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Russia Reported Its Fifth Record For Daily Covid Deaths In A Row, As Countries Around World Rushed To Contain Rapid Spread Of Delta Variant.

Russia Reported Its Fifth Record For Daily Covid-19 Deaths In A Row On Saturday, As Countries Around The World Rushed To Contain The Rapid Spread Of The Highly Contagious Delta Variant. The variant has propelled a resurgence of the virus which has already killed nearly four million people, forcing numerous nations to reimpose restrictions well over a year after the pandemic first swept the world.

Thousands of troops and police hit the streets in Indonesia to enforce a partial lockdown imposed on Saturday, as the country recorded a record 27,913 new daily cases as well as 493 deaths. Masjids, restaurants and shopping malls were shuttered in the capital Jakarta, across the main island of Java and on Bali after the daily caseload quadrupled in less than a month, with the Delta variant blamed.

The overwhelmed healthcare system is teetering on the brink of collapse as jammed hospitals turn away patients, forcing desperate families to hunt for oxygen tanks to treat the sick and dying at home. “The stricter restrictions came too late,” said Jakarta resident Maya Puspita Sari. “Before, people who got Covid-19 were strangers, but now it’s also the people closest to me who are infected… The virus is getting so much closer and it’s terrifying.”

Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Myanmar ordered two million people in the second city of Mandalay to stay at home Friday as the coup-hit country struggles to contain coronavirus cases. New measures were also put into place in Portugal, with an 11 pm to 5 am curfew entering force overnight for nearly half the population in a bid rein in rising Delta infections.

on Friday, the head of the World Health Organization said the world is in “a very dangerous period” of the COVID-19 pandemic, noting the more contagious delta variant is identified in 98 countries. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the delta variant, first found in India, is continuing to evolve and mutate, and it is becoming the predominant COVID-19 virus in many countries.

“I have already urged leaders across the world to ensure that by this time next year, 70% of all people in every country are vaccinated,” he said, adding that would effectively end the acute phase of the pandemic. He noted 3 billion doses of vaccine have already been distributed and, “it’s within the collective power of a few countries to step up and ensure that vaccines are shared.’’

Of the vaccine doses given globally, fewer than 2% have been in poorer countries. Although rich countries including Britain, the US, France and Canada have pledged to donate 1 billion COVID-19 vaccines, WHO estimates 11 billion doses are needed to immunize the world.

This news was originally published at Gulf News.