CDC warns of high coronavirus risks in northeastern US

A man receives his vaccine in Centurion, South Africa on August 13. Pic/AFP

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday that every county in the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts are the site of high or substantial transmission of the coronavirus.

The rise of transmission in the two states mirrors a nationwide and regional trend. Some health authorities are recommending that even vaccinated people go back to wearing masks indoors in areas of high or substantial transmission. That includes almost all of New England.

The CDC reported that every county in the six-state region was the site of high or substantial transmission on Sunday except Orange County, Vermont, and Kennebec County, Maine. The most populous county in Kansas, Johnson county, requires its employees to submit to weekly Covid-19 testing if they aren't vaccinated. Beginning Aug. 23, government employees who are not fully vaccinated must get tested once a week.

The Washington Department of Health has recommended a third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines for people with severely weakened immune systems.

Africans scramble to be fully immunized

The delta surge has touched off a vaccination rush across Africa that the slow trickle of donated doses can't keep up with, compounding the continent's vaccine disadvantage compared to the rest of the world. The urgency to obtain a second dose across much of the world's least vaccinated continent contrasts sharply with rich countries now beginning to authorize third doses. Less than 2 per cent of the continent's 1.3 billion people are fully vaccinated and African countries have received just over 100 million vaccine doses, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

6,62,383
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

20,53,38,159
Total no. of cases worldwide

43,33,094
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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