COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Tuesday 17th of August:
- World: 208,109,987confirmed cases and 4,376,019 confirmed deaths.
- New Zealand: Locks down whole country for 3 days and city of Auckland for a week after detecting first community COVID case in 6 months. Prime Minister says: "Delta has been called a gamechanger, and it is. It means we need to again go hard and early to stop the spread. We have seen what can happen elsewhere if we fail to get on top of it. We only get one chance."
- US: In a radi interview Dolly Parton said of her donation of funds to the Moderna vaccine developement: "When the pandemic came out, I just felt led to do something because I knew something bad was on the rise and I just kind of wanted to help with that, so I donated to help with that. So, mine was a small part, of course, but I probably get a lot more credit than I deserve, but I was happy to be part of that, and to be able to try stop something in its tracks that’s really just become such a monster for all of us."
- US: Some of Former President Trumps hotels are installing Mask Mandates in contrast to his position on the matter while he was president.
- UK: Woman in her 50's left brain damaged and in a 'minimally conscious' state from COVID-19. Doctors say there is nothing more they can do and end-of-life care should be implemented, however her family state they would rather have her recover to a condition they can then care for her themselves rather than let her just die. The case has gone to court, with the Judge saying: "It is the most extreme example of its kind, and it is the first time in the whole of the pandemic that I have been asked to make an end-of-life decision in relation to Covid-19. It is the first time a court has been asked to consider an end-of-life case, as a result of Covid."
- UK: Approves Moderna vaccine for children aged 12 and above.
- UK: Army drafted in to drive ambulances as services remain under pressure. A union official indicated: "For both the staff in the ambulance service and patients who are waiting, seeing a member of the military turning up to a 999 call is a real sign that things aren’t all well in the ambulance service ... The demand has been rising - yes, we’ve been through a very exceptional period during Covid - but it’s a pattern that has been building for several years."
- Thailand: Once again sees protests against Government COVID response, following one protestor being left in a coma yesterday police utilise Water Cannon to disperse crowds.
- Spain: Receives €9 billion in its first injection of funds from the EU COVID recovery programme.
- Africa: Reports indicate South African manufacturing of Johnson and Johnson single-shot vaccine was placed under a contractual requirement not to ban exports if they needed to. Other reports have recently criticised the export of doses from the plant outside of Africa which needs the medicine as much if not more than anywhere else on earth.
- Malaysia: Government resigns as cases continue to climb. The King states there will be no general election in the crisis and a new set of governance will be selected by lawmakers selecting their preferred candidate to be completed no later than tomorrow.
- India: Administers 8.8 million vaccines in 24 hours. The record high for the country was 9.2 million on 21st of June.
- Australia: A single hospital has 80 staff go into self isolation after a close-contact COVID case was discovered, effecting services.
- Singapore: Starts making preparations to try to become the first country that lives with the Coronavirus.