Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:
Sri Lanka Locks Down
Sri Lanka announces a nationwide lockdown after intense pressure from medical experts with the virus overwhelming hospitals, morgues and crematoriums. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had resisted calls for a lockdown for weeks, agreed to the 10-day closure after dire warnings that hospitals could no longer cope with the inflow of COVID-19 patients.
Catalonia Curfew
Catalonia's regional government seeks to reimpose a curfew in Barcelona and dozens of other cities in north eastern Spain, a day after a court ordered the measure lifted. The regional government in mid-July imposed a nightly curfew between 1:00 am and 6:00 am in most municipalities to fight a surge in virus cases, and Catalonia's top court then gave the green light to extend it three times.
Israel PM Gets Booster
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett receives a vaccine booster shot as the country begins administering them to people aged 40 and over amid a spike in infections. At a public hospital in Kfar Saba, a central city near Bennett's home, the 49-year-old Israeli premier kept his eyes on the nurse administering the shot to his left shoulder, with his office saying he was the first head of government in the world to receive a booster.
Philippines Record
The Philippines reports its highest daily number of coronavirus infections, as authorities ease a lockdown in the capital to allow more businesses to operate and reduce the financial pain of poor families. More than 13 million people in the national capital region went into lockdown on 6 August as the hyper-contagious Delta variant helped drive a resurgence in infections that has strained hospitals.
NZ Extends Lockdown
New Zealand extends a national lockdown as case numbers continue to rise and a Delta variant outbreak spreads from Auckland to the capital Wellington. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the initial three-day lockdown, which would have expired overnight Friday, would be extended by another four days. She said New Zealand was still trying to assess the scale of the outbreak, which emerged in Auckland this week, ending the country's run of six months without community transmission.
Sydney Extends Lockdown Too
Sydney also extends its two-month-old lockdown for another month and introduces a partial curfew as Australia's largest city struggles to contain its outbreak. New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the "difficult" decision, telling the city's population of five million it was time to "bunker down"." Unfortunately, the case numbers continue to grow," she said. "This is what life will look like for most of us until the end of September.
Indian Vaccine Approved
India authorises the emergency use of a second homegrown COVID-19 vaccine, ZyCoV-D, by pharmaceutical firm Zydus Cadila, which is also the first approved for children older than 12 in the country. India's Department of Biotechnology announced its approval for ZyCoV-D, by Indian pharmaceutical firm Zydus Cadila, as the "world's first and India's indigenously developed DNA-based vaccine for COVID-19."
Treatment Hope
AstraZeneca announces positive results from a trial of a COVID-19 treatment that uses a drug made from a combination of two antibodies. The drug was initially developed as a treatment for those who had already been exposed to the disease. A new trial of 5,197 participants who had not been exposed showed a 77-percent reduced risk of developing symptomatic disease, with no severe cases recorded, Astra said in a statement.
4.4 Million Dead
The coronavirus has killed at least 4,401,486 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP compilation of official data.
The United States (US) is the worst-affected country with 625,166 deaths, followed by Brazil with 572,641, India with 433,589, Mexico 251,319 and Peru 197,716. – AFP