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16.02.2021 / 21:04

South Africa readies to give J&J shots to healthcare workers

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa is preparing to give its first COVID-19 vaccinations — shots of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine still being tested — to healthcare workers this week, the health minister said Tuesday.

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South Africa's Ramaphosa urges support for vaccination drive

JOHANNESBURG – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa urged support for his government’s efforts to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic as it struggles to implement a vaccination program and an economic recovery plan.

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South Africa pivots to unapproved Johnson & Johnson vaccine after scrapping AstraZeneca

JOHANNESBURG (AP) - South Africa will give the unapproved Johnson & Johnson vaccine to its front-line health workers beginning next week as a study to see what protection it provides from COVID-19, particularly against the variant dominant there, the health minister said Wednesday.Zweli Mkhize said South Africa has scrapped plans to use the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine because it "does not prevent mild to moderate disease" of the variant.The one-shot J&J vaccine is still being tested internationally and has not been approved in any country.RELATED: AstraZeneca tweaking COVID-19 vaccine to fight South African variantBut Mkhize, in a nationally broadcast address, declared that the vaccine is safe, relying on tests of 44,000 people done in South

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South Africa scraps AstraZeneca vaccine, will give J&J jabs

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa will give the unapproved Johnson & Johnson vaccine to its front-line health care workers beginning next week as a study to see what protection it provides from COVID-19, particularly against the variant dominant in South Africa, the health minister announced Wednesday.

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AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine rollout halted in South Africa after shot appears less effective against variant

JOHANNESBURG (AP) - South Africa is considering giving a COVID-19 vaccine that is still in the testing phase to health workers, after suspending the rollout of another shot that preliminary data indicated may be only minimally effective against the mutated form of the virus dominating the country.The country was scrambling Monday to come up with a new vaccination strategy after it halted use of the AstraZeneca vaccine — which is cheaper and easier to handle than some others and which many had hoped would be crucial to combatting the pandemic in developing countries.

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S Africa seeks new vaccine plan after halting AstraZeneca

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa is considering giving a COVID-19 vaccine that is still in the testing phase to health workers, after suspending the rollout of another shot that preliminary data indicated is not effective at preventing mild to moderate illness from the variant dominant in the country.

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South Africa's former president is warned to appear in court

JOHANNESBURG – A legal showdown is looming in South Africa where former president Jacob Zuma is refusing to obey court orders to testify at a judicial inquiry into corruption charges against him.

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African countries scramble to bury virus dead, get vaccines

JOHANNESBURG – Shipping containers have become overflow mortuaries for the dead from COVID-19 in South Africa, while some other African nations are now looking to China for the next wave of vaccine doses.

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South Africa welcomes first delivery of Covid-19 vaccines

South Africa gave a hero's welcome Monday to the delivery of its first Covid-19 vaccines — 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa greeted the crates of vaccine that arrived at Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo International Airport, which will be followed up later this month by another 500,000 doses of the vaccine.Also Read | How India can fight vaccine hesitancyThe vaccine will be effective in preventing severe disease and death from the variant that has become dominant in South Africa, a vaccine expert says.The AstraZeneca vaccines will be used to inoculate South Africa's front-line health workers, which will kickstart the country’s vaccination campaign.

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South Africa's president criticizes 'vaccine nationalism'

JOHANNESBURG – South African president and African Union chairman Cyril Ramaphosa has called on richer nations to release surplus vaccine doses to the rest of the world.

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South Africa authorities approve Serum Institute of India's COVID-19 vaccine

Johannesburg: South Africa's health regulatory body has granted approval to the world's largest drug manufacturer Serum Institute of India (SII) to supply COVID-19 vaccine to the country.Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced on Friday that the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has granted approval to the SII, which is producing the vaccine in collaboration with the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, to supply the drug to the country.The approval comes amid growing concerns that the 1.5 million vaccine doses to be shipped to South Africa in the next few weeks had not been approved by the local regulator.“We will, in the next coming days, engage with the public in order to give an update on the progress of the

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Oxford working on vaccine versions to fight Covid 19 virus variants

The fear of flying at Mount 50KThe scientists were working on estimating how quickly they could reconfigure their ChAdOx vaccine platform, the report said."The team do not currently think they will need to, but it would be stupid not to be prepared," the source told The Telegraph.

