Coronavirus: Latest Global Developments

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: - India deaths 10 times higher? - India's virus death toll is up to 10 times higher than the nearly 415,000 fatalities reported by authorities, likely making it the country's worst humanitarian disaster since independence, a US research group says

Paris, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jul, 2021 ) :Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: - India deaths 10 times higher? - India's virus death toll is up to 10 times higher than the nearly 415,000 fatalities reported by authorities, likely making it the country's worst humanitarian disaster since independence, a US research group says.

- Eid despite surge - Indonesians pray outside mosques and slaughter goats to commemorate a sombre Eid al-Adha festival despite efforts to stop mass gatherings with deaths skyrocketing in the country, now a global virus hotspot.

- Australia lockdown spreads - Adelaide is the latest Australian city to lock down, meaning more than 14 million people are now under stay-at-home orders, as the largely unvaccinated nation struggles to contain a fast-spreading outbreak.

- Polluted recovery - Carbon emissions are set to hit an all-time high by 2023 as just two percent of pandemic recovery finance is being spent on clean energy, the International Energy Agency says.

- EasyJet hikes capacity - British airline EasyJet ramps up summer capacity, to operate at 60 percent of its pre-pandemic flights, and reveals narrowing losses, thanks to easing travel curbs, speedy vaccinations and solid demand.

- Antibody treatment - Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche says Japan has become the first country to fully approve its Ronapreve antibody treatment for patients with mild to moderate Covid-19.

- University compulsory jabs - A US Federal judge upholds the decision by Indiana University to require its students and employees to get vaccinated, the first ruling on an increasingly divisive issue ahead of the new school year.

- Sleepless nights - Olympics chief Thomas Bach reveals "doubts" and "sleepless nights" over the postponed Tokyo Games as the opening ceremony nears and virus chaos has made them deeply unpopular with the Japanese public.

- Canada opens up - Fully vaccinated US citizens and permanent residents will be allowed into Canada for non-essential travel from August 9 without quarantine, and all vaccinated foreign travellers can enter from September 7.

- Suu Kyi confidante dies - A confidante of deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi dies after contracting Covid-19 in jail. Nyan Win, 78, had been arrested in the February 1 coup and was being held in the notorious Insein prison.

- Boris Johnson under fire - Boris Johnson's former aide Dominic Cummings, in an interview to be aired in full on the BBC, says the British prime minister sought to avoid a second lockdown last autumn, arguing that most dying were over 80.

- Emperor at Games ceremony - Japan's Emperor Naruhito will attend the opening ceremony of the virus-delayed Tokyo Olympics, but Empress Masako will not take part in the event Friday, held without spectators but around 1,000 VIPs.

- Motto rebrand - The Olympic motto "Faster, Higher, Stronger" is updated to "Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together" to emphasise solidarity across the world during the pandemic.

- Four million dead - The coronavirus has killed at least 4,100,352 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.

The United States is the worst-affected country with 609,231 deaths, followed by Brazil with 542,756, India with 414,482, Mexico with 236,469 and Peru with 195,243 fatalities.

The WHO says up to three times more people have died directly or indirectly as a result of the pandemic than official figures suggest.