India wants social media posts on 'Indian variant' removed – latest updates

Saturday, May 22: 

New Delhi tells social media firms to take down 'Indian variant' posts

India's government has ordered social media platforms to take down content that refers to the "Indian variant" of the coronavirus.

The B.1.617 variant was first detected in India last year and has been blamed for much of a devastating Covid-19 wave that has battered South Asian nations in recent weeks.

It has spread to Britain and at least 43 other countries, where "Indian variant" has become a widely used term.

The government order, sent Friday by the electronics and information technology ministry, highlighted government sensitivity to accusations that it has mishandled the new surge.

In it, the ministry told social media companies to "remove all the content" that refers to the "Indian variant".

Russia reports 8,709 new cases, 386 deaths

Russia has reported 8,709 new Covid-19 cases, including 2,653 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 4,992,554.

The government coronavirus task force said 386 people had died of coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours, pushing the national death toll to 118,125. 

3M in Pakistan lacking IDs may miss out on Covid-19 jabs

A prove-your-identity condition may leave 3 million people in Pakistan without coronavirus vaccines, including mainly unregistered refugees, jeopardising the country's fight against the pandemic.

Currently, only Pakistani nationals or immigrants who have either computerised national identification cards (CNIC) or official refugee status can receive the jabs.

The country of over 207 million people has so far vaccinated nearly 3 million people, a ratio well below that of neighboring India.

Over 1.5 million unregistered refugees living in Pakistan, particularly from neighboring Afghanistan, will miss out on the vaccination for not having identity documents.

Besides, thousands of CNIC have been blocked in recent years by the country's registration authority, the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra), for different reasons.

There are around 2.8 million documented and undocumented Afghan refugees in Pakistan, making it the world's second-largest refugee population after Syrians in Turkey.

Malaysia reports 6,320 new cases, 50 deaths

Malaysia has reported 6,320 new coronavirus cases amid a recent surge in infections, bringing the total to 505,115.

Health authorities also reported 50 new deaths.

The Southeast Asian nation reported a record high of 6,806 new cases on Thursday, when it also saw its highest daily toll of 59 deaths.

Vietnam in talks to produce Sputnik V vaccine

A research centre under Vietnam's health ministry is in talks with Russia to produce the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in the country, local media reported.

The Russian partner would initially transfer semi-finished products along with instructions to the Ministry of Health's Polyvac Center to produce around 50 million doses a year, the online newspaper VnExpress reported, without identifying the partner.

An official at Polyvac confirmed to Reuters that the talks were underway, but declined to give further details.

In a later stage, Polyvac would produce the vaccine from scratch, the report said, citing an unnamed Polyvac source.

The report said Vietnam was also in talks to buy the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine from Russia for domestic use before any domestic production of the shot.

Labradors join Thailand's fight against pandemic

Thailand has started deploying a canine virus-detecting squad in hopes of quickly identifying people with the virus as the country faces a surge in cases, with clusters at construction sites, crowded slum communities and large markets.

Angel, Bobby and Bravo are among six Labradors that have been trained by researchers at the Faculty of Veterinary Science at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University to sniff out a unique odour that people with the virus produce in their sweat, the researchers say.

Sri Lanka halts trains, buses to curb virus

Sri Lanka halts public transport for four days as authorities imposed a fresh travel ban across the country, in its latest efforts to curb the escalating number of virus infections and deaths.

The ban is effective from Friday night until Tuesday morning. However, it will not apply to those engaged in essential services such as the health, food and power sectors, and those seeking medical treatment.

India reports daily rise in cases

India has reported 257,299 new infections over the last 24 hours, while deaths rose by 4,194.

Total infections in the country stood at 26.3 million while the country's total death toll was at 295,525, according to data from the health ministry.

Germany's confirmed virus cases rise by 7,082 - RKI

The number of confirmed cases in Germany has increased by 7,082 to 3,642,244, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed. 

The reported death toll rose by 170 to 87,298, the tally showed. 

China reports 10 new mainland virus cases vs 24 a day earlier

China has reported 10 new virus cases for May 21, down from 24 cases a day earlier, the country's national health authority said.

The National Health Commission said in a statement that nine of the new cases were imported infections. 

The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, dropped to 23 from 25 a day earlier.

Total confirmed virus cases in Mainland China now stand at 90,954, while the death toll is unchanged at 4,636.

Millions of AstraZeneca doses head to Mexico under Latin America plan

Mexico will receive some 4 million AstraZeneca vaccine shots by the end of next week, a senior Mexican official said, shipments that could help Latin America fight the virus more quickly.

An air cargo of around 1.3 million doses that arrived in Mexico from the United States on Thursday night was the first of the shipments, the official said.

However, the vaccines originated in Argentina, which produced the active ingredient, the official and another government source said. That material was flown to the United States for bottling before reaching Mexico, they said.

Latin America and Caribbean surpass million Covid-19 deaths

More than one million people have died of Covid-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean since the pandemic began, according to an AFP count based on official figures.

The region has also recorded more than 31.5 million infections.

More than 90 percent of deaths have been registered in five countries that account for 70 percent of the region's population: Brazil (446,309 dead), Mexico (221,080), Colombia (83,233), Argentina (73,391) and Peru (67,253).

"The lives of a million people have been cut short because of Covid-19. This is a tragic milestone for all of the region's inhabitants," said Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization.

Brazil working to contain Indian variant in northern state

Brazil's health minister said the government is doing everything possible to prevent the spread of the concerning coronavirus variant first identified in India in the northern state of Maranhao, which has detected the country's first cases.

One crew member of a cargo ship, anchored at the port of Sao Luis after a trip from South Africa, was airlifted to a hospital in the city with severe Covid-19 caused by the variant, according to Maranhao state health officials.

"This case was detected promptly, all sanitary measures were taken and we hope that there is no spread of this Indian variant here in Brazil," Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga told journalists.

"Patients and their contacts have been isolated."

Biden says US will vaccinate South Korean soldiers

President Joe Biden said that he and South Korean South Korean President Moon Jae-in had agreed on a comprehensive partnership on Covid-19 vaccines and that the United States would provide vaccinations for 550,000 South Korean soldiers.

Speaking during a news conference at the White House, Moon said the vaccine partnership would contribute to boosting supplies in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.

Mexico's death toll rises to 221,256

Mexico has reported 2,604 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 176 more fatalities, bringing the total to 2,392,744 infections and 221,256 deaths, according to health ministry data.

The government has said the real number of cases is likely significantly higher, and separate data published recently suggested the actual death toll is at least 60 percent above the confirmed figure.