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Amid COVID-19 surge, South Africa delays reopening schools

JOHANNESBURG – Faced with a rapid resurgence of COVID-19 overwhelming the country’s hospitals and driven by a more infectious variant of the virus, South Africa has delayed reopening its schools.The variant is having far-reaching consequences for Africa’s most developed nation as several countries trying to prevent its spread have stopped or reduced flights with South Africa.South Africa has the highest prevalence of COVID-19 in Africa with a cumulative total of more than 1.3 million confirmed cases, including 36,851 deaths.

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Johnson & Johnson to submit trial data of single-dose covid vaccine this month

Also Read | How plant meat is coming of age in IndiaMoncef Slaoui, the chief scientific adviser to the U.S. Operation Warp Speed program, has said the emergency clearance could be granted by U.S.

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US ambassador in South Africa better after ICU virus care

JOHANNESBURG – The United States ambassador to South Africa, Lana Marks, spent 10 days in intensive care with COVID-19 and is now recuperating at her residence, she announced Monday.After first experiencing “fever, chills, a sore throat and fatigue,” Marks went into a hospital on Dec. 28 when her symptoms worsened to receive “supplemental oxygen and therapeutic treatment,” she said in a statement on Twitter.She was quickly moved to an intensive care unit where she stayed for 10 days and then spent a further three days in the COVID-19 unit, she said.Marks said she was discharged late last week and is continuing to recuperate at the ambassador's residence.

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South Africa struggles with post-holiday spike in COVID-19

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa is struggling to cope with a spike in COVID-19 cases that has already overwhelmed some hospitals, as people returning from widespread holiday travel along the coast spread the country's more infectious coronavirus variant.Of particular concern is Gauteng province, the country's most populous, which includes the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Authorities say it is already seeing a spike in new infections after people traveled to coastal areas, where the variant is dominant.“We expect that Gauteng is going to be hit very soon and very hard,” said Professor Willem Hanekom, director of the Africa Health Research Institute.

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Africa exceeds 3 million COVID-19 cases, 30% in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG – Africa passed the milestone of 3 million confirmed cases COVID-19 on Sunday, including more than 72,000 deaths, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.South Africa, with more than 1.2 million reported cases, including 32,824 deaths, accounts for more than 30% of the total for the continent of 54 countries and 1.3 billion people. The high proportion of cases in South Africa, could be because the country carries out more tests than many other African countries.South Africa is battling a resurgence of the disease, driven by a variant of the virus that is more contagious and spreading quickly.

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Pro-democracy activists heartened by US system's resilience

JOHANNESBURG – Stunned and riveted by the riot that engulfed the U.S. Capitol, pro-democracy and human rights campaigners around the world also were reassured -- because, ultimately, democracy held.

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South Africa to get Serum-made 1.5 mn COVID-19 vaccines from India

Johannesburg: South Africa will receive one million COVID-19 vaccines from the Pune-based Serum Institute of India this month, followed by an additional 500,000 doses in February, the health minister told Parliament on Thursday, amid a spike in coronavirus deaths and infections in the country.Drug major AstraZeneca has partnered with the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, for the supply of the vaccine to the Indian government and also to a large number of low and middle-income countries.The vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, is made from a virus which is a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus), that has been genetically changed so that it is impossible for it to grow in

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South Africa buys 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa says it will import 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to inoculate the country's health workers. This is South Africa’s first announcement of the purchase of a COVID-19 vaccine as its cases soar.The first 1 million doses will be delivered later this month from the Serum Institute of India, followed by an additional 500,000 doses in February, Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize announced Thursday.South Africa is battling a dramatic resurgence of COVID-19 that is quickly outstripping its first peak.

