Coronavirus: What’s happening around the world on Wednesday

The UN health agency said that after a “steady decline for over two months” the number of weekly deaths reported was “similar to the previous week, with almost 57,000 deaths reported. 

Health officials noted in the report that the highest increases in COVID-19 cases were in the western Pacific and European regions. In the past week, WHO says the highest coronavirus infections were in Indonesia, Britain, Brazil, India and the U.S.

“At this rate, it is expected that the cumulative number of cases reported globally could exceed 200 million in the next three weeks,” the WHO said.

The report said the increased transmission of the virus is driven by new variants, the relaxation of COVID-19 protocols and the large number of people still susceptible to the coronavirus, despite rising vaccination rates in some countries.

The more transmissible delta variant, which was first reported in India, has now been identified in 124 countries, the weekly report said, an increase of 13 countries.

WHO has urged countries to commit to vaccinating at least 40 per cent of every country’s population by the end of the year.

Of the more than three billion vaccine doses administered globally, only about one per cent have gone to people in poorer nations.

COVID-19 in Tokyo

Tokyo’s COVID-19 infections hit a six-month high on Wednesday with the Olympic host city logging 1,832 new cases just two days before the Games open.

Tokyo is currently under its fourth state of emergency, which will last until Aug. 22. It covers the entire duration of the Olympics, which start Friday and end Aug. 8. Fans are banned from all venues in the Tokyo area, with limited audiences at few outlying sites.

“What we have worried about is now actually happening,” Japan Medical Association president Dr. Toshio Nakagawa said at a weekly news conference. “The surge in cases has been expected whether we have the Olympics or not, and we are afraid that there will be an explosive increase in cases regardless of the Olympics.”

WATCH | Concern grows as cases spike ahead of Olympics:

Concern is growing in Tokyo as COVID-19 cases spike ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games, set to begin Friday. There have been more than 70 infections linked to those involved with the Games. 1:43

Experts noted that cases among younger, unvaccinated people are sharply rising as Japan’s inoculation drive loses steam due to supply uncertainty. Many of the serious cases are those in their 50s.

Japan’s vaccinations began late and slowly, but the pace picked up dramatically in May for several weeks as the supply of imported jabs stabilized, and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s government desperately pushed to accelerate the drive before the Olympics.

About 23 per cent of Japanese are fully vaccinated, still far short of the levels believed to have any meaningful impact to reduce risks in the general population.

Japan has had about 848,000 infections and more than 15,000 deaths since the pandemic began, most of them since the latest wave in January.

Experts on Wednesday warned that Tokyo’s infections would only worsen in coming weeks. Dr. Norio Ohmagari, the Tokyo metropolitan government’s expert panel member, said that Tokyo’s average daily cases could hit about 2,600 in two weeks if they continue at the current pace.

What’s happening around the world

As of Wednesday, more than 191.7 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to a database maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The reported global death toll stood at more than 4.1 million.

In Asia-Pacific, more than half of Australia is locked down because of growing COVID-19 clusters. Amid limited supply of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and a surging delta variant, prompting Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he’s urging the government’s adviser on vaccines to loosen elibiglity for the the AstraZeneca-Oxford shot.

In the Americas, COVID-19 cases tripled in the U.S. over two weeks. Health officials blame the delta variant and flattening vaccination rates, the latter of which Dr. Anthony Fauci — director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — blamed on politics and misinformation.

In Africa, a South African firm will begin producing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first time the shot will be produced in Africa, Pfizer announced Wednesday. The Biovac Institute based in Cape Town will manufacture the vaccine for distribution across Africa, a move that should help address the continent’s desperate need for more vaccine doses amid a recent surge of cases.

In Europe, a total of 33.6 million Russians — or 23 per cent of the country’s population — have received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, according to Russia’s deputy prime minister. Faced with the soaring infections and deaths, officials in more than 30 Russian regions made vaccinations mandatory for certain groups, such as those employed in health care, education, public transportation or the services sector.