France introduces mandatory masks in the workplace, South Korea again restricts mass events, a cruise ship scandal unfolds in Australia, Latin Americans refuse to comply with quarantines. The latest news about Covid-19 worldwide – in the daily compilation of the Russian service of the BBC.
As several countries make progress toward developing a vaccine against Covid-19, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has sent a letter to the governments of all WHO member countries, urging them to ensure that future drugs are made available to all those in need, not just their own populations. “We must prevent ‘vaccine nationalism’. A global strategy simultaneously addresses the national interests of each country. No one will be safe until everyone is safe,” the document says.
As of September 1, it will be mandatory to wear masks in all enclosed workplaces where more than one person works. The government made the decision after consultation with the unions, Labor Minister Elizabeth Bourne said.
In Seoul and the nearby major port of Incheon, all indoor gatherings of more than 50 people are once again banned, and bars and karaoke clubs are closed. For the fifth day in a row, the number of new cases has reached triple digits in a country that not long ago was thought to have almost defeated the coronavirus. On Tuesday, 246 people were infected. Religious gatherings have become one of the places where the infection spreads.
Almost 2650 passengers of the cruise ship “Ruby Princess”, on board of which there were Covid-19 cases, were allowed to disembark in Sydney on 19 March this year and return home without being tested for the coronavirus. In the future, nearly a thousand of them fell ill and 28 people died. As the Senate inquiry found, this was the result of mistakes and uncoordinated actions by officials from the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment, the New South Wales Department of Health and the Border Force.
According to a survey of 500,000 people conducted by the Office for National Statistics, the number of adult Britons experiencing symptoms of depression during the pandemic doubled to nearly 20 percent. People complain of worsening sleep and appetite, loss of interest in life, and increased distractibility. Only 3.5% of respondents said their mood had improved in the past few months. The pandemic has a particularly devastating impact on people under 40, women, the poor and the sick. According to Charlie Baker, professor of psychiatry at the University of Nottingham, this is a natural reaction to the external situation rather than a medical diagnosis.
Thousands of residents of Buenos Aires and other cities in Argentina took to the streets on Monday to visually demonstrate their attitude of social distancing from the authorities. Restrictions have been in place in the Argentine capital since March 20 and will remain in place until at least August 30. The number of Covid-19 cases in Argentina is approximately 300,000, with 90% in the capital region. “The only remedy known today is to minimize movement and contact between people,” said President Alberto Fernandez. Although neighboring Brazil has almost 12 times as many infected people and more than 100,000 deaths, Fernandes’ colleague Jair Bolsonaro has not publicly renounced his view of Covid as a “mild flu.” In an interview with the BBC, Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourão expressed the opinion that it would be pointless to implement restrictive measures in his country because Brazilians are “not the most disciplined people in the world”. While the World Health Organization, with the support of some European leaders, is advocating for equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccine doses, some countries are investing billions of dollars to buy exclusive rights to promising developments for their citizens.