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South Africa testing whether COVID-19 vaccines work against country’s coronavirus strain

Paramedics assess a COVID-19 patient in Lenasia, Johannesburg, on Jan. 4, 2021.

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South Africa testing whether vaccines work against variant

JOHANNESBURG – Scientists in South Africa are urgently testing to see if the vaccines for COVID-19 will be effective against the country's variant virus.The genomic studies come as Britain’s health minister, Matt Hancock, and other experts in the U.K. have said they worry that vaccines may not be effective against the South African variant.“This is the most pressing question facing us right now,” said Dr.

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South African president bans sales of alcohol, orders bars closed amid COVID-19 spikes

JOHANNESBURG (AP) - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa reimposed a ban on alcohol sales and ordered the closure of all bars Monday as part of new restrictions to help the country battle a resurgence of the coronavirus, including a new variant.Ramaphosa also announced the closure of all beaches and public swimming pools in the country’s infection hotspots, which include Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and several coastal areas. In addition, South Africa is extending its nighttime curfew by four hours, requiring all residents must be at home from 9 p.m.

Cyril Ramaphosa South Africa city Johannesburg city Cape Town city Durban covid-19 president Government

As South Africa's virus spikes, doctors urge alcohol ban

JOHANNESBURG – With a new surge pushing South Africa’s cumulative virus cases above 1 million, the country’s doctors are urging the government to return to tighter restrictions on social gatherings and the sales of alcohol to slow the spread of the disease.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has held an emergency meeting of the National Coronavirus Command Council and has announced he will speak to the nation Monday night.The country surpassed the 1 million mark on Sunday night when it reported 1,004,413 cumulative cases of COVID-19, including 26,735 deaths.

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Near 1 million virus cases, South Africa weighs restrictions

JOHANNESBURG – As South Africa's COVID-19 spike has taken the country to nearly 1 million confirmed cases, President Cyril Ramaphosa called an emergency meeting on Sunday of the National Coronavirus Command Council.The country's new variant of the coronavirus, 501.V2, is more contagious and has quickly become dominant in many areas of the resurgence, according to experts.With South Africa's hospitals reaching capacity and no sign of the new surge reaching a peak, Ramaphosa is expected to announce a return to restrictive measures designed to slow the spread of the disease.“We are not helpless in the face of this variant,” infectious disease specialist Dr. Richard Lessells told The Associated Press.

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South Africa's virus variant drives holiday surge of cases

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa's normally joyful and lively Christmas celebrations have been dampened by the spike in new cases and deaths driven by the country's variant of COVID-19.A record number of 14,305 news cases have been confirmed in the past 24 hours, and with no sign of South Africa reaching a peak, threatening the country's health systems, experts said. South Africa has a cumulative total of 968,563 confirmed cases, including 25,983 deaths, by far the most cases in all of Africa.

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Kay Burley in strict quarantine after flying from South Africa amid mutant Covid strain

Kay Burley is thought to be confined to her home in a fortnight of quarantine, following her recent return from South Africa.A new mutant strain of coronavirus has been detected from South Africa in the UK, meaning her quarantine restrictions are stricter than most.The Sky News broadcaster, 60, was pictured travelling from Johannesburg to the UK last week, after enjoying a seven-day safari.All travellers arriving in the UK from South Africa must adhere to a strict 14-day quarantine, abstaining from mixing with other households, as well as her own.Kay came back to the UK on December 18th, meaning that her quarantine is set to come to an end on January 1.While Kay has yet to confirm whether she will be quarantining over the 14-day period,

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In South Africa, child homicides show violence 'entrenched'

CAPE TOWN – At night, Amanda Zitho worries her little boy is shivering and cold in his coffin and yearns to take him a blanket. She knows Wandi’s dead and gone and it’s senseless, but that doesn’t stop the ache.

