Covid-19 has infected more than 397M people and killed over 5.7M worldwide. Here are some of the latest coronavirus-related developments:
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
US Congress' members hold moment of silence for Covid deaths
Democratic leaders in the US Congress have held a moment of silence to commemorate the 900,000 American lives lost to the Covid-19 pandemic.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will gather on the steps of the US Capitol building at 7 pm ET (0000 GMT), joined by the congressional leadership and a bipartisan group of legislators, according to Pelosi's office.
The United States reached the milestone of 900,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Friday, according to data collected by Reuters news agency, totaling 906,017 deaths as of Monday.
The figure marks an increase of more than 100,000 US Covid-19 fatalities since December 12, coinciding with a surge of infections and hospitalisations driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus.
South Africa approves China's Covid vaccine
South Africa's health regulator has announced that it has registered China's Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for use in the country.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) said it authorised use of the vaccine based on acceptable safety, quality and efficacy data submitted to Sahpra over the July 23 to December 22, 2021, period.
Omicron, Delta detected in Central African Republic
The omicron and delta coronavirus variants are both circulating in the Central African Republic, the Pasteur Institute of Bangui confirmed.
"Based on genomic surveillance data, 80 complete SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences obtained from 179 samples, the Pasteur Institute of Bangui reports a significant circulation of the omicron variant," the institute said in a press release.
Of this number of sequences, it reported 72 cases of Omicron and four of the Delta variant, while 50 samples are being sequenced at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, Senegal, where the samples are being sent.
Canada pushes back against GOP support for Covid protests
Canada's public safety minister said that US officials should stay out of his country's domestic affairs, joining other Canadian leaders in pushing back against prominent Republicans who offered support for the protests of Covid-19 restrictions that have besieged downtown Ottawa for more than a week.
A day after the city declared a state of emergency, the mayor pleaded for almost 2,000 extra police officers to help quell the raucous nightly demonstrations staged by the so-called Freedom Truck Convoy, which has used hundreds of parked trucks to paralyze the Canadian capital's business district.
Trudeau said everyone is tired of Covid-19 but this is not the way. He said the restrictions won't last forever and noted that Canada has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world.
Mexico reports 206 Covid deaths
Mexico's Health Ministry has reported 9,242 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 206 more deaths, bringing the total number of infections in the country since the pandemic began to 5,160,767 and the death toll to 309,752.
Brazil's Covid cases and death toll rise
Brazil has recorded 66,583 new coronavirus cases and 428 Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said.
Brazil has now registered over 26.6 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 632,621, according to Ministry data.
Four US' states to end school mask mandates
The governors of four states have announced plans to lift statewide mask requirements in schools by the end of February or March, citing the rapid easing of the Covid-19's Omicron surge.
The decisions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, and Oregon were announced as state and local governments grapple with which virus restrictions to jettison and which ones to keep in place.
The changes also come amid a growing sense that the virus is never going to go away and Americans need to find a way to coexist with it.
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(With input from news agency language)
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