Covid live news: UK reports 111 further deaths and 33,904 new cases; New Zealand battles Delta outbreak
UK also admits 773 patients to hospital, taking the weekly tally to 5,623; Jacinda Ardern warns of more cases to come in New Zealand
- US to offer Covid vaccine booster shots in September
- Growing New Zealand Covid cluster linked to Sydney Delta outbreak
- Daily cases surge to 633 in New South Wales
- Getting Covid jab is an ‘act of love’, says Pope Francis
- Ardern’s lockdown finds favour as New Zealand watches Sydney
Science Mag reports that despite 78% of those 12 and older in Israel being fully vaccinated, the country is now logging one of the world’s highest infection rates, with nearly 650 new cases daily per million people.
Nearly 60% of hospitalised cases are among fully vaccinated people, heightening concerns that the benefits of inoculation – which Pfizer, the primary jab in Israel, has acknowledged – decrease significantly over relatively short periods of time.
The sheer number of vaccinated Israelis means some breakthrough infections were inevitable, and the unvaccinated are still far more likely to end up in the hospital or die. But Israel’s experience is forcing the booster issue onto the radar for other nations, suggesting as it does that even the best vaccinated countries will face a Delta surge.
Now, the effects of waning immunity may be beginning to show in Israelis vaccinated in early winter; a preprint published last month by physician Tal Patalon and colleagues at KSM, the research arm of MHS, found that protection from Covid-19 infection during June and July dropped in proportion to the length of time since an individual was vaccinated. People vaccinated in January had a 2.26 times greater risk for a breakthrough infection than those vaccinated in April. (Potential confounders include the fact that the very oldest Israelis, with the weakest immune systems, were vaccinated first.)
A school district in Texas has announced an amendment to their dress code, reportedly requiring face masks for all members, ahead of the school’s reopening tomorrow.
An announcement issued on the website of the Paris Independent School District (PISD) on Tuesday pointed out Greg Abbott’s recent executive order doesn’t allow his office to “usurp the board of trustees’ executive power”.
Related: Texas school district requires masks after finding dress code loophole to bypass ban
Read the original article at The Guardian