Today’s Coronavirus News: Ontario Reports 177 COVID-19 Cases; Vietnam locks down the southern region; Two athletes tested positive at Tokyo Olympic Village

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The latest coronavirus news in Canada and around the world Sunday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

10:21 am: Ontario is reporting 177 more cases of COVID-19 and six more deaths, according to its latest report released Sunday morning.

Ontario has administered 134,654 doses of vaccine since its last daily update, with a total of 18,114,229 vaccines administered at 8 p.m. the night before.

According to The Star’s vaccine tracking system, 10,252,746 people in Ontario have received at least one injection. This represents approximately 78.7% of the eligible population aged 12 and over, and the equivalent of 69.6% of the total population, including those who are not yet eligible for the vaccine.

The province says 7,726,829 people have completed their vaccinations, meaning they received both doses. This represents approximately 59.3% of the eligible population aged 12 and over, and the equivalent of 52.4% of the total population, including those who are not yet eligible for the vaccine.

Locally, Health Minister Christine Elliott said 22 cases were in Toronto, 12 in Peel Region and 16 in Hamilton.

8:43 am: The Vietnamese government has put the entire southern region in a two-week lockdown starting at midnight.

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 3,000 for the third day in a row. The lockdown order includes the Mekong Delta and the metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City. There are more than 35 million people in the financial and economic center of the country. This is almost a third of the Vietnamese population.

Officials say they must act as the number of infections has reached nearly 50,000 since the outbreak re-emerged in late April after several months without any recorded cases. Ho Chi Minh City is the epicenter of the wave.

8:43 am: Advocates in Hawaii say the pandemic has underscored the importance of collecting and reporting racial data.

Honolulu City Councilor Esther Kiaʻāina said the pandemic’s toll on Pacific Islanders who are not native Hawaiians inspired her to present a resolution urging Hawaii government agencies to collect more data. specific to Pacific Islanders.

Kia’āina worked at the federal level to separate native Hawaiian data from Asian data in the 1990s. This was prompted by concerns that Native Hawaiian students were seen as over-represented in colleges when counted as Asians.

But all other Pacific Islanders have remained in one category since then.

8:43 am: Global health experts say they expected vaccine distribution to be uneven between rich and poor countries.

But no one thought it would get to this point. Less than 1% of the world‘s poorest citizens received a dose.

And experts say it could be 2023 until vaccines are widely available everywhere. This is fueling more infections and variants that could prolong the pandemic.

The African Union envoy for the acquisition of vaccines compared the inequity of distribution to a famine in which “the richest guys take over the baker”.

8:43 am: Tunisian authorities have deployed military personnel to vaccinate isolated populations as coronavirus infections multiply and hospitals struggle to cope.

The North African country is facing its worst coronavirus virus of the pandemic. The infections have forced some areas to lock down and have prompted donations of vaccines or medical aid from China, France, the United Arab Emirates and other countries.

The Tunisian government has decided to deploy armed forces to immunize people in areas with the highest infection rates and in areas with particularly low vaccination rates.

Tunisia currently has one of the highest daily per capita infection rates in the world and has reported the highest number of pandemic deaths per capita in Africa.

8:42 am: Health officials are warning that cases of COVID-19 are on the rise in Senegal as millions of people in the West African country prepare for the Tabaski holiday.

New confirmed cases rose in weeks from dozens a day to a record 738 on Friday. And the health ministry says they then nearly doubled overnight to reach 1,366 on Saturday.

President Macky Sall and his cabinet are limiting public gatherings and travel and urging the public to continue to wear masks and to frequently disinfect their hands.

Tabaski is celebrated on July 21 in Senegal and sees thousands of people come together in large family reunions to celebrate. Many health officials are worried. People flock to the markets and gather at auctions to buy sheep as the holidays approach.

8:42 am: Thousands of young people across England plan to dance the night away on Freedom Day parties starting Monday.

Nightclubs across the country are reopening for the first time in 17 months as nearly all coronavirus rules are expected to be removed. Sparkling wine and full dance floors are to be expected. But no masks or evidence of a COVID-19 vaccine, a negative test or a recent recovery from the disease.

Businesses and ravers are jubilant. But many others are deeply concerned about the UK government’s decision to move forward with the end of social distancing at a time when cases of the virus are on the rapid rise again.

Many health experts fear the government is overconfident in rolling out its vaccine.

8:41 am: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will spend 10 days self-isolating after contact with a confirmed case of coronavirus.

The announcement made by his office on Sunday overturns an earlier claim that, unlike most people, he would not be quarantined. Johnson met with Health Secretary Sajid Javid on Friday, who later tested positive for COVID-19. Contacts of positive cases usually need to self-isolate for 10 days.

Johnson’s office initially said the Prime Minister would instead take a daily coronavirus test as part of a pilot project. And the same would apply to Treasury Chief Rishi Sunak who was also contacted. But Johnson’s office later said after an uproar the pair would self-isolate and “not participate in the test pilot.”

8:41 am: New daily cases of confirmed COVID-19 infections are increasing in Italy.

Health experts say it’s clear that nationwide celebrations by Italian fans after European Championship football matches are a big factor.

Thousands of fans took to the streets of Rome on July 12 to applaud an open-top bus tour of the Italian national team, which won Euro 2020 by beating England the day before.

The number of new confirmed cases in the Lazio region which includes Rome more in the last three days. The region had the highest number of new daily cases on Saturday.

A pediatrician who advises the Italian government on anti-pandemic health measures told La Repubblica daily in an interview on Sunday that “the gatherings and the crowds have encouraged the viral circulation”.

Dr Franco Locatelli said the average age of those infected in Italy is now 28.

8:41 am: The European Union’s vaccination campaign is catching up with that of the United States.

EU officials have touted figures from Our World in Data showing that 55.6% of EU citizens have received at least one dose, compared to 55.4% in the United States. It was the first time that the EU’s figures exceeded those on the other side of the Atlantic.

Our World in Data says the United States still has a higher proportion of people who are fully vaccinated. The figures are 48 percent in the US versus 42 percent in the EU. Britain and some other countries are moving faster than either.

The EU initially took a more cautious approach to vaccines and got off to a slower start than the US

EU Markets Commissioner Thierry Breton noted that half of the vaccines manufactured in the bloc have been exported to more than 100 countries in total. But extreme global vaccine inequalities persist. Only a small fraction of vaccines reach the poorest populations in Africa and elsewhere.

8:40 am: Two foreign athletes have tested positive for Covid-19 at the Tokyo Olympic Village, the first cases reported among competitors in the village, according to a document from the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee on Sunday. The athletes were then identified as South African football players.

The games, which begin July 23, will be the first to take place without spectators as Tokyo grapples with an increase in coronavirus cases that prompted the government to declare a fourth state of emergency in the capital earlier this month. . The city reported 1,410 new infections on Saturday, the highest number since January 21. There are 55 positive cases so far linked to the Tokyo Games.

6h: South Korea sent military jets to replace all 301 crew members of a Navy destroyer on an anti-piracy mission off East Africa after nearly 70 of them have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said.

Two multi-purpose air tankers bring in the new crew and then bring 301 sailors back aboard the 4,400-ton Munmu the Great-class destroyer, Joint Chiefs of Staff and Health Ministry officials said.

They said 68 sailors have so far tested positive and test results for 200 crew members are still pending.

Fifteen sailors have been hospitalized in an African country that authorities have not named, while the others are on board the destroyer. None of the crew were vaccinated against COVID-19 when they left South Korea in early February, before the vaccination campaign began, said a Joint Chiefs of Staff requesting the anonymity by citing the rules of the department.


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