KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    6,11,771              /             42,22,827            /             8,818     /             1,48,42,909        /             541.7

1             USA        86,384   /             6,28,910              /             393        /             53,95,804            /             1,888

2             UK          29,622   /             1,29,583              /             68           /             12,03,102            /             1,898

3             Brazil     40,904   /             5,55,460              /             834        /             7,29,433              /             2,593

4             Spain     24,753   /             81,486   /             44           /             6,54,358              /             1,742

5             Indonesia            41,168   /             92,311   /             1,759     /             5,49,343              /             334

6             Russia    23,564   /             1,57,771              /             794        /             4,95,447              /             1,081

7             India      41,499   /             4,23,842              /             598        /             4,15,397              /             304

8             Iran        24,715   /             90,344   /             270        /             4,12,455              /             1,061

9             Mexico  19,223   /             2,39,997              /             381        /             3,77,623              /             1,841

10           France   24,309   /             1,11,824              /             60           /             2,95,105              /             1,709

11           Argentina            13,483   /             1,05,586              /             473        /             2,56,785              /             2,313

12           Turkey   22,083   /             51,253   /             69           /             2,04,207              /             601

13           Thailand               17,345   /             4,679     /             117        /             1,92,526              /             67

14           Honduras             1,592     /             7,793     /             35           /             1,86,889              /             774

15           Malaysia              16,840   /             8,859     /             134        /             1,83,706              /             270

16           Netherlands        3,387     /             17,821   /             6             /             1,77,580              /             1,038

17           Bangladesh         13,862   /             20,467   /             212        /             1,55,453              /             123

18           South Africa       12,885   /             71,679   /             248        /             1,55,397              /             1,192

19           Poland   153        /             75,259   /             2             /             1,53,919              /             1,991

20           Iraq        12,597   /             18,595   /             62           /             1,42,130              /             451

27           Pakistan               4,537     /             23,295   /             86           /             62,723   /             103

28           Philippines           8,562     /             27,722   /             145        /             61,920   /             249

DELTA AS INFECTIOUS AS CHICKENPOX: CDC REPORT

The Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads as easily as chickenpox and it can be passed on by vaccinated people as readily as it is spread by unvaccinated people, according to an internal document of America’s top health agency, several US news publications reported on Friday.

The document suggested universal masking, and experts said its content also pointed to the need for a booster third vaccine shot.

The Washington Post, which first reported these findings, said the document by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) makes the case for health officials to “acknowledge the war has changed”, citing unpublished data from outbreak investigations.

The variant was also causing more severe Covid-19 and was more likely to break through protection afforded by vaccines, but the health authority said such incidents were very rare.

“Given higher transmissibility and current vaccine coverage, universal masking is essential to reduce transmission of the Delta variant,” said the purported report, a copy of which was uploaded by the Washington Post on its website.

If infected, vaccinated people were found carrying the same amount of measurable viral load as those unvaccinated and it was this finding, the news reports suggested, that was behind the CDC’s course-reversal on masks recently.

The health agency changed its two-month-old guidance allowing vaccinated people to do without masks and issued a new recommendation calling for the use of face coverings in certain high-risk conditions earlier this week.

The United States is witnessing a surge in new infections, with about 70,000 every day (seven-day average) . And the CDC believes vaccinated people are also spreading the virus, although at a far lesser intensity than those unvaccinated.

The data shows there are roughly 35,000 symptomatic infections per week among 162 million vaccinated Americans, the New York Times reported on the basis of the CDC document.

The internal document recommends vaccinated people with weak immune systems must wear masks even in low-risk conditions and so should vaccinated people who come in contact with children or older adults, according to the NYT report.

ISRAEL ACCUSES IRAN OVER DEADLY OIL TANKER ATTACK

Israel has accused Iran of being behind an attack on an oil tanker in which two crew members - a British national and a Romanian citizen - were killed.

The MV Mercer Street, operated by the London-based company Zodiac Maritime, was off Oman's coast in the Arabian Sea when the incident occurred on Thursday.

The company, which belongs to Israeli shipping magnate Eyal Ofer, said it was working to establish what had happened.

But Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Friday blamed "Iranian terrorism".

