Headlines
• Kerala, India, goes into two-day lockdown
• Cambodia locks down eight Thai border regions
• Four billion vaccine doses administered globally
• UK track and trace ‘check ins’ down 50% week on week
• 1.9 million on furlough in UK, down from peak of 9 million
• Thorpe Park offers vaccines to visitors
World news
• Facebook and Google are mandating that all employees returning to their offices in the US must be fully vaccinated , while Netflix is doing the same for all actors in its own productions.
• New quarantine rules for fully vaccinated US and EU travellers arriving from amber list countries will not apply to France because of concern s over “persis tent cases” of the Beta variant.
• AstraZeneca said that as of today it has shipped one billion doses of the vaccine, to more than 170 countries.
• The UK Government says the number of people on furlough in the UK is the lowest since the pandemic began, down from 4.9 million in March to 1.9 million at the end of June. At its peak , the furlough scheme had 9 million employees enrolled. The scheme is to wound down further from Sunday. Employers now have to contribute 20% to workers’ wages, up from 10%.
• Thorpe Park in the UK will today be offering vaccines to visitors.
• The NHS Covid -19 app sent 689,313 self -isolation alerts to users in England and Wales in the week to 21 July. c.600,000 under 25s have removed the app – twice the rate of other age groups.
• In the week ending 21 July, 6,628,156 people used their smartphones to check in to a venue. The figure in the week to 2 June was 14,537,939, according to the latest Test and Trace data, a fall of 54.5%.
• In the week ending 21 July, a total of 307,758 people tested positive in England at least once, a rise of 18% on the previous week.
• In Japan, infections have topped 10,000 for the first time , with a record 3,865 of those in Tokyo. A total of 193 Olympics participants have tested positive for the virus since arriving in Japan.
• Analysis by PHE shows vaccines prevented 22m cases of infection and 60,000 deaths.
• Cambodia is to lock down in eight provinces bordering Thailand (Koh Kong, Pursat, Battambang, Pailin, Banteay Meanchey, Oddar Meanchey, Preah Vihear and Siem Reap) from midnight.
• Cases and deaths hit an all -time high in Thailand today, with 17,669 new infections reported and a daily death toll of 165.
• More than four billion vaccine doses have been administered around the world, eight months after the vaccination drive started. A total of 40% were administered in China (1.6bn), while India (451m) and the US (343m) have seen the second and third most. In countries with a population of more than one million , the United Arab Emirates is first with 168 doses administered per 100 inhabitants, followed by Uruguay (137), Bahrain (134), Qatar, Chile and Canada (129), Israel (128), Singapore (125), the UK, Mongolia and Denmark (124) and Belgium (121). High -income countries have administered an average of 97 doses per 100 inhabitants compared with just 1.6 doses in low - income countries.
• India’s southern state of Kerala has announced a two -day lockdown.
• The US economy grew at an annualised rate of 6.5% in the second quarter, below forecasts of 8.5%.
• International cruises can resume from England from 2 August. This report is prepared solely for the use of Amelia Young Peel Hunt Coronavirus: Breaking news 29 Jul 29 July 2021 4
• Three members of the Australian athletics team have had to isolate after close contact with an American pole vaulter who tested positive.
• Israel is to begin offering a third shot of the Pfizer vaccine to people over 60.
• Guatemala cancelled an order of a second batch of eight million Sputnik V vaccines due to delays.
