11 June 2021

• Despite Chile’s high vaccination rate (75 percent of its 10 million residents have gotten one shot, and 58 percent are fully vaccinated), a surge in coronavirus cases 73 percent among unvaccinated people, is filling ICUs to capacity. Source

• South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases announces that the country is officially entering its third wave of coronavirus infections as new daily cases reach 9,000. Source

• Public Health England announces that 90 percent of new coronavirus cases in the UK were caused by the Delta variant, which it suggests is 60 percent more contagious than the Alpha variant. Source

• Health Authorities in Madrid, Spain, warn that the Delta variant is spreading in the region, and could become dominant in Spain in six to seven weeks. Source

• The US FDA has ordered J & J to discard an additional 60 million doses of coronavirus vaccines produced at the Emergent Biosolutions plant in Baltimore, Maryland, due to possible contamination (bringing the total of scrapped doses to 75 million). Source

• Beijing has invited Taiwan’s residents to get vaccinated against coronavirus in China, and offered to send vaccines there, despite Taiwan’s ban on importing Chinese pharmaceutical products, and amid claims that China has prevented Taiwan from signing other vaccine deals. Source

• Although all passengers over age 16 on the cruise ship Celebrity Millennium were fully vaccinated and tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 before boarding the ship, two people who were sharing a room tested positive during the voyage. Source

• Cui Gang, an official at China’s National Health Commission, announces that the country has administered 845 doses of coronavirus vaccine to 622 million people; he did not disclose how many of them were fully vaccinated. China is using seven different vaccines; five of them require two doses, one requires three doses, and one is a single-dose vaccine.  Source

• The US CDC is reviewing nearly 800 cases of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart) following vaccination – more commonly after the second dose –  of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna coronavirus vaccine. Over half of the cases were reported in people ages 12 to 24, and two-thirds were in males. Although most cases were mild, 15 people have been hospitalized. Source

• Italy announces that it is halting use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in people under age 60; those under 60 who got a first dose will receive a different vaccine for their second dose. Source

• An announcement on plans to end the pandemic, including a pledge of a billion coronavirus vaccine doses for poorer countries, is expected  from the G7 meeting in the coming days. Source

• China has become the world’s leading exporter of coronavirus vaccines, sending over 260 million doses to 95 countries, although it has only given ten million doses to COVAX. Overall, China has donated 22 million doses, mostly to low-income countries in Africa and Asia. Questions about the efficacy of Chinese vaccines persist, and delayed deliveries have slowed vaccine rollouts in some countries. Source

• In Malaysia, 32 McDonald’s were closed after throngs of delivery drivers seeking the special “BTS meal” exceeded capacity and violated safe distancing  measures. ­­­Source

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