World Coronavirus Dispatch: Young workers keen to get back to offices

China invites Taiwanese to come to get vaccinated, tracking Europe's infection rates and its way out of lockdowns and other pandemic-related news across the globe

Fed-up young workers fear they need offices to save their careers

In what comes as a surprise to many, young employees are keen to get back to their office desks, more so than their older colleagues. Young white-collar workers feel that they have been cut off from their office teams and the pandemic has left them under-informed. There are now growing concerns that they are missing out on career opportunities older colleagues took for granted. According to a survey by Sharp Corp, more than half in the age group 21-30 said they are willing meet colleagues and work in-person. Half of the respondents in the age group 18-45 say they feel anxious about lack of of training and career opportunities, while the older colleagues have well established professional networks. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 175,965,974

Global deaths: 3,804,217

Vaccine doses administered: 2,342,810,714

Nations with most cases: US (33,462,038), India (29,510,410), Brazil (17,412,766), France (5,802,314), Turkey (5,330,447).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

Japan gains backing from Biden, G7 for staging ‘safe’ Olympics

US President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders backed Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in the safe conduct of Olympics despite the coronavirus pandemic. "We at G7 reiterate our support for the holding of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 in a safe and secure manner as a symbol of global unity in overcoming Covid-19," the G7 said in its final communique. The White House also said that Biden and his counterpart Suga had a convesrsation on the sidelines of the G7 summit. The statements come about five weeks before the curtain is set to rise on the unprecedented staging of the world’s biggest multisports event amid a pandemic. Read here

China invites Taiwanese to come to get vaccinated against Covid

China's government said that it welcomes Taiwanese to come and get vaccinated against Covid-19 and called on Taiwan to remove obstacles and allow its people to receive the "highly effective" Chinese shots. China claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory and has repeatedly offered to send vaccines to the island, which is battling a spike in domestic infections but has expressed concern about the safety of Chinese shots and has not cleared them for use. About 62,000 Taiwanese had been vaccinated in China as of May 31. Read here

Covid restrictions eased across Europe as infection rates fall

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is likely to delay the lifting of lockdown over Delta variant concerns. Where are other European countries on their roadmap out of lockdown? After the seven-day average of new daily infections fell from 16,600 to 5,100 over the past month, France entered the third phase of its relaxation. In Germany, with infection rates plunging, the country’s 16 states have begun opening up – although each sets its own rules. Italy's rolling seven-day average of new daily cases has fallen from 9,100 to 2,100 in the past month. All the country’s regions are expected to be classified as low-risk by the end of June. Read here