‘Flying doctors’ to deliver vaccines to remote Australians
Canberra, July 18: The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) has been enlisted to inoculate thousands of Australians against Covid-19 in remote areas, a top official said on Sunday.
Frank Quinlan, RFDS federation executive director, said the service has administered about 5,121 coronavirus vaccines since being brought in by governments to accelerate the rollout in remote communities, reports Xinhua news agency.
Of those vaccines, it was estimated that about 45 per cent were for Indigenous Australians.
“Early on in the pandemic we identified a whole number of communities across Australia where the RFDS is either one of or the primary source of health care,” he said. (IANS)
Vietnam puts southern region in lockdown as surge grows
Hanoi, July 18: Vietnam put its entire southern region in a two-week lockdown starting midnight Sunday, as confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeded 3,000 for the third day in a row.
The lockdown order includes the Mekong Delta and Ho Chi Minh City metropolis, the country’s financial and economic hub with over 35 million people – nearly a third of Vietnam’s population.
Officials say they have to act as the number of infections reached nearly 50,000 since the outbreak reemerged at the end of April after several months of no cases being recorded.
Most of the 225 COVID-19 dead – 190 of them – have occurred since April. Ho Chi Minh City, the epicenter of the surge, had already announced a full lockdown a week ago, after dozens of cases were reported in late May. (AP)
UK to launch studies to find long Covid causes, treatments
London, July 18: UK researchers have received a 20 million pound fund to investigate ‘long Covid”, its causes, and potential treatments, the media reported.
The funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) will help researchers launch 15 new studies of the condition that will investigate everything from brain fog to ongoing breathlessness, using a new technique to detect hidden lung damage, the BBC reported on Sunday.
Patients with post-Covid conditions are variously referred to as having long-haul Covid, long Covid or post-acute sequelae of Covid-19 (PASC).
At present, there are no tests to diagnose long Covid and the condition is still not yet fully understood. (IANS)
Global caseload tops 189.9 mn
Washington, July 18: The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 189.9 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.08 million and vaccinations soared to over 3.59 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
In its latest update on Sunday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and the total number of vaccine doses administered stood at 189,924,297, 4,081,385 and 3,596,183,765, respectively.
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 34,067,424 and 608,881, respectively, according to the CSSE.
In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 31,064,908 cases. (IANS)