President Joe Biden has advised people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, stating that a highly communicable strain of the virus, known as Delta, could result in even more fatalities.
During a COVID-19 update with the press Friday, the president described the Delta variant, which was first discovered in India, as being “more easily transmissible, potentially deadlier and particularly dangerous for young people.”
“People getting seriously ill and being hospitalized due to COVID-19 are those who have not been fully vaccinated,” he said, adding that the new variant makes unvaccinated people “even more vulnerable than they were a month ago.”
As the Delta variant spreads in several countries, Italy ordered a five-day quarantine and mandatory testing for travelers arriving from the U.K., including those that have been vaccinated. Germany reached a milestone in its campaign to beat the pandemic with more than half the population at least partially inoculated.
What are the major developments?
- Global Tracker: The number of cases has surpassed over 178 million, and the number of deaths stands at 3.8 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 2.59 billion vaccine doses have been given worldwide, according to the New York Times.
- Once inundated by sufferers, Covid numbers in U.S. hospitals dropped to zero.
- Germans flood Europe’s seashores, while British tourists stand in line.
- The failure of CureVac’s Covid vaccination demonstrates that not all mRNA vaccines are considered equal.
