A health worker prepares a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V to administer to a beneficiary at a hospital in Kochi. (PTI photo)Coronavirus Third Wave India Live Update, Coronavirus Statistics India Live News: India on Wednesday recorded a huge jump in daily coronavirus caseload as well as Covid fatalities with several states adding backlog numbers. The latest health ministry bulletin says that India recorded 42,015 new Covid-19 infections. This is a sharp jump of around 40 per cent. In terms of Covid fatalities also, India registered the biggest spike seen this month with 3,998 corona deaths. The spike has been attributed to Maharashtra adding the backlog figures. The silent surge of backlog data shows that India has still not been able to see the enormity of the pandemic destruction.
Other Covid parameters such as positivity rate and recovery rate show the decline of the second wave of coronavirus infections. While the national recovery rate stands at 97.36 per cent, 4,07,170 active cases have been registered by the health officials, the morning bulletin said. The national positivity rate stands at 2.09 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Narendra Modi government has issued a fresh travel advisory for people. The advisory comes after the Sero Survey said that around 70 per cent of the Indians have been found with Covid anti-bodies. The new guideline says that one should travel only if absolutely necessary. And only those who have got both doses of the Covid vaccine should opt for travel if the situation demands it. This clearly shows that full vaccination is necessary to lessen the chances of any viral infection.
In related news, the latest study by the Center for Global Development based in the United States says that as opposed to the official figure recorded by the Narendra Modi government, India’s real pandemic death toll is ten times higher. Around five million or 50 lakh more people died till June 2021. This coincides with the peak of the second wave in India. This is the first time that any study has exposed the extent of the second wave horror. From swollen Ganga to round-the-clock pyres at crematorium grounds and non-stop burials, India witnessed an unprecedented health crisis. Arvind Subramanian, one of the co-authors of the study, says that instead of absolute numbers, the study is trying the bring out the sheer magnitude of the human disaster.
Here are the top, verified Covid updates from India and across the world:
Highlights
More than 2.88 crore balance COVID-19 vaccine doses are currently available with states, UTs and private hospitals, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday. More than 43.25 crore (43,25,17,330) vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far through all sources and a further 53,38,210 doses are in the pipeline. Of this, the total consumption including wastage is 40,36,44,231 doses, the ministry said citing data available at 8 AM on Wednesday. More than 2.88 crore (2,88,73,099) balance and unutilised COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs and private hospitals to be administered, it stated. The Union Government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country, the ministry said. (PTI)
Tokyo's COVID-19 infections surged to a six-month high Wednesday with the Olympic host city logging 1,832 new cases just two days before the Games open. Tokyo is currently under its fourth state of emergency, which will last until Aug. 22, covering the entire duration of the Olympics that start Friday and end Aug. 8. Fans are banned from all venues in the Tokyo area, with limited audiences at few outlying sites. "What we have worried about is now actually happening," Japan Medical Association President Toshio Nakagawa said at a weekly news conference. "The surge in cases has been expected whether we have the Olympics or not, and we are afraid that there will be an explosive increase in cases regardless of the Olympics." Experts noted that cases among younger, unvaccinated people are sharply rising as Japan's inoculation drive loses steam due to supply uncertainty. Many of the serious cases are those in their 50s. Japan's vaccinations began late and slowly, but the pace picked up dramatically in May for several weeks as the supply of imported jabs stabilized and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's government desperately pushed to accelerate the drive before the Olympics. (AP)
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said there have been many deaths due to oxygen shortage in Delhi and other places across the country and it was "completely false" to say no one died for want of the life-saving gas. "If no deaths occurred due to oxygen shortage, why did hospitals move high court one after another every day? Hospitals had been saying that oxygen shortage led to deaths. The media, too, flagged this issue daily," Jain told reporters. "Television channels and newspapers reported how hospitals ran out of oxygen. It is completely false ad wrong to say that no one died due to oxygen shortage," he said. "There have been many deaths due to oxygen shortage in Delhi and many other places across the country. It was really sad and unfortunate," Jain said. The minister said the Centre did not ask for data related to such deaths but the city government had tried ascertaining the number on its own by setting up the panel. (PTI)
