Britain reports over 170 deaths, highest since mid March – latest updates

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Britain reports over 170 deaths, highest since mid March

Britain has recorded 174 deaths, the highest since March 12, and another 30,838 new cases, official data showed.

With 88 percent of the adult population receiving a first vaccine and 77 percent receiving both doses, Britain lifted nearly all its restrictions in mid-July, allowing people to socialise, travel and return to work in offices.

On Monday, there were 31,914 new infections reported and 40 deaths.

Turkey administers over 90M jabs so far

Turkey has administered more than 90 million doses of vaccines since launching a mass immunisation campaign in January, according to official figures.

Over 46.54 million people have received a first dose and more than 35.59 million are now fully vaccinated.

Turkey reported 19,191 new infections and 230 deaths. 

WHO gives Afghanistan update amid turmoil

A top UN health official in the Eastern Mediterranean region has expressed his fear that the recent conflict in Afghanistan would lead to a "sharp increase" in cases in the nation.

Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, Word Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, warned that both Delta and Alpha variants of the virus had been reported in Afghanistan and with only around 5 percent of the population vaccinated the mass movement of people could lead to an increase in cases.

Afghanistan has recorded 152,000 or more cases of Covid-19 and more than 7,000 deaths since August 23, 2020, according to Dr Luo Dapeng, WHO Representative in Afghanistan.

Italy reports over 6,000 new cases

Italy has reported 60 deaths, compared with 44 the day before, the Health Ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 6,076 from 4,168.

Italy has registered 128,855 deaths 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 4.49 million cases to date.

Nigeria approves Sinopharm vaccine, expects 7.7M doses

Nigeria has recently approved China's Sinopharm vaccine, the head of the country's primary healthcare agency said.

Nigeria has been allocated 7.7 million doses of the vaccine through the COVAX scheme aimed at providing vaccines to developing countries.

So far, some 2 million people, or 1 percent of the population, have received one dose of vaccine while fewer than 1 million have received two.

Pfizer, Moderna get EU nod for boosting mRNA vaccine output

Europe's medicines regulator has approved additional manufacturing sites for mRNA-based coronavirus vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to help boost production amid a resurgence in infections.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said its human medicines committee had approved a site at Saint Remy sur Avre in France for making the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Comirnaty.

The Delpharm-operated site will help provide up to 51 million additional doses of Comirnaty in 2021, the EMA said.

US donation of vaccines arrives in West Bank and Gaza

A US donation of 500,000 vaccine doses has arrived in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, as Palestinian officials work to boost uptake and counter a surge in new cases by requiring some workers to get the jab.

The Palestinians began administering vaccines in February, but despite having purchased or received what officials have called "an abundance of doses", uptake has stalled at just 35 percent of age-eligible Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and around 11 percent in Gaza.

With the US donation of 500,000 Moderna doses, facilitated through the global COVAX vaccine-sharing programme, the Palestinians say they have now received 2.5 million doses. The West Bank will take 300 ,000 of the donation and Gaza 200,000.

Switzerland hit by 'very worrying' fourth wave

Switzerland has been hit by a fourth wave with a "very worrying" rise in infections, the head of the government's crisis team at the Federal Office for Public Health said.

The number of new infections has hovered between 2,500 and 3,000 per day recently, close to the level of the third wave earlier this year, Patrick Mathys said.

The number of new infections rose by 2,993 on Tuesday, taking the total number to 761,978 since the pandemic began. The government also reported six more deaths, taking the death toll to 10,461.

US shipping 3M doses of Pfizer vaccine to Pakistan

The United States has said it will ship just over 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Pakistan via the COVAX global distribution program, bringing the total number of doses sent there to around 8.5 million, a White House official said.

An additional 700,000 doses will follow, the official said. It was not immediately clear when they would be shipped to Pakistan.

Iran's deaths hit record daily high of 709

Iran has reported a record daily 709 deaths as the worst-hit country in the Middle East faced a fifth surge in infections led by the highly contagious Delta variant.

The Health Ministry said the total number of cases had reached 4.75 million with 40,623 new infections over the past 24 hours. Total fatalities rose to 103,357, state TV reported.

New Zealand has highest jump in cases since April 2020

New Zealand recorded its highest increase in virus cases since April 2020, but authorities said the numbers were not rising exponentially and the majority of the cases were still in centred in Auckland where the recent outbreak started.

The South Pacific nation's virus-free run since February ended last week after an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus erupted in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, and quickly spread to the capital Wellington.

Authorities reported 41 newg cases, taking the total number of infections in the country to 148, the Director General of Health Chief Ashley Bloomfield said at a news conference. That is the most new cases since April 2020, according to a graphic on the Ministry of Health website.

