KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    28,72,208            /             57,04,175            /             11,188   /             7,45,07,051               /             731.8

1             USA        2,64,693              /             9,13,924              /             2,780     /             2,89,55,249               /             2,736

2             France   4,16,896              /             1,31,312              /             381        /             66,22,263               /             2,005

3             UK          1,12,452              /             1,55,973              /             219        /             37,87,443               /             2,279

4             Spain     77,873   /             93,633   /             408        /             36,50,781            /               2,001

5             Brazil     1,71,028              /             6,28,132              /             767        /             26,43,640               /             2,922

6             Italy       1,33,142              /             1,46,925              /             339        /             24,76,514               /             2,436

7             Germany              1,83,434              /             1,18,709              /             182        /               22,56,069            /             1,410

8             India      1,61,386              /             4,97,975              /             670        /             16,21,603               /             355

9             Russia    1,25,836              /             3,32,012              /             663        /             13,66,319               /             2,274

10           Netherlands                       /             21,277   /                            /             12,66,742            /               1,237

11           Belgium               26,972   /             29,052   /             28           /             10,49,801            /               2,490

12           Switzerland         22,347   /             12,833   /             6             /             8,83,671              /               1,466

13           Sweden                /             15,926   /                            /             8,36,096              /               1,562

14           Poland   39,114   /             1,05,434              /             239        /             7,76,804              /               2,791

15           Norway 23,237   /             1,440     /                            /             7,13,894              /             262

16           Turkey   1,02,601              /             87,614   /             198        /             6,36,148              /               1,021

17           Japan     61,190   /             18,792   /             28           /             6,15,682              /             149

18           Portugal               50,888   /             19,968   /             63           /             5,92,365              /               1,967

19           Mexico  12,521   /             3,06,091              /             198        /             5,65,744              /               2,335

20           Denmark              42,851   /             3,770     /             15           /             5,58,170              /               647

38           Bangladesh         13,154   /             28,425   /             31           /             2,12,628              /               170

41           Philippines           9,493     /             54,054   /             51           /             1,76,053              /               483

53           Pakistan               5,327     /             29,301   /             32           /             1,05,675              /               129

103        Sri Lanka              1,137     /             15,474   /             33           /             17,999   /             718

RUSSIA’S ENVOY THANKS INDIA, OTHERS, OVER UKRAINE STAND

After India abstained from a procedural vote calling for a discussion on Ukraine — initiated by the U.S. — at the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Monday, First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy thanked the country publicly. New Delhi finds itself attempting to balance the interests of both its partners — Washington and Moscow — in the unfolding situation along Ukraine’s borders.

“As we expected, it [the discussion] was nothing but a PR stunt, classic example of ‘megaphone diplomacy’. No facts, only allegations and unsubstantiated claims. U.S. diplomacy at its worst [ thumbs down symbol],” Mr. Polyanskiy said on Twitter.

“Thanks to 4 of our colleagues,” he said, posting symbols of the flags of China, India, Kenya and Gabon, “who were brave to withstand U.S. hand-twisting before the vote.”

China voted against the motion to discuss the matter, while the other three countries abstained.

Mr. Polyanskiy’s tweet also retweeted (i.e., responded to) tweets from his American counterpart, Linda-Thomas-Greenfield, who said the U.S. had brought the issue to the UNSC to “prevent a crisis before it is upon us”.

Although it abstained on the vote on Monday, India, via its Permanent Representative to the U.N., T.S. Tirumurti, called for an “immediate de-escalation of tensions” taking into account the security concerns of all parties. It also called for “quiet and constructive diplomacy.”

DENMARK LIFTS CURBS DESPITE OMICRON, W.H.O CALLS IT PREMATURE

The World Health Organisation chief warned on Tuesday that it is too early for countries to either declare victory over Covid-19 or give up attempts to halt transmission.

"It is premature for any country to either surrender or to declare victory," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. "This virus is dangerous, and it continues to evolve before our very eyes."

His comment came as Denmark on Tuesday became the first EU country to lift all of its domestic Covid curbs despite record numbers of cases of the milder Omicron variant, with a number of other countries eying similar moves.

"We’re concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines and because of Omicron’s high transmissibility and lower severity, preventing transmission is no longer possible, and no longer necessary," Tedros said.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," he said, stressing that "more Covid-19 transmission means more deaths."

And while the new Covid variant is known to be milder, he stressed that "we are now starting to see a very worrying increase in deaths in most regions of the world." It is vital, he said, to keep striving to halt transmission of the virus.

