On the occasion of the annual International Tiger Day, take a closer look at the tigers at the Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal, the capital city of Indias Madhya Pradesh state.
ARoyal Bengal tiger is seen at the Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal, the capital city of India’s Madhya Pradesh state
Asia-Pacific Coronavirus News: Tokyos daily cases surpass 3,000 for 1st time, S. Koreas new infections hit new high
The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia-Pacific countries
— Tokyo’s daily cases surpass 3,000 for 1st time;
— S. Korea’s new infections hit record high at 1,896;
— Indonesia reports 47,791 new cases;
— India adds 43,654 cases.
The number of new confirmed cases in Tokyo reached 3,177 for the first time in a single day, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced.
The all-time high comes just a day after Tokyo, hosting the Olympics since last week, marked 2,848 daily infection cases Tuesday, topping the earlier record of 2,520 cases logged on Jan. 7.
Olympic organizers have pledged to perform strict restrictions for “safe and secure” games and emphasized that the number of infection cases among athletes and others associated with the sporting events is very low, while a fifth wave of the pandemic stimulated by the highly contagious Delta variant is putting pressure on hospitals in the Olympic host city.
The Japanese government has placed Tokyo under a fourth state of emergency from July 12 to Aug. 22, as restaurants and bars are required to stop offering alcohol and close early.
ADVERTISEMENTx
SEOUL — South Korea’s daily cases hit a new record high as the fourth wave of outbreaks raged both in the capital and non-capital areas.
A police officer works at the entrance of the Main Press Center (MPC) of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan
The country reported 1,896 more cases, raising the total number of infections to 193,427, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Of the new cases, 568 were Seoul residents. The number of infected people residing in Gyeonggi province and the western port city of Incheon was 543 and 101 respectively.
The combined figure of 1,212 spotted in the greater Seoul area accounted for 66.5 percent of the locally transmitted cases.
ADVERTISEMENT
People wearing face masks walk across the street near Yongsan Station in Seoul, South Korea
Four more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 2,083.
JAKARTA — The Indonesian Health Ministry reported that the coronavirus cases across the country rose by 47,791 within the past 24 hours to 3,287,727 with the death toll adding by 1,824 to 88,659.
Additional 43,856 recovered patients were discharged from hospitals, raising the total number of recoveries from the pandemic in the Southeast Asian country to 2,640,676, according to the ministry.
At present, the Indonesian government is implementing multi-tiered community activity restrictions, known locally as PPKM, on the country’s most populated island of Java and the resort island of Bali as well as several municipalities outside the two islands.
ADVERTISEMENT
NEW DELHI — India’s total tally rose to 31,484,605 with 43,654 newly-registered cases during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry’s latest data.
Besides, as many as 640 deaths due to the pandemic since Tuesday morning took the total death toll to 422,022.
There are still 399,436 active cases in the country with an increase of 1,336 cases during the past 24 hours.
A woman stays for observation after receiving a dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Jakarta, Indonesia,
MANILA — The Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH) reported 4,478 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,566,667.
The death toll climbed to 27,401 after 84 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH added.
The confirmed cases in 11 areas in Metro Manila, home to over 13 million people, have increased, the DOH said, adding it is closely monitoring the virus clusters in these areas with “positive two-week growth rates.”
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan reported the highest single-day spike in two months with 4,119 new cases over the last 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said.
The NCOC said that the country’s number of overall confirmed cases has risen to 1,015,827, including 935,742 recoveries, adding that the positivity rate of infections was recorded at 7.88 percent.
A health care worker wears a sign that reads “2nd dose” on his head to guide people getting inoculated with the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at a school turned into a vaccination site in San Juan City, the Philippines
The COVID-19 claimed 44 more lives across the country in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll from the disease to 23,133, the NCOC said, adding that 2,898 people are in critical condition.
People wearing face masks walk at a market in Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan
Pfizer says third COVID-19 vaccine dose strongly boosts protection against Delta variant
Pfizer anticipates applying for emergency use authorization for a third dose of its vaccine as soon as next month.
American biopharmaceutical company Pfizer said Wednesday a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine can “strongly” boost protection against the Delta variant.
Antibody levels against the Delta variant in people aged 18 to 55 who receive a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are greater than five-fold than following a second dose, according to data posted at the company’s teleconference.
ADVERTISEMENTx
Among people aged 65 to 85, the Pfizer data suggest that antibody levels against the Delta variant after receiving a third dose are greater than 11-fold than following a second dose.
