KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    3,13,579              /             49,63,319            /             4,488     /             1,80,27,004        /             636.7

1             USA        16,134   /             7,56,343              /             138        /             95,07,117            /             2,268

2             UK          39,962   /             1,39,533              /             72           /             14,92,025            /             2,041

3             Russia    35,660   /             2,30,600              /             1,072     /             8,45,122              /             1,579

4             Turkey   24,792   /             69,112   /             195        /             4,98,705              /             808

5             Mexico  4,452     /             2,86,259              /             306        /             3,53,973              /             2,190

6             Ukraine 20,791   /             63,872   /             386        /             3,29,757              /             1,472

7             Iran        9,174     /             1,25,223              /             171        /             3,18,930              /             1,466

8             Honduras                            /             10,192   /                            /             2,48,597              /             1,008

9             Brazil     6,204     /             6,05,644              /             75           /             2,16,895              /             2,823

10           Poland   4,728     /             76,447   /             13           /             2,10,351              /             2,023

11           Romania              11,725   /             44,679   /             381        /             1,93,542              /             2,343

12           India      14,517   /             4,54,743              /             442        /             1,75,823              /             325

13           Germany              11,411   /             95,794   /                            /             1,73,884              /             1,139

14           Serbia    5,733     /             9,509     /             61           /             1,23,969              /             1,094

15           Norway 280        /             894        /                            /             1,10,527              /             163

16           Finland                 /             1,139     /                            /             1,06,017              /             205

17           Thailand               9,351     /             18,755   /             56           /             1,01,000              /             268

18           France   5,005     /             1,17,467              /             4             /             97,667   /             1,794

19           Netherlands        6,290     /             18,314   /             1             /             89,253   /             1,066

20           Belgium                              /             25,846   /                            /             85,667   /             2,217

61           Pakistan               591        /             28,377   /             18           /             23,917   /             125

99           Bangladesh         275        /             27,823   /             9             /             8,542     /             167

COVID CASES IN EASTERN EUROPE SURPASS 20M AS OUTBREAK WORSENS

Coronavirus cases in Eastern Europe have surpassed 20 million, according to a Reuters tally on Sunday, as the region grapples with its worst outbreak since the pandemic started and inoculation efforts lag.

Countries in the region have the lowest vaccination rates in Europe, with less than half of the population having received a single dose.

Hungary tops the region’s vaccination rates with 62 percent of its population having received at least one shot, whereas Ukraine has given just 19 percent of its residents a single dose, according to Our World in Data.

New infections in the region have steadily risen and now average at least 83,700 new cases per day, the highest level since November last year, Reuters data through Friday showed. Although it has just four percent of the world’s population, Eastern Europe accounts for roughly 20 percent of all new cases reported globally.

According to a Reuters analysis, three of the top five countries reporting the most deaths in the world are in Eastern Europe – Russia, Ukraine and Romania.

More social gathering indoors after the lifting of restrictions just as winter sets in is driving a rise in COVID-19 infections in many countries across Europe, the World Health Organization’s emergency director Mike Ryan said on Thursday.

CHINA’S NEW LAW ‘FORMALISES’ ITS LAC ACTIONS

China’s legislature has adopted a new border law, to take effect on January 1, that calls on the state and military to safeguard territory and “combat any acts” that undermine China’s territorial claims.

The law was first proposed in March this year, a year into tensions that erupted along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India after the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) mobilised two divisions in forward areas and carried out multiple transgressions.

China has unresolved border disputes with India and Bhutan. The new law, observers said, would formalise some of China’s recent actions in disputed territories with both India and Bhutan, including the PLA’s massing of troops in forward areas along the India border, multiple transgressions across the LAC, and the construction of new “frontier villages” along the border with Bhutan.

The legislature, which is largely ceremonial in China and controlled by the ruling Communist Party, on Saturday “voted to adopt a new law on the protection and exploitation of the country’s land border areas,” the official Xinhua news agency said.

CHINA LOCKS DOWN COUNTY WITH OVER 35K RESIDENTS AMID COVID DELTA OUTBREAK

China locked down a county that has seen the most Covid-19 cases in the country’s latest delta outbreak, as an initial flareup in the northwest quickly spirals into a nationwide surge.

