Coronavirus LIVE: Washington DC Reinstates Indoor Mask Mandate For Both Vaccinated, Unvaccinated Citizens
Coronavirus LIVE Friday, July 30: Kerala has 1,54,820 active cases, the highest in any state in the country.
Delhi reports 63 new COVID19 cases, 34 recoveries, and 3 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Active cases: 580
Total recoveries: 14,10,575
Death toll: 25,052
The world’s first study of a combination between the AstraZeneca vaccine and the first component of the Sputnik V vaccine (Sputnik Light) in Azerbaijan shows no serious adverse events or #COVID infection cases following the vaccination, says the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).
Washington: People in Washington, D.C. will again have to wear masks indoors no matter whether they have been vaccinated against Covid-19 or not, the US capital city's Mayor Muriel Bowser announced as cases were surging across the country.
Starting at 5 a.m. on Saturday, all D.C. residents over the age of two, regardless of their vaccination status, will be required to wear masks while in indoor public spaces, according to the new mandate.
"Things have changed throughout the course of (the pandemic), and we have to adapt, too," Xinhua news agency quoted Bowser as saying at a news conference on Thursday.
"I think it won't be a big lift for a lot of folks," she added, noting some people in the District, which had one of the most strict mask mandates during the pandemic, had never stopped wearing a mask indoors.
Additionally, officials are working to create a vaccination requirement for D.C. government employees.
Providing an update to the District's virus data at the news conference, D.C. Health Director LaQuandra Nesbitt cited a five-fold increase in July thus far in D.C.'s daily case rate.
Virus rates have particularly increased for children aged five to 14 and young adults age 20 to 34, according to the director, who added that many new cases have been linked to travel, dining out and social activities in large groups.
The new mask requirement came a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classified the nation's capital into the category of "substantial" Covid-19 transmission localities, up from the "medium" category.
For areas with "substantial" transmission possibilities, the CDC recommends the indoor mask mandate regardless of vaccination status.
As per the CDC metrics, "substantial" transmission occurs in any locality that reported 50 to 100 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past week, or is reporting a test positivity rate between 8 per cent and 10 per cent.
According to the CDC, D.C.'s seven-day case rate per 100,000 residents was 58.09, and the seven-day test positivity rate was 2.59 per cent. (IANS)
More than 48.03 crores (48,03,97,080) vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far. Of this, the total consumption including wastages is 45,27,93,441 doses, as per data available at 8 am today: Union Health Ministry.
Washington DC: US president Joe Biden on Thursday (local time) called on all states and local governments to use aid funding they have received to give 100 dollars to anyone who gets fully vaccinated.
Biden also said that he's asking the Pentagon to look into adding COVID-19 shots to the list of vaccinations that American troops are required to get.
"I know it's exhausting to think we're still in this fight. I know," Biden said. "I hoped this would be a simple, straightforward line without problems or new challenges, but that isn't real life."
This announcement comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend mask-wearing again in certain situations. The CDC also reports that less than one percent of current coronavirus deaths are from vaccinated individuals and only slightly more than 1 per cent of fully vaccinated individuals report breakthrough infection.
In addition, President said federal government workers must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or wear masks and be regularly tested, as the White House takes extra steps against the delta variant.
"Every federal government employee will be asked to attest to their vaccination status. Anyone who does not attest or is not vaccinated will be required to mask, no matter where they work, test one or two times a week to see if they've acquired COVID, socially distance, and generally will not be allowed to travel for work," said Biden, in remarks from the White House.
Federal employees and contractors who are unable to attest to their vaccination status will undergo regular coronavirus testing, will be required to wear a mask, and will likely be unable to travel, Biden said. "We all want our lives to get back to normal, and fully vaccinated workplaces will make that happen quickly and more successfully," the US President added.
During his address, Biden called the uptick in the sickness of the unvaccinated an 'American tragedy.' Biden also outlined other measures, saying the US government now will reimburse employers who give their workers time off so they can get not just themselves vaccinated but also get their family members vaccinated. (ANI)
Washington: The overall global COVID-19 caseload has topped 196.5 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.19 million and vaccinations soared to over 3.99 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
In its latest update on Friday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll stood and vaccination tally stood at 196,543,425, 4,196,442 and 3,993,341,219, respectively.
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 34,745,060 and 612,105, respectively, according to the CSSE.
In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 31,528,114 cases.
The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (19,839,369), France (6,142,282), Russia (6,138,958), the UK (5,828,205), Turkey (5,682,630), Argentina (4,905,925), Colombia (4,766,829), Spain (4,422,291), Italy (4,336,906), Iran (3,826,447), Germany (3,772,326) and Indonesia (3,331,206), the CSSE figures showed.
In terms of deaths, Brazil comes second with 553,179 fatalities.
Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are India (422,662), Mexico (240,001), Peru (196,214), Russia (154,403), the UK (129,803), Italy (128,029), Colombia (120,126), France (111,951) and Argentina (105,113). (IANS)
Background
Coronavirus LIVE Friday, July 30: Maharashtra reported 7,242 new coronavirus infections and 190 fatalities on Thursday which pushed the caseload to 62,90,156 and death toll to 1,32,335, a health department official said.
On Wednesday the state had reported 6,857 new cases and 286 fatalities.
The number of active cases fell to 78,562 from 82,545 on Wednesday as 11,124 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day.
So far 60,75,888 patients have recovered in the state. There are 4,87,704 people in home quarantine and 3,245 in institutional quarantine.
Maharashtra's case recovery rate is 96.59 per cent while the fatality rate is 2.01 per cent.
Meanwhile, Delhi reported 51 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. According to the Delhi government health bulletin, the cumulative COVID-19 cases in the national capital have gone up to 14,36,144. It said 70 people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours taking the total number of recoveries to 14,10,541.
The city did not report any death due to the disease in the last 24 hours and the death toll is 25,049. The bulletin said that the city has 554 active cases. The positivity rate is 0.08 per and 67,368 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours
On the other hand, the Covid pandemic is running rampant in Kerala, with over 20,000 cases seen on Thursday for the third successive day, an official statement said.
The day's figure came a day before a special team of health experts from the Centre is all set to arrive in the state capital on Friday.
As many as 22,064 people tested positive on Thursday, against 22,056 on Wednesday and 22,129 on Tuesday.
In the statement, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that 1,63,098 samples were tested in the past 24 hours and the day's test positivity rate (TPR) stood at 13.53 per cent up from 11.20 per cent on Wednesday.
The state has 1,54,820 active cases, the highest in any state in the country.
Another 128 Covid deaths were reported, taking the death toll to 16,585.
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