People receive boxes of KN95 face mask during a back to school event offering school supplies, COVID-19 vaccinations, face masks, and other resources for children and their families at the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA in Los Angeles, California, on Aug 7, 2021.
(PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP)
LONDON / RABAT / LOME / MOSCOW – US average daily fatalities ticked over 1,000 on Saturday, apparently for the first time since March, at the tail of last winter’s surge, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.
Deaths are a lagging indicator, growing weeks after a surge in COVID-19 cases. While fatalities are accelerating as the US is battered by the Delta variant, they remain a fraction of the peak last winter. Average daily fatalities rose to more than 3,400 in January, the data show. Now 60 percent of those eligible in the US are fully vaccinated.
France
France will begin a campaign to increase vaccination rates of students 12 years old and above from the start of the new school year in September, French education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper.
Health officials will either go to schools to vaccinate the students or provide transportation to take them to medical centers, the paper reported. Vaccinating younger students is not on the agenda, Blanquer said.
The decision follows a surge of infections across the country.
Russia
Russia reported 20,564 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, including 1,661 in Moscow and 1,481 in St Petersburg, which took the national tally to 6,747,087.
The Russian coronavirus task force said 762 more deaths of coronavirus patients had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 176,044.
Rosstat, the government statistics agency, keeps a separate count from the pandemic task force and says it has recorded about 315,000 deaths related to COVID-19 between last April and June this year.
Russia has reported about 463,000 excess deaths from April 2020 to June this year, according to Reuters calculations based on the latest Rosstat data. Some epidemiologists say excess deaths are the best way to measure the real death toll from COVID-19.
In this file photo dated April 12, 2021, customers drink outside the Gregorian Pub in London as COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were further eased.
(TONY HICKS/AP)
UK
The United Kingdom will begin offering COVID-19 antibody testing to the general public in the coming week for the first time, British media reported on Sunday.
The government's new program is intended to produce data on antibody protections for people following infection by different coronavirus variants, according to details of the programme published by multiple media outlets, including Sky News and BBC.
The government's new program is intended to produce data on antibody protections for people following infection by different coronavirus variants
From Tuesday, anyone aged 18 or over in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, will be able to opt in to the programme when receiving a PCR test, Sky News reported.
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Participants, on testing positive for COVID-19, will be sent two finger-prick tests to complete at home to inform the UK Health Security Agency of the antibody response to different coronavirus variants, BBC reported.
The first of these tests should be taken as soon as possible after the patient receives their positive result, and the second should be taken 28 days later.
Up to 8,000 people will be enrolled in the programme, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which is running it, Sky News said. UKHSA, working alongside NHS Test and Trace, will use the results to monitor antibody levels in positive cases.
Morocco
Morocco registered 6,513 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking its nationwide tally to 806,288 on Saturday.
The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 in Morocco increased to 716,904 after 9,761 new ones were added, the health ministry said in a statement.
The death toll rose by 90 to 11,677, while 2,458 people are in intensive care units, it added.
Meanwhile, a total of 17,261,839 people have received their first vaccine shots against COVID-19 in the country, with 12,874,716 having received two doses.
ALSO READ: WHO: Global new virus cases kept rising in last two months
The North African country launched a nationwide vaccination campaign on Jan. 28 after the arrival of the first shipment of China's Sinopharm vaccine.
Togo
Togo has received the second batch of Sinovac vaccines donated by China, as part of the cooperation between the two countries to fight against the upsurge of COVID-19 cases.
Chinese Ambassador to Togo Chao Weidong and the Togolese Minister of Health Moustafa Mijiyawa received the vaccines at the Gnassingbe Eyadema International Airport on Friday evening.
"In recent months, despite the huge demand for vaccines, we have mobilized all resources, and managed to ship to Togo two batches of the vaccine in less than four months," said Chao, noting that the donation is an illustration of China's solidarity with Togo in the face of the continued spread of the novel coronavirus.
"With this vaccine donation, we would like to support the efforts of the Togolese government to accelerate the vaccination campaign and build a Great Wall of immunity against the epidemic," said the Chinese ambassador.
Mijiyawa thanked China for the donation. Recalling that the last batch of vaccines donated by China had been deployed for the vaccination of students of two public universities in Togo, he noted that Togo would make good use of these vaccines.
READ MORE: EU says import of J&J vaccines from S. Africa temporary
Togo received on April 23 the first batch of Sinovac vaccines donated by China. So far, the West African country has reported 19,128 confirmed cases with a death toll of 172 since it recorded its first COVID-19 positive case on March 6, 2020.