UK border officers have been directed to stop routinely checking whether travellers from many countries have tested negative for COVID-19, British media reported Wednesday, citing leaked government documents. While the change is designed to reduce waiting times for airport immigration checks, it has raised concerns about importing new coronavirus cases at a time when infection rates in the country are already soaring, the Guardian newspaper reported. The new policy applies to people arriving from so-called green and amber list countries, the two tiers of the government's foreign travel traffic light system which do not require arrivals to quarantine, though travellers from France have to isolate even though it is an amber country. The government declined to comment on the leak, but stressed that airlines are still required check whether passengers have tested negative for COVID-19 and have filled out a passenger locator form before they board aircraft, the Guardian reported. (AP)
Global buyout major KKR on Wednesday said it has contributed Rs 30.5 crore for COVID relief in the country. The firm established a 'KKR Relief Fund' last year and over the past 15 months offered assistance on a variety of medical and humanitarian programmes, as per an official statement. The contributions include an unspecified donation to the PM-CARES Fund which was termed as a part of "the government of India's national effort to fight COVID-19 and help the fellow citizens affected by this health crisis". It also included funding for oxygen concentrators arranged by the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, contributions to the non-profit ACT Grants India along with investee companies, long-term development assistance to International Justice Mission and Teach for India, it said. (PTI)
Australia's prime minister says he's urging the government's adviser on vaccines to change its advice against adults under age 60 taking the AstraZeneca shot. More than half the nation is locked down because of growing COVID-19 clusters. The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization last month lifted the minimum recommended age for taking AstraZeneca from 50 to 60 because of the greater risk of rare blood clots associated with the vaccine in younger people. The change followed the death in Australia of a 52-year-old. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was appealing to ATAGI to change its age advice due to the escalating risk from the more contagious delta variant. (AP)
Japanese health experts said on Wednesday there were concerns that rising COVID-19 cases in Tokyo could add to the burden on the medical system and create delays in patient care. Extra caution is needed going into a four-day holiday as vacation times have previously been linked to infection spikes, Takaji Wakita, the head of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, told reporters after a meeting of health advisors to the government. (Reuters)
Indonesia reported a record high 1,383 deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to data from the Southeast Asian country's coronavirus taskforce. The country also reported 33,772 new cases, taking Indonesia's total coronavirus caseload to nearly 3 million, with 77,000 deaths. Indonesia is currently grappling with the worst coronavirus outbreak in Asia. (Reuters)
Motorcycling's Thailand Grand Prix, scheduled to be held at the Chang International Circuit in October, has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MotoGP said on Wednesday. The race, initially set to be the 16th round of the season, had been scheduled for Oct. 15-17. "Despite the best efforts of all parties involved, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and resulting restrictions have obliged the cancellation of the event," MotoGP said in a statement, adding that it is working on a replacement race. Thailand has recorded more than 420,000 COVID-19 infections and 3,408 deaths, according to a Reuters tally. The Thai Grand Prix is the third Asian race to be cancelled due to COVID-19 following the Australian and Japanese rounds. The Finnish Grand Prix was also cancelled, with the Styrian Grand Prix added in its place. (Reuters)
Visitors need a special COVID pass to ride up the Eiffel Tower or visit French museums or movie theaters from Wednesday, the first step in a new campaign against what the government calls a "stratospheric" rise in delta variant infections. To get the pass, people must show they are either fully vaccinated, have a negative virus test or proof they recently recovered from an infection. The requirement went into effect Wednesday at cultural and tourist sites, following a government decree. President Emmanuel Macron wants to rush through legislation to mandate the pass for restaurants and many other areas of public life, as well as requiring that all health workers get a jab. The lower house of parliament starts a debate on the bill Wednesday. It has prompted resistance in some quarters, and anti-vaccination protesters are planning a demonstration Wednesday. (AP)
