New Delhi: The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate countries across the world — the latest count being over 9.8 crore cases and more than 21 lakh deaths.
After many failures by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s government to secure a vaccine against coronavirus, provincial governors are seeking their own ‘outlets’ so they don’t have to depend on the government. In Australia, Victoria’s education industry is in a “state of disbelief” after Premier Dan Andrews and federal Education Minister Alan Tudge revealed that a large number of international students may not be able to return to the country to study this year
ThePrint brings you the most important global stories on the coronavirus pandemic and why they matter.
International students in Victoria, Australia in ‘disbelief’ over new guidelines
Victoria’s education industry is in a “state of disbelief” after Premier Dan Andrews and federal Education Minister Alan Tudge revealed that a large number of international students may not be able to return to the country to study this year, reports The Age.
Phil Honeywood, CEO of the International Education Association of Australia, said, “Students are stranded overseas having invested tens of thousands of dollars in a world-class education and now face a two-year wait.”
According to government’s records, almost 57,000 people in Victoria are now studying offshore. This is more than a third of Victoria’s primary student visa holders.
Australia has recorded 28,753 cases of Covid-19 and 909 deaths.
Brazil governors securing vaccines on their own after failure of Bolsonaro’s govt
After many failures by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s government to secure a vaccine against coronavirus, provincial governors are seeking their own ‘outlets’ so they don’t have to depend on the government, reports Folha De S. Paulo.
“Behind the scenes, governors report that they have been trying to make purchases, but suppliers are charging very high prices or selling in very large quantities, making acquisitions unfeasible for now,” said the report.
Brazil has reported 86,99,814 cases of Covid-19 and 2,14,228 deaths.
Boris Johnson raises fear of lockdown into summer
On Thursday, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson raised fears that Covid-19 restrictions could be tightened and continue all the way into spring and summer, reports The Guardian.
After more than 1,290 deaths were recorded on Thursday, there are fears that the infection rate in the UK won’t be falling any time so.
“Downing Street is committed to reviewing the current England-wide lockdown in mid-February, by which point all people in the four top target groups for vaccinations should have been offered at least their first infection,” says the report.
UK recorded 35,43,646 cases of Covid-19 and 94,580 deaths.
Egypt reports lowest daily Covid cases in a month
The Egyptian Health Minister announced that the country had reported 752 new cases on Thursday. This is the country’s lowest daily record in a month, reports Arab News.
“Local authorities previously said the country was facing a second wave of the pandemic, and restrictions were subsequently implemented to curb the spread of the virus,” the report stated.
In the last 24 hours, 566 people were discharged from hospitals, which brought the total number of recoveries to 1,25,171.
Egypt has recorded 1,59,715 cases of Covid-19 and 8,801 deaths.
Singapore tightens Covid restrictions, prioritises vaccine roll out
Ahead of the upcoming Chinese New Year in February, Singapore is planning to increase Covid-19 restrictions, reports The Straits Times.
The number of Covid cases in the country has been increasing slowly post the year-end holiday season. Community cases are increasing and a local cluster has emerged for the first time in several months. Just in the past week, the number of new cases in the community have increased to 10 cases — the week earlier, the number of community cases reported were eight.
Education Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-heads a task force tackling Covid-19, said, “We are concerned that if we continue in the same sort of situation, (if) we don’t do something more, then this continued creep in the cases may end up in new clusters emerging, that may be beyond our control later.”
Singapore has recorded 59,235 cases of Covid-19 and 29 deaths.
What else we are reading:
South Africa paying more than double EU price for Oxford vaccine: The Guardian
Crews reach millions confined at home amid pandemic in Turkey: The Daily Sabah
Also read: India to begin Covid vaccine exports to Brazil, Morocco, Saudi Arabia & South Africa
Singapore plans to tightens; not tightened (already) as the headline seems to imply. The least you can do is report accurately; than click baiting