A man receives the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in New York on July 30, 2021. (MARK LENNIHAN / AP)
GABORONE / HAVANA / LONDON / QUITO / ONTARIO / PARIS / MOGADISHU / ADDIS ABABA / WASHINGTON / UNITED NATIONS / TRIPOLI / LJUBLJANA / SANTIAGO / RABAT / ROME / BRASILIA / CAIRO / MEXICO CITY / BERLIN / VATICAN CITY / MOSCOW – The global number of new COVID-19 cases has been increasing for the last two months, as cases of the Delta variant have been reported in 148 countries and regions, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a weekly overview report issued Wednesday.
With over 4.4 million new cases reported in the past week, the trend is largely attributed to increases in the Western Pacific region and the region of the Americas, which reported a rise of 14 percent and 8 percent respectively as compared to the previous week.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 cases reported globally is now over 206 million and the cumulative deaths are almost 4.4 million.
According to the WHO report, the regions with the highest weekly incidence rates of cases per 100,000 population remain the same as last week – the region of the Americas and the European region, with 147.4 and 121.6 new cases per 100,000 population, respectively.
Meanwhile, the highest numbers of new COVID-related deaths in the past week were reported by Indonesia, Brazil and Russia, the WHO noted.
Tunisia
Tunisia will relax its nightly curfew and cafes and restaurants will be allowed to remain open until 10 pm as part of an easing of anti-COVID restrictions, the Tunisian presidency said on Wednesday.
This comes amid a decline in the number of coronavirus infections, and a clear increase in vaccination rates.
The presidency has adjusted the curfew hours to a narrower stretch from midnight to 5 am, instead of 10 pm to 5 am.
Tunisia recorded near 2,900 new coronavirus cases and 30 deaths on Tuesday.
Moderna
Moderna Inc co-founder Noubar Afeyan envisions a time when COVID-19 shots could become routine.
“Public health officials are going to have to decide if everybody should get a booster shot,” he said in an interview on “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations” that’s airing on Bloomberg TV on Wednesday.
“My guess is that given enough time, we may well end up in a situation where we have, let’s say at a minimum, yearly vaccinations, just like the flu,” said Afeyan, who also serves as chairman.
A pedestrian wears a face mask as she walks past an information sign of COVID-19 testing in Chicago, Aug 13, 2021.
(NAM Y. HUH / AP)
US
The United States reported more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, equating to around 42 fatalities an hour, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University (JHU), as the Delta variant continues to ravage parts of the country with low vaccination rates.
Data compiled by JHU on Tuesday showed 1,004 deaths, taking the death toll from the pandemic to more than 623,000 people, the highest number of deaths officially reported by any country in the world.
The last time the US recorded more than 1,000 deaths on a daily basis was in March
The last time the US recorded more than 1,000 deaths on a daily basis was in March.
President Joe Biden's administration confirmed late on Tuesday it plans to extend requirements for travelers to wear masks on airplanes, trains and buses and at airports and train stations through Jan 18 to address ongoing COVID-19 risks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cited the Delta variant's transmissibility in a statement explaining the mask mandate.
Five US states set new records for the average number of daily new COVID-19 cases over the weekend as infections caused by the Delta variant overwhelm hospital systems across the country and prompt many states to reinstate public health restrictions, CNBC reported Monday.
Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii, Oregon and Mississippi all reached new peaks in their seven-day average of new cases per day as of Sunday, according to the national broadcaster's analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
US hospitals continue to flood with new patients as COVID-related hospitalizations have increased by about 70 percent in the past two weeks.
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)
Meanwhile, the US National Park Service said it is requiring masks for crowded outdoor spaces and buildings “regardless of vaccination status or community transmission levels.”
Other US states have also issued mask mandates.
Los Angeles will require universal masking at outdoor mega events regardless of vaccination status, while New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered the use of face masks in all public indoor settings regardless of vaccination status. Chicago will reinstate its indoor mask mandate starting Aug 20.
The number of people getting a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine has risen to almost half a million a day, a level last seen at the end of May when the US vaccination campaign was still in full swing in much of the country.
In another development, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a statement from his office.
The Republican leader of the second-largest US state is isolating in the governor’s mansion in Austin and receiving monoclonal antibody treatment, according to the statement. Abbott already was fully vaccinated and so far has been asymptomatic.
Global tally
The global tally of coronavirus cases has surpassed 208.65 million while the global death toll topped 4.38 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
ALSO READ: Vaccine hesitancy rises among Mexico's youth as Delta spreads
Africa
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa reached 7,314,632 as of Tuesday afternoon, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.
