New Delhi: The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate countries across the world — the latest count being over 10.7 crore cases and more than 23 lakh deaths.
In Toronto, residents at the Heritage Nursing Home were ready to get vaccinated, although hesitancy among the staff was widespread. Testing for coronavirus has ‘collapsed’ in Myanmar since the military coup has prompted a disobedience movement led by doctors. And, health experts are calling on the Malaysian government to review its strategy as daily infections continue to increase.
ThePrint brings you the most important global stories on the coronavirus pandemic and why they matter.
Covid testing in Myanmar ‘collapses’ post military coup
Testing for coronavirus has ‘collapsed’ in Myanmar since the military coup has prompted a disobedience movement led by doctors, reports Reuters.
The number of tests conducted Monday stood at 1,987. This is a sharp fall in comparison to more than 9,000 tests being conducted a week earlier and at least 17,000 tests days before the coup.
“Health workers have been at the forefront of a civil disobedience campaign against the coup, stopping work to demand the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi,” said the report.
Myanmar has recorded 1,41,427 cases of Covid-19 and 3,177 deaths.
Why Canada’s healthcare workers passed up getting vaccinated initially
In Toronto, residents at the Heritage Nursing Home were ready to get vaccinated, although hesitancy among the staff was widespread. Only 15 health workers out of over 200 decided to get vaccinated, reports The Globe and Mail.
In December, a poll conducted by unions and workplace safety associations had suggested that almost half of the long-term care staff in Canada weren’t sure of whether they would get vaccinated.
Samir Sinha, a geriatrician at Sinai Health Systems in Toronto, said, “They (healthcare workers) feel like they’re being treated as guinea pigs. And they’re being encouraged to get the vaccine by the same government that promised them an iron ring of protection, and really left them for dead.”
Canada has recorded 8,08,120 cases of Covid-19 and 20,835 deaths.
Also read: China’s Covid vaccine drive is falling behind US, Europe
Covid deaths of Yanomami children raise concerns for Brazil’s indigenous group
Ten Yanomami children have died from Covid-19 in January. This has fuelled fears over the ‘disproportionate’ way in which coronavirus is affecting indigenous communities in Brazil, reports The Guardian.
The Yanomami is a group of over 35,000 indigenous people who live across 200 villages in the Amazon rainforest, near the border of Venezuela and Brazil.
“Public health specialists have warned that the coronavirus could wreak havoc on indigenous groups in the region where infectious diseases such as measles, smallpox and flu viruses have decimated such communities,” said the report.
Brazil has recorded 95,50,301 cases of Covid-19 and 2,32,248 deaths.
Malaysia’s emergency fails to contain third Covid wave
Amid battling a third wave of Covid-19, Malaysia had declared a state of emergency last month. However, health experts now are calling on the Malaysian government to review its strategy as daily infections continue to increase, reports Asia Times.
Even when the state of emergency was announced, critics and opposition parties resisted it and cited it as an attempt to “cling to power after government’s razor thin parliamentary majority was eroded by defections”.
“The Covid-19 resurgence has continued unabated with new cases climbing sharply since authorities tightened restrictions under a movement control order (MCO) covering all states in the country,” said the report.
Malaysia has recorded 2,45,552 cases of Covid-19 and 896 deaths.
Muslims find comfort in getting vaccinated in mosques in UK
Hundreds of people were vaccinated in a pop-up clinic at East London Mosque in UK on Sunday. Vaccination centres in the UK have not just come up in pharmacies, but also in cinema halls, football grounds, Hindu temples, mosques etc, reports Al Jazeera.
In the upcoming week, Birmingham’s Al-Abbas Islamic Centre is expected to vaccinate upto 500 people.
Nuru Mohammed, imam of the mosque, said that these centres were set up to help people who weren’t ‘well-informed’ about the vaccination drive. This was “amid fears and false information that have been circulating among the Muslim community.”
UK has recorded 39,59,784 cases of Covid-19 and 1,12,798 deaths.
What else we are reading:
China, Russia steal a vaccine diplomacy march: Asia Times
Ireland to crack down on ‘Dublin dodge’ used to evade UK travel ban: The Guardian
Also read: Osama bin Laden to robot conspiracy – what Pakistan has to overcome to give Covid vaccines