Covid-19: Stories making headlines across the world this week

Biden administration buys millions of Pfizer vaccines for the world

The Biden administration is in the process of buying 500-million doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccines to donate to various countries around the world.

It is not clear if any of these vaccines will be available to South Africa, but they will be donated to ‘92 low- and lower middle-income countries and the African Union’, according to a White House press release.

South Africa officially enters third wave

South Africa’s Department of Health announced that the country officially moved into the third wave of Covid-19 on June 10.

South Africa technically entered the 3rd wave today as the national 7-day moving average incidence (5959 cases) now exceeds the new wave threshold as defined by the Ministerial Advisory Committee.

— NICD (@nicd_sa) June 10, 2021

Gauteng is leading the new wave, with the highest number of active cases in the country and 61% (5 597) of new cases on June 10, followed by the Western Cape with 932 new cases, which is just 10% of the national cases.

India’s Bihar province discovers thousands of unreported cases

Bihar, one of India’s poorest provinces, increased its Covid-19 death toll to more than 9 429 (from 5 424 on Wednesday).

This increase was a result of officials investigating a lapse in Covid-19 records within the province, where there are many under-reported cases due to the region being predominantly rural.

“Under-reporting is a widespread problem, not necessarily deliberate, often because of inadequacies,” Rajib Dasgupta, head of the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Reuters.

Japan considers lifting state of emergency ahead of Tokyo Olympics

The Japanese government is considering lifting the state of emergency in Tokyo and a few other cities ahead of the Olympic Games, which are scheduled to begin on July 23, with a final decision to be made next week.

However, some restrictions will still be enforced, such as limited trading hours at bars and restaurants and not serving alcohol in them. The Olympic Games were meant to kick off in June 2020, but were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many South African athletes are expected to compete in the games this year.

90% of African countries will miss vaccination goal

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa, many countries on the continent will not achieve their vaccination targets. “Forty-seven of Africa’s 54 countries – nearly 90% – are set to miss the September target of vaccinating 10% of their people, unless Africa receives 225-million more doses,” a statement reads. These targets were established by the organisation at its World Health Assembly.

In order for more countries to reach this goal, WHO recommends that vaccination programmes be stepped up in rural areas, that soon-to-be-expiring vaccines be prioritised and public demand for vaccines be increased.

South Africa has currently vaccinated 1 690 026 people, as of June 11 (Friday).

*Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news

Dear reader,

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