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African Union says Ethiopia acted legitimately in Tigray

JOHANNESBURG – Ethiopia took “legitimate” military action in its Tigray province to preserve the country's unity and stability, the chairman of the African Union Commission said. Moussa Faki Mahamat, speaking after the conclusion of a meeting of regional leaders on Sunday evening, said Ethiopia's military campaign in its Tigray province was “legitimate for all states.” The humanitarian suffering of the conflict is cause for concern, he said.

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New strain of COVID-19 is driving South Africa's resurgence

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa has announced that a new variant of the COVID-19 virus is driving the current resurgence of the disease, with higher numbers of confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

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Ethiopia offers reward for rebellious leaders of Tigray

JOHANNESBURG – Ethiopia is offering a reward of more than $250,000 for information on the whereabouts of Tigray’s rebellious leaders who fled the regional capital Mekele three weeks ago.The state broadcaster EBC quoted an Ethiopian Defense Forces official on Friday morning as saying the government is offering 10 million birr (around $257,000) for information leading to the capture of the leaders of Tigray Peoples Liberation Front who led the region's conflict against the federal government.“The offer is made to apprehend the TPLF leaders in a short span of time,” Lt. Gen.

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EU postpones $109 million aid to Ethiopia over Tigray access

JOHANNESBURG – The European Union has postponed 90 million euros ($109 million) in budgetary support to Ethiopia over lack of access to the country's Tigray region to deliver humanitarian aid amid the conflict.The delay in the funding, which was supposed to be paid at the end of the year, was confirmed to The Associated Press Wednesday by a top EU diplomat in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. “A 90 million euro budget support disbursement that was supposed to be made at the end of this year has been postponed,” Ambassador Johan Borgstam, EU Head of Delegation to Ethiopia, said in a phone interview.

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Top official of South Africa's ruling ANC urged to step down

JOHANNESBURG – The secretary-general of South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, may be forced to step down after the party’s integrity commission recommended that he be suspended because he has been charged with corruption. Magashule was charged in court with 21 counts of fraud and corruption earlier this month.

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South Africa sees sharp rise in virus, part of African wave

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa is seeing a dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases and bracing for increased hospitalizations and deaths, said the country’s health minister Zweli Mkhize."It is important for us to recognize that this now is a second wave,” said Mkhize in a statement. “There is going to be exponential growth.

John Nkengasong Zweli Mkhize South Africa city Johannesburg hospital covid-19 death

On World AIDS Day, South Africa finds hope in new treatment

JOHANNESBURG – Health officials are hoping that new, long-acting drugs to help prevent HIV infection will be a turning point for the fight against a global health threat that’s been eclipsed by the coronavirus pandemic.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted the new drug in a weekly newsletter, saying the long-term acting and injectable HIV drug has “the potential to significantly strengthen our response to the epidemic.”The region is especially hard-hit. South Africa has the biggest epidemic in the world with 7.7 million people living with HIV, according to UNAIDS.

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South African great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi succumbs to covid-19

JOHANNESBURG : Satish Dhupelia, the South African great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, succumbed to COVID-19 complications here on Sunday, three days after his 66th birthday, a family member said.Dhupelia’s sister Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie confirmed that her brother had died of COVID-19 related complications after he contracted the disease in hospital where he had been under treatment for a month due to pneumonia."My beloved brother has passed on after a month of illness with pneumonia, a superbug contracted in hospital and then COVID-19 also contracted while he was being treated.He suffered a major cardiac arrest this evening," Uma said in a social media post.Besides Uma, Dhupelia leaves back another sister, Kirti Menon, who lives in

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South African ruling party official charged with corruption

JOHANNESBURG – A top official of South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, has been charged with 21 counts of fraud and corruption, a significant step in President Cyril Ramaphosa's drive against graft in the country.ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule was charged and released on bail at court in Bloemfontein.

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South Africa reopens to foreign travelers amid virus creep

JOHANNESBURG – In an effort to revive its tourism industry, South Africa has opened up international travel to visitors from all countries, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced.South Africa will now admit foreign visitors providing they produce negative COVID-19 test results, Ramaphosa said in a broadcast address Wednesday night.This step, making South Africa one of the world's countries most open to international travel, comes as cases of the disease are slowly increasing in the country. Ramaphosa said his government will closely monitor any signs that international visitors increase transmission rates.“By using rapid tests and strict monitoring we intend to limit the spread of the infection through importation,” said Ramaphosa.