AMNESTY LABELS ISRAEL AN ‘APARTHEID STATE’

Amnesty International on Tuesday labelled Israel an “apartheid” state that treats Palestinians as “an inferior racial group,” joining the assessment of other rights groups which the Jewish state vehemently rejects.

“Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid,” Amnesty’s secretary general Agnes Callamard said.

“Whether they live in Gaza, east Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights.”

Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid strongly rejected the claims as “divorced from reality”.

New York-based Human Rights Watch in April last year became the first major international rights group to publicly level the controversial allegation.

Amnesty stressed it was not comparing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians with conditions in apartheid-era South Africa but said Israeli policies met the criteria for the crime of apartheid under international law.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has called on Amnesty to “withdraw” the report.

Mr. Lapid charged that Amnesty had an anti-Semitic agenda.

JAPAN ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON CHINA RIGHTS SITUATION

Japan’s parliament on Tuesday passed a rare resolution expressing concern about rights issues in China, including the treatment of its Uighur Muslim population and the city of Hong Kong, days before the Beijing Olympics open.

The wording of the resolution proposed by a bipartisan group was reportedly watered down after lengthy discussions, avoiding directly accusing Beijing of rights abuses.

But it comes at a time of increased focus on China’s rights record as the country prepares to host the Beijing Winter Olympics this month.

Tokyo has sought to walk a careful line in its approach to China, balancing the pressure put on Beijing by close ally Washington.

A majority vote in the lower house approved the resolution, which expresses “serious concerns over the human rights situations” in China’s Xinjiang region, Tibet, Hong Kong and Inner Mongolia.

The resolution also calls on Japan’s government to engage constructively on rights issues in China. In response, Beijing slammed the resolution as a “serious political provocation”.

PROTESTERS DEFY JUNTA ORDER IN MYANMAR

Anti-coup protesters across Myanmar defied a junta order not to mark the first anniversary of the military’s power-grab with a silent strike and clapping protests on Tuesday.

The military takeover that ended the Southeast Asian country’s brief democratic interlude and toppled civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has triggered mass protests and a crackdown on dissent.

Residents across commercial hub Yangon and in the second city of Mandalay clapped en masse at 4 p.m. (1500 IST), AFP correspondents and locals said, marking the end of a “silent strike” against the coup.

“We were clapping,” one Mandalay resident said. “Other houses in my neighbourhood clapped as well.”

The junta had ordered shops to stay open on Tuesday but the streets of Yangon began emptying at 10 a.m., a scene that was repeated in Mandalay and the southern Tanintharyi region.

Ten persons were arrested for taking part in the clapping protest in Yangon.

Meanwhile, two persons were killed and 38 injured in a grenade attack on a pro-military rally in eastern Myanmar, a security official said. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

The United States, Britain and Canada unveiled coordinated sanctions on Myanmar officials on Monday, including those involved in the trial of ousted leader Suu Kyi.

MANDATORY VAX FOR MED WORKERS SCRAPPED IN UK

London: UK health secretary Sajid Javid scrapped a controversial policy of mandatory vaccines for frontline NHS and social care staff in Britain on Monday, saying the regulation was “disproportionate” in the light of the Omicron variant being less severe than Delta. An estimated 77,000 NHS unvaccinated patient-facing NHS staff had faced being sacked in April, sparking fears of an already understaffed health service being crippled. Javid told the House of Commons that “I believe that it’s no longer proportionate to require vaccination as a condition of deployment through statute”. In Britain the Royal College of Nursing, the British Medical Association and the trade union Unison opposed mandating vaccines owing to the impact on NHS staffing levels while some NHS staff had started legal action seeking a judicial review of the policy. Mandatory jabs for social care staff in UK has already led about 20,000 staff being sacked or quitting. This will now be overturned.

PREGNANT NZ REPORTER HELPED BY TALIBAN IN AF CAN GO HOME

A pregnant New Zealand journalist who was stranded in Afghanistan by her country’s Covid border policy said on Tuesday she’ll return home after her government finally offeredher apathway back. The reporter had earlier called senior Taliban contacts and was told she could give birth in Afghanistan.

The offer amounted to a backdown by after officials had earlier insisted Bellis needed to reapply for a spot in the country’s bottlenecked quarantine hotels. Deputy PM Grant Robertson said Bellis had been offered a voucher for a room. “I’ll be returning to home at the beginning of March,” Bellis said. Her case was becoming an embarrassment to New Zealand, which has thousands of citizens waiting abroad for space to open in the military-run quarantine hotels. Bellis said she was disappointed the decision was a oneoff and didn’t offer a pathway home for other pregnant New Zealanders. Chris Bunny, head of the quarantine system, said the new offer was made because there was a risk of terrorism in Afghanistan.