Effect of Delta Variant: Moscow posts record deaths
Moscow yesterday recorded the worst daily coronavirus death toll so far for a Russian city, as countries across the Asia-Pacific region extended or reimposed restrictions to tackle fresh waves of infections.
The pandemic has now killed close to four million people across the world but vaccination drives have brought down infection numbers in many wealthy countries, though the Delta strain of the virus remains a concern.
The variant is now in 85 countries and is the most contagious of any Covid-19 strain identified, according to the World Health Organization.
Still, in much of Europe and the United States curbs on daily life are easing as vaccination programmes bear fruit, although Russia is grappling with a deadly third wave.
The Russian capital yesterday recorded 144 Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, a day after Saint Petersburg set the previous highest figure.
Saint Petersburg has hosted six Euro 2020 matches and is due to host a quarter-final on Friday, with spectator numbers capped at half but still upwards of 26,000 people.
Russia as a whole has seen an explosion of new infections since mid-June driven by the Delta variant.
The dramatic rise in cases comes as officials in Moscow are pushing vaccine-sceptical Russians to get inoculated after lifting most anti-virus restrictions late last year.
"To stop the pandemic, one thing is needed: rapid, large-scale vaccinations. Nobody has invented any other solution," Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin told state-run television on Saturday.
The Delta variant is also feeding fresh outbreaks in Southeast Asia and Australia where authorities have brought back or prolonged restrictions.
More than five million Sydney residents endured their first full day of a two-week lockdown yesterday to contain an outbreak of the strain.
Restaurants, bars and cafes were shuttered and stay-at-home orders were issued, leaving the city centre virtually deserted.
More than 110 Covid-19 cases have been reported in Sydney since a driver for an international flight crew tested positive in mid-June for the Delta variant.
The flare-up has been a shock for a place that had returned to relative normality after months with few local cases.
Australia's northern city of Darwin also entered a separate snap 48-hour lockdown yesterday after a handful of cases were linked to a coronavirus outbreak on a remote gold mine.
Similar spikes in infections have recently been seen across Southeast Asia.
Thailand will reimpose restrictions on restaurants, construction sites and gatherings in the capital Bangkok from today as it tries to contain a wave of infections.
The country's latest wave kicked off in April when a cluster was found in upscale Bangkok clubs.
Premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha has said he plans to fully reopen the country by October, but this would require hitting a target of vaccinating 50 million Thais in four months.
In neighbouring Malaysia, the prime minister announced that a nationwide lockdown in place for about a month already will continue, and he gave no date for the lifting of restrictions.
Meanwhile, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday urged people to overcome their hesitancy and get Covid-19 vaccinations as soon as possible.
After a fall in infections from May's daily peak of 400,000, India has redoubled its efforts to inoculate the country's 940 million adults amid supply constraints and fears of a third wave of pandemic.
"Get vaccinated," Modi said in his monthly radio address, urging the public to adhere to social distancing and wear masks. "That is a good safety shield. Think about that."
India must administer 10 million doses a day to achieve its aim of inoculating all adults by December, experts say. But the country has fully vaccinated fewer than 6% with two doses.
India's daily Covid-19 infections rose by 50,040, while the death toll rose by 1,258, including 511 deaths in the state of Maharashtra, health ministry data showed yesterday.
The country has scaled back its estimate of vaccine supplies to 1.35 billion doses between August and December from an earlier estimate of nearly 2 billion doses, according to an affidavit filed with the Supreme Court on Saturday.
The pandemic has killed at least 3,919,801 people since the virus first emerged in December 2019, according to an AFP compilation of official data at 1000 GMT yesterday. The United States is the worst-affected country with 603,891 deaths, followed by Brazil with 512,735, India with 395,751 Mexico 232,521 and Peru 191,584.
Comments