Australia's east coast continues to tackle delta outbreak

Australia's three most populous states — New South Wales (NSW), Victoria and Queensland — recorded a total of 282 new locally transmitted cases of infections on Sunday as authorities continue to battle outbreaks of the delta variant. 

"I urge everybody to please stick to the rules, the health advice, and only leave home if you absolutely have to," NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

NSW saw 262 new cases, lower than the pandemic high of 319 reported on Saturday.

Over 5 million people in the Sydney region along the coastline have been under a lockdown for six weeks now. 

Victoria reported 11 new COVID-19 cases that were locally acquired and Queensland saw nine cases of infections. 

While Victoria remains under a stringent lockdown imposed earlier in the week, parts of Queensland were due to come out of a lockdown on Sunday. However, a new three-day lockdown was imposed on the Queensland city of Cairns after a report of a case with unknown origin.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the country's pharmaceutical regulator has granted provisional approval to Moderna’s vaccine. In May the country agreed it would buy 25-million doses. The first 1-million doses will arrive in September.

Asia

Chinese authorities finished testing the more than 11 million residents of the city of Wuhan on Sunday. Some 28,000 health workers recorded 37 locally transmitted cases and 41 asymptomatic carriers.

The large-scale coronavirus testing campaign began on Tuesday after locally transmitted cases were detected, breaking a yearlong clean streak. Wuhan was the city where the first cases of COVID-19 were recorded.

The Philippines has reported 9,671 new coronavirus cases and 287 additional deaths. It is the biggest single-day rise in the Southeast Asian country’s death toll since April 9.

Officials said the total number of confirmed infections had risen to 1.66 million, while the death toll had climbed to 29,122.

Malaysia is to start rolling back some COVID-19 restrictions for fully vaccinated people in eight states across the country.

Criteria include reduced case numbers and higher vaccination rates, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Sunday.

The changes, which kick in on Tuesday, will bring back dining in at restaurants, outdoor individual sports and some interstate tourism.

Kuala Lumpur, the capital, and its surrounding area is not among those regions affected.

Olympics organizers in Japan registered 26 new coronavirus cases on the final day of the Tokyo Games, as per Sunday’s daily report.

The total case tally linked to the event now stands at 430. 

Five members of the foreign media were among the new positive cases.

Others who contracted the infection in the Olympic bubble, in the Sunday figures, included voluntary helpers and staff from the organizing committee. 

Bangladesh announced its monthlong coronavirus restrictions would end on Wednesday. The government will allow offices and shops to reopen as well as the restarting of public transport. The country went into lockdown on July 1 amid surging cases.

Europe

Nearly a quarter of a million people hit the streets across France for the biggest protests yet against a COVID-19 health pass required to enter a cafe, museum, sports center or travel on an inter-city train.

The protests took place on Saturday, two days before the new rules are scheduled to be applied.

Pushed by President Emmanuel Macron, the regulations make it obligatory to have either a full course of COVID-19 vaccination, a negative test or a recent recovery from the virus to partake in routine activities.

France's Health Minister Olivier Veran made an appeal for doctors and nurses to join a vaccination drive in the overseas territories of Guadalupe and Martinique.

Hospitals on the two Caribbean islands have been overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases and only 21% of the population has received at least one vaccine. The first medical staff would fly out on Tuesday, the minister said.

Germany on Sunday reported 3,127 new cases of coronavirus, taking the total tally to 3,790,766.

The total deaths increased by four and now stands at 91,782, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases. 

A group of Berlin nightclubs announced they had successfully carried out a pilot project over the weekend which saw people return to the world famous party scene for the first time in 18 months.

The people who snapped up the 2,000 tickets to the six clubs had to take a PCR test beforehand and could take part regardless if they had been vaccinated or not. They were then allowed to dance unmasked, something which is otherwise currently banned in Germany.

Germany’s Federal Justice Minister Christina Lambrecht has called for an end to free Corona tests. Speaking to RBB-Inforadio Lambrecht said everyone has the offer of vaccination but, “if I decide myself not to accept this offer, then I must also bear the consequences and cannot expect that then the general public pays for these tests.”

Lambrecht also spoke out about against excluding unvaccinated people from society.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has faced criticism from the press after it emerged he had failed to respect quarantine rules after a trip to France.

The top UK diplomat then met Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth's sister, at a maskless reception two days later.

But the government brushed off the reports, insisting no rules had been broken.

"He’s the foreign secretary. It's his job to represent the UK abroad," a foreign ministry spokesperson said.

Middle East

Saudi Arabia will begin receiving requests for the umrah pilgrimage from foreign nations for vaccinated worshipers starting August 9, the state news agency said on Sunday.

The move comes almost one-and-a-half years after a border closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Saudi Arabia has also said it will pay half a million riyals ($133,000, €113,000) to the families of health workers who died during the coronavirus pandemic, including non-Saudi workers and those who worked in private healthcare.

The kingdom recorded a total of 8,320 coronavirus deaths and almost 533,000 confirmed cases. It has not said how many of the deaths were health workers.

Israel has brought back indoor mask wearing after a spike in cases that has been blamed on the delta variant that was first discovered in India.

The number of new daily coronavirus infections are currently averaging over 3,000. April was the last time when case numbers were so high.

Israeli health officials have started administering third 'booster' shots to the over-60s. They also opened 120 new rapid testing centers across the country with the hope of preventing the need to return to lockdown.

Iran broke its records for both daily coronavirus infections and daily deaths on Sunday. Health authorities logged more than 39,600 new cases and reported 542 new deaths, bringing the total death toll to over 94,000.

The last peak was recorded in November. Iran has seen a recent surge in cases as the highly contagious delta variant runs rampage through the country.

Africa

Tunisia launched a 24-hour vaccination drive on Sunday with the aim of giving shots to over 1 million people aged 40 and above. The country has recently received several million doses from the US, France and Italy among others.

The government provided free buses to bring people to the vaccination centers. President Kais Saied, who recently removed Tunisia's prime minister and suspended parliament, called on people to take the shot.

ab, jf, dvv/aw (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)