The death toll from the pandemic stood at 184,565, the Africa CDC added.
Botswana
Botswana needs to budget an extra 1.13 billion pula (US$100 million) to help secure COVID-19 vaccines and equipment as the southern African country battles a third wave of infections, Finance Minister Peggy Serame told parliament on Tuesday.
The extra money is almost triple the sum originally allocated in February to fight the coronavirus, but 70 percent of this money had already been depleted by July, Serame told lawmakers.
"A sum of 1.13 billion pula is requested as additional funding under the Ministry of Health and Wellness," Serame said ahead of a debate in parliament to be held over the next couple of days to approve or reject the additional funding.
"The amount is required for the procurement of medical supplies, mainly vaccines and associated medical items such as syringes, needles and surgical masks," she said during a presentation on the 2021/22 supplementary budget.
Botswana’s COVID-19 death toll passed the 2,000 mark on Monday, up from 630 deaths in early April. So far only 161,000 out of its 2.3 million population have been fully vaccinated, according to the latest health ministry data.
Cuba
Cuba has turned to the military to provide oxygen amid a surge of the coronavirus even as doctors rush to administer locally developed vaccines to the population.
The government announced on Sunday that the Caribbean island’s main oxygen plant had broken down in the midst of a Delta variant-driven coronavirus surge that has resulted in record numbers of cases and deaths, swamping some provincial health systems.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel toured a military unit producing and transporting sparse oxygen to COVID-19 patients, state-run media reported on Tuesday.
Diaz-Canel was seen on television inspecting three mobile military plants, including a recently donated Russian one, that produce oxygen and talking to military helicopter pilots ferrying the product to hospitals in various western and central provinces, presumably in the nick of time to save patients gasping for air.
Cuba recorded 9,764 new COVID-19 infections spread through community transmission, the highest number in the last 15 days, along with eight imported cases, bringing the cumulative caseload to 536,609 cases.
The Ministry of Public Health added that there were 68 deaths reported in the same period, taking the death toll to 4,156.
"Three pregnant women and a 9-year-old child died (from COVID-19)," the ministry's national director of hygiene and epidemiology, Francisco Duran, said during his daily report.
Cuba has fully vaccinated more than 3.2 million residents with another 2 million expected to get a final shot before September and more than 95 percent of the entire country before the end of the year.
Volkan Bozkir, president of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, chairs the first plenary meeting of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on Sept 15, 2020. (EVAN SCHNEIDER / UN PHOTO / HANDOUT VIA XINHUA)
UN
The United States is urging world leaders to send videos instead of traveling to New York next month for an annual high-level gathering at the United Nations, saying it would help prevent it "from being a super-spreader event" amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The meeting of world leaders for the 76th UN General Assembly, starting Sept 21, is shaping up to be a hybrid event of in-person speeches and video statements as global vaccination rates vary and the spread of COVID-19 variants sparks concern.
"We need your help to prevent UNGA 76 High-Level Week from being a super-spreader event," the US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, wrote in an Aug 13 letter to her counterparts in the 193-member world body.
"Heads of delegation should consider delivering their statements to the U.N. General Assembly's General Debate by video. If delegations choose to travel to New York … we request delegations bring the minimum number of travelers necessary," she said.
The US is also calling for all UN-hosted meetings and any side events to be fully virtual. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is planning high-level events during the weeklong gathering on climate change, energy transition and food systems, diplomats said.
"Parallel meetings and high-level events drawing travelers to New York needlessly increases risk to our community, New Yorkers, and other travelers," Thomas-Greenfield said.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN was discussing this year's event with the US and that "things will become a little clearer as the days and weeks proceed”.
Ecuador
Ecuador will administer a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine to people with weak immune systems and will carry out tests to determine if the rest of the inoculated population also needs a booster, Health Minister Ximena Garzon said on Tuesday.
The government of President Guillermo Lasso is using Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac shots as part of a broad vaccination plan that it hopes will spur an economy that has been struggling for years and was hit hard by the pandemic.
"At an international level, it has already been shown that people who have some type of immunodeficiency will need a third dose," Garzon told reporters.
"We will apply it, three months after the second dose, to people who meet certain parameters of immune disorders."
Official data shows that as of Sunday, Ecuador has vaccinated 4.8 million people with two doses and almost 10 million with one dose.
The health ministry on Tuesday began to use the single-dose vaccine developed by the China's CanSino Biologics Inc in hard-to-reach areas and in prisons.
Canada
The Canadian province of Ontario will begin offering third COVID-19 vaccine doses to vulnerable people as early as this week, its chief medical officer said on Tuesday.
