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Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 876th day of the pandemic.
In news we cover today, the United States gave the final approval to new bivalent vaccines from two drugmakers, England’s omicron wave is at its lowest point since June, and lockdowns continue in China.
Here’s a look at what has taken place over the past 24 hours.
UNITED STATES
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gave final approval late Thursday for new bivalent mRNA shots from both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. The move came after an outside advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave its approval.
The redesigned vaccine boosters target both the original strain of Covid as well as the BA.5 sublineage of the omicron variant. The boosters are expected to become available shortly after Labor Day.
The White House, which purchased 171 million doses of the new vaccines, said that it expects supply should meet demand this fall. The government has an option to procure 429 million additional doses in addition to the first 171 million.
The CEO of Jeffries Financial Group, a financial services company, exhorted his employees to return to the office. “Don’t work in lonely home silos,” Richard Handler said, in an attempt to increase earnings in the fourth quarter of 2022, which starts October 1.
GLOBAL
Britain’s current Covid wave has fallen to the lowest point since June. The Office for National Statistics estimated that 893,300 people in England were infected on any given day in the week ending August 23. That figure is 26% lower than the preceding week.
Meanwhile, the partial lockdown in Shenzhen, China’s tech hub, continues. Parts of the city extended curbs on public activities into Friday. In addition, officials shut down the city’s public transit and testing is set to begin in six districts that compromise the majority of the city’s population.
AUTOMOTIVE
Sweden’s Volvo Cars temporarily shut down its plant in Chengdu, China, due to local coronavirus restrictions, a company spokesperson said on Thursday. Over 22.1 million people in Chengdu, which is home to China’s prized pandas, are currently under lockdown.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Friday, September 2.
As of Friday morning, the world has recorded 608.9 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.7 million cases, and 6.49 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 585.3 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.9 million.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Friday is 17,191,088, a decrease of 47,000. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 17,148,390, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 42,698, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical is unchanged over the pat 24 hours.
The United States reported 108,660 new coronavirus infections on Friday for the previous day, compared to 154,500 on Thursday, 117,036 on Wednesday, 112,006 on Tuesday, and 8,539 on Monday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The 7-day incidence rate is now 87,484. 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 89,730, a 7% decrease, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources. The average daily death toll over the same period is 513, an increase of 8% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 37,453, a 9% decrease.
In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Friday, recorded almost 96.5 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of over 1.07 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, over 44.4 million, and a reported death toll of 527,932.
The newest data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed that, at the end of May, the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 820,307, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States. Rosstat reported that 4,991 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in June, down from 7,008 in May and from 11,583 in April.
Meanwhile, France is the country with the third highest number of cases, 34.55 million, although Brazil has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 683,203, and has recorded 34.49 million cases, placing it in the number four slot.
Germany is in the number five slot with 32.1 million cases.
The other three countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are the United Kingdom, with 23.5 million cases, in sixth position, South Korea, with 23.4 million cases, placing it in the number seven slot, and Italy, with just under 21.9 million, as number eight.
Meanwhile, Russia, with over 19.6 million recorded cases, will likely cross the 20 million mark within under two weeks.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of Friday, over 262.9 million people in the United States – or 79.2% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 67.5%, or 224.1 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 610 million. Breaking this down further, 90.2% of the population over the age of 18 – or 232.8 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 77.3% of the same group – or 199.7 million people – is fully vaccinated. In addition, 51.6% of that population, or 103.1 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 the updated information on Fridays by 8 p.m. EDT, a statement on the agency’s website said.
Some 67.7% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Friday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 12.58 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 4.74 million doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 20.9% 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 reporting to this story.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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