<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>South Africa&#8217;s Aspen facing poor demand for shots</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Could slash production without orders</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>WHO, Gavi say supplies for COVAX initiative already secured</li></ul>



By Promit Mukherjee and Jennifer Rigby



JOHANNESBURG/LONDON, May 9 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The World Health Organization (WHO) and its COVID-19 vaccine partner Gavi have no immediate plans to buy shots made by Aspen Pharmacare&nbsp;APNJ.J, the two bodies said, dealing a blow to Africa&#8217;s efforts to develop its own vaccine production capacity.



Aspen completed a deal in March to package, sell and distribute Johnson &amp; Johnson&#8217;s&nbsp;JNJ.N&nbsp;vaccine in what was lauded as a game-changing moment for an under-vaccinated continent frustrated by sluggish Western handouts.



But the South African company&#8217;s expectations of high demand in Africa, where just a sixth of adults are fully vaccinated, have not materialised. Its CEO warned last week it would be forced to re-purpose about half of its vaccine production capacity if orders did not pick up.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL3N2WU0ZX&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Africa&#8217;s top public health body, has called upon organisations procuring shots for the continent to prioritise sourcing from African producers.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N2WX4A6&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



However, COVAX &#8211; the global COVID-19 vaccine-sharing programme instrumental in Africa&#8217;s pandemic response &#8211; has no current plans to place orders with Aspen because of oversupply.



COVAX is backed by the WHO, the global vaccine alliance Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).



&#8220;In the case of Aspen, the current overall demand situation means we are currently not in a position to buy large quantities of vaccines,&#8221; a Gavi spokesperson said.



&#8220;However, we are in discussion to see if a collaboration would be feasible as part of expanding regional supply.&#8221;



Kate O&#8217;Brien, the WHO&#8217;s Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, said COVAX had already secured the 380 million vaccine doses required for the global programme for the second and third quarters of this year.



&#8220;COVAX &#8230; has more supply than is at present being demanded by countries, and that&#8217;s a good place to be in,&#8221; she told Reuters.



LOCAL PRODUCTION AT RISK?



As wealthy countries used their purchasing power to corner early supplies, Africa initially struggled to source COVID-19 shots, leading to calls for a boost to the continent&#8217;s vaccine production capacity.



The African Union&#8217;s goal is to produce 60% of all routine vaccines &#8211; covering everything from COVID to measles &#8211; administered in Africa locally by 2040, up from the current 1%, and several such plants are being set up.



The WHO and European Union are backing regional vaccine manufacturing initiatives. And South Africa, Senegal, Rwanda and Kenya are all seeking to establish vaccine production hubs.



Recently, however, acute shortages of COVID-19 vaccines have given way to a glut of doses as donations to COVAX and supplies from drugmakers have picked up and African governments&#8217; vaccination campaigns struggle to keep pace.



Aspen CEO Stephen Saad warned that the current lack of demand called into question the viability of local production, endangering Africa&#8217;s future vaccine security.



&#8220;There&#8217;s lives at stake here,&#8221; he told Reuters, adding that if Africa, and the rest of the world, didn&#8217;t support its capabilities the continent would remain at the back of the queue in the next pandemic.



Last year, the Biovac Institute, another South African vaccine producer, struck a deal with Pfizer&nbsp;PFE.N&nbsp;and BioNTech&nbsp;22UAy.DE&nbsp;to manufacture around 100 million doses a year of their COVID-19 vaccine for the African Union (AU). Production is due to start later this year.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N2OX0VN&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



&#8220;The lack of demand is certainly worrisome to all,&#8221; Biovac Institute CEO Morena Makhoana said. &#8220;This emphasises why we need dedicated vaccine capability so that we have entities that can go through the ups and downs of the vaccine industry.&#8221;



Ayoade Alakija, co-chair of the AU-backed African Vaccine Delivery Alliance, said it was unfair to blame purchasing organisations for the demand shortfall.