Pfizer anticipates applying for emergency use authorization for a third dose of its vaccine as soon as next month, Mikael Dolsten, who leads worldwide research, development and medical for Pfizer, was quoted by CNN as saying at the teleconference.
The number of Covid-19 cases in Southeast Asia crossed 7 million, with 98,928 new cases reported on Wednesday – higher than Tuesday’s tally of 96,526. There were 2,564 more deaths, decreasing from Tuesday’s 2,824 and taking total coronavirus deaths in Asean to 139,127.
Indonesia reported 47,791 new cases and 1,824 deaths on Wednesday, bringing cumulative cases in that country to 3,287,727 patients and a total 88,659 deaths.
The government said it would allow retail shops, selected businesses and department stores to open under certain conditions this week, but will continue to impose the tightest disease control measures in Java and Bali, which are the epicentres of the outbreak, until August 2.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s prime minister insisted that the government is not going to extend the state of emergency that will expire on August 1. The country has been under emergency rule since January, with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin arguing it was needed to curb Covid-19 from spreading further.
Despite the emergency and strict lockdowns, the pandemic in Malaysia has only worsened, triggering public anger in the neighbouring country.
New CDC mask guidance confuses and frustrates some Americans as delta variant surges
They thought the worst of the coronavirus pandemic was behind them. The vaccines were here, the masks could come off. A summer slowly returning to normal seemed within reach. Then came the hyper-transmissible delta variant – and with it, this week, a call from health officials for everyone to start masking up indoors again in places where viral transmission is high.
Across the country, people said they felt whiplashed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation that even vaccinated people should resume wearing face coverings indoors under specific circumstances. The frustration felt by some Americans at the changing guidance comes as officials try to convince a pandemic-weary public to once again embrace health measures many believed no longer applied.
“I feel like the government keeps changing what they want us to do,” said Aubrey Garner, who lives in Conroe, Texas, and owns a residential cleaning service. “I’m not sure they know what the answer is to covid.”
At stake in the renewed push for masking is whether the country can control the spread of delta , which is driving up infections nationwide and threatening to reverse hard fought gains against the pandemic. New cases in the United States have risen 63% in the past week, spiking in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas, where vaccination rates are low. Hospitalizations rose more than 40% in the same period, according to tracking by The Washington Post. The rapidly spreading variant could also jeopardize the U.S. economy’s fragile recovery, pushing some companies to reexamine whether to bring workers back into offices this fall.
On Wednesday, some said they were struggling just to wrap their heads around the CDC’s message. Susan Schmaeling, who owns a public relations company and lives in Houston, said she rejoiced when she got the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine in March. Now, she doesn’t know what to think.
“I’m vaccinated and I’m supposed to put a mask on to be in a bookstore or wherever? What is the CDC telling us now, that the vaccines don’t work?” she said. “I haven’t had covid and I don’t want to have covid, so I’ll wear a mask. But it’s absurd.”
Experts have warned for weeks that a broad return to masking may be necessary to rein in delta, which CDC director Rochelle Walensky said is “one of the most infectious respiratory viruses we know of.” Facing a spike in cases, Los Angeles County became the first major metropolitan area to reinstate indoor mask requirements when officials brought back the rules in mid-July. St. Louis followed suit last week, while Kansas City, Mo., and Savannah, Ga., reinstated their mask mandates after the CDC’s announcement. Other cities and states are holding off for now, instead issuing voluntary recommendations.
“We need to wear masks indoors to control the spread of the variant,” Scott Ratzan, a public health expert at the City University of New York, said in an email. “As masking recommendations do not seem to work as well as mask mandates, the cities (and county in L.A.) are making the prudent decision to reinstate mandates ASAP.”
But the shifting advice from federal health officials may have hindered some of those efforts, Ratzan added.
“Unfortunately, the CDC has fumbled on the masking communication – from messaging to the policy recommendations,” he said. “This has made it a challenge for health officials and policymakers to get people to remask – or make it a norm to mask while the coronavirus delta variant (and likely other variants) continue to spread.”
Walensky acknowledged this week that the decision to issue the new guidance was a painstaking one. Barely two months had passed since the agency said vaccinated individuals didn’t need to wear masks in most settings. But with delta raging, the new guidance was necessary, she said.
“It is not a welcome piece of news that masking is going to be a part of people’s lives who have already been vaccinated,” Walensky said. “This new guidance weighs heavily on me.”
