In this file photo taken on Aug 25, 2021, a man looks on as he receives a jab of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine from a healthcare worker inside the Transvaco COVID-19 vaccine train stationed at the Springs Train Station outside of Johannesburg. (PHOTO / AFP)
ROME / SANTIAGO / BUENOS AIRES /ADDIS ABABA – The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa reached 11,409,064 as of Sunday evening, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
It said South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya are among the countries with the most cases on the continent
The specialized healthcare agency of the African Union said the death toll across the continent stands at 252,067 and some 11,543,387 patients have recovered from the disease so far.
It said South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya are among the countries with the most cases on the continent.
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South Africa has recorded the most COVID-19 cases in Africa with more than 3,758,688 cases, followed by the northern African country of Morocco, with 1,164,670 cases, as of Sunday evening, the Africa CDC said.
In terms of the caseload, southern Africa is the most affected region, followed by the northern and eastern parts of the continent, while central Africa is the least affected region.
Argentina
Argentina registered 11,307 new COVID-19 infections and 198 more deaths from the disease in the last seven days, raising its total caseload to 9,072,230 and national death toll to 128,542, the Ministry of Health said Sunday in its latest report.
The South American country is experiencing a "much better" epidemiological situation thanks to people's efforts and the immunization campaign against COVID-19, said Health Minister Carla Vizzotti.
"We are in autumn, winter is coming and the number of cases is likely to increase. We need to vaccinate everyone so that they are protected and can contribute to easing the epidemiological situation," the official said.
Argentina has so far administered 98,176,900 vaccine doses, and 17,261,339 people have received a booster dose, according to the ministry's Public Vaccination Monitor.
An elderly man receives a BioNtech Pfizer COVID-19 jab as a booster, in Santiago, on Feb 7, 2022. (JAVIER TORRES / AFP)
Chile
Chile reported 1,909 COVID-19 infections and no deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing its caseload to 3,546,493 and keeping the national death toll at 57,375, the Ministry of Health said Sunday.
The South American country now has 10,739 active COVID-19 cases, with the 24-hour COVID-19 positivity rate standing at 4.04 percent nationally and 5.83 percent in the Santiago Metropolitan Region.
In the past two weeks, COVID-19 cases have decreased by 46 percent with all the country's regions seeing a decline in infections, according to the ministry.
In this file photo a bottle reading "Vaccine COVID-19" next to US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech logos is viewed on Nov 23, 2020. (JOEL SAGET / AFP)
EU
A European Medicines Agency committee on Friday recommended approving the use of Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, as a booster for adults who have previously been inoculated with other vaccines.
Some European countries are now seeing a slower uptick in new cases, or even a decline, but the region is still reporting over 1 million cases about every two days, according to the Reuters tally published on Thursday
The recommendation from Europe's drug regulator comes days after global COVID-19 cases surpassed 500 million, according to a Reuters tally, as the highly contagious BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron surges in many countries.
Some European countries are now seeing a slower uptick in new cases, or even a decline, but the region is still reporting over 1 million cases about every two days, according to the Reuters tally published on Thursday.
In the United States and the United Kingdom, Comirnaty has already been authorised as a booster following two shots of any other type of vaccine.
Some countries have also begun rolling out second boosters in certain groups, such as the immunocompromised and the elderly. In March, the EMA said that there was not yet enough data to support a recommendation on the need for a second booster shot in the general population.
Last week, Pfizer and BioNTech showed that three doses of their shot produced significant protection against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in healthy children aged five to 11. read more
Analysts have forecast sales of $33.79 billion for the vaccine in 2022, according to Refinitiv data. The two companies have already delivered more than 3.1 billion vaccine doses globally.
In this file photo taken on Oct 13, 2021,
Italian Professor Roberto Mezzanotte and a nurse nurse view the lung x-rays of a COVID-19 patient at the Casalpalocco hospital, south of Rome. (ALBERTO PIZZOLI / AFP)
Italy
Italy reported 56,263 new COVID-19 related cases on Sunday, against 70,520 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily number of deaths fell to 79 from 143.
Italy has registered 162,688 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth highest in the world. The country has reported 16.1 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 9,895 on Sunday, down from 9,914 a day earlier.
There were 34 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 43 on Saturday. The total number of intensive care patients stood at 416, up from a previous 409.
Some 326,211 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 421,533, the health ministry said.
US
Most Americans support a flexible approach to the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, with cities reimposing mask mandates when cases surge, even as a growing number are eager to get on with their lives, a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Friday found.
The results of the two-day poll illustrate the balancing act facing US officials – particularly President Joe Biden's Democrats – as they navigate a health crisis that will not go away.
Sixty-four percent of US adults – including 83 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of Republicans – said cities and states should impose mask mandates for indoor public places if there is a resurgence of COVID-19 in their area, the poll found.
At the same time, 44 percent of respondents said that Americans need to get back to normal and get on with their lives, up from 36 percent in a poll completed in early February.
