New Delhi: More than a year since the global Covid-19 outbreak, the number of cases continues to rise across countries, with the total number of infections touching 23,03,36,970 infections and 47,23,086 deaths. Countries are focusing on boosting vaccination efforts to offset surges in infections or to prevent future waves of the virus.
A new report has found that about 20 per cent of Nigeria’s workers lost jobs due to the pandemic by the last quarter of 2020, while Australia’s Melbourne has tightened security to contain protests against lockdown rules.
ThePrint brings you more details about some of the latest important global stories on the pandemic.
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Melbourne tightens security to contain lockdown protests
Police in Australia’s Melbourne spread out across the city Wednesday to contain a third day of protests against Covid-19 lockdown curbs, as the state of Victoria recorded another rise in infections, reports Reuters.
Police made over 60 arrests Tuesday, after more than 2,000 protesters turned violent and clashed with the police.
Earlier, authorities had closed construction sites for two weeks to limit the spread of the virus. Authorities had also decided to make vaccines mandatory for construction workers.
Australia has reported 90,391 cases and 1,186 deaths.
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Welsh ambulance crew struggles amid new wave of Covid
Morale among ambulance crew in Wales is at its lowest as the country struggles to fight against a new wave of Covid-19, reports BCC.
Welsh Ambulance Services Trust said it has been under “significant and sustained pressure” in recent months as cases have risen.
This comes after the Welsh Ambulance Service formally asked for military help.
The service received more calls in June than in any month since the pandemic began.
Paul Amphlett, a medical technician, told the BBC that Welsh ambulance crews are spending whole shifts waiting to off-load patients, and morale was at “rock-bottom”.
The UK has recorded 74,96,543 cases and 1,35,455 deaths.
Also read: Survey shows two-thirds of people around the world want to work from home after Covid-19
Around 20% Nigerian workers lost jobs during pandemic
A report published Tuesday by the United Nations Development Programme and Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) highlighted the devastating effect the Covid pandemic has had on the nation’s unemployment rate, reports Al Jazeera.
The joint report surveyed nearly 3,000 businesses in the formal and informal sectors in Nigeria.
It found 43 per cent of businesses across formal and informal sectors of Nigeria’s economy experienced a decline in the workforce by the fourth quarter of 2020.
The report also found that around 20 per cent of workers in the surveyed enterprises lost their jobs during this period.
In the second quarter, Nigeria’s unemployment rate hit a staggering 27 per cent which increased to 33 per cent by the fourth quarter of 2020.
Nigeria has registered 2,02,704 cases and 2,664 deaths.
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Israel may run out of life-saving machines for serious patients
Israel is on the brink of running out of life-saving machines, known as Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which replace the function of the heart and lungs and are used in the most serious cases of Covid-19, reports Haaretz.
Thirty-nine Covid patients in Israel are currently connected to ECMO machines, 29 of whom are between 40-60 years of age. Thirty-three are unvaccinated and four are fully vaccinated.
When the country was battling a third wave of infections earlier this year, Dr Yigal Kassif, head of ECMO services at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer and the head of Israel’s ECMO society, said there was “no ECMO bed available anywhere” in Israel. He said that a similar situation is emerging now.
A total of 52 ECMO machines are being used in Israel, and the country has only 82 such machines, with one-third of them serving as backup for the ones in use.
Israel registered 12,42,262 cases and 7,567 deaths.
What else are we reading:
The Extremely Weird Politics of Covid: New York Times
COVID-infected reality TV crew member charged after sparking Byron lockdown: The Age
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