Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 837th day of the pandemic.
There’s an ever shrinking minority of people across the globe who believe they’ve never been infected with the novel coronavirus. Some of them may be wrong.
In my own case, having never tested positive for the virus has made it harder to explain some symptoms that point to Long Covid, such as the sudden onset of severe chronic fatigue, vision issues, and organ damage.
For most people who believe they haven’t been infected, it’s more likely that they had an asymptomatic case since – consistently throughout the pandemic – the rate of such cases has been 40%. The numbers in the Morning News Brief show that the number of cases has been steadily increasing for months: Clearly, someone is getting infected.
Still, for those who believe they have not had a brush with Covid, it’s still important to be prudent. Such individuals may be far more vulnerable to the new, more highly contagious variants of SARS-CoV-2 than those who carry some degree of immunity from prior infections of earlier variants.
In news we cover today, Los Angeles is getting ready for the return of a mask mandate, new infections are mounting in Japan, and Hong Kong is planning changes to its quarantine policy for newly arrived travelers.
Here’s a look at what has taken place over the past 24 hours.
UNITED STATES
As Los Angeles County moves closer to the resumption of face mask mandate, restaurateurs are bracing for once again having to police diners to ensure compliance with the rules.
If the county continues to experience “high” community transmission rates of Covid, the mandate will return this Friday.
GLOBAL
The number of new cases in Italy, the first Western national that felt the full force of SARS-CoV-2, have started to fall after climbing steadily since the end of May.
At the start of the month, Italy became the seventh country in the world to have recorded more than 20 million coronavirus cases.
Meanwhile, in Japan, cases have steadily risen since mid-June and hit 200,000 – a pandemic high – over the weekend.
Hong Kong introduced new procedures for arriving travelers to follow that include the completion of an online Covid-19 health declaration before flying to the special administrative region. The move was introduced to speed processing of passengers at the airport.
In addition, officials there are “actively considering” cutting the city’s mandatory hotel quarantine period for arriving travelers to either three or four days, reported the South China Morning Post. The quarantine period would then be followed by either three or four days of home isolation.
A government source told the newspaper that authorities were preparing for the roll-out of a two-color health code system aimed at preventing people from leaving quarantine. The system would identify Covid patients with a red QR code that would effectively bar them from public places, while new arrivals would receive a yellow QR code, which would restrict access to a limited number of places.
Meanwhile, China’s central bank will push domestic banks to provide credit to companies and institutions in the cultural and tourism sectors, which are showing little sign of recovering from the pandemic.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Monday, July 25.
As of Monday morning, the world has recorded 574.4 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.6 million cases, and 6.4 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 545.2 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 1.2 million.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Monday is 23,810,083, a decrease of 212,000. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 23,768,872, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 41,211, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical is unchanged over the pat 24 hours.
The United States reported 21,500 new coronavirus infections on Monday for the previous day, compared to 24,251 on Sunday, 165,180 on Saturday, and 153,030 on Friday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The 7-day incidence rate continues to be over 100,000 and is now 128,710. Figures for the weekend (reported the following day) are typically 30% to 60% of those posted on weekdays due to a lower number of tests being conducted.
The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 127,756, a 19% increase, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources. The average daily death toll over the same period is 444, an increase of 38% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 43,102, a 15% increase.
In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Monday, recorded almost 92.2 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of over 1.05 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 43.9 million, and a reported death toll of 526,074.
New data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed at the end of May that the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 812,890, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, after the United States. Rosstat reported that 11,583 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in April, down from 35,584 in March and from 43,543 in February.
Meanwhile, Brazil now has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 677,021, and has recorded almost 33.6 million cases.
France continues to occupy the number four position in total cases with over 33.5 million cases, and Germany is in the number five slot with over 30.3 million.
The other two countries with total case figures over the 20,000 mark are currently United Kingdom, with 23.2 million cases, in sixth position, and Italy, with almost 20.7 million, in the number seven slot.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of Monday, over 261.2 million people in the United States – or 78.7% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 67.2%, or 222.9 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 601.5 million. Breaking this down further, 89.9% of the population over the age of 18 – or 232.1 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 77% of the same group – or 198.9 million people – is fully vaccinated. In addition, 51.4% of that population, or 102.3 million people, has already received a third, or booster, dose of vaccine.
Starting on June 13, 2022, the CDC began to update vaccine data on a weekly basis and publish it on Mondays by 8 p.m. EDT, a statement on the agency’s website said.
Over 66.9% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Monday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 12.3 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 5.59 million doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 19.7% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain in the single digits, if not lower.
In addition, North Korea and Eritrea are now the only two countries in the world that have not administered vaccines.
Anna Breuer contributed to this story.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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