Covid-19 global developments: New York to open public schools this fall, Malta claims herd immunity and more

NEW DELHI: The Covid-19 pandemic has killed at least 3,465,398 people worldwide since the virus first emerged in December 2019, according to an AFP compilation of official data.
The US is the worst-affected country with 589,893 deaths, followed by Brazil with 444,068, India with 303,720, Mexico with 221,647 and Britain with 127,721. Here are the latest developments:
US reports lowest number of new Covid cases in nearly a year
The United States last week reported the lowest number of new COVID-19 cases in nearly a year, with new infections dropping 26% from the previous seven days to just under 180,000, according to a Reuters analysis of state and county data.
Deaths from Covid-19 fell 5% to 3,969 in the week ended May 23, the fewest deaths in a week since March 2020.
About 39% of the country's population has been fully vaccinated as of Sunday, and 49% has received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
All Italian regions become Covid-19 low risk
All Italian regions turned to "yellow" on Monday, indicating a low risk of contagion, and the lowest level of anti-Covid-19 restrictions, according to national health authorities.
Health Minister Roberto Speranza announced this last Friday following the latest monitoring report by the National Institute of Health (ISS), the Xinhua news agency reported.
During the week from May 10 to May 16, the national Covid-19 reproduction number (R number), an indicator used to determine how fast the Covid-19 is spreading, dropped to 0.78 from 0.86 registered in the previous ISS weekly survey.
Overall, the R number below 1 shows the pandemic is in a regressive phase. The coronavirus incidence rate also dropped to 66 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the week from May 10 to May 16, against 96 in the previous week.
NYC mayor: Public schools will be all in person this fall
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio promised a return to normal for the nation's largest public school system on Monday as he announced that classrooms will open for in-person instruction in September with no remote option.
"It's time for everyone to come back,'' said de Blasio, a Democrat. "It's time for us all to be together. It's time to do things the way they were meant to be done. All the kids in the classroom together getting a great education from educators who care, staff members who care."
De Blasio said the roughly 1 million students who attend traditional public schools will be in their classrooms with some version of the coronavirus protocols that have been in place in the current academic year, including mask-wearing and Covid-19 testing.
Malta has achieved herd immunity with Covid shots, says minister
Malta has vaccinated 70 per cent of its adult population with at least one Covid-19 shot, becoming the first European Union country to achieve so-called herd immunity, Health Minister Chris Fearne said on Monday.
The tiny Mediterranean island has had an average of three new virus cases each day in the past week, with the test positivity rate at a low of 0.2%. Two new cases were reported on Monday.
"Vaccines are being administered at a rate of one every five seconds," Fearne told a news conference. "Forty-two percent of the adult population has received two doses."
Vaccination is currently open to all residents of Malta over the age of 16 and Fearne said children aged 12 and over would also be inoculated once European medical authorities give the go-ahead.
India becomes third nation to record 300,000 Covid fatalities
India becomes the third nation, after the United States and Brazil, to record 300,000 Covid fatalities. The country registered 4,454 deaths in 24 hours, the second-highest daily figure so far.
Experts say the real numbers of deaths and infections, now 26.7 million, are probably much higher. The brutal second wave has been accompanied by the emergence of thousands of cases of the rare infection called mucormycosis among coronavirus patients.
Small group of countries monopolising Covid-19 vaccines: WHO
World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says it is "scandalous" that a small group of countries are monopolising Covid-19 vaccines, calling for a huge global effort to vaccinate 10 per cent of every nation's population by September.
More than 75 per cent of all Covid vaccines have gone to just 10 countries, he says at the opening of the WHO's main annual assembly.
"We are at war with a virus," he says, adding that "we need the logic and urgency of a war economy, to boost the capacity of our weapons." He said that at least 115,000 health and care workers have died from Covid since the beginning of the pandemic.
Japan opens mass vaccination centres
Japan opens its first mass vaccination centres to speed up its cautious inoculation programme with just two months until the virus-postponed Tokyo Olympics.
The two military-run centres in Tokyo and Osaka will administer thousands of shots daily, with criticism building as just two per cent of Japan's population of 125 million are fully vaccinated so far, compared with around 40 per cent in the US and 15 per cent in France.
Dogs can be trained to detect asymptomatic Covid-19 patients
New research finds that dogs can be trained to detect more than 90 per cent of Covid-19 infections even when patients are asymptomatic.
Researchers from the London School of Tropical Medicine say they hope such dogs could eventually replace the need for travellers to quarantine -- which necessarily disrupts every arrival even though the vast majority are not Covid positive.
China offers vaccines, medical experts to Taiwan
The Chinese government on Monday offered to urgently send Covid-19 vaccines and medical experts to Taiwan to help it battle a sharp rise in coronavirus infections but drew a swift and angry response from Taipei.
China and Chinese-claimed Taiwan have sparred repeatedly during the pandemic. Taipei has accused Beijing of spreading fake news and trying to limit its access to the World Health Organization (WHO), while Beijing says Taipei is trying to politicise the pandemic for political gain.
After months of relative safety from the pandemic, Taiwan is dealing with a spike in Covid-19 cases and is rapidly running out of vaccines, having only received slightly more than 700,000 to date for its more than 23 million people.
Courtroom showdown: EU takes on AstraZeneca in vaccine row
At loggerheads for months with the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company it accuses of failing to deliver the promised number of Covid-19 vaccine doses, the European Union's executive branch will try to persuade a Brussels court Wednesday that the case is urgent enough to justify ordering the company to make immediate delivery of the missing shots.
AstraZeneca's contract signed with the Commission on behalf of EU member states foresaw an initial 300 million doses for distribution among all 27 countries, with an option for a further 100 million. The doses were expected to be delivered throughout 2021. But only 30 million were sent during the first quarter.
Deliveries have increased slightly since then but, according to the Commission, the company is set to provide only 70 million doses in the second quarter. It had promised 180 million.
While the EU insists AstraZeneca has breached its contractual obligations, the company says it has fully complied with the agreement, arguing that vaccines are difficult to manufacture and it made its best effort to deliver on time.
(With inputs from agencies)