KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    6,48,634              /             42,12,951            /             10,140   /             1,45,98,952        /             540.5

1             USA        83,952   /             6,28,467              /             371        /             53,18,149            /             1,887

2             UK          31,117   /             1,29,515              /             85           /             11,83,152            /             1,897

3             Brazil     41,853   /             5,54,626              /             1,354     /             7,14,752              /             2,590

4             Spain     26,689   /             81,442   /             46           /             6,32,935              /             1,741

5             Indonesia            43,479   /             90,552   /             1,893     /             5,54,484              /             327

6             Russia    23,270   /             1,56,977              /             799        /             4,93,162              /             1,075

7             India      44,673   /             4,23,244              /             549        /             4,11,810              /             303

8             Iran        34,433   /             90,074   /             292        /             4,07,308              /             1,058

9             Mexico  19,028   /             2,39,616              /             537        /             3,69,967              /             1,838

10           France   25,190   /             1,11,764              /             29           /             2,75,523              /             1,708

11           Argentina            14,115   /             1,05,113              /             291        /             2,57,908              /             2,303

12           Turkey   22,161   /             51,184   /             60           /             1,87,945              /             600

13           Honduras             1,282     /             7,758     /             45           /             1,86,139              /             770

14           Thailand               17,669   /             4,562     /             165        /             1,85,976              /             65

15           Malaysia              17,170   /             8,725     /             174        /             1,79,179              /             266

16           Netherlands        4,415     /             17,815   /             3             /             1,74,830              /             1,037

17           South Africa       13,626   /             71,431   /             523        /             1,55,958              /             1,188

18           Bangladesh         15,271   /             20,255   /             239        /             1,55,778              /             122

19           Poland   167        /             75,257   /             5             /             1,53,844              /             1,991

20           Iraq        13,259   /             18,533   /             49           /             1,38,094              /             450

28           Pakistan               4,497     /             23,209   /             76           /             59,761   /             103

30           Philippines           5,735     /             27,577   /             176        /             56,273   /             248

INDIA REMAINS ON RED LIST EVEN AS UK LIFTS QUARANTINE FOR VACCINATED EU, US TRAVELLERS

Fully vaccinated travellers from the US and European Union (EU) countries will be able to avoid a 10-day compulsory quarantine when they arrive in England from next Monday, the UK govt said on Wednesday.

Currently, only people who received their Covid-19 vaccine in the UK can avoid quarantine when arriving from these "amber list" countries under the govt's traffic list travel system.

“We've taken great strides on our journey to reopen international travel and today is another important step forward. Whether you are a family reuniting for the first time since the start of the pandemic or a business benefiting from increased trade — this is progress we can all enjoy,” said UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. “We will of course continue to be guided by the latest scientific data but thanks to our world-leading domestic vaccination programme, we're able to look to the future and start to rebuild key transatlantic routes with the US while further cementing ties with our European neighbours,” he said.

India remains on the red list under the international traffic system, which bans travel and imposes a compulsory 10-day hotel quarantine for returning British residents. The next review of that status is expected by the middle of next week.

TAKING NSO SPYWARE CLAIMS SERIOUSLY, ISRAEL TELLS FRANCE

Israel is taking seriously allegations that spyware developed by an Israeli company was used against public figures including French President Emmanuel Macron, Israel’s defence minister told his French counterpart during a visit to Paris on Wednesday. Israeli defence chief Benny Gantz met French defence minister Florence Parly in part to share initial findings from an Israeli government assessment of exports to France by NSO Group, which sells the Pegasus spyware. At Parly’s request, Gantz “commented on the issue of NSO and told her that Israel is taking the allegations seriously”, a statement from his office said. “Israel grants cyber licences only to nation-states and only to be used for the needs of dealing with terrorism and crime,” it said.

N-TALKS WITH IRAN CAN’T LAST FOREVER: BLINKEN

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday the negotiating process with Iran to revive a 2015 nuclear deal could not go on indefinitely, and that the ball was in Tehran's court.

Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington to revive the nuclear pact, from which then President Donald Trump withdrew the United States in 2018, adjourned on June 20, two days after the hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi was elected President of the Islamic Republic. Raisi takes office on August 5. Parties involved in the negotiations, which also include China, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and the European Union, have yet to say when they might resume. “We are committed to diplomacy, but this process cannot go on indefinitely,” said Blinken, addressing a conference in Kuwait.

STABLE ANTIBODIES TO BLOCK SARS-COV-2 DEVELOPED

Researchers have developed highly potent and stable antibodies from the blood of alpacas which can efficiently block SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, and its dangerous new variants.

The researchers from the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany noted that these mini-antibodies bind and neutralise the virus up to 1,000 times better than previously developed such antibodies. In the study published in The EMBO Journal, the researchers optimised the so called nanobodies for stability and resistance to extreme heat.

4 BILLION COVID VACCINE DOSES ADMINISTERED ACROSS WORLD; 3 NATIONS YET TO START

More than four billion doses of anti-Covid vaccines have been administered around the world, eight months after the vaccination drive started, according to an AFP count on Thursday.

Global injections have slowed slightly: the fourth billion dose was reached in 30 days, while it took only 26 days to reach the previous one. The first and second billion were reached after about 140 and 40 days respectively. Forty percent (1.6 billion) of the four billion shots have been administered in China. India (451 million) and the US (343 million) make up the trio of countries that have administered the most jabs.

In terms of population among countries with more than one million people, the UAE is the leader: 168 first and second doses administered per 100 inhabitants. Uruguay follows (137), then Bahrain (134). The UAE is close to having 70% of its population fully vaccinated while Uruguay and Bahrain have both reached more than 60%. After this the leading countries are Qatar, Chile and Canada (129 shots per 100 inhabitants), Israel (128), Singapore (125), the UK, Mongolia and Denmark (124) and Belgium (121). These countries have fully vaccinated more than half their populations.

