World 20.7 million Russia 900K+ Kazakhstan 100K+
Russia has released a vaccine without going through all necessary human trials. They have called it ‘Sputnik Five’, referencing the first artificial earth satellite the Russians launched in 1957. A number of vaccines are showing promise and it’s now thought we may have an effective vaccine by early next year but experts are sceptical about this particular vaccine. It remains to be seen if Russia’s claim that their vaccine is effective and safe are true. It could end up like the first Sputnik, which only lasted a few weeks before its batteries went flat and it burned up in the atmosphere.
Here in Victoria, Stage Four restrictions and mask wearing seems to be reducing the daily numbers. Victoria recorded 278 cases of COVID-19 and 8 deaths in the past 24 hours. 278 is the lowest number of new daily cases in more than three weeks.
Personally, I would rather keep tough restrictions in place for longer than mid-September if it means we could get rid of this virus completely.
But even with New Zealand adopting an elimination strategy, and having gone over 100 days without a single case, on Tuesday four new cases were detected, with thirteen more since then. Seeing what has happened in Victoria they have chosen go early into tight restrictions in Auckland to guard against this outbreak spreading. Apparently the cases have come from a warehouse facility, possibly from freight, but further investigation is underway. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan is the 26th country to reach 100,000 cases of COVID-19. Australia has had 22,000 cases now and it still sitting at 69th on this list.