As more infectious variants of the virus that causes COVID emerge, it’s vital that a World Trade Organization decision to implement a waiver on vaccines, diagnostics and therapies be enforced to help poorer countries fight the illness, a Congressional group has told President Joe Biden. In a letter, the group led by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat, urged Biden to advocate for an extension of the waiver. “With more than 600 million shots in arms, 21,500 free testing sites, the ability to order at-home tests for free, and more treatments available now than at any point in the pandemic, the outlook in the United States is better than ever. Unfortunately, however, the prospect for many low-income countries is not so positive – putting the United States’ own success in jeopardy,” the lawmakers wrote. U.S. known cases of COVID are continuing to ease and now stand at their lowest level since late April, although the true tally is likely higher given how many people are testing at home, where the data are not being collected. The daily average for new cases stood at 43,149 on Wednesday, according to a New York Times tracker, down 23% from two weeks ago. Cases are rising in most Northeastern states by 10% of more, while cases in the West are rising in Montana, Washington and Oregon. The daily average for hospitalizations was down 11% at 27,184, while the daily average for deaths is down 8% to 391. Globally, the confirmed case tally rose above 619.3 million on Thursday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins, while the death toll is above 6.55 million with the U.S. leading the world with 96.5 million cases and 1,060,446 deaths.
Source: Marketwatch