While the vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe illness and death, vaccinated people can still contract coronavirus in what is known as a breakthrough infection. Walensky said people who have these infections from the delta variant might have as much viral load as an unvaccinated person, suggesting they may be able to spread it to others.
In Nevada, the state’s Democratic governor, Steve Sisolak, brought back the state’s mandate just hours after the announcement from the CDC. Starting Friday , the state will requiring face coverings be worn indoors in public in counties with “substantial or high transmission.” Twelve of Nevada’s 17 counties – including Clark, home to Las Vegas – fit that criteria, the state said.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board reinforced the new mandate, telling casinos and other businesses it issues licenses to in a notice that it would “continue to ensure that best practices are used in the mitigation of covid-19.” The board reminded casinos and other licensees that they were required to have signs about where masks need to be worn.
In compliance with the mandate, MGM Resorts, the largest operator on the Las Vegas Strip, said it would require “all guests and visitors” to wear masks indoors in public areas starting Friday, a spokesman said in an email. MGM requires its employees to either be vaccinated or be tested regularly, the spokesman said.
Workers in Las Vegas, and throughout Clark County, had already been required to wear masks since the county enacted a mandate earlier this month, which excluded patrons.
The decision irked Amy Boike, 44, of Lakeville, Minn., who said she’d been planning to travel to Las Vegas at the end of August for a concert. Now, she said, she’s considering canceling her trip.
“What’s the point of the vaccine if we still have to wear a mask?” said Boike, who said she’d received the shot.
“I don’t want to wear a mask the whole time I am there,” she said in a text message. “I don’t want to spend all that money for a trip and then have to suffer through a mask.”
ADVERTISEMENTx
There’s widespread agreement among infectious-disease experts that masking slows the spread of the virus by stopping droplets carrying virus particles from traveling through the air and infecting others. It’s especially important indoors, where poor ventilation and gathering in close quarters can facilitate the spread of the virus.
“Masks are the best policy we have in the face of covid. No one wants to close businesses or schools this fall,” Julia Raifman, a health policy expert at Boston University.
But significant segments of the public remain skeptical.
In Miami-Dade County, where the mayor on Wednesday revived indoor mask requirements at county facilities, Natalia Gonzalez, 28, said she doesn’t think the mandate should extend to restaurants, bars and stores.
“It’s unnecessary,” she said. “I think it should be a personal choice.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Rasheed Powell, who works at a Miami pop art store, said he recently stopped wearing his mask at work. Now he’s waiting to see if his bosses require them again. But even in light of the delta variant, he’s tiring of what he said were mixed signals from officials.
“When I heard about the delta strain, it didn’t shake me up any more than other news about covid,” said Powell, 36. “I feel they are fearmongering us all the time. It’s like they want to push an agenda.”
Polling shows mask-wearing fell sharply after the CDC eased its guidance in May and vaccines became widely available to the general public. An Axios-Ipsos poll conducted in mid-July found that about 27% of adults reported wearing a mask at all times while indoors at public places. That was similar to the roughly 27% who gave the same response in late June but down from 41% in early June and 51% in late May. Nearly half said they wore masks sometimes.
In Los Angeles, the first major city to bring back its indoor mask mandate, Bellanira Reyes said she doesn’t like wearing face coverings but will follow the city’s guidelines if it means keeping people safe. She’s aware of the threat from the delta variant and worries about the virus spiking again.
“It’s uncomfortable the mask, really uncomfortable. But it’s something that protects us,” the 34-year-old mother of three said. “I don’t want to wear it, especially when it’s too hot, but it’s OK.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Marcus Chavez 24, of Los Angeles, said he too intends to follow the rules. He’s fully vaccinated, he said, but he understands the risks in crowded places.
“I’m not one to tell people what to do,” he said, “but I strongly suggest it so, just from a scientific point of view.”
In Salt Lake City, which lifted its mask mandate for vaccinated people in May, parents dropped their children off at a bustling summer day camp at Sugar House Park on Wednesday morning. Few wore masks as they streamed in and out.
Megan McGee, 34, said she’s strongly against the CDC’s new guidance on wearing masks indoors in public spaces, even though covid-19 made her the sickest she’s ever been. McGee said she is not vaccinated.
“People don’t know who to listen to, or what’s good information,” said McGee, a special-education teacher.
Luther Creed, 72, was one of the few people who wore a mask as he brought his grandson to camp. A retired physician, Creed, 72, said he worries about the virus continuing to mutate, and believes wearing a mask is critical – including this winter.
