(Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:
Vaccination rates surge in Sydney’s hard-hit suburbs
COVID-19 daily infections in Sydney fell for a third straight day on Tuesday but still lingered near record levels as the outbreak spurred a jump in vaccination rates in the hard-hit western suburbs of Australia’s largest city.
As New South Wales races ahead with vaccinations, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews accused the federal government of allocating more vaccines “under the table” for Sydney. “We want our fair share,” Andrews told reporters in Melbourne. “We need to get those doses we didn’t get fast-tracked to us.”
New Zealand ‘very close’ to deal for more COVID-19 vaccines
New Zealand is “very close” to procuring more coronavirus vaccines and a deal could be announced this week, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said on Tuesday, as the country looks to get on top of an outbreak of the Delta variant. The government is in talks with several countries, Hipkins said, but he did not specify when it would make the announcement about a deal.
“We’re very, very close … within the next 24 to 48 hours, things should be locked down, locked and loaded. People will have some good news,” Hipkins told radio station Newstalk ZB.
Vietnamese man jailed for 5 years for spreading coronavirus
Vietnam jailed a man, Le Van Tri, 28, on Monday for five years for breaking strict COVID-19 quarantine rules and spreading the virus to others, state media reported.
“Tri travelled back to Ca Mau from Ho Chi Minh City … and breached the 21-day quarantine regulations,” the state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA) news agency said, referring to the southern province of Cau Mau. “Tri infected eight people, one of whom died due to the virus after one month of treatment,” it said.
Singapore trials patrol robots to deter bad social behaviour
Ranked one of the safest countries in the world, Singapore has put two autonomous robots on trial to detect bad behaviour such as flouting of COVID-19 safety measures, smoking in prohibited areas and the improper parking of bicycles, Singapore’s Home Team Science and Technology Agency said in a statement on Sunday.
The trial is taking place at an area with high foot traffic in central Singapore. The agency said that during the three-week trial, the robots would be used for surveillance and displaying messages to educate the public on proper behaviour. A spokesperson from the agency said on Monday the robots would not be used for law enforcement during the trial.
(Reporting by Karishma Singh; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