Not far off are China (111), the US (104) and the EU (103). The US and EU have fully vaccinated nearly half their population, while China does not communicate this informa-High-income countries administered an average of 97 doses per 100 inhabitants compared with just 1.6 doses in low-income countries. On avtion. Most poor countries have now started to vaccinate, mainly thanks to the Covax scheme, but the vaccination coverage remains very unequal. erage 52 shots have been injected per 100 inhabitants worldwide. Three countries are not yet vaccinating: Burundi, Eritrea and North Korea.

BIDEN STEPS UP EFFORTS TO FIGHT VIRUS SURGE FUELLED BY DELTA VARIANT

President Joe Biden on Thursday stepped up actions to combat the spread of the surging Delta variant of the coronavirus, asking every US federal worker to either declare they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or wear masks and be tested.

“We have the tools to prevent this new wave of COVID from shutting down our businesses, our schools, our society as we saw happen last year,” the veteran Democrat said in a speech on his administration's new initiatives.

The White House said just ahead of the address that all four million federal employees and on-site contractors “will be asked to attest to their vaccination status.”

Those who do not declare they are fully vaccinated will be required to wear a mask on the job regardless of location, physically distance from co-workers, and "comply with a weekly or twice weekly screening testing requirement."

Mr. Biden will direct the Pentagon to study adding COVID vaccinations to its list of required vaccinations for members of the US military.

He also called on state and local governments to offer $100 as an incentive for holdouts to get vaccinated — a nod to what the White House described as successful cash-for-jab efforts already implemented in some states.

USCIS CONDUCTS A 2ND LOTTERY FOR H-1B CAP VISAS FOR FISCAL 2022

Unsuccessful beneficiaries — candidates for whom H-1B visa applications were filed by sponsoring employers — have another chance to be selected. The US citizenship and immigration services (USCIS) has conducted a second round of random selection, commonly known as the lottery. This will be especially helpful to STEM-OPT students who are already in the US and who were to transition to an H-1B visa, say immigration experts.

This is the second consecutive year, when USCIS had conducted a second round of the lottery to meet the H-1B cap quota. According to USCIS, the filing period for those selected in the second round of lottery will begin on August 2 and close on November 3.

International students from the science, technology, engineering and mathematics field (STEM) post the completion of their studies can gain work experience for up to three years, under the optional practical training programme. In several cases, the current employer where they are undergoing such training sponsors them for an H-1B visa, allotment of which is based on being selected in the lottery. For the fiscal 2022 (year ending September 30, 2022), sponsoring employers had submitted 3.1 lakh registrations, 12% more than in the filing season for the previous year.

REPORT: DANISH SIDDIQUI WAS EXECUTED BY TALIBAN

Pulitzer Prizewinning Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was not killed in a crossfire in Afghanistan, but was “brutally murdered” by the Taliban after they verified his identity, according to a report in a US-based magazine on Thursday. Siddiqui, 38, was covering clashes between the Taliban and the Afghan forces when he died.

Citing local authorities, the report in Washington Examiner said Siddiqui was travelling with an Afghan national army team to the Spin Boldak region to cover the fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban for the control of the lucrative border crossing with Pakistan. “When they got to within one-third of a mile of the customs post, a Taliban attack split the team, with the commander and a few men separated from Siddiqui, who remained with three other Afghan troops,” it said.

The report said that the photojournalist got hit by a shrapnel during the assault and took refuge in a local mosque where he received first aid. As the word spread that a journalist was in the mosque, the Taliban attacked. A local investigation suggested that the Taliban attacked the mosque only because of Siddiqui’s presence there, the report said. “Siddiqui was alive when the Taliban captured him. The Taliban verified Siddiqui’s identity and then executed him, as well as those with him. The commander and the remainder of his team died as they tried to rescue him,” it said.

PAKISTAN NOT TALIBAN SPOKESPERSON, SAYS PM IMRAN KHAN

The Pakistan government is not a spokesperson for the Taliban and Islamabad cannot be held responsible for the actions of the insurgent group in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US troops, PM Imran Khan has said. In his comments to Afghan media representatives that were aired on Thursday, Khan also said that Pakistan will have good relations with whoever the Afghans choose. “What the Taliban are doing or aren’t doing has nothing to do with us,” he said. His remarks were a continuation of Pakistan’s repeated warnings that it wouldn’t accept the responsibility if it was blamed for any setbacks in the Afghan peace process.

ISRAEL TO BE FIRST COUNTRY TO OFFER PFIZER BOOSTER SHOT TO THOSE OVER 60

Israel will begin offering a third shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to people aged over 60, a world first in efforts to slow the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. PM Naftali Bennett, launching the campaign, said President Isaac Herzog would be the first to receive the booster, on Friday. Israel was a world leader in the vaccination rollout, with many seniors getting their shots in December, January and February. But since the emergence of the Delta variant, the health ministry has twice reported a drop in the vaccine’s efficacy against infection and a slight decrease in its protection against severe disease. The booster campaign, with shots administered by health maintenance organisations, will effectively turn Israel into a testing ground for a third dose before approval by the US FDA. “Findings show that there is a decline in the body’s immunity over time. The aim of the supplementary dose is to build it up again, and thus reduce the chances of infection and serious illness significantly,” Bennett said. Pfizer said on Wednesday it believes people need the additional dose to keep protection against the coronavirus high. The company says it could apply for US emergency authorization for booster shots as early as August.