World Coronavirus Dispatch: Colombia's outbreak symbolic of vaccine divide

Italy set to end mask rule, Bumble offers employees vacation over Covid burnout and other pandemic-related news across the world

World Bank, African Union agree to accelerate vaccinations

With just one per cent of its 1.1 billion people fully vaccinated, Africa has one of lowest coronavirus vaccinations in the world as compared with the UK and the US, which have fully inoculated about 45 per cent of their people. Most African nations have used all the vaccine doses they received from Covax, the vaccine sharing facility of WHO. To reverse this, the African Union will partner with the World Bank to help accelerate inoculations on the continent. The two organisations will provide resources to the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) to allow countries to acquire and deploy vaccines to as many as 400 million people across Africa, according to a statement. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 178,794,776

Global deaths: 3,873,403

Vaccine doses administered: 2,649,272,528

Nations with most cases: US (33,554,339), India (29,977,861), Brazil (17,966,831), France (5,819,584), Turkey (5,375,593).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center 

Italy to end mask rule

As coronavirus cases continue to fall, Italy has decided to do away with mandatory mask-wearing rule outdoors. Facemasks will no longer be compulsory in Italy from June 28, the health minister tweeted. The lifting of the mask requirement would come into effect in regions labelled "white" under Italy's tier system. Italy, once the epicentre of outbreaks and one of the worst hit in the world, has reported just just 21 deaths and 495 new cases nationwide on Monday. Read here

Bumble employees awarded week of vacation to de-stress from Covid burnout

Bumble, the dating and relationship app where women have to make the first move, temporarily closed its offices this week, giving its about 700 employees a “much needed break” to recover from Covid burnout. With coronavirus-induced restrictions now largely lifted across the US, companies are taking different approaches to retain staff and boost productivity. Some expect a full return to office while others are offering a more flexible approach. As the pandemic forced people out of offices and schools, fears of Zoom fatigue and burnout emerged as the boundary between work and home vanished. Read here

Colombia deaths pass 100,000

Coronavirus devastation in Colombia, where more than 100,000 have died due to the disease, is symbolic of the stark divide between richer nations like UK, US, who stocked doses 2x of their populations and poorer countries that are struggling to administer at least one dose in reasonable numbers. The situation is no different in the wider Latin American region as infection rate surge and health systems collapse. The crisis is even worse in South America. According to the New York Times database, South America, home to 10 countries, has the highest average daily death toll per person. Read here