Health News Roundup: Asian nations impose stricter COVID-19 restrictions due to Delta outbreaks; Recent COVID outbreak in China's Nanjing linked to flight from Russia - official and more

Tokyo, already under its fourth state of emergency since the pandemic began, announced 3,300 new daily cases, after a record 3,865 on Thursday. Vietnam taps private hospitals as Delta-driven COVID-19 infections rise Vietnam's health ministry issued an urgent appeal on Friday for private hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients as the Southeast Asian country battles a surge in infections driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.


Reuters | Updated: 30-07-2021 19:16 IST | Created: 30-07-2021 18:41 IST
Health News Roundup: Asian nations impose stricter COVID-19 restrictions due to Delta outbreaks; Recent COVID outbreak in China's Nanjing linked to flight from Russia - official and more
Representative image Image Credit: ANI

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Asian nations impose stricter COVID-19 restrictions due to Delta outbreaks

Asian countries from Australia to Japan and the Philippines announced tighter COVID-19 restrictions on Friday, as they battle worsening coronavirus outbreaks, driven by the more contagious Delta variant. Detected in some 96 countries, the Delta variant, first identified in India, has become a concern globally, prompting even countries with advanced vaccination programs such as the United States, Israel, and Singapore to re-impose some restrictions.

Recent COVID outbreak in China's Nanjing linked to flight from Russia - official

China's eastern city of Nanjing reported 13 new domestically transmitted COVID-19 patients for July 29, bringing the total to 184 since July 20, as the country's latest major outbreak caused by the more contagious Delta variant persists. Gene sequencing results of 52 cases linked to the outbreak showed they have all contracted the Delta strain, Ding Jie, deputy director at the city's center for disease control and prevention, said at a news briefing on Friday.

Cyprus to vaccinate 12-15 year olds against COVID-19

Cyprus on Friday said children aged 12 to 15 would be included in a mass inoculation program to curb the spread of COVID-19, as it tightened regulations for access to public areas. The island has been experiencing an aggressive spike caused by the highly infectious Delta variant of the virus which started manifesting in mid-June. Cyprus has recorded 416 deaths from the coronavirus since March 2020 and 100,784 infections.

Australian soldiers to help with virus checks as PM sets plan to freedom

Australian soldiers will help to enforce coronavirus isolation orders in the hard-hit city of Sydney, police said on Friday, as resentment seethed in some communities over new curbs to stem the highly contagious Delta variant. Prime Minister Scott Morrison held out hope of better times with a four-stage plan back to freedom but said 80% of adults would have to be vaccinated before the border can begin to open.

U.S. CDC internal report says Delta variant as contagious as chickenpox - report

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has described the Delta variant of the coronavirus as being as transmissible as chickenpox and cautioned it could cause severe disease, the Washington Post said, citing an internal CDC document. The variant was also more likely to break through protections afforded by the vaccines, but the health authority said such incidents were very rare, the CDC report posted on the Washington Post website showed. https://bit.ly/3778gY7

Kenya suspends in-person meetings to curb COVID-19 spread

Kenya's health minister said on Friday the government had suspended all in-person meetings and public gatherings to try to contain COVID-19, whose spread in the country he now attributes to the more infectious Delta variant. Mutahi Kagwe said in a televised address that the government had asked public and private-sector employers to allow their workers to work from home unless they were classified as essential services.

Israel's president gets third COVID-19 shot, urges boosters for over-60s

Israeli President Isaac Herzog received the third shot of the coronavirus vaccine on Friday, kicking off a campaign to give booster doses to people aged over 60 as part of efforts to slow the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. Herzog, 60, received a booster dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv.

Japan expands state of emergency as COVID-19 surge shadows Olympics

Japan said on Friday it will expand states of emergency to three prefectures near Olympic host Tokyo and the western prefecture of Osaka, as COVID-19 cases spike in the capital and around the country, overshadowing the Summer Games. Tokyo, already under its fourth state of emergency since the pandemic began, announced 3,300 new daily cases, after a record 3,865 on Thursday.

Vietnam taps private hospitals as Delta-driven COVID-19 infections rise

Vietnam's health ministry issued an urgent appeal on Friday for private hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients as the Southeast Asian country battles a surge in infections driven by the highly contagious Delta variant. After successfully containing the virus for much of the pandemic, Vietnam has been facing record daily increases in infections since late April. It has detected a total of 137,000 cases, 85% of which were recorded over the past month.

England's COVID-19 prevalence rises but increase may be slowing, ONS says

The prevalence of COVID-19 infections in England is estimated to have risen to 1 in 65 people in the week to July 24, Britain's Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Friday, adding the rate of increase might have slowed. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has lifted the last COVID restrictions in England in spite of the predominance of the highly transmissible Delta variant which concerns scientists globally.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Give Feedback