As of September 7, there have been 221.1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 4.6 million deaths, reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). The global incidence of cases and the number of deaths have remained stable over the month with over 4.4 million new cases reported last week. Regarding new weekly cases, all regions reported either a decline or a similar trend, except for the Americas, which reported a 19% increase. The incidence of new deaths increased in America and Europe by 17% and 20%, respectively.
Cases in the US continue to increase since July and the current 7-day moving average of daily new cases (153,246) increased 4.9% compared with the previous 7-day moving average.
To date, more than 5.56 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, at a ratio of about 37.3 million jabs given each day. In Singapore, Portugal, Spain, Chile, Belgium and the UAE, more than 70% of the population is fully vaccinated. But countries such as South Africa, Australia, Brazil or Argentina are still far from having half of the population fully vaccinated.
As an equitable distribution of vaccines is critical to ending the pandemic, on September 5, G20 health ministers agreed to increase the distribution of vaccines to poorer countries. In addition, Germany has promised to donate 100 million vaccine doses to global inoculation campaigns before the end of the year. The UK and Australia will share COVID-19 vaccine doses to benefit each other’s life-saving vaccine roll-out programs. The UK will send 4 million Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines to Australia to rapidly enhance their vaccination program, with the first batch of 292,000 doses due to be shipped shortly. Australia will return the same overall volume of doses before the end of the year.
With back to school around the corner in many countries, according to a recent study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the virus can spread rapidly in schools when unvaccinated teachers and staff have close, indoor contact with unvaccinated children. A second CDC study indicates that, following the rise of the Delta variant in the US, rates of hospitalization in children and adolescents have increased.
A study from the UK found that a high-quality diet pattern that includes plant-based foods, like nuts and dried fruits, is linked with lower risk and severity of COVID-19. While this study is the largest so far in this area, other studies have also highlighted the importance of nutrition and diet quality against COVID-19.
Cases in the US continue to increase since July and the current 7-day moving average of daily new cases (153,246) increased 4.9% compared with the previous 7-day moving average.
To date, more than 5.56 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, at a ratio of about 37.3 million jabs given each day. In Singapore, Portugal, Spain, Chile, Belgium and the UAE, more than 70% of the population is fully vaccinated. But countries such as South Africa, Australia, Brazil or Argentina are still far from having half of the population fully vaccinated.
As an equitable distribution of vaccines is critical to ending the pandemic, on September 5, G20 health ministers agreed to increase the distribution of vaccines to poorer countries. In addition, Germany has promised to donate 100 million vaccine doses to global inoculation campaigns before the end of the year. The UK and Australia will share COVID-19 vaccine doses to benefit each other’s life-saving vaccine roll-out programs. The UK will send 4 million Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines to Australia to rapidly enhance their vaccination program, with the first batch of 292,000 doses due to be shipped shortly. Australia will return the same overall volume of doses before the end of the year.
With back to school around the corner in many countries, according to a recent study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the virus can spread rapidly in schools when unvaccinated teachers and staff have close, indoor contact with unvaccinated children. A second CDC study indicates that, following the rise of the Delta variant in the US, rates of hospitalization in children and adolescents have increased.
A study from the UK found that a high-quality diet pattern that includes plant-based foods, like nuts and dried fruits, is linked with lower risk and severity of COVID-19. While this study is the largest so far in this area, other studies have also highlighted the importance of nutrition and diet quality against COVID-19.