Covid-19: Delta variant forces US to keep international travel ban

The United States US served a notice on Monday that it will keep existing Covid19 travel restrictions on international travel in place for now due to concerns about the surging infection rate because of the delta variantIt was the latest sign that the White House is having to recalibrate its thinking around the Coronavirus pandemic as the more infectious variant surges across the US and a substantial chunk of the population resists vaccinationIt was also a reversal from the sentiment President Joe Biden voiced earlier this month when he said his administration was ldquoin the processrdquo of considering how soon the US could lift the ban on European travel bound for the US after the issue was raised by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her visit to the White HouseWhite House press secretary Jen Psaki said the restrictions would continue for now ldquoDriven by the delta variant cases are rising here at home particularly among those who are unvaccinated and appears likely to continue in the weeks aheadrdquo she said The rising cases also are causing the administration to take a closer look at policies on wearing masks On Monday the Department of Veterans Affairs became the first major federal agency to require its health care workers to get Covid19 vaccines And over the weekend US health officials acknowledged theyrsquore considering changing the federal governmentrsquos recommendations on wearing masksAlso read Covid19 Brazil scraps request for Covaxin useFrancersquos 6037 adult population vaccinatedNearly 60 per cent of the adult population in France have received at least one dose of a Covid19 vaccine hitting the governmentrsquos target previously set for the end of August President Emmanuel Macron announced So far France has administered the first dose to 40 million people with four million citizens having received the shot in the past two weeks Xinhua news agency quoted Macron as saying in a Twitter post ldquoAll together we will beat the virus We will carry onrdquo the President addedTokyo records highest daily Covid casesTokyo reported its highest number of new Covid infections on Tuesday days after the Olympics began It reported 2848 new Covid19 cases exceeding the earlier record of 2520 cases on January 7 It brings Tokyorsquos total to more than 200000 since the pandemic began last year Tokyo is under its fourth state of emergency which is to continue through the OlympicsOver 50k arrested in Sri Lanka for Covid violationsOver 50000 people have been arrested in Sri Lanka since last October for violating the governmentimposed quarantine laws amid the pandemic which has infected 298181 people to date in the island nation police said In a statement on Monday Police Spokesperson Ajith Rohana said that 52154 people have been arrested so far since October reports Xinhua news agencyPandemic forces foreigners to leave IndonesiaThousands of foreigners have left Indonesia in last few weeks airport records released on Tuesday showed apparently spurred by a brutal pandemic wave and a general shortage of vaccines which have gone to highpriority groups first Indonesia now has the maximum number of confirmed daily cases in Asia as infections and deaths have surged over the last monthTokyo records highest daily Covid casesTokyo reported its highest number of new Covid infections on Tuesday days after the Olympics began It reported 2848 new Covid19 cases exceeding the earlier record of 2520 cases on January 7 It brings Tokyorsquos total to more than 200000 since the pandemic began last year Tokyo is under its fourth state of emergency which is to continue through the Olympics422294No of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours194995684Total no of cases worldwide4172379Total no of deaths worldwideSource WHOJohns HopkinsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever