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Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 880th day of the pandemic.
In news we cover today, China approved an inhaled coronavirus vaccine, lockdowns in Shenzhen were eased while they were extended in Chengdu, and Germany will end a mask mandate on international flights.
Here’s a look at what has taken place over the past 24 hours.
UNITED STATES
In New York City, the nation’s largest school district will begin the school year on Thursday with loosened coronavirus restrictions. Nearly one million pupils will return to schools with no daily health screening questionnaires, while in-school testing efforts have also been rolled back.
GLOBAL
The German government plans to drop the mask mandate for flights into and out of the country, while maintaining it on public transit such as trains and buses.
Gesundheitsminister Karl Lauterbach cited the better air circulation on planes, but emphasized that if case numbers start to rise, masks could return.
Meanwhile, Austria announced a new fall vaccination campaign.
“The new campaign is closer to the people: We will supplement classic advertising with direct personal advice on site, including at doctors, in pharmacies and schools – with information weeks, information events and information material,” Gesundheitsminister Johannes Rauch said at a news conference on Monday.
Officials in Shenzhen eased some of the lockdown measures that have been in place for the past week. As of Monday, certain restrictions on dining and visits to parks were lessened, and multiple subway stations reopened.
The risks in China’s tech hub remain, however.
“Currently, the city’s Covid situation is severe and complex,” said Lin Hancheng, a Shenzhen public health official, at a news conference held on Sunday. “The number of new infections remains relatively high and community transmission risk still exists.”
Meanwhile, officials in Chengdu said that the current lockdown, which affects some 22 million people, will remain in effect through at least Wednesday as they announced plans for additional mass testing to take place Monday through Wednesday.
Finally, China became the first country to approve an inhaled coronavirus vaccine. The move will allow the jab-free product to be distributed in the country.
“Ad5-nCoV for Inhalation is a genetic engineered inhaled vaccine to prevent COVID-19 disease, which can not only stimulate humoral and cellular immunity, but also induce mucosal immunity to achieve triple comprehensive protection efficiently without intramuscular injection,” the manufacturer, CanSino Biologies, said in a statement.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Tuesday, September 6.
As of Tuesday morning, the world has recorded 610.9 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.5 million cases, and 6.5 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 588.5 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 1.1 million.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Tuesday is 15,966,231, a decrease of 608,000. Out of that figure, 99.7%, or 15,924,236, are considered mild, and 0.3%, or 41,995, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 24 hours.
The United States reported 16,508 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday for the previous day, compared to 5,823 on Monday, 7,437 on Sunday, 88,353 on Saturday, and 108,660 on Friday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The 7-day incidence rate is now 71,201. 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 80,230, an 8%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 489, an increase of 7% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 35,769, an 11% decrease.
In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Saturday, recorded over 96.6 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 528,030.
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, 34.59 million, although Brazil has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 684,503, and has recorded 34.53 million cases, placing it in the number four slot.
Germany is in the number five slot with 32.3 million cases.
The other three countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are South Korea, with 23.7 million cases, moving into the number six position on Tuesday, the United Kingdom, with 23.52 million cases, placing it in the number seven slot, and Italy, with over 21.9 million, as number eight.
Meanwhile, Russia, with 19.8 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 this past Thursday, 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 Thursdays 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 Saturday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 12.61 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 4.85 million doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 21% 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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