World Coronavirus Dispatch: US infections drop to near one-year low

Global chip shortage to drag on unless Taiwan gets vaccines, Half of UK's children playing less outdoors, and other pandemic-related news across the globe

World’s Supply of chips is in danger unless Taiwan gets vaccines

Taiwan is paying the price for the lack of vaccines, with a surge in cases that threatens to trigger a lockdown. Having successfully sidestepped the first Covid wave, the government now faces a health emergency—only about 1 per cent of its population has been vaccinated so far—with the potential to disrupt the chip industry that dominates the local economy, and which is critical to an already-squeezed global supply. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 167,178,756

Global deaths: 3,463,891

Nations with most cases: US (33,117,684), India (26,752,447), Brazil (16,083,258), France (5,980,325), Turkey (5,186,487).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

US cases drop to one-year low

The United States is adding fewer than 30,000 cases a day for the first time since last June, and deaths are as low as they’ve been since last summer. In much of the country, the virus outlook is improving. Nearly halh the population has received at least one vaccine shot, and though the pace has slowed, the share is still growing. The test positivity rare has fallen to below 3 per cent for the first time since widespread testing began, and the number of hospitalised patients has fallen to a near 11-month low. Read here
 

Half of UK's children playing less outdoors with friends since pandemic

Many children are playing outside less with their friends, playing alone more and less active than they were before the pandemic, according to a UK survey that will add to concerns about the lasting impact of the lockdowns on children’s well-being. The Children poll found that more than nine out 10 children (92 per cent) felt the way they play had changed since the Covid pandemic. Half (51 per cent) said they were playing outside with their friends less, a third (34 per cent) were playing alone more, and almost a quarter (23 per cent) were playing less sport than before. Read here

How true is Turkey's drop in coronavirus cases

Turkey is once again enjoying a taste of normality after the lifting of country’s first three-week complete lockdown. The Turkish health ministry says the number of coronavirus infections has dropped by 72 per cent after record-breaking highs of more than 60,000 new cases a day in April. The success rate has been used as an argument that the country is ready for the crucial summer tourism season. Yet Turkey still has the fifth highest number of Covid-19 cases in the world and doctors said the officially reported drop in new cases is statistically impossible, showing instead a huge reduction in testing. Read here