CORONAVIRUS UPDATES:
Global daily statistics
COVID-19 infections are still rising in 46 countries.
Global Cases: 151.09M (+876,812)
Global Deaths: 3.17M (+14,631)
No. 1 - 3
U.S. Cases: 33.04M (+58,782)
U.S. Deaths: 589,186 (+849)
India Cases: 18.75M (+386,829)
India Deaths: 208,313 (+3,501)
Brazil Cases: 14.59M (+69,079)
Brazil Deaths: 401,417 (+3,074)
No. 8
ltaly Cases: 4.01M (+14,320)
ltaly Deaths: 120,544 (+288)
No. 38
Japan Cases: 580,988 (+5,795)
Japan Deaths: 10,107 (+52)
No.103
Thailand Cases: 63,570 (+1,871)
Thailand Deaths: 188 (+10)
New infections reported by region
Of every 100 infections last reported around the world, more than 57 were reported from countries in Asia and the Middle East.
· Switzerland crosses 10,000 reported coronavirus-related deaths
· India leads the world in the daily average number of new deaths reported, accounting for one in every 5 deaths reported worldwide each day
· India COVID cases cross 18 million, gravediggers work round the clock
· Italy reports 14,320 COVID-19 new cases, crosses 4 million
· Singapore reports highest number of Covid cases in the community in nine months
ingapore’s health ministry reported 16 new locally transmitted coronavirus cases on Thursday, the highest number since July 11, when the country reported 24 community cases.
· Global Vaccination
So far, at least 179 countries have begun vaccinating people for the coronavirus and have administered at least 1,084,385,000 doses of the vaccine.
Gibraltar leads the world and has administered enough vaccine doses for 103% of its population, assuming every person needs two doses.
· Britain says to host 2022 vaccine summit to prepare for future pandemics
· Thailand Increases Visitor Quarantine Period as Covid Rages
Thailand will increase a mandatory quarantine period for all arrivals to two weeks in a setback to the country’s previous plans of gradually reopening its borders to foreign visitors.
The Southeast Asian nation earlier this month reduced the timeframe to seven days for vaccinated tourists and ten days for most others in a bid to boost its tourism sector. But the latest Covid-19 wave, the country’s worst since the pandemic began, has forced the government to reintroduce the restrictions.
Thailand has seen total Covid-19 cases more than double since the beginning of April, with the flareup tied to entertainment venues in Bangkok that has since spread to most of the nation’s 77 provinces. The panel deemed Bangkok and five other provinces at “highest risk” for infections, imposed a ban on dine-in services and added travel restrictions to and from those “hot” regions starting Saturday.
The Finance Ministry on Thursday cut its economic growth forecast to 2.3% for this year, citing the current outbreak and the latest downward revision of international visitors to just 2 million this year, down from an estimate of 5 million. The tourism sector contributed about a fifth of Thailand’s gross domestic product in 2019.
The government has insisted that its plan to reopen Phuket to vaccinated visitors in July is still on track despite the outbreak. It’s currently negotiating with a variety of pharma manufacturers to secure more vaccines, with a target of administering 100 million doses by the end of this year.
Some other notable details on the country’s vaccine plan from the briefing include:
• Thailand is expected to have about 1,000 vaccination sites nationwide, administering 15-30 million doses per month.
• All target residents in Bangkok, the country’s largest city, are expected to have first shots by August.
• The country has confirmed orders of 63 million doses, and will need 37 million more.
• The government is currently looking at several options for additional doses:
o 5-20 million doses from Pfizer
o 5-10 million from Sputnik V
o 5-10 million from Johnson & Johnson
o 5-10 million from Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
o More doses from Moderna Inc., Sinopharm, or Bharat Biotech
· Thailand's new COVID wave slams hospitals, ignites public anger
Reference: Reuters, Worldometers, CNN, Bloomberg, Nikkei Asia
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