Day: August 14, 2021

GABORONE, BOTSWANA – Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi, whose country has one of the world’s highest COVID-19 infection rates per capita, has announced new COVID-19 restrictions, including extension of a nighttime curfew and postponement of the reopening of schools.
In a televised address, Masisi said the country was seeing an exponential increase in COVID-19 cases.
“The disease burden is weighing heavily on us, with infections continuing to increase across the country, and precious lives being lost on a daily basis here at home and across the continent,” Masisi said. “Our nation has attained the highest prevalence ever.”
By Friday, 1,973 people had died of COVID-19, with the death toll rising from about 300 in February.

Masisi announced restrictions Friday meant to blunt the spread of the virus, including a ban on public gatherings.
“Interzonal movement continues to be restricted to essential travel only,” he said. “Reopening of schools [will] be delayed for a further three weeks, except for those students preparing for their final examinations. The ban on sale of alcohol remains. Curfew will now start earlier at 8 p.m. and end at 4 a.m. for the next three weeks, after which there will be a review.”
Masisi said the country would accelerate its vaccination program in the next three weeks. About 5 percent of the population, or 146,299 people, are fully vaccinated.
Vaccine slow to arrive
The president blamed the slow delivery of vaccine for the frustrating pace of inoculation.
“Of course, it saddens me that many have not received a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and they are obviously exasperated,” he said. “It may look like government is not trying hard, but I can assure you the opposite is true.”
Education unions welcomed the government’s decision to postpone the reopening of schools.
The unions had urged their members not to return to class until they were vaccinated.
Tabokani Rari, secretary-general of the Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions, said the government should use the three-week break to vaccinate teachers.
Rari called it “a progressive step” that the president, because of union pressure, had postponed the reopening of schools. “We have not heard anything from the president as to whether during the three weeks that schools will be closed, there will be any plan where teachers will be vaccinated in a fast-tracked manner.”
This week, Botswana took its first delivery from Johnson & Johnson, with 108,000 COVID vaccine doses arriving. The country also received 38,400 doses of Astra Zeneca vaccine on August 8.

Source: Voice of America

The Australian state of New South Wales announced a snap lockdown Saturday due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the seven-day, statewide lockdown to begin Saturday evening. Schools will close for at least a week.
“This is literally a war,” Gladys Berejiklian, the state’s premier, said. “The delta strain is diabolical.”
Saturday was the state’s worst day of the pandemic, with 466 new cases and four deaths.
Berejiklian said New South Wales is facing a “dire” situation.
Earlier Saturday, Dr. Danielle McMullen, the Australian Medical Association’s New South Wales president, said in a statement, “We need to treat this virus like it’s everywhere, all the time. … Doctors from across NSW are exhausted and concerned for their community. Our already fragile rural and regional health system will be unable to cope with increases in cases.”
United States
An advisory panel for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously Friday in favor of recommending a third coronavirus vaccine dose to 2.7 million people with weakened immune systems.
The decision comes after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized a third shot of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for extremely immunocompromised individuals, who represent less than 3% of the overall population.
The FDA’s acting commissioner, Dr. Janet Woodcock, said in a statement late Thursday, “The FDA is especially cognizant that immunocompromised people are particularly at risk for severe disease.”
“Other individuals who are fully vaccinated are adequately protected,” Woodcock said, “and do not need an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine at this time.”
The CDC recommended that vulnerable Americans, including cancer patients, HIV patients and others with immunodeficiencies, get the booster shot after multiple studies showed that it could better protect their immune systems from the virus.
According to the CDC, 40% to 44% of people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 after being vaccinated are immunocompromised.
The governor of Oregon said Friday she is deploying as many as 1,500 National Guard troops to hospitals in the state to help health care workers with the demands placed on them by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Governor Kate Brown said the first group of 500 Guard members will be sent out Friday, August 20. Eventually the troops will be sent to 20 hospitals around the state that are experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the delta strain, Brown said.
The Oregon Health Authority said the delta variant of the coronavirus currently comprises 96% of all samples tested.
Oregon reported Friday that there are 733 people in the state’s hospitals with the virus, with 185 in intensive care.
“When our hospitals are full with COVID-19 patients, there may not be room for someone needing care after a car crash, a heart attack, or other emergency situation,” Brown said. “The harsh, and frustrating reality is that the delta variant has changed everything.”
France
Protesters marched in cities throughout France for the fifth consecutive Saturday in opposition to a COVID-19 health pass that is needed to enter restaurants and travel on long-distance trains.
The health pass took effect last week as new infections soared because of the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus. In the past week, France has reported more than 146,000 new cases and 358 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Britain
The United Kingdom reported more than 32,500 new daily infections Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins, and 100 deaths.
In the past week, the U.K. reported nearly 199,000 new cases and 634 deaths, Johns Hopkins data showed.
France and the U.K. have similar populations, about 67 million.
Russia
Russia reported Saturday a daily record of 795 COVID-19 deaths, the highest toll of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins.
Health officials blamed the increase on the more contagious delta variant.
Officials also reported 21,661 new coronavirus cases Saturday, down from the nation’s record on Christmas Eve of last year, Johns Hopkins said.
Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said daily hospitalizations in the city had fallen by half since late June. Moscow reported 2,529 new infections on Friday.