Hawaii governor seeks to limit visits to the islands

Hawaii’s governor is urging residents and potential visitors to limit travel to the islands to essential business while the state struggles to control outbreaks of the delta variant of the virus.

Gov. David Ige wants to curtail travel to Hawaii through the end of October. In his words, “It is a risky time to be traveling right now.”

He says restaurant capacity has been restricted and there is limited access to rental cars.

Slight easing due for Australia state's lockdown

An Australian state leader is indicating that a slight easing of pandemic restrictions is coming for Sydney after achieving a vaccination milestone.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she will announce before the weekend a new freedom for fully vaccinated people now that 6 million vaccine doses have been administered across the state. 

She said that equates to 60 percent of the population having at least one dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca and 32 percent being fully vaccinated.

Australia’s most populous state is in lockdown because of the virus outbreak, as is Victoria, which is the country’s second most populous state.

Germany logs 5,747 cases

Germany reports 5,747 cases, bringing the total into 3,877,612 infections, as the death toll rises by  42 to reach 92,022 fatalities, reports Robert Koch Institute.

Vietnam says Cuba to supply vaccine, transfer technology

Cuba will supply large quantities of its home-grown vaccine, Abdala, to Vietnam and also transfer the production technology to the Southeast Asian country by the end of the year, the Vietnamese health ministry said.

After successfully containing the disease for much of the pandemic, Vietnam has been struggling to control its worst outbreak to date, with a spike in infections and deaths ramping up pressure on authorities to speed up vaccinations.

US energy firms launching employee Covid-19 vaccination mandates

US energy companies are moving to require that employees receive Covid-19 vaccinations as infection rates rise across the United States and health surveys show that energy workers remain among those most reluctant to get inoculations.

Calls to require vaccinations for employees working at close quarters in oilfield and refinery operations came as the US Food and Drug Administration fully approved the Pfizer-BioNTech shot.

The second-largest US oil producer, Chevron Corp, and refiner Valero Energy Corp will require jabs for certain field workers or new workers, while leading Permian producer Pioneer Natural Resources is requiring newly hired employees to be fully vaccinated before their first day of work, according to a job posting.

Mexico's coronavirus death toll rises to 253,526

Mexico's health ministry reported 6,543 new cases of Covid-19 and 371 more deaths, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country since the pandemic began to 3,231,616 and the death toll to 253,526. 

US administers 363.3 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines

The United States has administered 363,267,789 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the country and distributed 428,528,965 doses, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Those figures are up from the 362,657,771 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by Sunday out of 428,531,345 doses delivered.

The agency said 201,718,587 people had received at least one dose while 171,088,954 people were fully vaccinated.

Brazil sees 13,103 new coronavirus cases, 321 deaths

Brazil registered 13,103 new coronavirus cases and 321 additional Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, the country's Health Ministry said.

Pentagon to mandate Covid-19 vaccine

The Pentagon says it will order all active and reserve troops to be vaccinated for Covid-19 after the full approval of the Pfizer vaccine.
There are more than 1.3 million on active duty and close to 800,000 in the Guard and Reserve.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the steps to make the vaccine mandatory are an effort to ensure the safety of service members. 

France likely to offer Covid-19 booster shot in September

French senior citizens are likely to be offered a booster shot of Covid-19 vaccine starting in September, the health minister said.

Speaking to BFMTV news, Olivier Veran said the Health Ministry is awaiting a final nod from the High Authority for Health, a national body tasked with evaluating healthcare products, on the additional dose. 

He said the third dose is likely to be recommended for “people 65 and over" from the beginning of next month.

Canada's British Columbia bringing in Covid vaccine card

The Canadian Pacific coast province of British Columbia is bringing in a vaccine card for residents to get access to restaurants, clubs, sporting events and other activities.

Premier John Horgan says the card will give people the confidence to attend events and businesses knowing that others are protected around them.

New York City mandates Covid-19 vaccine for teachers

New York City will require public school teachers and staff to get vaccinated against Covid-19, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, part of a push to get more residents inoculated and slow the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

All 148,000 staff members in the largest US school district must get at least one dose of a vaccine by September 27 as part of the mandate, de Blasio said. 

Australia pandemic panel backs reopening plans amid Delta surge

Australia can proceed with its reopening plans when the country reaches 70-80 percent vaccination levels, the government's pandemic modelling adviser said, even as some states hinted they may not ease border curbs if Sydney fails to control its Delta outbreak.

The Melbourne-based Doherty Institute said the country's focus must shift to limiting the number of Covid-19 deaths and hospitalisations, from its current zero-cases strategy, when at least 70 percent of the country's population above age 16 is fully vaccinated.