Israel leads the world in vaccination drive
Israel says it has vaccinated one million people – more than a tenth of its population – against Covid-19, as it rolls out one of the world's earliest and most rapid inoculation campaigns.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein hailed the millionth vaccination on Friday in Umm al-Fahm, a predominantly Arab city in the country's north.
Israel has administered the first dose of vaccine to more than 10 percent of the population, according to Edelstein, less than two weeks after the launch of its inoculation campaign. The goal is to vaccinate 5.5 million people in the country of 9.3 million, Netanyahu said.
According to Oxford-based researchers, Israel is vaccinating its population at a speed unmatched anywhere else in the world. A graphic on the website Our World in Data comparing the number of people vaccinated in each country per 100 residents showed a clear lead for Israel at 11.55, accurate as of Friday – even if the country lags behind countries like the United States and China in absolute numbers.
Meanwhile, Bangkok's nightlife will go quiet as a ban on bars, nightclubs and restaurant alcohol sales went into effect yesterday, among a raft of restrictions aimed at curbing the kingdom's rising coronavirus toll.
Thailand initially appeared to have escaped the worst of the virus, registering just under 4,000 total cases in November, despite becoming the second country to detect an infection, early last year.
But an outbreak last month at a massive seafood market has spiralled into a resurgence, with infections now detected in 53 of the kingdom's 77 provinces. By yesterday, the caseload had jumped to over 7,300.
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