Eligible populations will include transplant patients, along with residents in high-risk settings, including long-term care homes and indigenous elder care lodges.
Meanwhile, Canada's most populous province is pausing its planned full reopening until further notice, the Ontario government said. The move would have removed capacity limits on business and social settings.
The government is also mandating hospitals, long-term and community care service providers to require all employees, staff, contractors, students and volunteers to provide proof of full vaccination, a medical reason why they are not, or completion of a COVID-19 vaccine educational seminar.
Similar policies are expected in the coming weeks for post-secondary institutions, women’s shelters and other high-risk environments, the government said.
The government also said the education ministry intends to introduce a vaccination disclosure policy for all publicly funded school board employees, staff in private schools and childcare centers in the province, with rapid testing requirements for staff who are not vaccinated.
In the Canadian province of Quebec, Health Minister Christian Dubé told reporters on Tuesday that health care workers will need to be fully vaccinated by Oct 1.
France
France registered 111 deaths from COVID-19 in hospitals on Tuesday, the first time since June 1 that the daily toll was more than 100, health ministry data showed.
The new figures took the cumulative death toll from COVID-19 since the start of the epidemic to 112,844.
The seven-day moving average of deaths increased to 72, from 66 on Monday and fewer than 20 per day at the end of July.
France also reported that there were 1,953 people in intensive care units with COVID-19.
Somalia
UNICEF, the UN children's fund, said Tuesday it has secured US$20 million to combat COVID-19 and strengthen emergency services in Somalia.
UNICEF’s Somalia Representative Mohamed Ayoya said the new funding would enable UNICEF and its partners to reach more than one million people with COVID-19 prevention messaging; 484,000 people with health services; 83,000 children with treatment for severe acute malnutrition; and 300,000 people with emergency and sustained water, hygiene, and sanitation services.
According to the UN, the humanitarian crisis in Somalia has escalated due to recurring climate shocks, protracted conflict, the impact of COVID-19 and other deadly diseases, and the worst desert locust infestation in years.
The risk of a large outbreak of COVID-19 in conflict-stricken areas, where access to the population is challenging and social service provision is limited, persists and could add immeasurably to the suffering of the most vulnerable people in Somalia, the UN said.
According to UNICEF, the United States Agency for International Development provided the new funding.
Greece
Greece prolonged virus restrictions in the Heraklion and Chania areas of Crete, the country’s largest island, until Aug 25.
The curbs include a curfew lasting from 1 am to 6 am and a ban on music at entertainment venues.
The measures were also introduced in the Rethymno district.
Greece on Tuesday reported 4,205 new COVID-19 cases, the highest daily increase since April 6 and the third-biggest one-day jump since the start of the pandemic.
Authorities are worried by the situation on the island of Crete, which is a popular vacation destination for foreigners and Greeks alike. The Heraklion area of the country’s largest island saw the third-biggest increase in new cases nationwide after Thessaloniki and central Athens.
ALSO READ: Singapore prepares for long term life – and death – with virus
Libya
Libya's Ministry of Health said on Tuesday it has received 240,000 doses of the AstraZeneza COVID-19 vaccine from Malta and Greece.
The ministry said that 40,000 doses were provided by Malta while 200,000 other doses were from Greece.
The shots will be used as the second doses for those who have received their first dose, the ministry said.
Libya’s COVID-19 casesload stood at 286,894, including 208,551 recoveries and 3,956 deaths, the Libyan National Center for Disease Control said.
A total of 882,844 people have been vaccinated so far, the center said.
Also on Tuesday, Libya announced plans to reopen its border crossing and resume flights with neighboring Tunisia.
People queue to receive a dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a mobile vaccination center set up in a bus parked outside Premier League club Newcastle United's St James's Park soccer stadium in Newcastle, northeast England, on Aug 15, 2021. (LINDSEY PARNABY / AFP)
UK
The UK has reported another 170 coronavirus-related deaths, the highest daily toll since March 12, according to official figures released Tuesday.
The toll, which only includes the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test, now stands at 131,149
Meanwhile, the UK also saw 26,852 new cases, bringing the tally to 6,322,241.
Data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) showed that a total of 10,187 deaths were registered in the week ending Aug 6, of which 527, about 5.2 percent, were linked to COVID-19.
The number of COVID-19 related deaths was up 30 percent week-on-week and reached the highest level since the week ending March 26, according to the ONS.
READ MORE: UK authorizes Moderna virus vaccine for use in adolescents
Slovenia
The Slovenian National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) on Tuesday reported 318 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, the highest daily increase since June.