African governments, she said, were now largely responsible for a glut of vaccines, having failed to establish successful mass vaccination campaigns and ensure their countries&#8217; ability to absorb vaccine supplies.



&#8220;African political leadership &#8230; seems to have jumped from &#8216;we have no vaccines&#8217; to manufacturing vaccines, and forgotten the two steps in between,&#8221; she said.



(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby in London, Promit Mukherjee in Johannesburg and Emma Farge in Geneva; Additional reporting by Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Josephine Mason and Kirsten Donovan)

A pack of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines is seen as the country receives its first batch of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines under COVAX scheme, at the international airtport of Accra, Ghana February 24, 2021. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko

WHO, Gavi not planning COVID vaccine buys from S.Africa’s Aspen

<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>WTO seeks deal after 18-month deadlock</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>China voices an objection to proposal</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Chief hopes for deal by June ministerial</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Recasts, adds China comment, bullets</li></ul>



By Emma Farge



GENEVA, May 6 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The first World Trade Organization meeting to discuss a draft agreement to temporarily waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines went &#8220;very well&#8221;, its chair said on Friday, although some members voiced reservations.



The WTO&#8217;s 164 members on Friday discussed the &#8220;outcome document&#8221; that stems from months of negotiations between the main parties &#8211; the United States, the European Union, India and South Africa &#8211; in an effort to break an 18-month deadlock over the issue.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2WV1EH&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



&#8220;It went very well and here&#8217;s why I say that. No member rejected the outcome as completely unacceptable,&#8221; Ambassador Lansana Gberie from Sierra Leone, who chairs the council tasked with finding an agreement on the waiver, told Reuters after the closed-door meeting.



&#8220;Most said this could be developed into a negotiating text and that&#8217;s the trajectory we have to follow.&#8221;



However, two Geneva trade sources said after the meeting that some delegations had said the proposal fell short since it was too narrowly focused on vaccines, echoing criticism from some civil society groups.



And while China voiced broad support for the document it also raised an objection to some of the wording that appeared to exclude it from the waiver on the basis of its global share of vaccine exports, the two sources said.



China&#8217;s statement sent by its WTO mission in Geneva called the wording &#8220;an unreasonable and arbitrary criterion&#8221;.



The waiver idea, proposed by India and South Africa in October 2020, is supported by the majority of members of the global trade body.



But some wealthy countries including Britain and Switzerland have in the past raised objections on grounds that it could harm pharmaceutical research.



WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who has been involved in brokering the talks and wants a deal by the June ministerial conference, says an agreement would be &#8220;hugely important&#8221;.



The new draft deal, which has unresolved areas, must pass by consensus and any member of the organisation has the right to a veto.



One delegate described Friday&#8217;s meeting as the moment the deal would &#8220;float or sink&#8221;.



Privately, some delegates have said a lack of public support for the deal by the main negotiating parties has sapped confidence among other members.



(Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Edmund Blair)

106984847-16387957942021-12-05t225115z_715541588_rc2g8r9ppg6q_rtrmadp_0_health-coronavirus-usa-children

WTO meeting on COVID vaccine rights waiver went ‘very well’ -chair

JOHANNESBURG, May 5 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Africa&#8217;s top public health body urged all those purchasing COVID-19 vaccines for the continent to place orders with South Africa&#8217;s Aspen Pharmacare&nbsp;APNJ.J, saying the market was key to developing vaccine manufacturing on the continent.



The Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was doing everything it could behind the scenes to prevent a situation where Aspen closes its facility due to a lack of orders.



Aspen negotiated a licensing deal in November to package and sell Johnson &amp; Johnson&#8217;s&nbsp;JNJ.J&nbsp;COVID-19 vaccine and distribute it across Africa.



This was hailed as a game-changing moment for an under-vaccinated continent frustrated by sluggish Western handouts, but Aspen&#8217;s&nbsp;COVID-19 vaccine&nbsp;plant now risks shutting down after receiving not a single order, a company executive said on Saturday.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N2WT0CQ&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



&#8220;We have said from the very beginning of the conversation on local production that market, market, market is the key to ensuring that we have a thriving local production, manufacturing enterprise,&#8221; said Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, deputy director of the Africa CDC.