"Iran is not just an Israeli problem," Mr Lapid said in a statement, adding: "The world must not be silent."

However, details of the attack on the Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned tanker remain unclear. Iran has not yet commented on the allegations.

FIRST U.S. EVACUATION FLIGHT BRINGS 200 AFGHANS TO NEW HOME

The first flight evacuating Afghan interpreters and others who worked alongside Americans in Afghanistan landed early Friday at Washington Dulles International Airport, according to an internal U.S. government document and a commercial flight tracking service.

An airliner carrying the 221 Afghans, including 57 children and 15 babies, according to the internal document obtained by The Associated Press, touched down at Washington Dulles International Airport in the early morning hours, according to tracking of the flight by FlightAware.

The evacuation flights, resettling former translators and others who fear retaliation from Afghanistan's Taliban for having worked with American servicemembers and civilians, are highlighting American uncertainty about how Afghanistan's government and military will fare after the last US combat forces leave that country in coming weeks.

Family members are accompanying the interpreters and others on the flights out.

They were expected to stay at Fort Lee, Virginia for several days, U.S. officials said earlier this month.

Subsequent flights are due to bring more of the applicants who are farthest along in the process of getting visas, having already won approval and cleared security screening.

JOE BIDEN SAYS U.S. TO SEE NEW COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS 'IN ALL PROBABILITY'

US President Joe Biden said on Friday "in all probability" new guidelines or restrictions would be imposed in the United States in response to a resurgence of Covid-19 cases.

Asked if Americans should expect new recommendations from health authorities or new restrictive measures, the president responded, "in all probability," before leaving the White House by helicopter for the weekend.

He did not specify what steps could be taken.

Biden added, however, that the country had had "a good day" on Thursday in terms of vaccinations.

"Almost a million people got vaccinated," he said, as his administration works to revive a sluggish inoculation campaign.

"I am hopeful people are beginning to realize how essential it is."

TALIBAN NOT ‘NORMAL CIVILIANS’ BY ANY STANDARD: AFGHAN ENVOY ON IMRAN KHAN’S REMARK

Afghan ambassador to India Farid Mamundzay on Friday said the Taliban are not “normal civilians” by any standard as common people are not cruel to humankind. The Afghan envoy was responding to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s comment in which he had defended his inability to stop terrorists from crossing over the border.

In an interview with PBS NewsHour, Khan had said that Pakistan hosts three million Afghan refugees of which the majority are Pashtuns, the same ethnic groups as the Taliban fighters. He added that the Taliban are “normal civilians” and “not some military outfits” that Pakistan can hunt down in those refugee camps.

“I think with no standards we can call the Taliban, ordinary citizens. I think common people don’t commit crimes that are justified. They'll not be cruel to humankind,” news agency ANI quoted Mamundzay as saying.

SMALL TRIAL FINDS MIXING SPUTNIK, AZ SAFE

Trials mixing a first dose of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine with AstraZeneca’s shot revealed no serious side effects and no subsequent cases of coronavirus among volunteers, the Russian Direct Investment Fund said on Friday. The trial involved 50 people and began in Azerbaijan in February, RDIF, which is responsible for marketing Sputnik V vaccine abroad, said in a statement. Both the Sputnik V and the AstraZeneca shot are viral vector vaccines that are based on a first dose followed by a booster. China’s CanSino Biologics meanwhile may start a clinical trial using Sputnik V followed by a shot of its own vaccine as early as next month.

DELTA SPREADS TO 15 CITIES AS CHINA SEES ITS ‘WORST OUTBREAK’ SINCE WUHAN IN 2019

China is witnessing a sudden surge of the Delta variant of the Covid-19 cases with 15 cities, including capital Beijing, grappling with clusters of positive cases, with the official media on Friday calling it the most extensive domestic contagion after the virus outbreak in Wuhan in December 2019. In the outbreak, centered in the eastern city of Nanjing, about 200 cases have been reported as of Friday. But infections have spread rapidly, with patients emerging in at least six provinces in just three weeks. The outbreak began when a group of airport workers in Nanjing were sickened around July 10, probably from exposure to an infected person who arrived on a flight from Russia, according to city officials.