According to the World Health Organization, there were approximately 4 million cases of coronavirus reported worldwide last week. This is the first significant drop in new infections for more than two months. Recent weeks have seen an estimated 4.4 million COVID-19 new cases.
The U.N.’s weekly update, released Tuesday, stated that every region saw a decrease in COVID-19 incidences compared to the previous week.
The worldwide death toll fell to 62,000 with the largest decline being in Southeast Asia. However, there was an increase of 7% in deaths in Africa. The United States, Britain, India and Iran had the highest number of cases. In addition, the highly contagious delta variant was reported in 180 countries.
WHO stated that children and teens continue to be less affected than adults by COVID-19, and added that the number of deaths from the disease in under-24-year-olds is 0.5%.
PARIS — French health care workers could lose their jobs if they are not vaccinated against COVID-19. Some hospitals are worried about staff shortages as there are still 300,000.
French emergency workers, medical staff, and home care workers now have to be vaccinated. Wednesday is the deadline. If they fail to do so, their pay could be suspended or stopped from working. However, a high court has prohibited staff from being fired.
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PHNOM PENH — Friday, Cambodia will begin giving COVID-19 vaccines to children aged 6 to 11 years.
Prime Minister Hun Sen stated Wednesday that the government was taking steps to ensure children can return to school safely after long periods of absence because of the coronavirus pandemic.
He posted a Facebook message to the chiefs of provinces and municipalities, saying that more than 1.8million children are expected to receive their jabs as part of the program. The vaccine will be made in China.
He said that he would consider vaccinating children aged 3-5 years soon.