&#8220;Our message is that we need to have all those who are purchasing vaccines at the global level for African countries, they need to purchase those from African producers first,&#8221; he said at a regular media briefing.



(Reporting by James Macharia Chege and Estelle Shirbon)

Aspen_Place,_Durban_South_Africa

Africa CDC urges COVID-19 vaccine buyers to order from S.Africa’s Aspen

<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="640" height="427" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/20746213365_e408aa2865_z.jpg" alt="" data-id="412407" data-full-url="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/20746213365_e408aa2865_z.jpg" data-link="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/?attachment_id=412407" class="wp-image-412407" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/20746213365_e408aa2865_z.jpg 640w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/20746213365_e408aa2865_z-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/20746213365_e408aa2865_z-135x90.jpg 135w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></figure></li></ul><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-caption">Flickr Image: Mayor Eric Garcetti, Councilmember Joe Buscaino, Councilmember Paul Krekorian and members of the Fire Commission</figcaption></figure>



Los Angeles officials on Wednesday signaled they would vote next week to prohibit unvaccinated people from entering most businesses in the United States&#8217; second-largest city, one of the nation&#8217;s most severe crackdowns so far of the COVID-19 pandemic.



All but one of the City Council members present on Wednesday said they supported the proposed &#8220;emergency&#8221; ordinance, which would require proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, bars, shopping centers, gyms and other indoor spaces.



&#8220;I am sick and tired of yahoos going into Trader Joe&#8217;s (grocery store) refusing to wear a mask,&#8221; City Council member Paul Kerkorian said in angry remarks. &#8220;I am fed up with people who want to make this into such a politicized issue they have lost all semblance of civility in our society.&#8221;



If the proposal is approved next week, as expected, Los Angeles would join San Francisco and New York among major U.S. cities requiring proof of vaccination for indoor businesses. The new rule would take effect in November.



Political leaders across the United States, led by Democratic President Joe Biden, have ratcheted up pressure on the unvaccinated in recent weeks. Laws requiring proof of vaccinations are deeply controversial in the United States, with many Americans criticizing them as unconstitutional and authoritarian.



A majority of the Los Angeles City Council was prepared to vote in favor of the proof-of-vaccine measure on Wednesday. They were frustrated in that effort by council member Joe Buscaino, who, by withholding his vote, stood in the way of a so-called &#8220;unanimous consent.&#8221;



Buscaino said the vaccine mandate could not be enforced, citing a report by the city&#8217;s Department of Building and Safety that it was not equipped to take on such a law enforcement role.

Doctor giving a senior woman a vaccination

Los Angeles moves toward barring the unvaccinated from most businesses

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1233035258-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-411043" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1233035258-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1233035258-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1233035258-120x80.jpg 120w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1233035258-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1233035258-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1233035258-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>UKRAINE &#8211; 2021/05/21: In this photo illustration the International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen on a smartphone screen. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



WASHINGTON, Sept 21 (Reuters) &#8211; The chief economist of the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday called for coordinated action and greater accountability to ensure that the world meets a target of vaccinating 40% of people in every country against COVID-19 by the end of 2021.



India&#8217;s decision this week to resume vaccine exports was &#8220;a very important part of the solution,&#8221; but major economies also had to ratchet up vaccine deliveries to honor their pledges, Gita Gopinath told Reuters in an interview.



The pandemic has killed nearly 5 million people across the world, and the IMF has warned that highly unequal health prospects &#8211; with just 2% of people in low-income countries vaccinated to date &#8211; poses &#8220;severe risks&#8221;.



Gopinath said Group of Seven rich countries had delivered only 14% of the total vaccine doses they had promised, but increasing that to 50% would provide sufficient doses to reach the global target for 2021.