Newly inducted Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandavia during the monsoon Parliament session told at the Rajya Sabha that India will become the first country to develop a DNA-based Covid-19 vaccine. Referring to Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D, the world’s first plasmid DNA Covid vaccine, the minister said that it is with ‘great pride’ that Indian scientists will be the first to develop a DNA vaccine. The vaccine candidate has applied for the Drug Controller General of India’s emergency use authorisation. READ FULL STORY
Maharashtra: A Central team of experts have suggested a total lockdown in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur and Sangli. The Central team is of the concern as to why the transmission was not abating in the two districts despite a series of measures being undertaken regularly. The state health authorities have said that the report from the Central team members is still awaited. READ FULL STORY HERE
Delhi recorded 62 coronavirus cases at a positivity rate of 0.09 per cent and four fatalities, according to a health bulletin issued on Wednesday. Sixty-one patients recovered from the infection in the past 24 hours, it said. The total number of fatalities stands at 25,039, while the cumulative case tally has reached 14,35,671. As many as 14,10,066 people have either been discharged, have recovered or migrated out. The case fatality rate stands at 1.74 per cent, according to the bulletin. The number of active cases stands at 566, a minor decline from 569 cases a day ago, while the number of containment zones has declined to 403 from 406 the previous day. A total of 65,811 tests were conducted a day ago, it said. The national capital had reported five Covid fatalities and 44 cases at a positivity rate of 0.07 per cent, according to Tuesday's bulletin. (PTI)
Odisha on Wednesday recorded 69 COVID-19 fatalities, the highest so far in a single day, taking the toll to 5,241, while 1,927 new cases pushed the tally to 9,59,986, a health department official said. The coastal state currently has 19,685 active cases while as many as 9,35,007 patients, including 2,341 on Tuesday, have recovered from the highly infectious disease. Khurda district, of which the state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, alone accounted for 22 fresh fatalities, followed by Sundergarh at 10, Bargarh at seven, Angul at six, Keonjhar at five. This apart, 53 COVID-19 patients in the state have died due to comorbidities in the past, the official stated. Of the 1,927 new cases, 1,115 were from quarantine centres and the rest detected during contact tracing. Khurda registered 498 new infections, followed by Cuttack at 248, Jajpur at 123, Balasore at 111 and Puri at 103, the official said. Over 1.52 crore sample tests have been conducted so far, including 72,061 in the past 24 hours. Odisha's positivity rate stands at 6.28 per cent. (PTI)
Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine elicited weaker antibody responses against the Delta variant, based on the first published study of its effect against the more contagious version. Antibody levels in people receiving Sinopharm's BBIBP-CorV vaccine had a 1.38-fold reduction to the Delta variant versus an older version of the coronavirus first identified in Wuhan, a lab study based on samples from people in Sri Lanka showed. The study was conducted by scientists from University of Sri Jayewardenepura as well as Colombo Municipal Council in Sri Lanka, and University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The Delta variant, first found in India late last year, has since become the dominant version of the virus worldwide and is behind a recent surge in infections reported in many countries including Britain, Indonesia, the United States and South Korea. It has been detected in more than 90 nations worldwide.The vaccine from Sinopharm, formally China National Pharmaceutical Group, also showed a more pronounced 10-fold decrease in antibody levels to the Beta variant, first found in South Africa, the study, published on Monday ahead of peer review, showed. (Reuters)
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said all deaths reportedly caused due to shortage of oxygen during second wave of COVID-19 in the city will be probed if the Centre allows the Delhi government to form a panel. He also charged the Centre with trying to "hide its fault" and alleged that its "mismanagement" and change in oxygen distribution policy after April 13 caused shortage of the life-saving gas in the hospitals across the country, leading to a "disaster". In an online briefing, Sisodia accused the BJP-led Centre of not allowing the formation of a committee for probing deaths caused due to oxygen shortage during second wave of COVID-19 in Delhi. - PTI
