Lockdown end news – live: current wave could see 200,000 cases per day

The European Union’s vaccination campaign is catching up with that of the United States after a slow start.

Our World in Data showed that 55.6% of EU citizens received at least one dose, compared to 55.4% in the US

It was the first time that the EU’s figures exceeded those across the Atlantic.

Our World in Data reports that the United States still has a higher proportion of people fully vaccinated – 48% of people are vaccinated compared to 42% for the EU.

Britain and some other countries are going faster.

European Markets Commissioner Thierry Breton said half of the vaccines made in the bloc had been exported to more than 100 countries in total.

Yet extreme global vaccine inequalities exist with only a small fraction of vaccines reaching the poorest populations in Africa and elsewhere.

The head of the Spanish Catalan regional health service has warned that a new peak in coronavirus infections in a few weeks could put a strain on health infrastructure.

Gemma Craywinckel told RAC1 radio in an interview on Sunday that the northeastern region of Spain could see up to 500 people in intensive care, up from 300 previously.

She said the virus will put pressure on the healthcare system as staff are about to go on vacation.

The Catalan public health system is already in trouble due to an increase in infections linked to the delta variant, but authorities have not informed the local population.

Hanoi citizens have been urged to stay at home from Monday and have been ordered to suspend all non-essential services due to new clusters of coronavirus infections in recent days, authorities said.

The capital has only seen some 400 cases of Covid since May, compared to more than 50,000 across the country.

Hanoi has already suspended the indoor catering service, closed lounges and gyms, and stopped train and bus services to and from the southern provinces where cases of Covid where three quarters of recent infections have been detected .

The country’s civil aviation authority on Sunday ordered national airlines to suspend flights to and from the south of the country at least until August 1.

The new measures come as Vietnam reported a record number of new daily infections, with 5,926 cases and 29 deaths on Sunday.

Vietnam’s health ministry said it was currently battling its worst virus outbreak.

Vietnam has reported 53,830 cases and 254 deaths to date.

While some businesses and revelers eagerly await “Freedom Day,” others are baffled by the government’s decision to lift lockdown restrictions.

More than 54,000 new cases were confirmed on Saturday, the highest daily number since January,

“I can’t think of any good realistic scenario out of this strategy, I’m afraid,” said Julian Tang, clinical virologist at the University of Leicester.

“I think that’s really a measure of the gravity of the situation,” Tang said.

Even Johnson’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, warned that “we could be in trouble again surprisingly quickly.”

Leading international scientists on Friday described England’s “Freedom Day” as a threat to the whole world.

Nearly 1,200 scientists backed letter to UK medical journal The Lancet who criticized the government’s decision.

Muslim pilgrims fully vaccinated against Covid-19 gathered on Sunday for the annual hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Some 60,000 Saudi citizens and residents fulfill the law, a unique duty for all able-bodied Muslims who can afford it. In 2019, over 2.5 million people participated in the hajj.

The pilgrims were photographed keeping a social distance as they performed their Umrah in the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca.

Authorities have limited the pilgrimage to people between the ages of 18 and 65 who do not suffer from chronic illness and have been fully vaccinated against the virus.

Robots are used to disinfect the Great Mosque of Mecca and its courtyard; they are also used to distribute bottles of zamzam water, pumped from a sacred well in Mecca, to reduce human interactions and ensure physical distancing.

For the second year in a row, worshipers from abroad were not allowed to participate in the event due to the pandemic.

After 17 months of confinement, thousands of young people from London to Liverpool plan to dance the night away during “Freedom Day” parties.

The evenings planned for the occasion were sold out a few days in advance.

This is “the moment we have been waiting for, our customers have been waiting for,” said Tristan Moffat, director of operations for London-based concert hall The Piano Works.

The business wants to reopen after losing about 40,000 pounds ($ 55,000) per month during the pandemic, he said.

His “Freedom Day” celebration begins Sunday with a countdown to midnight. Staff members plan to cut a ribbon on the dance floor and serve customers free prosecco.

Since the beginning of July, 114 doctors have died after contracting Covid-19 in Indonesia, the Association of Indonesian Doctors (IDI) reported.

The IDI said this was the highest number of deaths reported for a similar period of time, and said new deaths accounted for more than 20% of Covid-related deaths among doctors since the start of the pandemic.

The peak of deaths among doctors corresponds to an increase in infections in the country caused by the Delta variant.

In recent days, Indonesia has reported more new infections than any country in the world, and was second only to Brazil in terms of the number of reported Covid-related deaths.

Indonesia reported 44,721 new cases and 1,093 deaths on Sunday.

“So. Freedom Day. For the Health Secretary, Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was over even before dawn, an impressive trip through political time even for Javid, Johnson and Sunak. , the Three Horsemen of the Covid Apocalypse.

“Because it is they above all the others who rushed to throw away the masks and abandon social distancing. From now on, they are locked up in barracks, themselves quarantined on the very day of the liberation.

“If we weren’t all so concerned about their well-being, we might find it darkly, richly, ironically,” associate editor Sean O’Grady written.

Domestic flights to and from Bangkok and other areas classified as high risk for Covid-19 will be suspended from July 21, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand announced on Sunday.

Exceptions will be made for medical flights, emergency landings and flights associated with government tourism programs.

Domestic flights that do not fly to or from high-risk Covid areas are allowed to fly at 50% capacity.

The government also announced that stricter measures designed to keep people at home in high-risk areas would come into effect on Tuesday, including the closure of shopping malls and a 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew. Bangkok and nine other provinces have already been subject to these restrictions.

A ban on public gatherings was also imposed yesterday.

Thailand reported 11,397 infections and 101 deaths on Sunday, bringing the cumulative total to 403,386 cases and 3,341 deaths, the vast majority of which have occurred since an outbreak in early April, fueled by the Alpha and Delta variants.

To date, around 5% of Thailand’s 66 million people are fully immunized.

At 9 a.m. on Sunday, 48,161 other cases of Covid were recorded by the government.

Although lower than Friday and Saturday figures of over 50,000, it is not far from the highest daily case count on record, which stands at 68,053, reported on January 8.

In addition, there were also 25 new deaths of people within 28 days of testing positive for the coronavirus.

The new data brings the total of people confirmed to have caught Covid in the past week to 316,691, an increase of 43.3% from the previous seven days.

There have also been 283 deaths in the past seven days, an increase of almost 39.4%.

Hospitalizations also increased with 740 reported on July 13, which is a 39.4% increase on a week-over-week basis.