New Delhi: The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate countries across the world — the latest count being over 7.8 crore cases and more than 17 lakh deaths.
Health workers in South Africa are crumbling under the second wave of Covid in the country. More than 700 migrant workers test positive in Thailand, which threatens their already precarious position in the country, and relatives of coronavirus victims in Italy are filing lawsuits against top political leaders for ‘criminal negligence’.
ThePrint brings you the most important global stories on the coronavirus pandemic and why they matter.
Health workers in South Africa’s Western Cape region exhausted
South Africa is witnessing high rates of infection during the second wave of Covid-19 in the country and healthcare workers in the Western Cape region, which includes the capital city of Cape Town, are exhausted by the burden, reports Sowetan Live.
The region’s Head of Health Dr Keith Cloete, was quoted as saying that the province had been experiencing a ‘distinct’ second wave, which was much higher than the first wave.
“We see figures way above what we saw in June,” Cloete said.
“Hospitalisations and deaths have continued to sharply increase since the middle of November. Hospitalisation now has exceeded the peak of the first wave and deaths are increasing rapidly,” he added.
Colette also revealed that almost each geographic area in Cape Town had exceeded the number of cases it recorded during the first peak.
South Africa has recorded 9,40,212 cases of Covid-19 and 25,246 deaths.
Also read: Donald Trump refuses to sign Covid relief bill, seeks $2,000 stimulus for US citizens
Japan’s history with vaccines creates hurdles in fight against Covid
Japan has a ‘tense’ public history when it comes to vaccines and this has led to increased fears on how the country can return to normalcy, reports The Japan Times.
A study has revealed that Japan has one of the lowest rates of vaccine confidence in the world. This lack of confidence emerges from past vaccine-linked events and legal rulings that encouraged the government to take a passive stance on vaccination.
“The government now faces a tricky balancing act: trying to move quickly to approve the jabs in order to restore the economy to full health, while avoiding creating the impression of a rush-job,” says the report.
Japan has recorded 2,00,658 cases of Covid-19 and 2,944 deaths.
Saudi health officials say Covid vaccines show no ‘unexpected’ side effects
Saudi Arabia’s health ministry said that all those who have been administered with the Covid-19 vaccine were ‘healthy and well’ and had not experienced any ‘unexpected’ side effects, reports Arab News.
The country started administering the Pfizer Covid vaccine on 17 December.
The ministry has also affirmed that the mutated strain of Covid-19, which was found in the UK, had not been detected in Saudi Arabia so far.
In the report, Dr. Abdullah Assiri, infectious diseases consultant and assistant deputy minister for preventive health, said that thousands of mutations of Covid-19 had been recorded but they didn’t show any significant effect on the ‘ferocity’ of the virus spread.
Saudi Arabia has recorded 3,61,359 cases of Covid-19 and 6,139 deaths.
Also read: Vaccine can be reset to combat new Covid strain in just 6 weeks, BioNTech says
Relatives of Covid victims in Italy to file lawsuits against leading politicians
Relatives of coronavirus victims in Italy are taking legal action against the prime minister, health minister and the president of the Lombardy region for the alleged ‘criminal negligence’ of their handling of the pandemic, reports The Guardian.
A group of over 500 families is planning to take legal action against politicians, claiming that they have contributed to almost 70,000 deaths in Italy.
“A crucial element of the legal action will be the alleged absence of an updated national pandemic plan and failure by regional authorities to implement a local plan that was supposed to have been developed from the national one,” notes the report.
Italy has recorded 19,77,370 cases of Covid-19 and 69,842 deaths.
‘Virus detectives’ working 24×7 to break Covid clusters in Sydney
Thousands of virus detectives, lab technicians and health workers are working round the clock to break the chain of coronavirus clusters that stand to threaten Christmas in Sydney, reports Sydney Morning Herald.
There are over 100 venues that have been listed as potential exposure sites and thousands of people have been asked to self-isolate.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said, “There are hundreds of thousands of staff across the state working 24-7…with the bad weather in the last few days we’ve seen a lot of people in the rain testing people under very difficult circumstances.”
Australia has recorded 28,237 cases of Covid-19 and 908 deaths.
What else we are reading:
France agrees to reopen UK border to lorry drivers with negative Covid test: The Guardian
China on high alert as London seen as ‘new Wuhan’: Asia Times
Also read: Latest Taiwan case ends world’s longest Covid-free streak of more than 8 months