Global death toll exceeds 4m
Coronavirus-related deaths worldwide passed a grim milestone of 4 million on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, as many countries struggle to procure enough vaccines to inoculate their populations.
While the number of new cases and deaths have abated in countries like the United States and Britain, several nations have vaccine shortages as the Delta variant becomes the dominant strain around the world.
It took over a year for the Covid-19 death toll to hit 2 million, while the next 2 million were recorded in just 166 days, according to a Reuters analysis.
The top five countries by total number of deaths – the United States, Brazil, India, Russia and Mexico – represent about 50% of all deaths in the world, while Peru, Hungary, Bosnia, the Czech Republic and Gibraltar have the highest death rates when adjusted for population.
Countries in Latin America are facing their worst outbreak since March, with 43 of every 100 infections in the world being reported in the region, according to a Reuters analysis. The top nine countries reporting the most deaths per capita over the last week were all in Latin America.
In Moscow, new coronavirus infections hit a pandemic high yesterday, tripling in just weeks due to the Delta variant and forcing Russia's capital to close its Euro fan zone and extend other curbs.
A total of 9,056 new cases were recorded in the megapolis of 12 million in the past 24 hours, with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin saying that the highly infectious Delta variant first identified in India represented almost 90 percent of new cases.
Meanwhile, Israel is to provide around one million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to the Palestinian Authority in a swap as their expiry date looms, the Israeli PM's office said yesterday.
Spain will lift the legal requirement to wear a mask outdoors from June 26, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said yesterday.
"This will be the last weekend when we wear masks outdoors because next June 26 we won't have to wear masks in outdoor public spaces," he said.
South Africa is deploying army medical personnel to its commercial hub and most populous province to help health workers battle a surge in coronavirus, the government said yesterday.
Meanwhile, UN members debated this week hosting September's General Assembly in person with smaller-than-normal delegations because of the pandemic, an option amenable to host country the US.
Due to the global health crisis the 2020 gathering was held virtually, with leaders submitting pre-recorded videos instead of visiting New York.
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