&#8220;It&#8217;s not enough to make announcements and pledges. You have to come through on it,&#8221; she said, adding that one of the biggest accomplishments of the COVID-19 summit being organized by U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday would be a more systematic way of holding countries accountable.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-imf-says-africa-urgently-needs-vaccines-to-halt-repeated-covid-waves">Read more: IMF sa<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/imf-says-africa-urgently-needs-vaccines-to-halt-repeated-covid-waves-2/">ys Africa urgently needs vaccines to halt repeated COVID waves</a></h3>



&#8220;I think (ending the pandemic) is still a solvable problem and that it can be done, as long as you can get the countries and the vaccine manufacturers to come together and deliver on these targets,&#8221; she said.



It was critical to allocate adequate supplies of vaccines, especially to African countries with big deficits, by year&#8217;s end, even if some shots did not get into people&#8217;s arms until early next year, she said.



Gopinath and IMF staff economist Ruchir Agarwal in May <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/imf-says-ending-covid-19-pandemic-possible-cost-some-50-billion-2021-05-21">released a $50 billion proposal</a> that built on efforts by the United Nations, World Health Organization and other groups to end the COVID-19 pandemic by vaccinating at least 40% of the population in all countries by the end of 2021.



The plan, subsequently endorsed by the WHO, World Trade Organization and World Bank, called for boosting that vaccination rate to at least 60% by the first half of 2022.



Biden has challenged world leaders to boost that target to 70% by the time of next year&#8217;s United Nations General Assembly. 



(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Stephen Coates)

In this photo illustration the International Monetary Fund (

IMF calls for coordinated action, accountability in COVID-19 battle

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="696" height="348" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BM-Tim-BusinessConfidenceNot-696x348-2.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-411762" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BM-Tim-BusinessConfidenceNot-696x348-2.jpg 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BM-Tim-BusinessConfidenceNot-696x348-2-300x150.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BM-Tim-BusinessConfidenceNot-696x348-2-160x80.jpg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px" /><figcaption>Photo via Flickr</figcaption></figure>



The African Development Bank (AfDB) says the corona virus pandemic has cost the world’s poorest region more than 30 million jobs and reversed a lot of the continent’s economic gains of recent years.



Bank President Akinwumi Adesina told CNBC Africa that Africa also lost between $145 and $190 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) to the virus while continental fiscal deficits ballooned to 75 percent from 60 percent before the crisis.



&#8220;The impact, everywhere you look has been very, very serious and to recover we need access to vaccines,&#8221; Adesina said, citing that the continent witnessed its worst growth rate in two decades.



Africa remains the least vaccinated region in the world with about 2.5 percent fully vaccinated to-date, against over 25 percent in Asia, 27% in South America and over 40 percent in Europe and North America.



The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization on Friday urged countries with large stocks of vaccines to share them lower income countries including those on the continent.



Adesina said Africa will need support to find the $485 billion needed to finance the recovery of African economies between this year and 2023. For its part, the Bank had availed $10 billion covid crisis response facility and a $3 billion social impact, the largest in the world.



&#8220;So we go to work with everybody from across the world to be able to raise the resources to support Africa to have the fiscal space it needs to be able to recover to recover.&#8221;



Adesina is Berlin, Germany for the Global Compact with Africa summit which is looking at ways of spurring greater macro-economic reforms in Africa as it tries to recover from the pandemic, ways to attract more private investment&nbsp; and strategies to deal with debt and try to recover some of the 20 percent drop in foreign direct investment the continent saw in 2020.



The summit brought together heads of states of some of the 12 African countries that have joined the compact and institutional partners including the AfDB. They debated ways to increase foreign direct investment and building vaccine manufacturing capacity on the continent.



They also got an update on the reforms being implemented to attract investment ways to address climate change and Africa’s debt burden.



&#8220;Africa will not be able to recover until Africans are vaccinated,&#8221; South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told the summit, a message endorsed by World Bank President David Malpass who noted that half of 54 vaccine financing programs were in Africa.