Source: Voice of America

Two more investment projects with a total capital of US$5.5 million have been recently approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC).
According to the CDC’s press release issued yesterday evening, the two projects belong to Collaboration Packaging Material Products Co., Ltd. and Chasefire Outdoors (Cambodia) Co., Ltd.
To be located in Ang Snoul district of Kandal province and Samrong district of Takeo province, it pointed out, the newly-approved projects will cover the production of bags’ and footwear’s parts, and safety apparel, bags and all kinds of camping equipment.
They are expected to create more than 1,200 jobs for the locals, the same source added.
Such investment amid the COVID-19 outbreak demonstrates confidence of investors in Cambodia’s macroeconomic, political and social stability though threatened by the pandemic.

Source: Agency Kampuchea Press

Thousands marched in Montreal and across France on Saturday to protest vaccine passports.
Starting next month, in Canada’s Quebec province, proof of vaccination against COVID-19 will be needed to go to a restaurant, bar, gym or festival. The vaccination rate in Quebec is high: 84% of adults have received one dose, and 70% have received two.
And yet protesters, often with their families, marched peacefully Saturday through the streets of Montreal.
“It should be the choice of each person whether to be vaccinated. With the passports it is a means of forcing us” to get vaccinated, said Veronique Whalen, a 31-year-old who came with her family and said she doesn’t normally attend protests.
In France, fewer people marched this Saturday, the fifth in a row, in opposition to a COVID-19 health pass that is needed to enter restaurants and travel on long-distance trains.
The health pass took effect last week as new infections rose, thanks to the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus. In the past week, France has reported more than 146,000 new cases and 358 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Nine out of every 10 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in France has not been vaccinated, according to the Health Ministry.
Australia
The Australian state of New South Wales announced a snap lockdown Saturday because of the coronavirus pandemic, with the seven-day, statewide lockdown to begin Saturday evening. Schools will close for at least a week.
“This is literally a war,” Gladys Berejiklian, the state’s premier said. “The delta strain is diabolical.”
Saturday was the state’s worst day of the pandemic, with 466 new cases and four deaths.
Earlier Saturday, Dr. Danielle McMullen, the Australian Medical Association’s New South Wales president, said in a statement, “We need to treat this virus like it’s everywhere, all the time. … Doctors from across NSW are exhausted and concerned for their community. Our already fragile rural and regional health system will be unable to cope with increases in cases.”
United States
The U.S. recorded more than 140,000 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the U.S. Centers of Disease and Prevention said Saturday, driven almost entirely by the delta variant of the virus in people who have not been vaccinated.
The spike in cases has set records.
The Department of Health and Human Services said a record 1,902 children were hospitalized Saturday with COVID-19. Children younger than 12 cannot yet be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The number of people newly hospitalized because of COVID-19 hit records in every age group from age 18 to age 49 this week, also according to data from CDC. A fifth of all U.S. hospitalization are in the southern state of Florida, which set a record Saturday of 16,100 people hospitalized, according to a tally by Reuters.
“This is not last year’s COVID. This one is worse, and our children are the ones that are going to be affected by it the most,” Sally Goza, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told CNN on Saturday.
Russia
Russia reported Saturday a daily record of 795 COVID-19 deaths, the highest toll of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins.
Health officials blamed the increase on the more contagious delta variant.
Officials also reported 21,661 new coronavirus cases Saturday, down from its record on Christmas Eve of last year, Johns Hopkins said.
Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said daily hospitalizations in the city had fallen by half since late June. Moscow reported 2,529 new infections on Friday.

Source: Voice of America