More than 100 million COVID-19 cases have now been recorded worldwide, an AFP tally on Tuesday found, as US President Joe Biden pledged to ramp up the US’ struggling vaccine program.
The number of cases, compiled from data provided by national health agencies, represents just a fraction of the real infections, as the COVID-19 pandemic has spread around the globe.
The US, which has passed 26 million confirmed cases, remains the country with the largest outbreak, and the largest death toll of more than 435,000.
Photo: Bloomberg
Biden is seeking to turn the fight against the virus around, which took a ferocious grip on the country during former US president Donald Trump’s tenure.
Biden said that vaccinating the entire US population was a daunting challenge, and the program inherited from the Trump administration “was in worse shape than we anticipated or expected.”
“This is a war-time undertaking. It’s not hyperbole,” he said, announcing that the US is buying an additional 200 million doses and would have enough to vaccinate 300 million Americans — virtually the entire population — by early fall.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong has begun using “ambush lockdowns” to suddenly close off and test everyone inside neighborhoods where COVID-19 cases have spiked.
Police cordoned off a row of densely packed tenement buildings in the Yau Ma Tei area overnight on Tuesday through yesterday morning to conduct mandatory tests.
The new tactic involves authorities giving no warning of an impending lockdown.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) said that such “ambush style” lockdowns are needed to ensure people do not flee before testers move in.
“I thank residents in the restricted area for their cooperation,” she wrote on Facebook yesterday as the lockdown was lifted.
Tuesday night’s operation was small.
About 330 tests were conducted in 20 buildings, with one COVID-19 case found, but authorities say further ambush lockdowns might be necessary in the days ahead.
In another day of grim milestones, Britain passed 100,000 COVID-19 deaths, and other European nations looked to tighten their borders, hoping to keep out new, more transmissible virus strains.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that it was “hard to compute” the loss felt by British families.
Yet he said that his government, which faced criticism over its initial response to the outbreak, “did everything that we could to minimize suffering and minimize loss of life.”
British citizens returning home from roughly 30 countries deemed at “high risk” from new coronavirus variants could soon have to quarantine in hotels, reports said yesterday.
Beefed-up rules would require the travelers to stay in hotels near airports for 10 days, the Times and BBC said.
Non-UK arrivals from the targeted destinations — which include Cape Verde, Portugal, and South Africa and South America — are already barred following the discovery of two virus variants in Brazil and South Africa.
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