Headlines
• US life expectancy fell 1.5 years in 2020
• 92% of UK adults have antibodies
• Delta variant accounts for 83% of US cases
• Pfizer signs agreement to produce vaccine locally in South Africa
• France’s health pass comes into force today
World news
• France’s health pass comes into effect today amid a surge of new infections. People must show proof of vaccination, a negative test or recent recovery to enter most museums and cinemas. Almost 58% of the adult population in France is fully vaccinated.
• Life expectancy in the US dropped by one and a half years in 2020, from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77.3 years, according to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
• An estimated 213,120 property sales were completed in the UK during the month of June. This was 216.1% higher than the same month a year earlier, and 108.5% above that of May this year.
• UK government borrowing was £22.8bn, IFS data showed, which was £5.5bn lower than June last year. • 92% of UK adults tested by the ONS during the week ending 4 July had antibodies, up from 89% two weeks before.
• In England, 92% had antibodies, compared to 90%. • In Wales, 93%, up from 92%. • In Northern Ireland, 90% up from 87%.
• In Scotland, 89%, up from 85%.
• A study by Vac4Covid of 12,000 people vaccinated across the UK showed that 7.9% of the participants reported side effects that disrupted their daily activities, with the most common including fever, headaches and fatigue. 45% of study participants said they felt better in seven days.
• Pfizer has announced a partnership with a South African manufacturer to produce its vaccine locally, the first such deal on the continent of Africa. Biovac will process and distribute 100 million doses a year starting in 2022.
• A survey by the Times of India has found that 67% of the country has antibodies, compared with 24% when the last survey was conducted in December-January.
• The British Meat Processors Association has warned that production lines have started to fail due to the number of workers self-isolating over coronavirus contacts.
• The first test batch of the Russian-developed Sputnik V vaccine has been produced in Vietnam, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund RDIF and Vietnamese pharmaceutical firm Vabiotech said today.
• The Delta variant now accounts for 83% of all sequenced cases in the US according to the CDC.
