Coronavirus digest: US is ‘failing’ with surge in new cases

COVID-19 cases are surging in the US, with deaths up 89% in the past two weeks and the country registering an average of around 100,000 new cases per day. 

“We should not really have ever got to the place we are,” the director of the National Institute of Health, Francis Collins, said on ABC’s “This Week.”

He added, “we are failing.”

While fears about the Delta variant have sparked a surge in vaccination rates, there are still millions of Americans who have gone without getting vaccinated, especially in the conservative-leaning south where skepticism about the vaccine runs rampant.

“We would not be in the place we are right now with this Delta surge if we had been more effective in getting everybody,” Collins said.

Europe

In Germany, In Germany, the Robert Koch Institute reports an increase of 1,183 new cases Monday, bringing the total number of cases to 3,791.949. Two more died for a total of 91,784 deaths.

The premiers of the states of Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg, Stephan Weil (SPD) and Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), spoke in support of COVID-19 testing no longer being available for free.

Kretschmann told the Stuttgarter Zeitung/Stuttgarter Nachrichten paper Monday, “This is also a question of fair burden-sharing, because there is, after all, a free vaccination offer for all.”

In France, people will need to show a health pass in the form of a QR code to enter the indoor and outdoor sections of cafes and restaurants and travel on intercity trains. The pass is championed by President Emmanuel Macron despite four weeks of protests.

The pass has already been in force for cultural venues like theaters, cinemas, and museums since July 21. France’s Constitutional Court approved the new rules last Thursday though the government does expect a one-week grace period while consumers and business adapt.

The new rules do not apply to urban public transportation and commuter railway lines.

Africa

Tunisia held a mass vaccine “open day” and administered jabs to 551,008 people Sunday, the Health Ministry said. Tunisia has received more than six million vaccine doses from Western and Arab countries.

Asia and Oceania

In South Korea, vaccines are available to all adults over the age of 18 starting Monday. The country aims to have more than 70% of adults vaccinated by September.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s ratings fell to their lowest in more than a year, dropping two percentage points in the last three weeks to 51%, due to the slow vaccine rollout and a series of recent lockdowns. Only 13% of Australia’s adult population of approximately 20 million are fully vaccinated.

ar/dj (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-digest-us-is-failing-with-surge-in-new-cases/a-58802842?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf