Marcelle, 85-year-old, receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a temporary vaccination center on the first day of its opening, in Clichy, France, Jan. 18, 2021. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)
- EU aims to vaccinate 70 pct adults by summer
- U.S. COVID-19 deaths top 400,000 -- Johns Hopkins University
- Iraq approves emergency use of Chinese, British COVID-19 vaccines
BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
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BRUSSELS -- The European Commission on Tuesday called on the European Union (EU) member states to speed up the vaccination against COVID-19, with a target to inoculate 70 percent of the adult population by summer.
According to a new communication unveiled by the EU's executive arm, at least 80 percent of the health and social workers as well as 80 percent of senior citizens over 80 years old should be vaccinated before the end of March.
People wearing face masks visit the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Jan. 1, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
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NEW YORK -- The United States reached the grim milestone of 400,000 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
With the national case count topping 24.16 million, the death toll across the United States rose to 400,022 as of 2:21 p.m. local time (1921 GMT), according to the CSSE data.
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SANTIAGO -- Chile on Tuesday reported 3,400 new cases of COVID-19 infection and 26 deaths from the disease in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 677,151 and the death toll to 17,573, the Ministry of Health said.
So far, a total of 24,025 people have received an initial dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 8,360 have received the second dose, according to the ministry.
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LONDON -- The number of people who have died within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test has surpassed the grim milestone of 90,000 in Britain after another 1,610 were confirmed, according to official figures released Tuesday.
The latest daily death toll, the highest since the pandemic began in the country, brought the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain to 91,470, the data showed.
A student receives temperature check before entering an exam site in Baghdad, Iraq on Sept. 1, 2020. (Xinhua)
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BAGHDAD -- Iraq on Tuesday approved the emergency use of China's Sinopharm and British AstraZeneca vaccines to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Iraqi Ministry of Health said in a brief statement that the Iraqi National Board for Selection of Drugs approved the emergency use of the two vaccines.
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BERLIN -- German federal and state governments agreed on Tuesday evening to extend the current COVID-19 measures until at least Feb. 14.
Most shops and schools will remain closed and people will continue to be asked to limit their contacts and stay at home as much as possible for the next few weeks.
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WASHINGTON -- About 2.5 million children in the United States have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to the latest report of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.
Over 211,000 new child COVID-19 cases were reported last week ending Jan. 14, the highest weekly increase since the pandemic began, according to the AAP. ■
