i_need_contribute
|
Country, |
Total |
New |
Total |
|
World |
232,579,082 |
+325,117 |
4,761,616 |
|
43,750,983 |
+24,343 |
706,317 |
|
|
33,678,243 |
+27,022 |
447,225 |
|
|
21,351,972 |
+8,668 |
594,484 |
|
|
7,664,230 |
+32,417 |
136,168 |
|
|
7,420,913 |
+22,498 |
203,900 |
|
|
7,039,500 |
+25,861 |
63,166 |
|
|
6,994,319 |
+4,706 |
116,463 |
|
|
5,533,520 |
+13,792 |
119,360 |
|
|
5,250,402 |
+562 |
114,862 |
|
|
4,951,675 |
+1,422 |
126,145 |
|
|
4,660,314 |
+3,099 |
130,697 |
|
|
4,208,013 |
+1,760 |
141,467 |
|
|
4,206,257 |
+5,267 |
93,979 |
|
|
3,628,812 |
+9,697 |
275,299 |
|
|
2,903,234 |
+643 |
75,572 |
|
|
2,896,943 |
+967 |
87,052 |
|
|
2,490,858 |
+20,755 |
37,405 |
|
|
2,392,397 |
+4,647 |
55,626 |
|
|
2,198,235 |
+13,104 |
25,437 |
|
|
2,173,034 |
+773 |
199,292 |
|
|
1,996,498 |
+1,597 |
18,150 |
|
|
1,993,767 |
+2,139 |
22,110 |
|
|
1,692,387 |
+2,674 |
17,453 |
|
|
1,689,364 |
+409 |
30,453 |
|
|
1,651,750 |
+765 |
37,440 |
|
|
1,602,379 |
+1,478 |
27,649 |
|
|
1,561,638 |
+12,353 |
16,268 |
|
|
1,551,351 |
+980 |
27,414 |
|
|
1,266,206 |
+2,733 |
7,675 |
|
|
1,238,668 |
+1,780 |
27,566 |
|
|
1,194,106 |
+6,333 |
36,341 |
|
|
1,066,945 |
+599 |
17,954 |
|
|
929,305 |
+734 |
14,167 |
|
|
911,066 |
+5,389 |
8,051 |
|
|
877,112 |
+2,192 |
11,035 |
|
|
854,167 |
+6,673 |
7,227 |
|
|
819,783 |
+987 |
10,680 |
|
|
791,392 |
+730 |
11,096 |
|
|
756,689 |
+10,011 |
18,584 |
|
|
735,890 |
+1,588 |
10,969 |
|
|
734,894 |
+298 |
2,090 |
|
|
645,969 |
+1,100 |
14,679 |
|
|
622,235 |
+500 |
8,286 |
|
|
606,492 |
+1,132 |
8,817 |
|
|
549,560 |
+956 |
13,375 |
|
|
546,926 |
+44 |
8,699 |
|
|
530,203 |
+1,974 |
4,092 |
|
|
513,609 |
+1,078 |
12,680 |
|
|
498,790 |
+195 |
18,698 |
|
|
492,861 |
+496 |
20,489 |
|
|
480,843 |
+1,029 |
6,457 |
|
|
466,178 |
+185 |
7,208 |
|
|
459,828 |
+24 |
16,143 |
|
|
458,154 |
+1,534 |
17,527 |
|
|
411,484 |
+37 |
2,446 |
|
|
408,488 |
+689 |
12,596 |
|
|
399,891 |
+837 |
8,595 |
|
|
396,746 |
+1,069 |
4,025 |
|
|
388,502 |
+78 |
6,052 |
|
|
384,677 |
+1,459 |
5,209 |
|
|
363,300 |
+1,260 |
4,412 |
|
|
357,149 |
+215 |
4,039 |
|
|
357,037 |
+353 |
2,642 |
|
|
341,714 |
+869 |
5,401 |
|
|
336,980 |
+989 |
4,606 |
|
|
325,606 |
+1,251 |
4,913 |
|
|
303,639 |
+26 |
4,095 |
|
|
301,625 |
+680 |
17,187 |
|
|
301,172 |
+2,770 |
2,450 |
|
|
294,775 |
+2,184 |
1,206 |
|
|
289,669 |
+444 |
4,537 |
|
|
289,025 |
+648 |
6,695 |
|
|
274,814 |
+69 |
1,389 |
|
|
258,545 |
+925 |
5,251 |
|
|
248,461 |
+69 |
5,102 |
|
|
236,298 |
+67 |
605 |
|
|
208,857 |
+28 |
3,646 |
|
|
204,456 |
+255 |
2,677 |
|
|
202,722 |
+148 |
5,777 |
|
|
189,887 |
+336 |
6,594 |
|
|
186,935 |
+381 |
850 |
|
|
178,258 |
+56 |
2,600 |
|
|
118,045 |
+78 |
553 |
|
|
15,416 |
+11 |
165 |
Retrieved from: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
Retrieved from: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
By Nathan Layne
A nurse receives one of the first vaccinations at Mt. Sinai Hospital from Pfizer-BioNTech during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., December 15, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is considering employing the National Guard and out-of-state medical workers to fill hospital staffing shortages with tens of thousands of workers possibly losing their jobs for not meeting a Monday deadline for mandated COVID-19 vaccination.
The plan, outlined in a statement from Hochul on Saturday, would allow her to declare a state of emergency to increase the supply of healthcare workers to include licensed professionals from other states and countries as well as retired nurses.
Hochul said the state was also looking at using National Guard officers with medical training to keep hospitals and other medical facilities adequately staffed. Some 16% of the state's 450,000 hospital staff, or roughly 72,000 workers, have not been fully vaccinated, the governor's office said.
The plan comes amid a broader battle between state and federal government leaders pushing for vaccine mandates to help counter the highly infectious Delta variant of the novel coronavirus and workers who are against inoculation requirements, some objecting on religious grounds.
Hochul attended the Sunday service at a large church in New York City to ask Christians to help promote vaccines.
"I need you to be my apostles. I need you to go out and talk about it and say, we owe this to each other," Hochul told congregants at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, according to an official transcript.
"Jesus taught us to love one another and how do you show that love but to care about each other enough to say, please get the vaccine because I love you and I want you to live."
Healthcare workers who are fired for refusing to get vaccinated will not be eligible for unemployment insurance unless they are able to provide a valid doctor-approved request for medical accommodation, Hochul's office said.
It was not immediately clear how pending legal cases concerning religious exemptions would apply to the state's plan to move ahead and terminate unvaccinated healthcare workers.
A federal judge in Albany temporarily ordered New York state officials to allow religious exemptions for the state-imposed vaccine mandate on healthcare workers, which was put in place by former Governor Andrew Cuomo and takes effect on Monday.
A requirement for New York City school teachers and staff to get vaccinated was temporarily blocked by a U.S. appeals court just days before it was to take effect. A hearing is set for Wednesday.
The highly transmissible Delta variant has driven a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the United States that peaked in early September and has since fallen, according to a Reuters tally. Deaths, a lagging indicator, continue to rise with the nation reporting about 2,000 lives lost on average a day for the past week, mostly in the unvaccinated.
While nationally cases are down about 25% from their autumn peak, rising new infections in New York have only recently leveled off, according to a Reuters tally.
In an attempt to better protect the most vulnerable, the CDC on Friday backed a booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech (PFE.N), COVID-19 vaccine for Americans aged 65 and older, adults with underlying medical conditions and adults in high-risk working and institutional settings.
On Sunday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky fleshed out who should be eligible for the booster shots based on their work in high-risk settings.
"That includes people in homeless shelters, people in group homes, people in prisons, but also importantly, our people who work...with vulnerable communities," Walensky said during a TV interview. "So our health care workers, our teachers, our grocery workers, our public transportation employees."
Walensky decided to include a broader range of people than was recommended on Thursday by a group of expert outside advisers to the agency. The CDC director is not obliged to follow the advice of the panel.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-york-may-tap-national-guard-replace-unvaccinated-healthcare-workers-2021-09-26/
By Renju Jose
A pedestrian wearing a protective face mask crosses tram lines in the city centre during a lockdown to curb the spread of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Sydney, Australia, September 24, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
Australian authorities announced plans on Monday to gradually reopen locked-down Sydney, unveiling a two-tiered system that will give citizens inoculated for COVID-19 more freedoms than their unvaccinated neighbours for several weeks.
Movement restrictions across New South Wales, the country's most populous state and home to Sydney, will be lifted gradually between Oct. 11 and Dec. 1 as vaccination rates push through 70%, 80% and 90%.
