India’s coronavirus disaster deepened on Thursday with the daily death toll climbing above 3,600 as dozens of countries sent urgent medical aid to help tackle the spiralling crisis.
Even with vaccine rollouts underway, fatalities are still speeding past major milestones across the globe, such as in Brazil where total deaths have now surpassed 400,000 people since the start of the pandemic.
However, the United States and several European nations are starting to ease restrictions as their vaccination campaigns pick up. In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city hopes to “fully reopen” on July 1.
And in France, cafes, cultural venues and business will reopen in several phases from next month, President Emmanuel Macron said.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin announced plans to lift lockdown restrictions starting May 10, including “vaccine bonus” perks for those who have had both jabs.
Hope is returning,” Martin said.
Portugal said it would reopen its land border with Spain on Saturday.But the World Health Organization issued a stark warning to European nations that relaxing Covid measures could spark a “perfect storm” allowing cases to spiral — as in India.
“It is very important to realise that the situation in India can happen anywhere,” said WHO Europe chief Hans Kluge.
– India deaths rising exponentially –
Death and infection rates have been rising exponentially throughout April in India, which experts blame in part on mass gatherings.
The pandemic has claimed at least 3.1 million lives around the world, with India accounting for more than 200,000 fatalities, the worst toll outside the Americas.
The US is the worst-affected country with more than 570,000 deaths, and Brazil reached 400,000 deaths on Thursday after the country was devastated by a surge in cases at the start of the year that pushed hospitals to the brink of collapse in many areas.
Its daily average death toll of 2,526 over the last week remains second only to India.
In many Indian cities, hospitals are running out of beds as relatives of the sick jostle for medicines and oxygen cylinders. Amid concerns that virus variants may spread quickly among youngsters, a lollipop-shaped test is being rolled out in some Austrian kindergartens. Put the test in the mouth, suck for 90 seconds, dip the test in the container, wait 15 minutes, check the result,” the instructions read.
In other news – Sad news as actress Thando Thabethe is Heartbroken
Radio personality Thando Thabethe is a woman of many talents. Apart from hosting the drive show on 94.7, she is an actress, an entrepreneur and an ambassador for Ciroc Vodka.
One cannot deny that Thabooty was made for both radio and TV, which is why her fans were gobsmacked when she did not get a South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTA) nomination for her exceptional acting as the lead on Mzansi Magic’s drama series ”Housekeepers season two. Learn more
Source: eNCA
