Here’s what to know about the top coronavirus stories around the globe from news service reports.
- The inequity of coronavirus vaccine distribution came into sharper focus Thursday as leaders of many of the African countries whose populations have little to no access to the lifesaving shots stepped to the podium to speak at the United Nations’ annual meeting of world leaders, the Associated Press reported. Country after country acknowledged the wide disparity in accessing the vaccine, painting a picture so bleak that a solution has at times seemed impossibly out of reach.
- Syria is facing a surge in covid-19 cases that hospitals are not equipped to handle, according to Reuters. Less than 2 percent of the population has received even one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to Our World in Data.
- In the United Kingdom, “virtually all” children ages 12 to 15 will get covid-19 if they aren’t vaccinated, Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said. Separately, Dame Sarah Gilbert, a co-creator of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, said she is struggling to raise funds for research on vaccines targeting other viruses that could cause future pandemics.
- As Portugal closes in on its goal of fully vaccinating 85 percent of its population in nine months, other countries in Europe and beyond want to know how it was accomplished. Much of the credit is being given to Rear Adm. Henrique Gouveia e Melo, a previously unknown naval officer who has become a household name in the country.
- Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, is isolating in his home country after attending the United Nations General Assembly, where his health minister tested positive for the coronavirus, and Bolsonaro appeared to break New York and U.N. public health guidelines.
- Japan will donate 60 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to countries in need, twice as many as it pledged to donate in June. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga made the announcement at a vaccine summit hosted by the United States on Wednesday, during which President Biden announced the United States would donate 500 million more coronavirus vaccine doses to the world.
- Police in Canada say they are searching for a man who walked into a pharmacy in Sherbrooke, Québec, on Monday and repeatedly hit a female nurse, accusing her of vaccinating his wife against the coronavirus without his consent.