However, people who are not fully inoculated will not be allowed to join in renewed activities, like community sports, dining out and shopping, until the final date.
"It is very important to note that in unlike most cases in the world if you are not vaccinated you will have to wait at least four or five weeks ... in order to participate in things that the rest of us can participate in," state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said in a televised briefing.
"The message is if you want to be able to have a meal with friends and welcome people in your home, you have to get vaccinated."
Berejiklian did not detail how the block on activity by the unvaccinated would be enforced.
Sydney, along with Melbourne and Canberra, has been in lockdown for several weeks, with the three cities bearing the brunt of a third wave of COVID-19 infections that has taken national case numbers to almost 100,000 - 68% recorded since mid-June.
At 1,245 deaths, the national fatality rate, however, has slowed due to higher vaccination levels among the most vulnerable.
The Delta-fuelled outbreak has divided state and territory leaders, with some presiding over virus-free parts of the country indicating they will defy a federal government plan to reopen internal borders once the adult population reaches a 70-80% vaccination rate, expected toward the end of October.
In New South Wales, where around 60% of people aged 16 and over are fully inoculated, restaurants, pubs, retail stores, gyms and indoor recreation facilities will be allowed to reopen on Oct. 11 - days after the state is expected to reach 70% vaccination - with capacity limits.
Once 80% vaccination is achieved, expected a couple of weeks later, state-wide travel will be allowed. Limits on people attending funerals and weddings lifted, while retaining social distancing, and the number of vaccinated people allowed to gather in a home will double to 10.
From Dec. 1, there will be no limits on home gatherings and informal outdoor gatherings. Capacity limits will continue at indoor venues, but masks will no longer be required.Businesses will be allowed to impose their own rules requiring patrons be vaccinated after this date.
CASE NUMBERS DECLINING
In neighbouring Victoria, Premier Daniel Andrews refused to commit to a date that would ensure all citizens in his state, including the unvaccinated, would have significant freedoms before Christmas.
"I will say to people, just wait five weeks and you will have all the freedoms," he said. "No, that is not a guarantee at all here. We have not made that decision."
New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, home to Canberra, reported a total of just over 1,500 new COVID-19 cases on Monday - the vast bulk almost evenly split between Sydney and Melbourne.
The daily numbers have been tracking lower in recent weeks.
Victoria is expected to relax some curbs from Wednesday when the state's first-dose vaccination rate is forecast to tick over 80%, while New South Wales on Monday allowed construction sites to return to full capacity and outdoor swimming pools to reopen with social distancing rules.
Qantas Airways (QAN.AX), which has already stated its intention to require travellers to be fully vaccinated, said after Monday's announcement it would bring forward its reopening date for travel between Sydney and Melbourne to Nov. 5, from Dec. 1.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/sydney-set-unveil-freedom-roadmap-more-covid-19-curbs-eased-2021-09-27/
By Víctor Manuel Ramos
Health care workers were among the vaccine protesters gathered outside Staten Island University Hospital earlier this summer.Credit...Yana Paskova for The New York Times
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York is considering calling in the National Guard and recruiting medical professionals from other states to cover looming staff shortages at hospitals and other facilities as the likelihood grows that tens of thousands of health care workers will not meet the state’s deadlines for mandated vaccinations.
In a statement released on Saturday, the governor’s office said Ms. Hochul was laying plans for an executive order to declare a state of emergency that would “allow qualified health care professionals licensed in other states or countries, recent graduates, retired and formerly practicing health care professionals to practice in New York State.”
Other options, the statement said, included calling in medically trained National Guard members to deliver care and to work with the federal government to deploy Disaster Medical Assistance Teams, which are operated by the Department for Health and Human Services.
New York State is one of the first major testing grounds for stronger vaccination edicts rolling in across the country in the health care sector. California and Maine have also set deadlines for health care workers to be vaccinated. President Biden has said his administration will issue a national vaccination mandate expected to ultimately affect some 17 million health care workers at hospitals and other institutions that accept Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.
Hospital and nursing home employees in New York are required to receive a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by 11:59 p.m. on Monday night, while workers working in home care, hospices and other adult care facilities must do so by Oct. 7, according to state regulations and a mandate issued on Aug. 16 by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
State vaccination figures show that, as of Wednesday, 16 percent of the state’s roughly 450,000 hospital workers, or about 70,000, were not fully vaccinated. The data show that 15 percent of staff at skilled nursing facilities and 14 percent of workers at adult care facilities are also not fully vaccinated, representing another 25,000 or so workers.
