New Covid-19 cases in the US highest in 6 months

New data shows the total number of new infections in the week to July 30 in the US was five times higher than a month ago and the highest since February, with 544,569 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg. Of those, Florida accounted for a fifth of the total with more than 110,000 cases.

Hospitalizations in the US, while well below their January peak, have increased more than 46% in a week. Deaths have also increased more than 30%, according to the CDC.

However, the US vaccination rate has increased sharply recently. More than 4.7 million Americans have received Covid-19 vaccines in the past two weeks, and more than 856,000 doses were administered on July 30, the highest level since July 3.

Vaccination rates in states that were once hesitant to vaccinate have surged, with Louisiana up 114%, Arkansas 96%, Alabama 65% and Missouri 49%, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Texas last week reported its highest number of vaccinations in a month in a single day, up 25% from the previous month.

European,A wave of protests against "vaccine passports" and Covid-19 restrictions spread in Germany and France, while the UK called on people to continue getting vaccinated.

France, the world's fifth-highest epidemic area with 6,127,019 infections and 111,867 deaths, has experienced its third consecutive week of protests to protest plans to "ban" people who have not been vaccinated or do not have Covid-19 test results from public places.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said more than 204,000 people protested across France, including more than 14,000 in Paris alone. Nineteen protesters were arrested and three police officers were injured.

InVirtue, which has recorded 3,776 infections and 92,171 deaths, many protests against lockdown measures also took place in Berlin and many other locations.

Older brother, reported 5,856,528 infections and 129,654 deaths, an increase of 26,144 and 71 cases, respectively.

Some of Britain's top health officials are urging pregnant women to get vaccinated against Covid-19, pointing to new data showing 98% of pregnant women hospitalised with Covid-19 in the UK since May were unvaccinated.

Previously, the World Health Organization (WHO) also warned that pregnant women are at risk of severe Covid-19 infection than other women of the same age. Many people are concerned that the threat to pregnant women is even greater with Delta, a variant that is more contagious and causes more severe illness than other strains of the nCoV virus.

In AsiaThe Delta variant has forced many countries to tighten restrictions, while WHO called on the world to quickly find ways to stop this virus strain before it mutates more dangerously.

The most severe Covid-19 outbreak inChinaThe outbreak in recent months spread to two new areas on July 31, including Fujian province and Chongqing city.

China recorded 328 symptomatic cases in July, nearly equal to the total number of domestic cases from February to June. The outbreak, which began in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, has now spread to 14 provinces. More than a million people in China have been put back under lockdown, while mass testing campaigns have been launched.

China has reported 92,930 cases and 4,636 deaths from Covid-19 since the outbreak began in Wuhan city in late 2019.

InAustraliaBrisbane, Queensland's third-largest city, and several other areas have issued a short three-day lockdown after recording six new cases from a Delta variant cluster.

"The only way to defeat Delta is to act quickly and aggressively," Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said. "The game has changed."

34,130 cases and 924 deaths have been reported in Australia since the outbreak.

In Southeast AsiaHotspots like Indonesia and Thailand continue to record record numbers of new infections, as the Delta variant spreads rapidly.

Indonesiais the largest epidemic area in the region with 3,409,658 infections, an increase of 37,284, of which 94,119 people died, an increase of 1,808.

ThailandJuly 31st recorded a record number of Covid-19 cases per day with 18,912 infected people and 178 deaths, bringing the total to 597,287 and 4,857 respectively. Many hospitals in the capital Bangkok were overloaded and forced to transfer mild cases to the provinces.