Worldwide news

1. Global COVID-19 deaths hit 5M 

Worldwide deaths related to COVID-19 surpassed 5 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, with unvaccinated people particularly exposed to the virulent Delta strain. The variant has exposed the wide disparities in vaccination rates between rich and poor nations, and the upshot of vaccine hesitancy in some western nations.

More than half of all global deaths reported on a seven-day average were in the United States, Russia, Brazil, Mexico and India. While it took just over a year for the COVID-19 death toll to hit 2.5 million, the next 2.5 million deaths were recorded in just under eight months, according to a Reuters analysis.

2. New Zealand widens lockdown

New Zealand’s Delta Covid variant outbreak has spread beyond Auckland, prompting the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, to put additional regions into a snap lockdown.

There were 32 new coronavirus cases on Sunday in the country’s largest city, which has been in lockdown since mid-August, and two cases in the Waikato region, some 147km (91 miles) south of Auckland. Ardern announced on Sunday that parts of the region will go into a five-day lockdown.

She added that the government will decide on Monday whether Auckland’s 1.7 million residents will remain sealed off from the rest of New Zealand.

3. South Africa jabs 2,000 children

South Africa on Friday started vaccinating some children and adolescents as part of the global Phase 3 clinical trials of China’s Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged between 6 months and 17 years.

The global study will enroll 2,000 participants in South Africa and 12,000 others will be taking part in Kenya, the Philippines, Chile and Malaysia.

The first children in South Africa were inoculated at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University in the capital Pretoria to kick off the trials and others will get shots at 6 different sites across the country, the Sinovac company said in a statement Friday.

4. Anger over UK quarantine rules

News that fully vaccinated travelers from India and many African countries will face mandatory quarantine in the UK, despite a relaxation of the country’s inbound travel rules, has caused an outcry and accusations of discrimination.

The UK’s revised travel advisory will take effect on October 4 and visitors from its list of “high risk” countries — including India, more than 20 African countries and most Latin American nations — will still have to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days despite being fully vaccinated.

According to the new travel guidelines, passengers from the US, EU, and 18 other territories who have received full doses of UK-approved vaccines, including formulations of approved vaccines such as the Indian-made AstraZeneca shot branded Covishield, will not have to quarantine when they arrive in the UK.

No African country was included in the UK’s green-listed countries. However, nearly half of 54 countries on the UK’s high-risk list, also known as the “red list” — comprising predominantly developing nations — are from Africa.

5. 3 Swiss Guards who refused vaccination return to Switzerland

Three Vatican Swiss Guards who have refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 upon Holy See orders have voluntarily left the storied corps to return to Switzerland, a Swiss Guard official said Sunday.

“Three members of the Guard have chosen not to adhere to that request, voluntarily leaving the corps,″ Breitenmoser said in a statement. Three other guardsmen are temporarily suspended from duty while they await vaccination, he said.

The prime duty of the all-male corps, with its colorful uniforms and plumed helmets, is to protect the pontiff. The members stand guard during papal ceremonies as well as at the various entrances of the tiny, independent walled city state near Rome’s Tiber River. During the pandemic, the guardsmen on duty don protective surgical masks.

6. Russia lost public trust on local-made vaccines

A former chief of staff to President Vladimir Putin, the mayor is one of the rare voices in Russia these days calling people out for not doing their civic duty and getting vaccinated against COVID-19. 

Unlike many countries that have struggled to get enough vaccine doses for all age groups, Russia’s problem is less about supply and more about trust.   

Non-Russian vaccines have not been approved in the country, and Russia’s much-hyped Sputnik V vaccine, developed by the state-sponsored Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, is viewed with hesitancy by many Russians.