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More than 176 million people have tested positive for the virus worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 3.8 million infected people have died. More than 2.3 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide.
A shipment of AstraZeneca vaccine arrives in El Salvador as part of the Covax vaccination program. Photo taken in March 2021. Vaccines are still scarce in poorer countries.
Two days after the Copa América kicked off, the South American continental tournament already has dozens of corona cases. Fifty-two football players and staff have tested positive, sports newspaper Lance reported Tuesday (6/15), citing Brazil’s Health Ministry. In the Venezuelan delegation alone, about a dozen players and staff had recently been infected. The Copa América had begun on Sunday. The South American continental tournament had been moved to Brazil only from a few weeks after Argentina had jumped off as host because of the second Corona wave. Conmebol, the South American soccer federation, then came under criticism because Brazil is also still a corona hotspot: more than 17.5 million people there have been proven to be infected with the corona virus, and more than 490,000 people have died so far in connection with Covid-19.
In response to a significant uptick in infection numbers, South Africa is again tightening its restrictions. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an upgrade to alert level three in a televised address to the nation Tuesday night (6/15). It includes restrictions on gatherings, alcohol sales and nighttime curfews.
More than 600,000 people have died in the U.S. since the pandemic began. This was revealed on Tuesday (15. 6.) from data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in the American city of Baltimore. No other country in the world has recorded so many deaths related to the pathogen Sars-CoV-2. The U.S. is home to approximately 330 million residents. In absolute terms, the United States is also the country worst affected by the pandemic in terms of confirmed infections – now close to 33.5 million.
Israel is lifting the mask requirement, with a few exceptions, because of the continuing low number of people newly infected with Corona. From Tuesday (15. 6.), for example, only unvaccinated visitors and employees in hospitals and care facilities will have to wear masks. The background to this is the increased risk of patients and senior citizens becoming ill. People on their way to their quarantine, as well as passengers and staff on airplanes, must also continue to wear masks. This was announced by the Ministry of Health on Monday evening (6/14). Israel had already largely lifted government restrictions as of June 1 because of a sharp decline in new Corona infections and severe illnesses. Since then, there was no longer a mask requirement outdoors.
Full vaccination with two doses of the vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer and AstraZeneca prevents hospitalization to a high degree for infection with the delta variant, which first appeared in India. According to an analysis by Public Health England on Monday (6/14), efficacy is 96 percent for the Biontech/Pfizer vaccine and 92 percent for the AstraZeneca and Oxford University vaccine. The results are comparable to the protective efficacy regarding the alpha variant, which first circulated in the United Kingdom.
Because of the rapid spread of the delta variant, people in the U.K. will have to wait longer for more Corona lozenges. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday (June 14) extended the Corona measures still in place until July 19, he told a news conference in London. The vaccination program is now to be accelerated once again.
The global weekly covid case count has fallen for seven weeks in a row – the longest decline since the pandemic began. However, that trend masks a worrying increase in cases of the disease and deaths in many individual countries, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned Monday (6/14) in Geneva. The increase in Africa is particularly alarming because that region has the least vaccine doses, tests and oxygen available to patients worldwide, Tedros said.
— source: nzz.ch and news agencies/picture: pixabay.com
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