Mizoram's COVID-19 tally surged to 29,020 as 725 more people including 138 children tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, pushing the state's tally to 29,020, a health department official said on Wednesday. The single-day positivity rate rose to 16 per cent from 10.85 per cent on Tuesday, the official said. The COVID-19 death toll in the state climbed to 126 as a 73-year-old man from Aizawl succumbed to the infection at Zoram Medical College (ZMC) on Tuesday night . Of the fresh COVID-19 cases, 111 were detected during mass testing drive held in six localities or pockets within Aizawl Municipal Corporation (AMC) area, he said. Forty-four cases were confirmed through RT-PCR test, while 647 cases were detected through Rapid Antigen Test and the remaining 34 cases were detected through TrueNat test, he said. - PTI
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said people whose relatives died due to oxygen shortage during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic should "take the Union government to court". Raut's comments came a day after the central government said in the Rajya Sabha that no deaths due to lack of oxygen were specifically reported by states and UTs during the second COVID-19 wave. Reacting to it, Raut said, “Many people have died due to oxygen shortage in several states.Those whose relatives (COVID-19 patients) died due to oxygen shortage should take the Union government to court." - PTI
The union territory of Puducherry reported 112 new coronavirus cases during the last 24 hours, logging fresh infections in three digits after two days. The 112 fresh infections took the overall tally to 1,19,935, Director of Health and Family Welfare Services S Mohan Kumar said on Wednesday. After reporting 78 and 42 cases in the last days, the daily COVID-19 numbers crossed the 100 mark again. The Puducherry region reported 85 new cases followed by Karaikal (12), Yanam (8) and Mahe (7). - PTI
Jharkhand reported 33 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, which pushed the tally to 3,46,778, a health department bulletin said on Wednesday. The COVID-19 death toll remained at 5,122 as no new fatality due to the contagion was reported in the last 24 hours, it said. Of the 33 new cases, a maximum of 8 new cases were reported from Bokaro followed by five cases from Simdega and three from Latehar. No new COVID-19 case was reported from Chatra, Dumka, Garhwa, Giridih, Godda, Gumla, Jamtara, Khunti, Koderma and Pakur. Jharkhand now has 320 active COVID-19 cases, while 3,41,336 patients have recovered from the disease including 49 during the last 24 hours, the bulletin said. - PTI
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said there have been many deaths due to oxygen shortage in Delhi and many other places across the country. "If there was no shortage of oxygen, why did hospitals move court? Hospitals and the media had been flagging oxygen shortage issues daily. Television channels showed that how hospitals were running out of the life-saving gas. It is completely false to say that no one died due to oxygen shortage. There have been many deaths due to oxygen shortage in Delhi and many other places across the country," he said. The central government on Tuesday informed the Rajya Sabha that no deaths due to lack of oxygen were specifically reported by states and UTs during the second COVID-19 wave. But there was an unprecedented surge in demand for medical oxygen during the second wave and it peaked at nearly 9,000 MT compared to 3,095 MT in the first wave following which the Centre had to step in to facilitate equitable distribution among the states, it said. - PTI
A major Taiwanese Buddhist group said on Wednesday it had signed a deal to buy 5 million doses of BioNTech SE's COVID-19 vaccine via the German firm's Chinese sales agent, bumping the island's order for the shot up to 15 million doses.The Tzu Chi Foundation said it June it was bidding to get the vaccines, and Taiwan's government said it would allow the group to negotiate on its behalf for the shot. The vaccines will be donated to the government for distribution.In a statement on its Facebook page, Tzu Chi said it had signed the deal with a Hong Kong subsidiary of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd, which has the right to sell the shot in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan."After successfully signing the vaccine procurement contract, all the purchased vaccines will be donated to the competent authority for use by the public," it added, without saying when the vaccines would arrive.Neither BioNTech nor Fosun immediately responded to requests for comment. - Reuters
Alexander tried three times over 10 days to get his first dose of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in his home town of Vladimir. Twice, supplies ran out as he was standing in the queue."People line up from 4 a.m. although the centre opens at 10 a.m.," the 33-year-old said, as he finally entered the walk-in vaccination room in the town, where gold-domed medieval churches attract crowds of tourists in normal years.A third wave of COVID-19 infections has lifted reported daily deaths in Russia to record highs in recent weeks and sluggish demand for vaccines from a wary population has finally begun to grow with a big official push to boost uptake.The switch poses a challenge for Russia, which has signed contracts to supply Sputnik V to countries around the world.With vaccination now compulsory in some Russian regions for people working in jobs involving close contact with the public such as waiters and taxi drivers, shortages have appeared. - Reuters