Eileen Toback, executive director of the New York Professional Nurses Union, which represents 1,500 nurses in Manhattan and supported the vaccine mandate, said she appreciated that Ms. Hochul was trying to address possible staffing shortages. But Ms. Toback criticized the state for issuing the plan only 48 hours before thousands of health care workers could lose their jobs.
“That could be devastating, particularly when hospitals staff only the exact numbers they need,” Ms. Toback said. “There’s no fat on that bone.”
Ms. Toback said about 5 percent of her union’s members have not been vaccinated. “I believe a lot of unvaccinated employees, not just nurses, are banking on the fact that they are so necessary that they won’t be terminated, and they are holding out,” she said.
The governor’s office said workers terminated because they refuse to be vaccinated are not eligible for unemployment insurance unless they provide a doctor-approved request for a medical accommodation.
In announcing New York’s determination to enforce its deadline, Ms. Hochul said, “We are still in a battle against Covid to protect our loved ones, and we need to fight with every tool at our disposal.” She also commended the vast majority of state health care workers for getting vaccinated and urged “all remaining health care workers who are unvaccinated to do so now so they can continue providing care.”
The Greater New York Hospital Association, which represents about 140 health systems and 55 nursing homes, had not issued a response to the governor’s plan but has supported the deadline for health care workers’ vaccinations, signaling that staffing shortages can be managed.
Michael A.L. Balboni, executive director of the Greater New York Health Care Facilities Association that represents about 80 nursing homes in the metropolitan area, applauded the governor’s effort to get more health care workers vaccinated but expressed concern about staffing shortages.
“This is a paradox, in that in trying to protect the residents and staff you don’t have enough people to provide the services and you could put people in jeopardy,” Mr. Balboni said.
Ms. Toback said retirees and others could play a role in helping to alleviate shortages, as they did early in the pandemic. But she said replacement workers were no substitute for experienced nurses who have worked at the same hospital for “13 shifts a month, every month, for years.”
“Nurses have been through a great deal — they’re burned out — and although we appreciate the need for what we need to get through this pandemic, this is just hitting people when they’re down,” Ms. Toback said.
Northwell Health, which operates 19 hospitals in the state, said in a statement that it “wants to reassure the public that patient care will not be affected” by the mandate and that it was working on contingency plans to meet staffing needs.
Unvaccinated employees at Northwell Health have been notified that they could be terminated if they do not receive at least their first dose of the vaccine by the deadline, the statement said.
“We are optimistic that we will soon be able to provide a fully vaccinated staff to our patients and the communities we serve,” the statement said.
Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/25/world/americas/health-workers-ny-vaccine.html
An observation area for people who received a Covid-19 vaccine in Seoul in August.
Credit...Im Hun-Jung/Yonhap, via Associated Press
The Prime Minister of South Korea said on Sunday that the nation would soon start administering booster shots to medical workers and people in their 60s and older, as the country battled a new wave of infections after a national holiday.
South Korea has seen a spike in infections in recent days as millions of people returned home after Chuseok, a three-day holiday celebrating the fall harvest. On Sunday, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said the vaccination campaign would speed up. More than 85 percent of new cases in the past couple of weeks were people who had not been fully vaccinated, he said. Details of the new plan will be announced on Monday.
“We feel the sharp repercussions from the mass migration during the Chuseok holiday,” Mr. Kim said. “We had anticipated this to a degree, but we face a serious situation, given the scale and speed of the increase in new cases.”
South Korea warned earlier this month that its surge in cases tied to the Delta variant jeopardized plans to return to a more normal way of life in November. The nation has already started relaxing some restrictions, including allowing restaurants and bars to stay open until 10 p.m., as vaccinations have picked up. But more than 18 months into the pandemic, there is growing fatigue, and the government is unsure how strictly South Koreans are following the measures.
South Korea will also start to administer shots to teenagers and pregnant women, Mr. Kim said. Currently, anyone 18 or older is eligible to be vaccinated. Starting in October, the interval between the first and second shots will also be shortened, he said. So far, about 45 percent of the total population is fully vaccinated, and about 74 percent is partially inoculated, according to the government’s latest data.
