Moscow: Russia reported its highest daily coronavirus death toll and Australia locked down major cities as the highly infectious Delta strain has caused mayhem around the world.
According to the details, fears grew over major sporting events like Euro 2020 and the Olympic Games, even as an AFP tally showed the world passed the milestone of over three billion Covid-19 vaccines administered. At least 3.9 million people have died from Covid-19 and the pattern of vaccinations globally is highly uneven.
According to the AFP, high-income countries as defined by the World Bank have administered an average of 79 doses per 100 inhabitants. But in low-income nations, the figure is just one shot per 100 people. “The world is failing,” warned WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We are facing a two-track pandemic, fuelled by inequity,” the World Health Organization chief said.
The WHO said it was supporting the five remaining countries yet to start their Covid-19 immunization campaigns: Burundi, Eritrea, Haiti, North Korea and Tanzania.
Russia reported 652 coronavirus fatalities over the past 24 hours, with a record-high number of daily deaths — 119 — in Saint Petersburg, which is due to host a Euro 2020 quarter final on Friday
Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said 151,000 people in Russia are currently in hospital with the coronavirus.
In further bad news, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted that Moscow s goal of vaccinating 60 percent of the population by the end of summer was unattainable. Russia has also introduced mandatory shots for some groups of citizens to counter scepticism.
Meanwhile, foreign ministers from the Group of 20 major economies stressed the need for greater global cooperation.
“Multilateral cooperation will be key to our collective ability to stop this global health crisis,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
– Australia locks down –
In Australia, public anger is growing at the slow pace of vaccinations.
The Delta variant has pushed Sydney, Perth, Darwin and Brisbane into lockdown, meaning a total of more than 10 million Australians are confined at home. But so far, less than five percent of adults are believed to have received both vaccine doses.
Brisbane resident Nicola Hungerford, 57, said she expected lockdowns to keep happening “until the government gets their bloody act together” on the vaccine rollout.
“It shows how little respect they have for people,” she told AFP.
The speed of transmission of the Delta variant has fuelled concerns over ongoing or upcoming sporting events. Germany urged the British government to reduce the number of fans allowed into Wembley stadium for the final Euro 2020 matches.
“I think it s irresponsible for tens of thousands to gather in close proximity” in countries where the Delta variant is spreading, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told Germany s Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.
UEFA and the British authorities allowed 45,000 fans to attend a game between England and Germany, or about 50 percent of capacity. Attendance will be increased to more than 60,000 for the semi-finals and final at Wembley.
The Delta variant was first identified in India, which suffered a vicious wave of coronavirus that overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums at its height in April and May. AFP