Adesina and International Fund Managing Director Katerina Georgieva said compact member nations were making greater gains than non-compact members.



&#8220;We have seen a lot of improvement in public private partnerships and in the cost and ease of doing business but also in terms of the companies that are investing in a lot of African countries.&#8220;

BM-Tim-BusinessConfidenceNot-696×348

Covid-19 has cost 30 million African jobs, African Development Bank says

Back to school — But is it back to learning?

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GettyImages-1232982978-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-410375" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GettyImages-1232982978-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GettyImages-1232982978-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GettyImages-1232982978-120x80.jpg 120w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GettyImages-1232982978-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GettyImages-1232982978-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GettyImages-1232982978-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), listens during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. Any mandates in the U.S. to require people to be vaccinated against Covid-19 will be set at the local level by companies and institutions such as colleges, the CDC said this week. Photographer: Greg Nash/The Hill/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



The delta COVID variant is one of the most infectious respiratory diseases ever seen by scientists, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.



The variant is highly contagious, largely because people infected with the delta strain can carry up to 1,000 times more virus in their nasal passages than those infected with the original strain, according to new&nbsp;<a href="https://virological.org/t/viral-infection-and-transmission-in-a-large-well-traced-outbreak-caused-by-the-delta-sars-cov-2-variant/724" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a>.



“The delta variant is more aggressive and much more transmissible than previously circulating strains,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters at a briefing Thursday. “It is one of the most infectious respiratory viruses we know of, and that I have seen in my 20-year career.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-coronavirus-right-now">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-coronavirus-right-now-6/">What you need to know about the coronavirus right now</a></h3>



The delta variant has spread quickly through the U.S., accounting for more than 83% of sequenced cases in the U.S. right now, up from 50% the week of July 3.



The seven-day average of new cases is up about 53% from last week, currently at 37,674 new cases per day. Hospitalizations are up 32% from last week at about 3,500 per day and deaths have also increased 19% in the same time frame to about 240 per day.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="392" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/106915569-1626989513553-image_5-820x392.jpg" alt="native" class="wp-image-410376" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/106915569-1626989513553-image_5-820x392.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/106915569-1626989513553-image_5-300x143.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/106915569-1626989513553-image_5-140x67.jpg 140w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/106915569-1626989513553-image_5-768x367.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/106915569-1626989513553-image_5.jpg 1316w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Chart shows current data on Covid-19 in the United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</figcaption></figure>



“This virus has no incentive to let up, and it remains in search of the next vulnerable person to infect,” Walensky said.



The virus is ripping through U.S. counties with low vaccination rates, while counties with high vaccination rates are seeing lower rates of new cases.



Three states, Florida, Texas and Missouri, with low vaccination rates accounted for 40% of all new cases nationwide, White House COVID czar Jeff Zients said. Florida alone accounted for 1 in 5 of all new cases in the U.S. for the second week in a row.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/most-fully-vaccinated-people-who-get-covid-delta-infections-are-asymptomatic-who-says/">Most fully vaccinated people who get COVID delta infections are asymptomatic, WHO says</a></h3>



In hospitals around the country, 97% of people admitted with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/category/coronavirus/">COVID</a>&nbsp;symptoms are unvaccinated, and 99.5% of all COVID deaths are also among the unvaccinated.



In the past week, the five states with the highest case counts had higher rates of people getting newly vaccinated compared with the national average.



“We are at yet another pivotal moment in this pandemic, with cases rising again and some hospitals reaching their capacity in some areas, we need to come together as one nation,” Walensky said.

CDC Director Walensky Testifies Before Senate Appropriations Subcommittee

Delta variant is one of the most infectious respiratory diseases known, CDC director says

July 21 (Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-olympic-celebration-of-hope-begins">Olympic ‘celebration of hope’ begins</h2>



Japan’s women’s softball team got the Tokyo 2020 Olympics off to a winning start for the hosts on Wednesday, a boost for the pandemic-postponed Games that the World Health Organization sees as “a celebration of hope” even as COVID-19 cases surge.