Arunachal Pradesh's COVID-19 tally rose to 43,804 as 476 more people tested positive for the infection, a senior health official said here on Wednesday. The COVID-19 death toll in the frontier state remained at 203 as no fresh fatality was reported in the last 24 hours, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said. The highest number of fresh cases were reported from the Capital Complex Region at 131, followed by West Kameng (40), Tawang (38), Lower Subansiri (34), Papumpare (31), East Siang (30), Upper Subansiri and Leparada at 25 each and Longding (21) . Seventeen fresh cases were also reported from Namsai, 13 from Changlang, 11 from Anjaw, 10 cases each from Siang, Upper Siang and Tirap, eight from Lower Dibang Valley, five each from Lower Siang and Kurung Kumey, four from East Kameng, three each from West Siang and Kra Daadi and two from Kamle, the official said. - PTI
Chilean Taekwondo player Fernanda Aguirre was on Wednesday ruled out of the Olympics after she tested positive for COVID-19 on arriving at the airport here, her country's olympic body said. "Fernanda Aguirre has tested positive for Covid-19 in the tests carried out on her arrival in Japan," Chile's National Olympic Committee said in a statement. Aguirre travelled to Tokyo from Uzbekistan with negative COVID report but tested positive in both the antigen and PCR tests conducted at the airport here, following which she was quarantined at a designated facility. - PTI
The Gujarat High Court has directed a hospital in Vadodara to conduct an IVF/Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) procedure for the collection of sample of a critical COVID-19 patient having slim chances of survival, after his wife expressed the desire to bear his child. The HC issued the order issued on Tuesday, considering it as an "extraordinary urgent situation". After an urgent hearing of a petition filed by the patient's wife, Justice Ashutosh J Shastri directed the Vadodara-based hospital to conduct the IVF (In vitro fertilisation)/ART procedure for the collection of his sample and keep it stored in an appropriate place as per medical advice. The petitioner wants to conceive his child through the IVF/ART technology, but the hospital was not allowing this unless she got a court order directing it to collect his sample, her lawyer Nilay Patel said. - PTI
More than 1.5 million children in 21 countries, including 1,19,000 from India, lost their primary and secondary caregivers to COVID-19 during the first 14 months of the pandemic, according to a study published in The Lancet. The study funded in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), stated that 25,500 children in India lost their mother to COVID-19 while 90,751 lost their father and 12 lost both their parents. The study estimates that 1,134,000 children lost a parent or custodial grandparent due to COVID-19. Of these, 10,42,000 children lost their mother, father or both. Most lost one, not both parents. Overall, 1,562,000 children are estimated to have experienced the death of at least one parent or a custodial or other co-residing grandparent (or other older relative), the NIH said in a media release. - PTI
President Joe Biden has said that even though the United States has seen a dramatic drop in the number of COVID-19 deaths due to its vaccination program, the country needs to remain vigilant about the Delta variant of coronavirus. Stressing the need for people to get vaccinated, he said "virtually all" of the Covid deaths and hospitalisations are among the unvaccinated. The highly contagious Delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, was first detected in India in December and is spreading quickly across the globe. In some parts of America, the Delta strain accounts for more than 80 per cent of new infections, including some Midwestern states like Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. - PTI
The COVID-19 pandemic is slamming Cuba like never before, even as the country races to roll out its homegrown vaccines - the only locally developed shots being widely used in Latin America. The island had seen far fewer infections than most other Latin American nations over the first year or so of the disease, imposing strict quarantines, isolating the infected and shutting down its tourism industry despite devastating economic consequences. But new cases have been soaring in recent weeks, with an average of about 6,000 a day being reported in the country of 11 million people. The first three weeks of July have accounted for about 1,00,000 of the nearly 3,00,000 infections recorded altogether in Cuba since the first case arrived some 16 months ago. - AP
