Here’s what happened on Thursday:

  1. The World Health Organization said that the rollout of booster shots for Covid-19 by rich countries even as a large number of people in Africa were still unvaccinated “made a mockery of vaccine equity”, AP reported. WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said the situation was “very fragile” as the Delta variant was the dominant strain in most countries in the continent.
  2. India recorded 36,401 new coronavirus cases on Thursday taking the tally to 3,23,22,258 since the pandemic broke out in January last year. The country’s toll rose to 4,33,049 as it recorded 530 more deaths in the last day.
  3. The Centre, in its reply to a Right to Information query, said that more 3.86 crore people did not get the second Covid-19 shot within the set time period, PTI reported. According to the Indian government’s guidelines, the second dose of the Covishield has to be administered 84 to 112 days after the first shot, while the time gap between two doses of Covaxin is 28 to 42 days.
  4. Kerala reported over 21,000 new infections for the third straight day on Thursday. With 21,116 cases, the state’s cumulative tally since the outbreak of the pandemic in January last year rose to 37,66,573. Its toll went up to 19,246 with 197 more deaths.
  5. More than 87,000 people in the country have tested positive for Covid-19 despite being fully vaccinated, unidentified officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare told NDTV.
  6. A study by the Indian Council of Medical research found that the Delta variant of the coronavirus can infect both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. However, those who have been inoculated against Covid-19 have lower mortality rates and a reduced risk of severe illness from the disease.
  7. The Tamil Nadu government said it will only administer Covaxin to people needing the second shot because of a shortage of doses, The New Indian Express reported.
  8. Globally, Covid-19 has infected more than 20.92 crore people and led to over 43.92 lakh deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University
  9. Australia continued to register a surge in Covid-19 cases. On Thursday, the country reported a record 754 daily cases, according to Reuters. In Sydney, the authorities began distributing emergency vaccine supplies in view of the spread of the infection.
  10. New Zealand recorded 11 new cases on Thursday, taking the total number of infections linked to the country’s latest outbreak to 21.