KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

Pos   /   Country   /   New Daily cases   /   Total Deaths   /        Daily Deaths /           Active Cases   /           Deaths/1M Pop

               World    3,86,289              /             39,15,122            /             7,592     /             1,14,30,027               /             502.3

1             USA        12,120   /             6,18,616              /             308        /             49,74,282            /               1,858

2             Brazil     72,705   /             5,09,141              /             1,901     /             12,22,641            /               2,379

3             India      51,248   /             3,93,338              /             965        /             6,19,739              /               282

4             Russia    20,182   /             1,31,463              /             568        /             3,41,617              /               900

5             Argentina            24,463   /             91,438   /             452        /             2,91,493              /               2,005

6             Mexico  4,963     /             2,31,847              /             342        /             2,76,077              /               1,780

7             Iran        11,734   /             83,473   /             144        /             2,59,551              /             982

8             UK          16,703   /             1,28,048              /             21           /             2,46,265              /               1,877

9             Colombia             32,997   /             1,02,636              /             689        /             1,87,490               /             1,996

10           Indonesia            20,574   /             55,949   /             355        /             1,71,542              /               202

11           Honduras             546        /             6,844     /             26           /             1,56,805              /               680

12           Poland   147        /             74,917   /             24           /             1,53,374              /               1,982

13           South Africa       16,078   /             59,406   /             148        /             1,41,910              /               989

14           Spain     4,507     /             80,766   /             18           /             1,24,519              /               1,727

15           Turkey   5,703     /             49,417   /             59           /             89,123   /             580

16           Iraq        6,093     /             16,999   /             31           /             76,112   /             414

17           Costa Rica                          /             4,567     /                            /             69,021   /             889

18           Bangladesh         6,058     /             13,868   /             81           /             64,284   /             83

19           Bolivia   2,270     /             16,329   /             86           /             63,540   /             1,381

20           France   2,007     /             1,10,906              /             44           /             63,256   /               1,695

26           Philippines           6,043     /             24,036   /             108        /             51,410   /             217

39           Pakistan               1,097     /             22,108   /             35           /             32,936   /             98

EU 'ON THIN ICE' AMID DELTA STRAIN: MERKEL

Europe is “on thin ice” in its battle against COVID-19, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday as EU leaders agreed that vaccinations should be sped up to fight the highly contagious delta variant.

A stronger response to the pandemic was a main topic of discussion among European Union heads of state and government leaders at a meeting in Brussels, where they also acknowledged that the bloc's borders should be reopened in a cautious way.

In what might have been her last government declaration to the German parliament, Merkel noted that the number of COVID-19 cases in the 27-nation bloc continues to decline, while vaccination rates climb.

“But even though there is reason to be hopeful, the pandemic isn't over, in particular in the world's poor countries,” she said. “But in Germany and Europe, we're also still moving on thin ice.”

“We need to remain vigilant,” Merkel added. “In particular, the newly arising variants, especially now the delta variant, are a warning for us to continue to be careful.”

Upon his arrival in Belgian capital, French President Emmanuel Macron also urged European countries to remain “vigilant” in order to properly tackle the delta variant, and to adopt a coordinated approach when reopening their borders to third countries.

According to an EU official, EU leaders at the summit discussed the Delta variant and agreed that vaccinations should be speeded up, and that the bloc’s internal and external borders should be opened up cautiously. EU governments have agreed on a “white list” of 13 countries, including Australia and US, for whose residents travel curbs should be lifted.

In a report issued this week, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control projected that the delta variant would account for 90% of all coronavirus infections across the continent by the end of August. The Stockholm-based agency said people who had only received one shot of vaccine were still vulnerable to the delta variant and that about 40% of people over 60 have yet to receive both vaccine doses.

‘SCARY’ SYDNEY VIRUS CLUSTER BLAMED ON DELTA VARIANT

Sydney was going through one the “scariest” times of the pandemic as a cluster of the highly contagious delta variant infects more people, an Australian state leader said on Thursday.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she tested negative for the coronavirus after her Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall tested positive Thursday. Health Minister Brad Hazzard is self-isolating as a close contact of a suspected COVID-19 case in Parliament House.

Sydney tightened pandemic restrictions on Wednesday, but Berejiklian said Australia’s largest city did not yet need to lock down further.

