World Coronavirus Dispatch: Fauci favors boosters for most vulnerable

Fauci favours booster shots for vulnerable, Deaths in Russia remain near last month's record high, with 787 deaths in the last 24 hours

Ex-Mexican President hospitalized

Former Mexican President Vincente Fox thanked well-wishers on social media after he and wife -- both vaccinated -- were hospitalized for Covid-19. Fox, 79, and his wife Marta Sahagun were reported in stable condition. Read more

New Orleans Jazz Festival cancelled

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival was canceled for a second year because of Covid-19, organizers announced on Sunday, as Louisiana weathers the nation’s worst per capita outbreak of the virus.

“We urge everyone to follow the guidelines and protocols put forth by public health officials, so that we can all soon experience together the joy that is Jazz Fest,” according to a statement.

The festival was canceled for the first time last year, its 50th anniversary, and rescheduled for this October. It has been rescheduled again for the spring of 2022. Read more

Fauci favors boosters for most vulnerable

Anthony Fauci, the U.S.’s top infectious-disease doctor, said Covid-19 vaccine booster shots should be given “reasonably soon” to people with weakened immune systems.

“We need to look at them in a different light,” Fauci said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” on Sunday. “We would certainly be boosting those people before we boost the general population that’s been vaccinated, and we should be doing that reasonably soon.”

When asked if other groups should get booster shots, Fauci said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is ready to give such recommendations “as soon as” they see clear evidence to do so from the data. Read more

Russian deaths near record

Deaths in Russia remain near last month’s record high, with 787 people dying from coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the country’s response center said Sunday. The seven-day moving average has been at 790 for the past four days.

That brings the total death toll to 164,881, the task force said in a statement. That’s far lower than Federal Statistics Service data, which show almost 316,800 deaths through the end of June, including cases where the virus was an indirect cause.

In the past 24 hours, 22,866 cases of the coronavirus were registered, compared with 22,320 the previous day, taking the total to 6.45 million, the response center said. Read more