The opening ceremony on Friday will be a scaled-down affair, a “sobering” performance, Marco Balich, longtime opening ceremonies executive producer, and now a senior advisor to the Tokyo ceremonies executive producer, told Reuters in an interview.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-south-korea-reports-record-daily-infections">South Korea reports record daily infections</h2>



South Korea reported a daily record of 1,784 coronavirus cases for Tuesday, breaking a mark set last week, as the authorities struggled to get on top of a surge in outbreaks linked to the Delta variant.



Transmission rates have been kept relatively low across the country despite no lockdowns thanks in part to aggressive testing and tracing, but the fourth wave of infections is proving particularly hard to contain as the unvaccinated fall victim to the Delta strain. New distancing rules are expected to be announced by Sunday.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-under-lockdown-australia-sees-jump-in-cases">Under lockdown, Australia sees jump in cases</h2>



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.



A year and a half into the pandemic, some 13 million Australians are under hard lockdown, raising pressure on the federal government which has seen its polling at its lowest in a year due to a sluggish immunisation program. Just over 11% of the population is fully vaccinated.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-delta-variant-80-of-u-s-cases-life-expectancy-falls-by-1-5-years">Delta variant 80% of U.S. cases; life expectancy falls by 1.5 years</h2>



The Delta variant of the coronavirus is the cause of more than 80% of new U.S. COVID-19 cases, but the authorized vaccines remain more than 90% effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths, said top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci during U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday.



Life expectancy in the United States fell by a year and a half in 2020 to 77.3 years, the lowest level since 2003, primarily due to the deaths caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-indonesia-extends-covid-curbs-to-july-25">Indonesia extends COVID curbs to July 25</h2>



Indonesia extended its pandemic-linked restrictions to July 25 as the number of coronavirus infections remained high, aiming for a gradual easing of curbs next week if infections drop, President Joko Widodo said on Tuesday.



COVID-19 cases in Indonesia are currently among the highest in the world due to the rapid spread of the Delta variant, despite the imposition this month of the strictest restrictions on the movement of people so far during the pandemic.



(Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Kim Coghill)



(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions – https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html

Novel coronavirus sars-cov-2

What you need to know about the coronavirus right now

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In a struggling economy, South Africans finds themselves removing luxury goods from their budget.

SA jewellery maker Nungu Diamonds looks to tell a different story about industry

SA jewellery maker Nungu Diamonds looks to tell a different story about the industry

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So how much has the violence and looting we have seen since late last week cost the economy? CNBC Africa is joined by Nicky Weimar, Chief Economist at Nedbank and Andre Cilliers Currency strategist at TreasuryONE.

FNBB

How the on-going civil unrest threatens economic recovery in South Africa

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With unrest in parts of the country persisting today, questions remain on whether the damage caused during the looting will be covered by insurance. Cedric Masondo, Managing Director of Sasria joins CNBC Africa for more.

Unrest in SA : Government insurer Sasria estimates $3bn in claims

Unrest in SA: Government insurer Sasria estimates $3bn in claims

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Coronavirus

WHO, Gavi not planning COVID vaccine buys from S.Africa’s Aspen

WTO meeting on COVID vaccine rights waiver went ‘very well’ -chair

Africa CDC urges COVID-19 vaccine buyers to order from S.Africa’s Aspen

Los Angeles moves toward barring the unvaccinated from most businesses

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Covid-19 has cost 30 million African jobs, African Development Bank says

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Delta variant is one of the most infectious respiratory diseases known, CDC director says

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SA jewellery maker Nungu Diamonds looks to tell a different story about the industry

How the on-going civil unrest threatens economic recovery in South Africa

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Unrest in SA: Government insurer Sasria estimates $3bn in claims

President Ramaphosa addresses nation in the wake of violent looting in parts of KZN and Gauteng

Governor Kganyago reflects on 100 years of the South African Reserve Bank

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