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Covid-19 wrap: World death toll tops 780 000, Pope demands access to virus vaccine for poor

Iran says Covid-19 has killed 20 000 in 6 months

Iran's Covid-19 death toll has surpassed 20 000, the government said Wednesday, six months after announcing the start of what quickly became the Middle East's deadliest outbreak.

The health ministry said Covid-19 claimed 153 more lives in the past 24 hours, bringing the country's overall toll to 20 125 dead.

Its spokeswoman, Sima Sadat Lari, told a televised news conference there had been another 2 444 cases of infection in the last 24 hours.

The Islamic republic has now reported 350 279 coronavirus infections since announcing its first cases - two deaths in the Shiite holy city of Qom - on 19 February.

Lari described the situation as "concerning" in 26 of Iran's 31 provinces, among them Tehran.

She also stressed health protocols should be observed during the holy Shiite mourning month of Moharram, which starts on Friday.

"In no case should Moharram ceremonies be held in closed spaces," she said.

There has been skepticism at home and abroad about Iran's official figures, amid concerns the real toll could be much higher.

Authorities have not imposed a mandatory lockdown on the population across Iran.

Schools were shut, public events cancelled and travel between provinces banned in March.

Restrictions were gradually lifted in April as the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated a sharp downturn for Iran's sanctions-hit economy.

But deaths and infections have risen in the Islamic republic since hitting a months-long low in May, leading to a re-imposition of some protocols.

- AFP


Pope calls for social justice and vaccines for all

The coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating inequalities between rich and poor, Pope Francis said on Wednesday, calling for universal vaccines not reserved just for the wealthiest.

As the virus continues to claim lives and wreak havoc on economies around the world, the Pope in recent months has tried to use all his moral force to demand a new post-pandemic society, more respectful of the poor and the environment.

The call for social justice is a familiar theme sounded by the leader of the 1.3 billion Catholics around the world, who witnessed poverty and a crippling economic crisis first hand at home in Argentina.

"It would be sad if, for the vaccine for Covid-19, priority were to be given to the richest," said Francis during his traditional Wednesday audience broadcast live from his private Vatican library.

"It would be sad if this vaccine were to become the property of this nation or another, rather than universal and for all."

Pharmaceutical companies are in a race to be the first to launch a vaccine against the disease, which has killed nearly 775 000 people worldwide since its emergence at the end of December. Some governments have struck deals with companies, hoping to secure exclusive supplies of the vaccines when developed.

The World Health Organisation has called for widespread access. Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday that governments "must prevent vaccine nationalism".

Curing injustice 

"The pandemic has exposed the plight of the poor and the great inequality that reigns in the world. And the virus, while it does not distinguish between people, has found, in its devastating path, great inequalities and discrimination. And it has exacerbated them!" he said.

Concurrent with a cure for the coronavirus, he said, the world "must also cure a larger virus, that of social injustice, inequality of opportunity, marginalisation, and the lack of protection for the weakest."

It was not enough to focus on assistance to the poor, but rather to "resolve the problems that lead us to provide aid."

Jorge Bergoglio - the birth name of Francis - pleaded for an economy that "brings benefits to the common people" and decried profits "not linked to the creation of dignified jobs".

"And what a scandal it would be if all the economic assistance we are observing - most of it with public money - were to focus on rescuing those industries that do not contribute to the inclusion of the excluded," he said.

- AFP


More than 780 000 deaths globally

The pandemic has killed at least 781 194 people worldwide since surfacing in China late last year, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP on Wednesday.

More than 22 million cases have been registered.

The United States has recorded the most deaths with 171 833, followed by Brazil with 109 888, Mexico with 57 774, India with 52 889 and Britain with 41 381.


Mandatory vaccine?

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison calls for coronavirus immunisations to be mandatory, wading into ethical and safety debates raging around the world.

"There are always exemptions for any vaccine on medical grounds, but that should be the only basis," Morrison says, after Australia secures access to a vaccine currently under development by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.


Europe's 'tightest' border policy

Finland has removed most EU countries from its "green travel list", with only arrivals from a handful of states now able to enter without restrictions, the government announces.

"Finland's border policy is the tightest in the European Union, because we have wanted to preserve the relatively good virus situation in Finland," Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo says.

The tougher rules mean only people coming from Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Estonia and Lithuania will now be allowed into Finland without proving they have a valid reason for travel and self-isolating for two weeks.


Brazil go ahead with vaccine

Brazilian health regulators give the green light to the final stage of trials on a vaccine by Johnson & Johnson. The US pharmaceutical firm will test its drug on 7 000 volunteers in the country, part of a group of up to 60 000 worldwide.

-AFP


Philippines face worst Covid-19 crisis in Southeast Asia

The Philippines has the highest number of coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia.

The government imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns which lasted from March until June.

The lockdown in the capital, Manila is easing, and many are hoping it will help kickstart economic recovery.

But it will be tough - thousands of businesses have closed and millions of people are out of work.

Al Jazeera's Jamela Alindogan reports.

- Aljezeera Asia


Norway to impose 10-day quarantine on people coming from Britain, Greece, Austria and Ireland

Norway said on Wednesday it will impose a 10-day quarantine on all people arriving from Britain, Austria, Greece and Ireland from 22 August due to rising numbers of Covid-19 cases in those countries.

Similar restrictions will also be imposed on those coming from the Danish capital Copenhagen, the Norwegian foreign ministry said in a statement.

- Reuters

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