Three million doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine donated by the United States arrived in Guatemala on Tuesday. The air shipment landed in Guatemala City, bringing to 4.5 million the number of doses that the United States has given Guatemala so far. Health Minister Amelia Flores said it was the country's biggest single shipment yet, and will allow it to vaccinate everyone over 40. Protesters in recent weeks have demanded the resignation of President Alejandro Giammattei, saying the government has mismanaged the coronavirus pandemic and botched efforts to get vaccines. here have been delays in shipments of Russia's Sputnik vaccine, even though Guatemala paid half up front. - AP
With the addition of 295 new cases of coronavirus, the infection count in Maharashtra's Thane district has gone up to 5,41,259, an official said on Wednesday. These new cases were reported on Tuesday, he said. The virus also claimed the lives of four more people, which pushed the death toll in the district to 10,924, he said. The COVID-19 mortality rate in the district stood at 2.01 per cent, he added. In neighbouring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count has gone up to 1,28,764, while the death toll has reached 3,083, another official said. - PTI
India reported on Wednesday 42,015 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, while daily deaths jumped to 3,998, their highest since June 12, health ministry data showed.India's tally of infections stands at 31.22 million, with a death toll of 418,480, the data showed. – Reuters
China reported 22 new COVID-19 cases in the mainland on July 20 versus 65 a day earlier, the country's health authority said on Wednesday.Of the new cases, 20 originated overseas, and two were local transmissions, the National Health Commission (NHC) said in its daily bulletin. All of the local cases were in the southwestern border province of Yunnan, it added.Another 23 asymptomatic coronavirus cases were detected on the mainland on July 20, including one local infection in the eastern province of Jiangsu. That compared to 19 a day earlier.China does not count asymptomatic infections as confirmed cases.The Chinese city of Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, on Wednesday urged its citizens not to leave the city unless necessary, and they will need to produce negative results of a COVID-19 test within 48 hours before departure. - Reuters
The pandemic-postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics began on Wednesday with Japanese women's softball pitcher Yukiko Ueno getting Games competition underway in what the head of the World Health Organization said was needed as "a celebration of hope".Rising COVID-19 cases in host city Tokyo have cast a shadow over the world's largest sporting event, which is taking place largely without spectators. Japan this month decided that participants would compete in empty venues to minimise health risks.WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Games should go ahead to demonstrate to the world what can be achieved with the right plan and measures."May the rays of hope from this land illuminate a new dawn for a healthy, safer and fairer world," he said, holding aloft an Olympic Games torch. - Reuters
Myanmar politician Nyan Win, a senior adviser to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, died in hospital on Tuesday after becoming infected with COVID-19 in jail, his party said, as the Southeast Asian country struggles with an exponential rise in infections.Nyan Win, 78, who had been held in Yangon's Insein prison after being arrested when the army seized power on Feb. 1, was transferred to hospital last week, the National League for Democracy (NLD) said in a statement."We promise to continue fighting for our unfinished tasks, to end the dictatorship in the country and to establish a Federal Democratic Union," the NLD statement said, offering condolences to the family of a man who had been Suu Kyi's lawyer and party spokesman. – Reuters
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 2,203 to 3,748,613, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday.The reported death toll rose by 19 to 91,416, the tally showed. - Reuters
Australia's two largest states reported sharp increases in new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a blow to hopes that lockdown restrictions would be lifted with more than half the country's population under stay-at-home orders.New South Wales (NSW) state, home to the country's most populous city Sydney, logged 110 new cases, up from 78 the day before, nearly four weeks into a lockdown of the city and surrounding areas to contain an outbreak of the virulent Delta variant.Victoria state clocked 22 new cases, from nine the day before, its biggest increase since the outbreak began this month, as it nears its second week of statewide lockdown.'Had we not gone into the lockdown a few weeks ago, the 110 number today would undoubtedly have been thousands and thousands,' said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at a televised news conference. – Reuters