Covid-19: Germany records over 1,00,00 deaths

In this photo on January 13, 2021 an employee moves coffins, some marked “infection risk” as others have “corona” scrawled in chalk, in the mourning hall of a crematorium in Meissen, eastern Germany. Pic/AFP

Official figures released Thursday show Germany has become the latest country to record 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Germany's disease control agency said it recorded 351 additional deaths in connection with the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, taking the total toll to 100,119. In Europe, Germany is the fifth country to pass that mark, after Russia, the United Kingdom, Italy and France.

A health care worker high-fives a child who just received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children in Montreal, Canada on Wednesday, the first day that kids between 5-11 years were allowed it. Pic/AFP

The Robert Koch Institute, a federal agency that collects data from some 400 regional health offices, said Germany also recorded a new record number of daily confirmed cases - 75,961 in a 24-hour period. Since the start of the outbreak, Germany has had more than 5.57 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. Hospitals have warned that intensive care beds are running out, and some facilities in the country's south and east have begun transferring patients to other regions.

COVID vaccine for kids 5-11

The European Union drugs regulator authorised Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine for use on children aged from 5 to 11 years on Thursday, clearing the way for shots to be administered to millions of elementary school children on the continent. It is the first time the European Medicines Agency has cleared a COVID-19 vaccine for use in young children.

New variant in South Africa: scientists

A new COVID-19 variant has been detected in South Africa which has infected 22 people and experts are working overtime to understand what its potential implications could be, scientists said on Thursday. At least 22 positive cases of the new variant - called B.1.1.529 - have been recorded following genomic sequencing collaborations between the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and private laboratories.

‘Infection risk rises days after second dose'

A new study has found a gradual increase in the risk of COVID-19 infection from 90 days after receiving a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Results confirm that protection wanes with time and suggest a third (booster) dose might be warranted. The findings of the study were published in the journal ‘BMJ'. The study was carried out by the Research Institute of Leumit Health Services in Israel.

6,62,163
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

25,81,64,425
Total no. of cases worldwide

51,66,192
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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