South Korea reported a record 3,273 new cases on Saturday, after hovering near 2,000 cases before the holiday.
Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/26/world/south-korea-vaccine-boosters.html
A medical worker outside a specialized Covid hospital on the outskirts of Moscow in July.Credit...Tatyana Makeyeva/Reuters
MOSCOW — Russia reported its worst-ever single-day Covid-19 death toll on Friday as coronavirus cases rise in some areas and vaccine hesitancy remains widespread.
Russia’s daily death toll has remained essentially flat since July, in a narrow range from the 700s to just over 800. Many experts doubt the veracity of the daily numbers, in part because the death toll has been so relatively low and stable — and official figures of all kinds have been widely regarded with suspicion dating back to Soviet times. At least 300,000 more people died last year during the coronavirus pandemic than were reported in Russia’s most widely cited official statistics, according to a New York Times analysis of mortality data.
But a trend is clear. On Friday, the reported toll ticked up to its highest level yet, 828, after it tied the prior record, 820, on Thursday. And with last weekend’s parliamentary election over, officials appear to be warning more urgently about the continued spread of the virus.
Officials in the Moscow region said they had set up hundreds of new Covid hospital beds. In St. Petersburg, the government said that 348 people had been hospitalized with Covid in the last 24 hours — one of the highest such figures in Russia’s second-biggest city since early August, the Interfax news agency reported.
“The increase in illness is only beginning,” a Russian epidemiological official, Natalia Pshenichnaya, told Interfax, adding that the pandemic was developing across Russia “in a very dynamic way.”
Russia’s most recent high-profile outbreaks involve the inner circle of President Vladimir V. Putin, who has been in isolation himself after several members of his staff tested positive. Many Russians, however, have developed a laissez-faire attitude toward the virus, questioning the need to be vaccinated and often wearing masks around their chins, if at all.
Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine has been widely available since early this year, and eligibility for Covid vaccinations begins at age 18. But Russia’s health minister, Mikhail Murashko, said last week that only 47.5 million people have had at least one dose, a number that represents less than half of the eligible population.
Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/world/russia-covid-deaths-vaccine-hesitancy.html
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/I34C7BZW4ZJSNLOEHWJBCG4WZU.jpg)
WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told fellow leaders of the Quad partnership on Friday India will allow the export of 8 million COVID-19 vaccines by end of October in line with a deal reached by the grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States in March, India's foreign secretary said on Friday.
A plan reached by the Quad earlier this year to supply a billion COVID-19 shots across Asia by the end of 2022 stalled after India, the world's largest vaccine producer, banned exports in April amid a massive COVID outbreak at home.
U.S. President Joe Biden listens as India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during a 'Quad nations' meeting at the Leaders' Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework held in the East Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 24, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters Modi had told his fellow Quad leaders at a summit in Washington on Friday that India would make available 8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
"This would be made ready by the end of October," he said. "It will be compatible with our decision to export vaccines. The Quad will pay for the vaccine and India will bear a certain share of those. This will be an immediate delivery from the Quad in the Indo-Pacific."
Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/world/india-tells-quad-will-allow-export-8-mln-indo-pacific-vaccine-doses-2021-09-25/
· Violent clashes and mass brawls have broken out in Norway’s biggest cities after streets, bars, restaurants and nightclubs were filled with people celebrating the end of Covid restrictions.
· In the US, health authorities have said they are confident there will be enough vaccine shots for both qualified older Americans seeking booster jabs, as well as young children.
· The biggest state intervention in the UK’s labour market in peacetime comes to an end this week when the government finally winds up its furlough support. The wage subsidy that has been in place for 18 months and has cost £70bn will no longer be open to struggling firms.
· The Russian president Vladimir Putin has ended his short spell in self-isolation and has spent several days on holiday in Siberiawhere he was hiking and fishing, the Kremlin said on Sunday.
· In Scotland, the army could drive ambulances for longer than the two months originally planned, according to the Scottish secretary, Alister Jack.
· Also in Scotland, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has urged the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) to investigate plans for vaccine passports.
· Hollywood studios are planning a £250m-plus UK marketing blitz to promote the return of blockbusters to the big screen over the next 18 months, as the much-delayed premiere of James Bond: No Time to Die gives the industry the confidence to plot a post-pandemic boom in new releases.
Medicine
