Delta pushes Russia’s balance sheet to record high as EU considers tourism reboot, Health News, ET HealthWorld
Delta, reported in at least 96 territories around the world, is fueling concerns the pandemic could be far from over after claiming nearly four million lives worldwide. Russia has reported 669 deaths from the virus in the past 24 hours – a record for the second day in a row.
The new record comes two days before St. Petersburg hosts a Euro 2020 quarter-final on Friday in front of 26,000 spectators, including many foreigners who flew into the match. President Putin pleaded with vaccine-skeptic Russians to get vaccinated, with just 15% of the population vaccinated so far, although free vaccines have been available in the country since December. “You have to listen, not to people who understand little about this and spread rumors, but specialists,” Putin said while revealing for the first time that he had received the blow from Russia’s Sputnik V. He nevertheless said he was not in favor of compulsory vaccinations.
The Delta variant is fueling multiple outbreaks in Australia and anger is mounting across the country over its slow vaccine rollout, with only around 5% of the population fully vaccinated so far.
The delta is also expected to become the dominant variant in Europe in the coming months, but EU authorities are banking on mass vaccinations to verify the high death toll seen in previous waves. An EU-wide Covid travel certificate, indicating the immunity status of passengers, goes into effect on Thursday, fueling hopes that Europe’s crucial tourism industry can slowly come out of its worst period. Agencies
