New Delhi: The Covid-19 pandemic continues to worry the world, with the total number of cases having reached over 20.8 crore, and more than 43.7 lakh deaths reported so far. As yet the virus has spread to more than 200 countries and territories.
While China has reported a low number of locally transmitted cases, Sydney, in Australia, is experiencing a rise in the number of infections and deaths. Meanwhile, French citizens are protesting against the government for making the health pass mandatory to promote vaccination.
China’s local transmission crisis eases
For four straight days, China has seen fewer daily local infections as compared to imported cases, South China Morning Post reported.
The National Health Commission in China Monday reported 51 new cases of Covid, including 13 locally transmitted cases and 38 imported ones. The country is following a strict quarantining and mass testing strategy to contain the outbreak of the highly infectious delta variant and is applying a zero-tolerance approach. Five officials from the Yucheng county of Shangqiu city in Henan were removed from office for not implementing containment measures strictly.
China has reported 94,430 Covid cases and 4,636 deaths so far.
Also read: India records 32,937 new Covid cases, 417 deaths in 24 hours
Australia’s New South Wales in ‘worst ever situation’
The state premier of New South Wales, Australia, Gladys Berejiklian has said the current coronavirus situation in New South Wales is ‘the worst’ since the beginning of the pandemic, BBC reported.
Locally transmitted Covid infections hit 466 Saturday, increasing from the previous daily rise of 390 just a day earlier.
“This is literally a war, and we’ve known we’ve been in a war for some time, but never to this extent,” Berejiklian told reporters, adding that September and October would be very difficult.
The capital Sydney, which has been under lockdown for nine weeks, will follow stricter restrictions from now on, such as people being restricted to 5km of their home for shopping, exercise etc.
Australia has registered 39,615 Covid cases and 966 deaths so far.
Also read: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in smartphone data usage. Here is how much
Fifth consecutive weekend of protests in France over Covid pass
Citizens took to the streets in France for the fifth consecutive Saturday to oppose the country’s health pass requirement for everyday activity, The Guardian reported.
To get the ‘pass sanitaire’, individuals must be fully vaccinated, have a recent negative Covid test report, or have contracted coronavirus in the past. French citizens believe the government is infringing on their civil and personal liberties, as the pass is obligatory for entry to restaurants, bars, cinemas, theatres, and most public buildings.
The French government believes that the pass will coerce the population to get vaccinated and avoid a return to harsher restrictions including lockdowns and curfews.
France has reported 6,471,035 cases and 112,656 deaths due to Covid.
Also read: Moderna’s mRNA vaccine safe & effective in teens, US clinical trial findings show
Child hospitalisation cases increasing in US
Covid hospitalisation among children in the US has been reaching a new high, in states such as Florida, Texas, and Georgia due to the highly contagious delta variant, LA Times reported. California, however, is an exception to this.
California is currently reporting 18 new hospitalisations a day among children and teens, which is more than the number from two months ago, but better than the winter level of 29 children being hospitalised per day. However, Covid-19 deaths among children remain relatively low. Out of 64,000 overall deaths from coronavirus in California, 30 were among children.
In the US, about 263 children are being hospitalised every day due to Covid-19, a 20 per cent increase from the winter peak.
US has recorded 37,466,718 Covid cases and 637,561 deaths so far.
Also read: India, UK school to conduct study on Ashwagandha to investigate efficacy on Covid patients
What else are we reading:
Canada to require vaccination for air, rail and sea travelers, as well as federal employees: The Globe And Mail
The world is making billions of Covid vaccine doses, so why is Africa not getting them?: The Guardian