India reports lowest cases in 3 months; China crosses 1b shots

NEW DELHI: India reported 58,419 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours on Sunday, the lowest daily number in nearly three months, data from the health ministry showed.

The total number of cases of COVID-19 in India have risen to 29.9 million and so far 386,713 people have died. Deaths rose by 1,576 overnight.

Thisisthethirdconsecutivedayinlasttwomonths when the death toll is below the 2,000-mark.

It is also the 13th consecutive day when India has reported less than one lakh new coronavirus cases.

On June 15, India recorded 60,461 cases, lowest since March 29. On March 29, India recorded 56,211 cases of COVID-19.

UAE CASES: The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) announced that it conducted 266,926 additional COVID-19 tests and detetected 1,850 new coronavirus cases.

MOHAP also announced 5 deaths due to COVID-19 complications.

The Ministry also noted that an additional 1,826 individuals had fully recovered from COVID-19.

The Ministry also announced that 31,606 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were given in the past 24 hours.

The total number of doses provided up to Sunday stands at 14,460,522 with a rate of vaccine distribution of 146.21 doses per 100 people.

ONE-BILLIONTH SHOT: China on Sunday announced it had administered its one-billionth shot in the world’s biggest coronavirus inoculation drive as Brazil’s death toll from the pandemic passed 500,000.

The global death toll from COVID-19 is now more than 3.8 million and many nations are still batling outbreaks, but vaccine drives in some countries are allowing activities that were unthinkable a few months ago.

Authorities have set an ambitious target of fully vaccinating 40 percent of China’s nearly 1.4 billion people by the end of this month.

UPWARD TREND IN UK: Britain recorded 9,284 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday and six new deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test.

Although lower than recent days, the number of new cases reflects an upward trend in recent weeks driven by the spread of the more infectious Delta variant first detected in India.

Britain’s airlines and holiday companies are planning a “day of action” on Wednesday to ramp up pressure on the government to ease travel restrictions, with just weeks to go before the start of the peak summer season.

Travel companies, whose finances have been stretched to breaking point during the pandemic, are desperate to avoid another summer lost to COVID-19. But with Britain’s strict quarantine requirements still in place that now looks likely.

UNPAID LEAVE FOR UNVACCINATED: Russian workers who refuse COVID-19 vaccinations in areas where they are compulsory could be forced to take unpaid leave, the labour minister has warned as infections spike and inoculation drives slow.

Anton Kotyakov’s comments come as Moscow and other cities introduce an array of curbs, including for the Euro 2020 football tournament.

“If the health authorities in a region make vaccination mandatory for some categories of workers, an unvaccinated employee could be suspended,” Kotyakov said in comments posted on Sunday to a state-run channel on the Telegram messaging app.

Russian capital moscow has ordered mandatory vaccination for residents working in the service industry, saying some 60 per cent would have to be fully inoculated by Aug.15.

ANTI-BOLSONARO PROTESTS: Brazil on Saturday became the second country ater the United States to surpass 500,000 COVID-19 deaths as the South American giant grapples with a third wave of the pandemic.

Anti-government protesters took to the streets in more than a score of cities across Brazil as the nation’s confirmed death toll from COVID-19 soared past half a million - a tragedy many critics blame on President Jair Bolsonaro’s atempt to minimise the disease.

Thousands gathered in downtown Rio de Janeiro waving flags with slogans such as “Get out Bolsonaro. Government of hunger and unemployment.”

“500,000 lives lost due to the pandemic that affects our Brazil and the world,” Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga tweeted.

The Health Ministry reported 500,800 deaths, including 2,301 in the last 24 hours, a toll that many experts say underestimate the real toll from the health crisis.

MANILA VACCINE DEAL: The Philippine government has signed a supply agreement for 40 million doses of the COVID-19 Vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and Biontech SE, in its biggest coronavirus Vaccine deal to date.

Deliveries of the Vaccine will begin in late September, Carlito Galvez, head of the government’s COVID-19 Vaccine procurement, said on Sunday.

It “will significantly boost our national immunisation programme and will enable us to realise our goal of achieving herd immunity by year-end,” he said.

The Philippines has now ordered 113 million doses from five Vaccine manufacturers, including 26 million from China’s Sinovac , 10 million of Russia’s Sputnik V, 20 million doses from Moderna and 17 million doses from Astrazeneca.