“Since the pandemic has started, this is perhaps the scariest period that New South Wales is going through,” Berejiklian told reporters.

“It is a very contagious variant but at the same time we are at this stage comfortable that the settings that are in place are the appropriate settings,” she added.

BRITAIN, RUSSIA ENGAGE IN WAR OF WORDS OVER BLACK SEA PASSAGE

Britain said it would not accept unlawful interference with innocent passage at sea, and that its navy would uphold international law, in a written statement to Parliament following a warship confrontation with Russia.

“The Royal Navy will always uphold international law and will not accept unlawful interference with innocent passage,” Defence Minister Ben Wallace said in the statement.

Russia has accused Britain of spreading lies over the confrontation in the Black Sea and warned London that it would respond resolutely to any further provocative actions by the British navy off the coast of Russia-annexed Crimea.

Wallace's statement said the British warship HMS Defender was warned about a Russian live fire exercise, and that it noted the exercise being conducted out of range of its position. Wallace also said Russian aircraft flew around 500 feet (152.4 m) above the Defender. "These aircraft posed no immediate threat to HMS Defender, but some of these manoeuvres were neither safe nor professional," he said. "HMS Defender responded by the VHF radio to the Russian units on several occasions and was, at all times, courteous and professional."

PM Boris Johnson said a British warship was acting legally in international waters after a confrontation with the Russian military off the coast of Russia-annexed Crimea. “I think it was wholly appropriate to use international waters,” the PM said. “The important point is that we don't recognise the Russian annexation of Crimea,” he said.”

IN CANADA, ANOTHER ‘HORRIFIC’ DISCOVERY OF INDIGENOUS CHILDREN’S REMAINS

A Canadian Indigenous group Wednesday announced the “horrific and shocking discovery” of the remains of hundreds of children at the site of a former school in the province of Saskatchewan, the largest such discovery to date.

It came weeks after the remains of 215 children were found in unmarked graves on the grounds of another former boarding school in British Columbia.

Both schools were part of a system that took Indigenous children in the country from their families, sometimes by force, and housed them in boarding schools. A National Truth and Reconciliation Commission called the practice “cultural genocide.” Many children never returned home, and their families were given only vague explanations of their fates, or none at all.

In a statement, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations said that the latest remains numbered in the hundreds and were “the most significantly substantial to date in Canada.” It did not give an exact figure.

US PRESIDENT, SENATORS STRIKE DEAL ON $1.2 TRILLION INFRA BILL

The Biden administration and a bipartisan group of US senators announced a historic deal on Thursday to spend $1.2 trillion in infrastructure spending over the next eight years.

“We have a deal,” President Joe Biden said to reporters, leading the bipartisan group of senators to a press stakeout on White House grounds after a meeting.

“‘I think it’s really important. None of us got whatever we all wanted. I clearly didn’t get all I wanted. They gave more than, I think, maybe they were inclined to give in the first place. But this reminds me of the days we used to get an awful lot done up in the United States Congress. We actually worked.”

In a tweet, he added, “We’ve struck a deal. A group of senators - five Democrats and five Republicans - has come together and forged an infrastructure agreement that will create millions of American jobs.”

The deal was worked at back-to-back meetings between White House officials and senators, with the key difference being on how to pay for the bill.

MIAMI BUILDING COLLAPSE LEAVES 99 PEOPLE UNACCOUNTED FOR

At least one person has died and dozens are missing after the collapse of a 12-storey residential building north of Miami, Florida, officials say.

The number of people who have been located now stands at 102, while 99 are still unaccounted for, according to Miami-Dade Mayor Danielle Levine-Cava.

It is unclear how many people were in the building at the time.

The cause of the collapse - affecting about half of the 130 units in the complex - remains unclear.

The block in the town of Surfside was built in 1980.

A number of Latin American migrants have been reported missing by their consulates.

Relatives of the first lady of Paraguay are also among the missing, Paraguayan officials said. Rescuers were unable to contact the sister and brother-in-law of first lady Silvana López Moreira, along with their three children and a domestic worker.

Rescuers pulled 35 people from the wreckage, officials said. Ten were assessed and treated, of whom two were sent to hospital.