Coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 4.5 million people and infected nearly 220 million globally. Here are the coronavirus-related developments for September 3:
Friday, September 3, 2021
New cases plunge in New Zealand
New Zealand has reported 28 new cases of Covid-19, a big drop compared to the last few days, as authorities said the country was breaking the chain of transmission of the highly infectious Delta variant of coronavirus.
Authorities said 27 new cases were in Auckland and one was in Wellington. Friday's numbers were lower than 49 new cases reported on Thursday and 75 the day before.
"While the fall is encouraging we are mindful these outbreaks can have a long tail...," Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McEnlay said in a news conference.
EU to return J&J vaccines made in Africa
The European Union has agreed to send millions of coronavirus vaccine doses made in South Africa back to the continent, an African Union envoy said.
South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare, which produces the Johnson & Johnson vaccine under a contract with the US pharma giant, will also stop sending doses to Europe, Strive Masiyiwa told reporters at an online briefing.
The announcement came with Africa struggling to immunise its people against Covid-19, partly because of a lack of supply and widespread vaccine hesitancy.
"All the vaccines produced at Aspen will stay in Africa and be distributed to Africa," the African Union's special Covid envoy said, adding that Aspen's arrangement to export the doses to Europe had been "suspended.”
"In addition the Europeans committed to give us 200 million doses before the end of December," Masiyiwa said at the briefing by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
At the same news conference, Africa CDC director John Nkengasong said that the number of people who have been fully immunised against coronavirus on the continent was about 2.93 percent.
'Mu' variant predominant in Colombia
A new coronavirus variant known as "Mu," identified first in Colombia in January, is now the country's predominant strain and behind its deadliest pandemic wave yet, a health official said.
The variant was responsible for Colombia's deadly third infection wave between April and June, health official Marcela Mercado told a local radio station.
During this period, with about 700 deaths per day, nearly two-thirds of tests from people who died came back positive for the Mu variant, she said.
"It is already in more than 43 countries and has shown high contagiousness," she added.
On Tuesday, the World Health Organization declared Mu, scientific name B.1.621, a "variant of interest."
Brazil's Bolsonaro signs law that could break vaccine patents
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has signed off on a law allowing for vaccine and medication patents to be broken in a public emergency, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
But the right-wing leader vetoed the provisions that patent holders would need to transfer the knowledge and supply the raw materials needed to duplicate the vaccines and medications.
According to a statement from his office, those provisions were seen as being too difficult to implement and discouraging investment in researching new technologies.
Bolsonaro had previously criticised the law as potentially harming Brazil's commercial relationships.
Brazil reports 26,280 new cases
Brazil has recorded 26,280 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, along with 764 deaths from Covid-19, the Health Ministry said.
Brazil has registered more than 20 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 581,914, according to ministry data.
Mexico adds more than 18,000 new Covid-19 cases
Mexico has posted 18,138 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 as well as 993 more deaths, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 3,387,885 and the death toll to 261,496, according to health ministry data.
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(With input from news agency language)
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