The seven-day average of new cases rose by 13 to 198, and the number of active cases in the country went up by 139 to 2,314, according to NIJZ.
The more infectious Delta variant was present in 99 percent of the samples submitted for sequencing between Aug 1 and Aug 8, according to the National Laboratory for Health, Environment and Food.
A total of 956,845 people, or 45 percent of the population in Slovenia, have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 853,889, or 40 percent, have been fully immunized.
Chile
Chile reported on Tuesday 405 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the lowest daily figure since April 2020, bringing the tally to 1,630,330, Health Minister Enrique Paris said.
In the same period, there were also 18 newly reported deaths, taking the toll to 36,438.
More than 83 percent of the target population of 15.2 million people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Morocco
Morocco reported on Tuesday 9,041 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally of infections in the North African country to 772,394.
The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 increased by 8,589 to 681,705 while the death toll rose by 123 to 11,242.
There were 2,347 people in intensive care units.
A total of 16,740,875 people have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 11,980,258 of whom have received two shots.
Italy
Italy reported 54 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday against 24 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections increased to 5,273 from 3,674 .
Italy has registered 128,510 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth-highest in the world. The country has reported 4.45 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 3,472 on Tuesday, up from 3,334 a day earlier.
There were 49 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 32 on Monday. The total number of intensive care patients rose to 423 from a previous 404.
Brazil
Brazil reported 37,613 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, as well as another 1,106 deaths, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
In total, the South American country has registered 20,416,183 cases while the official death toll has risen to 570,598, according to ministry data.
Gritstone
Gritstone bio Inc said on Tuesday it had entered into a funding agreement of up to US$20.6 million with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to advance its vaccine program against COVID-19 variants.
Gritstone’s vaccine is based on self-amplifying mRNA technology, which uses the body’s own machinery to make antigenic protein rather than injecting the antigen into the body.
Under the agreement, CEPI, which co-leads the COVAX vaccine sharing facility, will fund an early stage study evaluating the program’s vaccine in convalescent, and HIV positive patients.
The trial is expected to start before the end of 2021, Gritstone said.
CEPI and Gritstone have agreed the vaccine candidate will be made available to the COVAX facility.
Egypt
The UK donated 299,700 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to Egypt, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
The shots were shipped via the global COVAX initiative, with the support of UNICEF and WHO, and arrived in Cairo on Monday, according to a statement.
The shipment was part of a first tranche of the 100 million vaccines that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged at a G7 summit that the UK would share with other countries in need by June 2022.
The government said in June it aims to vaccinate 40 percent of Egypt's 100 million population by the end of this year.
Egypt is working to increase the vaccination rate to reach 800,000 people per day "during the coming period", the cabinet said in on Monday.
Mexico
Mexico registered 14,814 new COVID-19 infections and 877 more deaths, health ministry data showed on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 3,123,252 and the death toll to 249,529.
Germany
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 8,324 to 3,835,375, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday.
The reported death toll rose by 22 to 91,921, the tally showed.
Vatican
Pope Francis issued an appeal on Wednesday urging people to get inoculated against COVID-19, saying the vaccines could bring an end to the pandemic, but needed to be taken by everyone.
"Thanks to God's grace and to the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from COVID-19," the pope said in a video message made on behalf of the nonprofit US group the Ad Council and the public health coalition COVID Collaborative.
"They grant us the hope of ending the pandemic, but only if they are available to all and if we work together."
Pope Francis was himself vaccinated in March, saying at the time that it was an ethical obligation.
"Vaccination is a simple but profound way of promoting the common good and caring for each other, especially the most vulnerable. I pray to God that everyone may contribute their own small grain of sand, their own small gesture of love," the pope said in his latest video message.
In a statement, the Ad Council said the Pope's message represented its first campaign designed for a global audience.
Russia
Russia reported 20,914 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, including 1,590 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 6,663,473.
The government coronavirus task force said 799 people had died of coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours, pushing the national death toll to 172,909.
Moderna
With governments around the world debating whether to authorize COVID-19 vaccine booster doses, Moderna Inc co-founder Noubar Afeyan envisions a time when the shot could become routine.
“Public health officials are going to have to decide if everybody should get a booster shot,” he said in an interview on The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations that’s airing on Bloomberg TV on Wednesday.
“My guess is that given enough time, we may well end up in a situation where we have, let’s say at a minimum, yearly vaccinations, just like the flu,” said Afeyan, who also serves as chairman.
Afeyan said the company is hoping in the next couple of months for full US approval for its COVID-19 vaccine, which is currently authorized for emergency use. The company is testing a half-dose booster that “seems to be extremely effective,” he said.
