New Delhi: The Covid-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the world. The latest count is more than 16,58,66,568 cases and 34,45,199 deaths.
While Nepal struggles with Covid beds and oxygen, cases in Turkey have started to drop for the first time since March. A study has found that severe Covid patients are dying more in Africa than any other country.
ThePrint brings you some stories from around the world on the pandemic to keep you updated.
Severe Covid-19 patients dying more in Africa
Ac cording to a report published in The Lancet, people affected from severe Covid in Africa are more likely to die from the disease, The New York Times reported.
The study, based on data from 64 hospitals in 10 African countries, found that among 3,077 critically ill patients admitted to the African hospitals, 48.2 per cent died within 30 days, compared with a global average of 31.5 per cent.
The study refers to inadequate treatment for critically ill patients as a reason for higher deaths. Others include a lack of resources such as capacity in intensive care units, equipment to measure patients’ oxygen levels, dialysis machines, etc.
Nepal struggles with new Covid wave, beds run out
The second wave of the pandemic has overwhelmed the health infrastructure in Nepal as the country runs out of beds and two patients are sharing one bed in hospitals of its capital Kathmandu, Al Jazeera reports.
Health experts and frontline workers in Nepal have described the situation as “near-apocalyptic” as they face shortages of hospital beds and oxygen.
With just over 21,000 tests on 19 May, Nepal recorded 8,173 cases and 246 deaths, the highest number recorded since the pandemic broke out last year.
Nepal has recorded 4,88,645 cases so far, and seen 5,847 deaths due to the pandemic.
Unused vaccines pile up in Sydney
Thousands of AstraZeneca vaccine doses are sitting unused in government-run clinic refrigerators across Sydney with a lack of demand indicating that some vaccination sites are operating at less than a quarter of capacity, Sydney Morning Herald reports.
According to the report, roughly 3,000 AstraZeneca doses have piled up as the doctors struggle to fill 50 appointments a day. The fear of a very rare blood clot syndrome, confusion and complacency is keeping people away from vaccination, it said.
Australia has recorded 21 confirmed and three probable cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine among the 2.1 million doses administered.
Australia has recorded 29,999 cases and 910 deaths due to the virus so far.
Cases plunge in Turkey
With daily coronavirus infections decreasing by more than 75 per cent — a plunge from record highs in April when the daily case count reached up to 63,000 — Turkey is now on the verge of easing many of the restrictions it introduced to control the pandemic, The Daily Sabah reports.
Daily infections are on the brink of dropping below 10,000 for the first time since early March. However, experts are warning vigilance against the virus. According to a member of Turkey’s Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board, people will need to keep their guard up and continue to wear masks while socially distancing, even if they are fully vaccinated.
Turkey had reported 51,60,423 cases, the fifth highest in the world, with 45,626 deaths.
EU to open doors for vaccinated foreigners
European Union countries have agreed to ease Covid-19 travel restrictions on non-EU visitors ahead of the summer tourist season, Reuters reports.
Ambassadors from the 27 EU countries approved a proposal from 3 May to loosen the criteria to determine “safe” countries and to let in fully vaccinated tourists from elsewhere. However, one EU diplomat said cases of the Indian variant in Britain would need to be taken into account. Under the current restrictions, non-vaccinated people of only seven countries, including Australia, Israel and Singapore, can enter the EU on holiday.
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