He agrees that the CDC has bungled its messaging around the vaccine. But the mind-set of putting personal freedom ahead of the greater good will have consequences, the retired physician said.
“It’s all about ‘Me.’ It’s not about protecting your neighbor or your family members,” he said. “We’re going to pay a price.”
Published : July 29, 2021
By : The Washington Post · Bryan Pietsch, Derek Hawkins
Chemical plant leak kills two, injures dozens in Texas
A leak at a chemical plant in Texas late Tuesday killed two people, and injured dozens, in what local authorities are describing as a “mass casualty incident.”
The leak of acetic acid, a food preservative that is commonly used to make vinegar and can be flammable, occurred at 7:35 p.m. Tuesday at the LyondellBasell facility, which is the world’s third-largest producer of the acid, according to the company.
The facility is part of the company’s La Porte Complex, about 25 miles east of Houston, which also manufactures plastics and other chemicals used in paint, toys and food packaging.
Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen said at a news conference Tuesday night that two people had died at the scene.
The Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office said early Wednesday that after investigators had conducted an initial review and found there was no explosion or fire, it had turned the investigation over to the Harris County Precinct 8 Constable’s Office.
In a statement sent to The Washington Post on Wednesday, LyondellBasell said 30 potentially affected workers were taken to hospitals for evaluation and treatment, 24 of whom were later released. The constable’s office said Wednesday that 42 people were affected by the incident, with injuries ranging from critical to minor. Chief Deputy Jason Finnen with the constable’s office told The Post that some of the affected individuals were treated on-site.
“We continue to monitor their conditions,” the company said.
Among the chemicals being used in the plant were hydrogen iodide and methyl acetate, Christensen told reporters, which could be toxic if inhaled and could cause severe burns. She underscored that the impact of the leak was “contained” and that specialists would continue to review safety measures.
The City of La Porte issued a statement saying the leak had “been isolated, and air monitoring at the facility perimeter indicates no off-site impact.”
The company said an “all clear” was given at 5:17 a.m. Wednesday.
“Approximately 100,000 pounds of a mixture which includes acetic acid was released. Cleanup is continuing at this time,” the company said in the statement. “Air monitoring conducted during the incident did not indicate actionable levels and monitoring is ongoing.”
ADVERTISEMENTx
In an earlier statement, LyondellBasell spokeswoman Chevalier Gray said that “all appropriate regulatory agencies have been notified.”
The constable’s office said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the Chemical Safety Board were notified about the incident. The TCEQ said it is aware of the chemical leak and has “deployed regional personnel to the site.”
LyondellBasell officials said that emergency responders from La Porte and Channel Industries Mutual Aid were at the scene Tuesday night, and that all personnel working within the acetals area of the La Porte Complex, where the leak occurred, had been accounted for.
The people who died have not yet been identified by the company or local authorities.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo tweeted that she was “heartbroken” to learn of the deaths and said “county and other first responder agencies are working to support the other workers impacted and to verify that the incident is contained.”
The constable’s office said it is conducting an investigation, with cooperation from LyondellBasell, to determine the cause of the incident.
Published : July 29, 2021
By : The Washington Post · Adela Suliman, Paulina Firozi
ตลาดหุ้นจีนฟื้นหลังรัฐบาลพยายามระงับความตื่นตระหนกของนักลงทุนที่เทขายหุ้น
เฟซบุ๊คของสถานทูตสหรัฐประจำประเทศไทยแจ้งข่าวดี สหรัฐจะบริจาควัคซีนให้ไทยเพิ่มอีก 1 ล้านโดส
วิจัยพบฉีดวัคซีน Pfizer เข็ม 3 หรือ booster shot ปกป้องสายพันธุ์เดลตาได้ดีมาก
กระทรวงสาธารณสุขอุรุกวัยเตรียมฉีดวัคซีน Pfizer เป็นบูสเตอร์ให้ผู้ที่ได้รับ Sinovac ครบโดสแล้ว
A Royal Bengal tiger
A police officer works at the entrance of the Main Press Center (MPC) of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan
People wearing face masks walk across the street near Yongsan Station in Seoul, South Korea
A woman stays for observation after receiving a dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Jakarta, Indonesia,
A health care worker wears a sign that reads “2nd dose” on his head to guide people getting inoculated with the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at a school turned into a vaccination site in San Juan City, the Philippines
People wearing face masks walk at a market in Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan
