confirmed infections past 1 million and deaths to 8,826.

Thailand had kept the coronavirus largely under control and enjoyed only partial social restrictions for much of the pandemic until it was hit in April by the virulent Alpha variant, followed later by the Delta variant, at a time when few people were vaccinated.

Health officials have been rushing to shore up vaccine supply having inoculated just 8.3% of its population of over 66 million.

Authorities are also mixing AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and Sinovac (SVA.O) shots to boost immunity and as a workaround for supply issues.

The government's handling of the coronavirus crisis, including its vaccination policy, has fuelled a recent revival of protests against Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who has stood by his administration's strategy.

 

Retrieved from：https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thailand-reaches-1-million-covid-19-cases-2021-08-20/

 

 

 

Why didn’t officials recommend boosters for people who got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine?

By Emily Anthes

 

  

Less data is available on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.Credit...James Estrin/The New York Times

All of the vaccines authorized in the United States provide strong protection against severe disease and death from Covid-19.

But the federal government’s recent booster recommendation was based on data suggesting that the protection provided by the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines against infection and mild disease has been waning over time, officials said on Wednesday.

“Even though this new data affirms that vaccine protection remains high against the worst outcomes of Covid,” Dr. Murthy said at the briefing, “we are concerned that this pattern of decline we are seeing will continue in the months ahead, which could lead to reduced protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death.”

But less data is available on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was not authorized until the end of February, two months after Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the mRNA vaccines. (The Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses a modified adenovirus to deliver its instructions to human cells.) In addition, Johnson & Johnson vaccinations were temporarily paused while health officials investigated reports that a very small number of people had developed a rare blood-clotting condition after receiving the vaccine.

More than 150 million Americans have gotten mRNA vaccines, far exceeding the 14 million who have received the Johnson & Johnson shot, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Without robust data on the long-term effectiveness of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, it is hard for health officials to recommend boosters, said John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine. “If you’re doing data-driven decisions and you don’t have the data, what can you do?” he said. “This is sort of the dilemma. Public confidence in vaccines generally depends on seeing how the sausage is made, seeing that it is a data-driven, transparent process.”

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/08/19/world/covid-delta-variant-vaccine/why-didnt-officials-recommend-boosters-for-people-who-got-the-johnson-johnson-vaccine

 

 

 

The U.S. wants a U.N. meeting scaled back to avoid a ‘superspreader event.’

By Rick Gladstone

 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and other leaders addressed the 75th annual U.N. General Assembly in a video in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.Credit...United Nations/via Reuters

The United States has requested that the United Nations scale back the annual General Assembly meeting in New York next month, making it a mostly virtual gathering, to avoid the “superspreader” infection risks posed by the pandemic’s highly contagious Delta variant.

The request, made in a diplomatic note sent by the U.S. Mission to the other members of the global organization, appeared to assure that the world’s biggest diplomatic gathering would be similar to the mostly virtual one held in 2020, or perhaps be even more restricted.

The General Assembly meeting, which starts in mid-September, historically has been one of the busiest events at the United Nations headquarters, with heads of state and government from around the world converging in New York with their diplomatic entourages. The influx of V.I.P.’s creates enormous security challenges for the New York Police Department and routinely paralyzes traffic in Manhattan.

Though the United States is the host country, it does not dictate which foreign leaders visit the United Nations to address the General Assembly in what is known as the General Debate. But the organization defers to the host government authorities on matters of health requirements.

U.N. officials said earlier in the summer that the session in September, the 76th General Assembly, would be much more like the prepandemic version, with at least some foreign leaders attending the General Debate in person and many side events, conferences and social gatherings held face to face.

But as the risks posed by the rapidly spreading Delta variant have grown — even to people who have been fully vaccinated — the United States government has turned more cautious.

“The United States, as the host country of the U.N. Headquarters, bears a significant responsibility and we need your support to prevent UNGA 76 High-Level Week from being a superspreader event,” said the U.S. Mission’s diplomatic note, which was seen by The New York Times.

‘In light of current health concerns, heads of delegation should consider delivering their statements to the U. N. General Assembly’s General Debate by video,” the note said.

The note acknowledged that U.N. officials had put precautions in place including mandatory use of face masks and social distancing, and had given the leaders of all 193 members the option of delivering speeches by prerecorded video.

Nonetheless, the note said, “the United States needs to make clear our call, as the host country, for all U.N.-hosted meetings and side events, beyond the General Debate, to be fully virtual.”

It further recommended that the United Nations strengthen what has been an honor system for visitors to declare themselves virus free, saying the organization should require “confirmed negative Covid-19 status to enter U. N. Headquarters, and, if possible, vaccination.”

Should countries wish to send delegations next month, the note said, the United States requested that they be reduced to “the minimum number of travelers necessary.”

It remained unclear on Thursday whether President Biden would make his first General Assembly speech in person. Officials at the U.S. Mission said they had no information on Mr. Biden’s plans.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/19/world/un-event-superspreader.html

 

 

 

Summary

 

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

· Israel’s health minister said on Thursday that people over 40 and teachers would be eligible for a third dose of Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine, expanding its booster campaign to fend off the coronavirus Delta variant.

· In the UK, the House of Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, is facing calls to urge MPs to wear masks in the chamber, after cabinet ministers and many Tory backbenchers shunned the advice during a packed eight-hour debate on Afghanistan.

· Brazil has now registered 20,494,212 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 572,641, according to ministry data, in the world’s third worst outbreak outside the US and India and its second-deadliest after the US.

· Police in Kenya used teargas and fired shots in the air to break up protests in Nairobi after a man was allegedly killed by officers for violating the country’s Covid curfew. Shops were looted as unrest grew after John Kiiru’s death, which came just two days after six police officers appeared in court over the death of two brothers this month after they also allegedly broke the curfew.

· A plan to start offering Covid booster vaccinations in the UK from early September is extremely unlikely to happen, it is understood, given the concerns of the government’s vaccines watchdog about the clinical benefits and potential wider risks to vaccine confidence. Immunologist Prof Peter Openshaw also said that the results of ongoing studies to determine their effectiveness “should not be prejudged”.

· The mass rollout of Covid-19 booster vaccines in Britain to residents over 50 this autumn could be shelved, with government scientists considering limiting third doses only to the most vulnerable, The Telegraph reported on Thursday.

· An online open-source intelligence group last year identified that a virus studied at the Wuhan Institute of Virology taken from an abandoned copper mine in Yunnan province was the closest known relative to Sars-CoV-2, the Economist reports in a piece which also considers the case for a zoonotic origin to Covid.

· A Spanish court has lifted a coronavirus curfew imposed on most of Catalonia, including the capital Barcelona, leaving it in place in just a fraction of the northeastern region. The high court of justice of Catalonia said the measure was “not justified” because infection rates had improved.

· Joe Biden said he and his wife, Jill, would receive a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to boost their immunity, as his administration announced booster shots would be offered to Americans in September. He also announced that nursing home staff would need to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as a condition for those facilities to continue receiving federal Medicare and Medicaid funding.

· Hospitalisations of people under the age of 50 with Covid-19 are now at the highest levels seen in the US since the start of the pandemic, the latest government data shows. The largest increases in hospitalisations was among those in their 30s and the under-18s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

· The hoarding of Covid jabs by rich countries which are also rolling out booster shots “makes a mockery of vaccine equity” pledges, the Africa director for the World Health Organization said. But she noted that cases across Africa are levelling off and more vaccine doses are finally arriving on the continent

· The French scientist who promoted the discredited hydroxychloroquine treatment for Covid-19 backed by Donald Trump faces being pushed out of the infectious diseases institute he founded amid concerns from key members over its role in feeding conspiracy theories and an investigation by regulators into its clinical studies.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/aug/20/coronavirus-live-news-israel-to-start-booster-shots-for-over-40s-3000-fake-vaccination-cards-seized-in-alaska