Ejin, a county in northwestern China’s Inner Mongolia, has asked its 35,700 residents to stay home from Monday and warned of civil and criminal liabilities should anyone disobey the order, state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing a local government statement. The small county bordering Mongolia is the current outbreak’s hotspot, home to nearly one-third of the more than 150 infections found over the past week in the mainland.

The capital Beijing -- which has seen a dozen new cases traced back to the northwest -- has all but banned entry by people arriving from anyplace in the country that’s reported having local Covid cases. People who have to visit Beijing from such areas must provide a Covid test conducted no longer than two days earlier, and undergo two weeks of unspecified health monitoring.

TALIBAN WELCOME VLADIMIR PUTIN'S PLAN TO REMOVE THEM FROM TERRORISTS' LIST

Taliban have welcomed remarks by Russian President Vladimir Putin about the possibility to exclude the group from the terror list.

Putin, speaking at a meeting of the International Valdai Club, said the removal of the Taliban movement from the list of terrorist organisations is possible. However, he also emphasised that this must happen at the level of the United Nations, Russian News Agency TASS reported.

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the spokesperson of the Afghan Foreign Ministry in the interim government of the country, said on Sunday: "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan welcomes remarks by President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, regarding removal of names of IEA leaders from the blacklist."

"As the chapter of war has come to an end, so too must world countries bring a positive change in their relationship and approach towards Afghanistan. We seek positive relations with the international community based on the principle of reciprocity," the Taliban spokesman tweeted.

Putin has said that Russia is pondering over removing the Taliban from the list of extremist groups.

"All of us expect that these people, the Taliban, who are undoubtedly in control of the situation in Afghanistan will ensure that the situation develops in a positive fashion," Putin said.

US DIDN’T PUT ENOUGH PRESSURE ON GHANI, LAMENTS KHALILZAD

The United States did not put enough pressure on former Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani to share power with the Taliban, Zalmay Khalilzad, who recently resigned as US special envoy to Afghanistan, told CBS in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

The Afghan-born Khalilzad, speaking for the first time since his resignation on October 18, expressed reservations about the US decision to lift conditions on the withdrawal deal he had negotiated with the Taliban during the Trump years.

The agreement signed on February 29, 2020 between Washington and the Taliban - which excluded Ghani’s government in Kabul - paved the way for the US to end its longest war. But it was “a conditions-based package” that included negotiations between the insurgents and Kabul, as well as a permanent ceasefire, Khalilzad said.

But once in the White House, US President Joe Biden decided “to do a calendar-based withdrawal” without regard to those conditions, he said.

Washington feared the Taliban would resume attacks on US forces if they stayed in the country longer - a situation Khalilzad acknowledged.

Khalilzad placed most of the blame on Ghani, who he said never agreed to share power with the Taliban. “They preferred the status quo to a political settlement,” he said of Ghani’s government.

B’DESH PLANS SPEEDY TRIALS IN TEMPLE VIOLENCE CASE

In a bid to cool down communal tension trigerred by the Cumilla temple violence that rocked Bangladesh during the recent Durga Puja celebrations and caused much heartache in India, the govenment has said that it plans to expedite trials of all accused in the case. Bangladesh law minister has been quoted in media reports as saying, “There are provisions in the speedy trial tribunals to accept CCTV footage as evidence.” The cases, he said, would be sent to trial as soon as police investigations are concluded.

On October 21, Bangladesh police identified a Cumilla resident Iqbal Hossain as the culprit of the incident that sparked off the riots. According to reports, Hossain was arrested by the authorities in Cox’s Bazar where he had fled. While there have been political protests in India, the Modi government has maintained a studied silence, reposing faith in the Sheikh Hasina government publicly.

PM Sheikh Hasina said at an event on Sunday, “Certain quarters with vested interests are disseminating propaganda aimed at creating a communal divide.” She, however, did not name any one. “No matter how much good work we do, there is a quarter that is occupied with discrediting Bangladesh. What do they want? They don’t want the normal democratic process to continue in this country,” she said, urging people to be wary of the attempts to destabilise the country.