Iran reports 684 new Covid-19 deaths – latest updates

Sunday, August 22, 2021

Iran reports 684 new Covid-19 deaths

Iran has reported its highest single-day Covid-19 death toll of the pandemic, according to state media.

The official IRNA news agency said that 684 people had died of the disease since Saturday, while more than 36,400 new cases were confirmed over the same 24-hour period.

Iran’s previous daily record for Covid-19 deaths was recorded Aug. 16. The country reported its highest number of daily cases the next day, with more than 50,000.

A five-day lockdown in the country ended on Saturday.

The current wave of infections is Iran’s fifth of the pandemic and fueled by the highly contagious delta variant. The country also is struggling to vaccinate its population against the coronavirus. Some 7 percent of Iranians have been fully vaccinated.

Israel finds vaccine booster significantly lowers infection risk

A third dose of Pfizer 's Covid-19 vaccine has significantly improved protection from infection and serious illness among people aged 60 and older in Israel compared with those who received two shots, findings published by the Health Ministry showed.

The data were presented at a meeting of a ministry panel of vaccination experts on Thursday and uploaded to its website on Sunday, though the full details of the study were not released.

The findings were on par with separate statistics reported last week by Israel's Maccabi healthcare provider, one of several organisations administering booster shots to try to curb the Delta coronavirus variant.

Turkey administers over 88.68M jabs so far

Turkey has reported 18,622 new infections and 206 coronavirus-related deaths. 

Turkey has administered over 88.68 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines since launching a mass immunisation campaign in January, according to official figures on Sunday.

According to the Health Ministry, over 45.9 million people have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while more than 35 million are now fully vaccinated.

Turkey has also given third booster shots to over 7.6 million people.

Britain reports 32,253 new cases, 49 deaths

Britain has reported 32,253 new cases of Covid-19, government data showed, and a further 49 people were recorded as having died within 28 days of a positive test.

The data compared with 32,058 new cases reported on Saturday and 104 deaths.

Vietnam reports deadliest day since pandemic start

Vietnam has reported 11,214 coronavirus infections with most of the cases detected in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong province.

The country reported 737 additional fatalities over the past two days, raising its coronavirus death toll to 8,277, Vietnam's ministry of health said.

Russia reports 762 more deaths

Russia has reported 20,564 new coronavirus cases, 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.

Germany reports 7,050 new cases

Germany has recorded 7,050 new Covid-19 cases, pushing the case total to 3,868,197, and 3 more deaths, bringing the death toll to 91,976, Robert Koch Institute reports.

Tokyo reports nearly 4,400 cases

Tokyo has reported 4,392 new cases of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, public broadcaster NHK said.

Brazil reports 28,388 new cases, 698 deaths

Brazil has recorded 28,388 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, along with 698 deaths from Covid-19, the Health Ministry said.

Brazil has registered more than 20 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 574,209, according to ministry data.

New Zealand reports 21 local cases

New Zealand has recorded 21 new cases of Covid-19, bringing infections associated with the current community outbreak to 72, health officials said.

Of the 21 new cases, 20 are in Auckland, the largest city, and one is in the capital Wellington.

The Pacific nation of 5.1 million is under a strict lockdown until midnight on Tuesday as the outbreak has widened beyond the two key cities.

Mexico reports 20,307 new cases, 847 more deaths

Mexico's health ministry has reported 20,307 new cases of Covid-19 and 847 more deaths, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country since the pandemic began to 3,217,415 and the death toll to 252,927.

Australia's Victoria reports 65 local cases

Australia's second most populous state Victoria reported 65 new locally acquired coronavirus cases in the 24-hour period to Saturday evening, health officials said.

Victoria Premier Dan Andrews extended on Saturday a Melbourne city lockdown to the entire state as cases spread to the regions.

Netherlands protest over music festival restrictions

Hundreds of performers and festival organisers have staged demonstration marches in six Dutch cities to protest what they argue are unfair restrictions that have forced the cancellation of summer festivals and other events.

The government has banned large-scale events such as festivals until at least September 19 amid fears over the spread of the highly infectious delta variant of the coronavirus.

One-day events with a maximum of 750 visitors are allowed for people with a Covid-19 app showing they have been vaccinated, have recently tested negative or have recovered within the past six months.

Organisers of Saturday's "Unmute Us" protest point to overseas events and the return of crowds to soccer stadiums as evidence that people can congregate in large numbers without infection numbers surging.

"All festivals and events must be allowed to resume at full capacity from September 1," organisers said in a statement. "The government no longer has any valid arguments to refuse."