Dear Reader:

Worldometer, June 17: there are almost 178 million cases and closer to 4 million deaths recorded worldwide. Yesterday in the U.S., there were just over 14 thousand new cases (down from the January 8 record high of over 305 thousands new cases), and 434 new deaths (down from the January 12 record high of 4,463 new deaths).

Yesterday in India, there were over 67 thousand new cases (down from the May 6 record high of 414 thousand new cases), and 1,411 new deaths (down from the May 23 record high of 4,896 new deaths).

Yesterday in Brazil, there were close to 86 thousand new cases and 2,760 new deaths.

Yesterday in the UK, there were just over 9 thousand new cases (down from the January 8 record high of close to 68 thousand new cases) and 9 new deaths (down from the January 20 record high of 1,823 new deaths).

cnn. com/ interactive/ 2021/ health/ global covid vaccinations, June 17: the site lists 212 countries and territories where more than 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines were administered by today. The following are the numbers of administered doses of vaccines per 100 people in various countries: Gibraltar has a population of just over 34 thousand people and it has the highest number (231), the UK (107), the U.S. (94), Brazil (38), India (19). African countries area among the countries with the smallest numbers,  less than 1 dose was administered per 100 people: Chad, South Sudan, Zambia, South Africa and more.

Reuters, Covid-19 cases surge in Africa, less than 0.8% of fully vaccinated, say officials, June 17: “COVID-19 cases rose by over 20% week-on-week in nearly two dozen African countries and progress on vaccinating Africans is proceeding slowly, with just 0.79% of people on the continent fully vaccinated.. ‘Africa is in the midst of a full blown third wave…We’ve seen in India and elsewhere how quickly COVID-19 can rebound and overwhelm health systems,’ Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, told a news conference… The continent of 1.3 billion people has not yet been battered with an emergency during the pandemic on the scale of that recently facing India, but officials including Moeti continue to warn that such a catastrophe could hit.

“African nations lack sufficient numbers of hospital beds and oxygen supplies, and would be even more overwhelmed than India if cases surged in a similar way, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention warned in April. Africa has reported over 5 million COVID-19 cases, representing 2.9% of total cases globally, according to the Africa CDC.”

anita