The global tally for confirmed cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 climbed above 109.5 million on Friday, according to Jon Hopkins University while the death toll rose above 2.42 million.
- Pakistan is committed to regional cooperation to meet transnational challenges, said Special Assistant to Pakistan Prime Minister, Faisal Sultan, a day after attending an India-led workshop on COVID-19 management. Taking to Twitter, Sultan said he participated in the workshop held on Thursday during which the participating countries shared their best practices and learned about regional best practices. “Pakistan took part the in the SAARC wkshp on COVID-19 experiences.
- Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the company expects to double its rollout of coronavirus vaccines to 10 million a week over the next two weeks as US President Joe Biden pledged enough supply of doses to immunize all Americans by July.
- With 24,116 new infections confirmed in the last 24 hours, France has counted an accumulative total of 3,560,764 COVID-19 cases as of Friday, according to data from the French Public Health Agency.
- Brazil registered 51,050 new COVID-19 infections and 1,308 deaths from the disease in the past 24 hours, raising the national counts to 10,081,676 and 244,765 respectively, the Health Ministry said Friday.
- Bangladesh reported 406 new COVID-19 cases and eight deaths on Friday taking the tally to 542,674 and death toll to 8,337, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said. The official data showed that 14,232 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh. The total number of recovered patients in the country stood at 490,468 including 536 more recoveries on Friday, said the DGHS.
- Malaysia reported 2,936 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the national total to 277,811, the health ministry said on Friday. Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that 17 of the new cases are imported and 2,919 are local transmissions. Another 13 deaths have been reported, pushing the death toll to 1,043.
- The Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines reported on Friday 1,901 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the Southeast Asian country’s total tally to 557,058.
- Thailand on Friday reported 130 new COVID-19 infections and one more death, according to the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA). Of the new cases, 116 were domestic infections and 14 others referred to imported cases, CCSA spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangsan said. Those domestic cases included 71 in Samut Sakhon, seven in Bangkok and 38 in other provinces, the spokeswoman said.
- World Health Organization (WHO) experts investigating the pandemic’s origins suggest that ferret badgers and rabbits, which were sold at a Wuhan market in China, could have played a role in spreading the novel coronavirus to humans, The Wall Street Journal reported.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said there is a need to look at our consumption patterns, and how the world can reduce their ecological impact, adding that Circular Economy can be a key step in solving many of our challenges in this regard. Addressing a valedictory function of India-Australia Circular Economy Hackathon (I-ACE), Prime Minister Modi said, “I have full confidence in the energy, creativity and out of box thinking of our youths. They can offer a sustainable and holistic solution, not just to our two countries but to the whole world. The strong India and Australia partnership will play an important role in shaping the post-COVID world,” Noting the importance of the Circular Economy, PM Modi said, “Recycling and reusing things, eliminating waste, and improving resource efficiency must become part of our lifestyles.”
(With ANI inputs)