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South Africa's health minister gets COVID-19, as cases rise

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s health minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize has announced that he and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19 and warned of a possible resurgence of the disease in the country.

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South Africa extends relief grants to help poor amid virus

JOHANNESBURG – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Thursday that his government will extend relief grants to 6 million of the country’s unemployed who have been hurt by the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.Ramaphosa, delivering an economic recovery plan to parliament, also announced more than $5.9 billion for infrastructure projects over the next 10 years to stimulate the economy and create jobs, many of which were lost during the country’s strict lockdown.The initial grants, announced as part of the $26 billion stimulus package announced when the country went into lockdown on March 27, were only supposed to last for six months but have now been extended for a further three months.“Studies have shown that

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UN report says South Sudan has healed little since civil war

JOHANNESBURG – South Sudan has made no concrete steps toward national healing more than two years after the end of a civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people and sent more than 2 million people fleeing, a new United Nations report says.Now some government forces are fueling new fighting by arming community militias with assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns to attack neighboring communities, says the report by the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, presented this week to the U.N.

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'It's been a crazy, crazy, crazy couple of months': Coffin-maker battles COVID-19 at work and at home

FILE - Health workers wearing protective suits as a precaution lower the body of a COVID-19 victim for burial at a graveyard in Gulu, northern Uganda. (Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)The coffin-maker knew death too well.

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South African coffin-maker saw COVID-19 at work and at home

JOHANNESBURG – The coffin-maker knew death too well. The boxes were stacked in his echoing workshop like the prows of ships waiting for passengers.

South Africa city Johannesburg covid-19 death pandemic infection

Tight security, many arrests for Ethiopian Irreecha festival

JOHANNESBURG – Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, on Saturday celebrated the annual Thanksgiving festival of Irreecha amid tight security and a significantly smaller crowd due to political tensions and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Trump joins growing list of virus-infected world leaders

JOHANNESBURG – President Donald Trump has tested positive for the coronavirus, joining a small group of world leaders who have been infected. Trump is 74, putting him at higher risk of serious complications.

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South Africa reopens to international flights amid virus

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa has reopened to international flights, ending a more than six-month ban on international travel that was part of its restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19.A Lufthansa plane from Germany was the first international flight to arrive Thursday morning at Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo International Airport.

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Leaders to UN: If virus doesn't kill us, climate change will

JOHANNESBURG – In a year of cataclysm, some world leaders at this week’s annual United Nations meeting are taking the long view, warning: If COVID-19 doesn't kill us, climate change will. With Siberia seeing its warmest temperature on record this year and enormous chunks of ice caps in Greenland and Canada sliding into the sea, countries are acutely aware there's no vaccine for global warming.“We are already seeing a version of environmental Armageddon,” Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said, citing wildfires in the western U.S.

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COVID-19 can't crush human rights, UN gathering declares

JOHANNESBURG – In a diminished spotlight because of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading human rights defenders on Friday urged people in these fractured times to connect through politics — and vote, too.“In many places around the world, participation is being denied and civic space is being crushed,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on the sidelines of the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders, this year held online.People must take part in the decisions that affect their lives, he said, noting “new heights” of inequalities and and warning: “The window to address climate change is almost shut.”In the cautious language of diplomacy, no names were named, no governments called out.

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United States	Cases: 46 252 513 Deaths: 750 423 Recovered: 0
India	Cases: 34 321 025 Deaths: 459 652 Recovered: 0
Brazil	Cases: 21 835 785 Deaths: 608 235 Recovered: 0
United Kingdom	Cases: 9 215 683 Deaths: 141 607 Recovered: 0
Russia	Cases: 8 494 589 Deaths: 237 619 Recovered: 0