Coronavirus digest: Argentina announces strict lockdown
May 21, 2021
Argentina has tightened coronavirus curbs for the first time this year after reporting record high COVID-19 infections and deaths over the past week.
The strict "circuit-breaker" measures were announced on Thursday as more than 35,000 cases were reported for the third consecutive day.
"We are living the worst moment since the pandemic began," President Alberto Fernandez said. "Today as never before we must all take care of ourselves to avoid all the losses that we can."
The restrictions will come into effect on Saturday and are scheduled to last until May 31.
All educational institutions and nonessential businesses will be shut, while social, religious and sporting activities will be suspended.
The stricter measures come amid the acceleration of a previously slow vaccine rollout.
Only 4.7% of Argentina's 45 million people have been fully vaccinatedwhile 18.4% have received at least one jab, according to Reuters.
Here's the latest on coronavirus from around the world.
Americas
United States President Joe Biden on Thursday signed a hate crimes law aimed at protecting Asian-Amercans who have been subjected to increased racial attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Too many Asian-Americans have been waking up this past year genuinely fearing for their safety, just opening their door and walking down the street," Biden said, adding that the community had been made a "scapegoat."
In a positive sign for its rebounding economy, the US saw a dip in the number of people seeking unemployment benefits last week. The development comes at a time when Republican-led states are looking to cut a federal benefit for the unemployed.
The US has reported a steady decline in jobless claims in five of the past six weeks, while last week the number fell to 444,000 — a new pandemic low, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
Mexico has received nearly 1.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the US, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Thursday.
The doses arrived after President Biden said earlier this week that he planned to ship at total of 60 million AstraZeneca vaccines to other countries.
The US had sent 2.7 million shots of the same vaccine to Mexico in March.
Europe
European Union citizens should soon be able to travel freely across the bloc without having to worry about quarantine. EU legislators and member nations on Thursday found a compromise for launching coronavirus certificates before the summer holiday peak.
A system of trans-border travel passes should be up and running by July 1, officials said.
The United Kingdom and the World Health Organization (WHO) will work together to develop a "pandemic radar" system that identifies new coronavirus variants quickly and tracks emerging diseases globally to ensure the world is never "caught unawares again."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office said the system would include a network of surveillance hubs that could watch out for outbreaks and share data on variants and vaccine resistance.
In France, the Eiffel Tower is set to emerge from its longest closure since World War II. The Paris landmark will reopen on July 16 after being closed for several months due to the pandemic.
The number of visitors per day will be capped at 10,000 while only 50% of the usual number will be allowed in the elevators.
Germany reported 8,769 new COVID-19 infections and 225 more deaths, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases released on Friday.
The country has registered a total of 3,635,162 cases and 87,128 deaths.
Hungary will ease most of its remaining coronavirus restrictions as soon as the number of vaccinations reach the 5 million mark, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.
He added that masks would no longer be needed in public spaces and open-air gatherings of up to 500 people would be allowed.
Asia-Pacific
South Korea approved Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine on Friday as the country ramps up its vaccine rollout, drug safety minister Kim Gang-lip told the media.
The decision comes after two of three expert panels recommended granting approval for the two-dose vaccine.
As part of China's global campaign to vaccinate its nationals living and working abroad, Chinese citizens living in Thailand have started getting the jab.
China had recently donated 500,000 vaccine doses to Thailand and the country agreed in turn to vaccinate Chinese nationals as it slowly begins rolling outvaccines for its own citizens.
A little more than 2% of Thailand's 70 million people have received a first vaccine jab while about 1% have received a second.
In total, China has supplied 6 million doses to the country, most of which were purchased by Thailand.
Thailand on Friday reported its first 15 cases of the highly virulent COVID-19 variant first found in India.
The cases were detected among construction workers in Bangkok, the country's coronavirus taskforce said.
India on Friday reported 4,209 new coronavirus-related fatalities and 259,591 cases of infections.
Some doctors in India say that a panic use of steroids to fight the coronavirus has caused an explosion of the rare fungal disease. "Black fungus" kills more than 50% of patients within days.
Authorities in Bangladesh imposed a lockdown in five Rohingya refugee camps in the country's southeast on Thursday, following a surge in COVID-19 infections.
The curbs ban gatherings and movement between camps. More than 100,000 Rohingya refugees reside in these camps.
Australia on Friday urged people over the age of 50 to get their COVID-19 shots, amid fears that vaccine hesitancy could steer the country towards disaster.
"I encourage those over 50 to get the jab," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, "and if you are over 70, I would very much encourage you to."
While Australia is among the few countries in the world that have eliminated community transmission of the virus, its vaccine drive has been slow.
dvv/aw (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)