‘US to support India’s vaccination efforts with USD 25 million’

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on a two-day visit to India, said the funding will contribute to saving lives, addressing misinformation, vaccine hesitancy and helping to train more health workers

The United States (US) on Wednesday announced $25 million assistance to support Covid-19 vaccination efforts across India.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on a two-day visit to India, said that the funding will contribute to saving lives by strengthening vaccine supply chain logistics, addressing misinformation, vaccine hesitancy, and helping to train more health care workers.

“US has contributed more than 200 million dollars worth of Covid-19 assistance. I am pleased to announce that the US government will send additional 25 million dollars to support vaccination efforts across India,” Blinken announced during a joint press conference with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar here.

“This funding will contribute to saving a life by strengthening vaccine supply chain logistics, addressing misinformation, vaccine hesitancy and helping to train more health care workers. We are determined to end this pandemic in India and the US. We will work to do it,” he added.

Noting that the Covid-19 pandemic hit both the US and India very hard, Blinken said, “We remember with gratitude and will not forget the aid and assistance India provided to us early in the pandemic. I am proud we could return the gesture to India.”

Tokyo’s daily cases cross 3k

The number of new Covid-19 cases in Tokyo reached 3,177 for the first time in a single day, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced on Wednesday. The all-time high comes just a day after Tokyo, hosting the Olympics since last week, marked 2,848 daily infection cases on Tuesday, topping the earlier record of 2,520 cases logged on January 7.

Pak’s daily Covid count crosses 4k

Pakistan’s daily Covid-19 case count crossed 4,000 for the first time in two months on Wednesday morning after the National Command and Operation Centre reported 4,119 fresh infections. The country last recorded more than 4,000 cases in a single day on May 22, the Geo TV reported. According to the NCOC’s latest stats, 52,291 Coronavirus tests were taken in the last 24 hours across the country. Of these, 4,119 came back positive.

US looks at mandate for vaccination

United States (US) President Joe Biden has said his administration is considering a mandate that requires all federal workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19, escalating the push for vaccination amid the rampant spread of the Delta variant and still-high vaccine hesitancy rates in parts of the country. “That’s under consideration,” he said on Tuesday in response to a reporter’s question. 

Saudi Arabia announces travel ban, penalties for those going to red-list countries

Saudi Arabia has announced a three-year travel ban and hefty penalties on citizens who visit nations on the kingdom’s Covid-19 red list. “Travelling to the banned countries is an obvious violation of Covid-19-related travel restrictions and the Kingdom’s updated instructions,” the Gulf News on Tuesday quoted a report by the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) as saying. The SPA report said an official at the Saudi Ministry of Interior has warned Saudi citizens against travelling to countries that have been put on the no-travel list recently as these nations are currently witnessing a surge in cases of Covid-19 and its variants. The red-list nations include the UAE, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran, Turkey, Armenia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Belarus, India and Vietnam.

4,10,645
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

19,55,66,317
Total no. of cases worldwide

41,81,767
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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