Overseas Situation Report Monday 10th May 2021
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison
To start this week’s Overseas reports, on Saturday May 8 an event called “VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World,” took place online. This was a global broadcast and streaming special that aimed to inspire vaccine confidence worldwide and help get the Covid-19 vaccines to everyone, everywhere. It was organised by an organisation called Global Citizen. Global Citizen is a movement of engaged citizens who are using their collective voice to end extreme poverty by 2030. On their platform, Global Citizens learn about the systemic causes of extreme poverty, take action on those issues, and earn rewards for their actions — as part of a global community committed to lasting change. Since the pandemic started the organisation has worked around the world to raise funds for vaccines for the poorer nations as well as working with NGOs to help combat poverty.
The concert was hosted by Selena Gomez and performers included Jennifer Lopez, Eddie Vedder, Foo Fighters, J Balvin and H.E.R.
Appearances were made by Ben Affleck, Chrissy Teigen, David Letterman, Gayle King, Jimmy Kimmel, Olivia Munn, Sean Penn and Nomzamo Mbath.
During the special, Global Citizen called on philanthropists and corporations to donate enough “dollars-for-doses” to vaccinate more than 27 million heroic health workers that are serving on the global frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic every day. The special also encouraged global development advocates and changemakers to call on world leaders to prioritize the equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines for everyone, everywhere.
As part of “VAX LIVE,” Global Citizen campaigned to support the Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator initiative – including COVAX – a vaccine-sharing program co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), to ensure that low-income countries can access Covid-19 vaccines. “VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World” aims to inspire Global Citizens to call on governments, asking them to pledge $22.1 billion, the outstanding balance needed by the ACT-Accelerator to get 2 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses, tests and treatments to the world’s poorest countries by the end of 2021. So far the pledges as a result of this initiative have been coming in from around the world.
$302 million pledged by Canada and Croatia, and $2.5 million from the private sector in support of the ACT-Accelerator to ensure the equitable delivery of Covid-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments.
13.25 million Covid-19 vaccine doses pledged from Norway, Spain, New Zealand, Croatia, and the UAE to share doses regionally, and to vulnerable countries around the world.
$39.6 million in commitments pledged by corporate and philanthropic partners in support of COVAX, the worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines. These pledges have been matched in funding to the value of $23.6 million, totaling $63.3 million. This funding is set to help procure almost 12.66 million Covid-19 vaccines.
Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, called for citizens to publicly donate to COVAX, and at the time of writing their initiative has mobilized $535,000, which will help purchase 107,000 Covid-19 doses.
Portugal will bring forward the delivery of its initial commitment to provide 1 million doses to Portuguese-speaking countries to begin in June 2021.
In total, more than 26 million Covid-19 vaccine doses pledged by governments, businesses, and philanthropists to support those around the world most in need as a result of the aforementioned funding.
Meanwhile across the world let’s take a look at what is happening at the moment. In India, the current epicentre of the world pandemic, the country recorded more than 4,000 coronavirus deaths for a second day in a row and 403,736 new cases, with the pandemic intensifying across the largest cities in the world’s worst-hit nation.
The U.S. looked set for its first week since mid-September in which daily cases have not exceeded 50,000. Meanwhile, the pace of vaccinations slowed, with some states turning away doses from their federal government allocations amid falling demand for shots.
The outbreak in Russia is stabilizing with 8,419 new cases and 334 fatalities on Sunday. Before the Moscow parade held for Victory Day, the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that planned vaccination efforts should provide collective immunity in the country by September.
Germany had 2,630 new cases on Sunday, extending a streak of declining numbers that started last month. The seven-day incidence rate fell below 120 for the first time since early April. The country is pushing ahead with first steps for a gradual easing of pandemic restrictions.
Singapore will test thousands of people for Covid-19 as infections that couldn’t be traced back to known clusters continued to pop up.
Testing will be expanded to all workers at two Changi Airport terminals and a connected shopping mall after three employees came up positive in recent days, the health ministry said. At a junior college where a student also tested positive, about 2,200 people will undergo swab tests by Monday, while just over 100 close contacts will be quarantined.
Singapore put tighter social-distancing measures into place on Saturday after finding 10 new unlinked cases in the community in each of the past two weeks.
Thailand’s death toll from coronavirus pandemic neared 400 on Sunday, with 17 more people succumbing to the disease in the past 24 hours.
Most of the country’s Covid-19 deaths have occurred since early April, when a third wave of infections hit. Total cases in the Southeast Asian nation have jumped to about 83,400 from fewer than 7,000 at the end of 2020, government data shows.
Restrictions on gatherings are being extended for another week in the Sydney area after Australian health officials said they were unable to identify how a man in the community caught Covid-19.
The measures, which include limits on home gatherings to 20 people and a ban on singing and dancing in indoor venues except for weddings, will run through May 17. Masks will be required on public transport and at theaters, hospitals and nursing homes, although shoppers will no longer be required to wear them at stores, the state government said.
European Union leaders urged U.S. President Joe Biden to lift restrictions on exports of Covid-19 vaccines to address the desperate needs of developing countries before embarking on complex discussions about patent waivers. At a summit in Porto, Portugal on Friday and Saturday, shortly after the U.S. suggested suspending intellectual property rights to boost the supply of Covid shots, German’s Angela Merkel, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Mario Draghi appealed to the U.S. to follow the EU example and start shipping significant numbers of vaccines.
And finally some light for Brazil at the end of a very dark period, Weekly cases in Brazil ticked up again but remain well below a peak from mid-March, health ministry data showed. The country reported 63,430 new cases on Saturday, at the end of a week in which 419,904 new infections were recorded. That compares with a peak of almost 540,000 six weeks ago. Total infections are 15.1 million.
Deaths fell for the fourth consecutive week, to 14,879. Another 2,202 fatalities were reported on Saturday, for a total of 421,316, the most after the U.S.
All of these reports show we are a long way from seeing the end of this health crisis so we must all remain vigilant and Stay Safe.
Total number of cases worldwide – 158,850,331
Total number of deaths worldwide – 3,303,835
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 136,347,617
Active cases – 19,198,879 (12.1% of Total Cases)
Closed cases – 139,651,452
Information and statistics from:
https://www.worldometers.info/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-08
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/weekly-trends/
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/