China recorded another 124 Covid-19 cases on Thursday, of which 80 of domestic transmission (new highs of 2021) and 44 imported. According to updates from the National Health Commission, Jiangsu is confirmed as the most affected province with 61 cases reported locally. Meanwhile, in Beijing, to reduce the spread of the virus and the risk of infection, local authorities have decided to cancel large-scale exhibitions and events scheduled for August. The Beijing International Film Festival 2021 and the World 5G Convention, both scheduled for this month, have been postponed, their organizers said.
USA, towards a stop to unvaccinated tourists
While Covid-19 infections in the world have risen above 200 million, and the United States is the country with the highest number (35 million), the Biden administration plans to require almost all visitors arriving from abroad to be vaccinated. The source who anticipated it did not provide the expected times. Washington maintained strict travel restrictions due to the Delta variant, which led to the sharp drop in international arrivals. However, the pressures from the airline industry and part of the population are strong. Current rules prohibit entry to non-US residents who have been to China, the Schengen area, the UK, Ireland, Brazil, South Africa and India in the previous 14 days. Anyone entering the United States, regardless of vaccination status, must now show a negative test result within three days of travel.
US, Amazon postpones the return of employees to the office to January
Due to the worsening of contagions for the Delta variant of the coronavirus, Amazon has decided to review its plans in the United States: contrary to what has emerged in recent days, the group founded by Jeff Bezos has decided to postpone the return to January 3, 2022 in the office of its employees. Initially the return was scheduled for 7 September. As the pandemic worsens due to the Delta variant, many high-tech giants are reconsidering their plan to return to normal in their US offices. Apple has decided to postpone the return to the office for at least a month, moving the deadline from September to October. Twitter closed its San Francisco and New York offices two weeks after reopening them after the long lockdown. Google has moved the reopening date, initially scheduled for September 1, to October 18.
Usa, Fauci: “If cases rise, a worse variant of the Delta will arrive”
American virologist Anthony Fauci warned that if the rise in Covid-19 cases in the US continues unabated in the fall and winter, the US will have to face a new variant of the coronavirus that could be worse than the Delta and, what’s more, resistant to vaccines. In an interview with Mcclatchydc.com, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases then reiterated the importance of stopping the virus rush through vaccination.
The US could “get in trouble” if a large portion of unvaccinated Americans do not decide to be inoculated in the fall, the scientist and White House consultant warned about the pandemic. The increase in cases we are witnessing, he explained, “is caused by the greater contagiousness of the Delta and by the fact that we have about 93 million people in this country who could get vaccinated and do not, a significant pool of people who are actually vulnerable. “. “A variant could emerge that puts the Delta aside,” said Fauci, “if this is always highly transmissible but even more serious then we could get in trouble.” The virologist then warned that it is not excluded that a new variant is resistant to the vaccines in use today and that the US is very likely to have “between 100,000 and 200,000 cases per day”.
Usa, CNN fires three employees who have not vaccinated themselves
US broadcaster CNN fired three of its employees for going to work without being vaccinated. The New York Times citing a communication from President Jeff Zucker to staff. In the document, Zucker recalls that the television channel has a “zero tolerance policy” in terms of vaccinations against Covid-19 and points out that employees who prove they have been vaccinated can soon physically return to work. “You have to be vaccinated to come to the office. And you must be vaccinated to work in the field, with other colleagues, whether you go to the editorial office or not, ”the CNN president underlined. Last May, the US federal government ruled that private companies can legally ask their employees to get vaccinated.
Brazil, 560,000 dead. But the curve drops
Brazil, with 20 million cases of covid-19, reached 560,000 deaths from the disease this Thursday, at a time when the epidemiological curve continues to slow due to the advance of vaccination in the country, one of the most affected in the world from the pandemic. According to the secretaries of the National Council of Health (Conass), the Latin American giant, with 212 million inhabitants, has recorded 1,099 deaths and 40,054 cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours. Thus, the total number of deaths reached 560,706, while that of infections reached 20,066,587. The average deaths in the past week dropped again this Thursday to 887 per day, the lowest level in nearly seven months and after peaking on April 12, when more than 3,000 deaths per day were recorded on average. The average number of infections in the last week, meanwhile, fell to 32,460 per day, the lowest level in eight months and far from the maximum reached on 23 June (77,328). The decline in cases and deaths in recent weeks coincides with the acceleration of the vaccination process in Brazil, where, after the initial delay, about 50% of the population has already been vaccinated with at least one dose of the immunizer. However, only 21% of Brazilians have already received the double dose.
Mexico, another record of people currently infected
The Ministry of Health of Mexico reported 21,569 new confirmed covid-19 infections, for a total of 2,922,663 cases, as well as 618 new deaths, reaching 243,165 deaths, in the middle of the third wave of the epidemic. The number of cases counted exceeded 21,366 on January 15 and was the second highest number of daily infections during the pandemic in Mexico, which on January 21 recorded its highest with 22,339 cases. Furthermore, for the second consecutive day, the record of active cases was reached, with 138,096, a figure that exceeded the 130,534 reported the previous day, the maximum in the emergency.
With these records, Mexico is the fourth country in the world with the highest number of deaths from covid-19, behind the United States, Brazil and India, and is back in fifteenth for the number of confirmed infections, according to the count of Johns Hopkins University. . For several weeks, Mexico has been in the middle of the third wave of covid-19, with several days experiencing more than 19,000 daily infections, figures not seen since the peak of the second wave last January. Furthermore, health authorities believe that, based on death certificates, the pandemic has actually left more than 350,000 deaths in the country and estimate that the country actually accumulates 3,123,084 cases of infections.
Ecuador
Ecuador added 859 new cases of covid-19, reaching 490,356 positives during the pandemic, the first patient of which was registered on February 29 last year. This was reported by the Ministry of Health. The report specifies that the death toll has reached 22,327, thirty more than the day before, to which were added 9,427 “probable deaths” with the disease, for a total of 31,754 deaths. On the situation in the provinces, the official report specifies that Pichincha, whose capital is Quito, accumulates the largest number of infections with 179,306 cases (468 more than on Wednesday). Ecuador launched a Covid-19 vaccination plan on January 21 and it is expected that nine million people, 60% of the population, will be immunized by the end of August.
Panama
The Ministry of Health of Panama (Minsa) reported on Thursday 818 new cases of covid-19 and 15 deaths from disease, for a total of 439,599 confirmed infections and 6,875 deaths in more than 16 months of the pandemic. Of the 15 deaths reported by Minsa, 13 occurred in the last 24 hours and 2 on an unspecified earlier date. The report specifies that 96 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in the Intensive Care Units (ICU) and 466 in the plant, while 10,589 blocks remain at home and 310 in hotels, for a total of 11,461 active (contagious) cases. In Panama, where COVID-19 has a death rate of 1.6%, one of the lowest in Latin America, 421,263 patients were healed from the first case of contagion that occurred in the country on March 9, 2020.