Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world Tuesday - Action News
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Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world Tuesday

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday called on resistant Republican governors to "get out of the way" of vaccine rules aimed at containing the more transmissible and dangerous COVID-19 variant. He backed city and private mandates requiring people to be vaccinated to go about some daily activities.

Biden chides Republican governors who resist COVID-19 vaccine, mask rules

U.S. President Joe Biden takes off a face mask before a news briefing in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday. (Susan Walsh/The Associated Press)

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U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday called on resistant Republican governors to "get out of the way" of vaccine rules aimed at containing the more transmissible and dangerous COVID-19 variant. He backed city and private mandates requiring people to be vaccinated to go about some daily activities.

Speaking from the White House, Biden sharply criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other officials who have moved to block the re-imposition of mask mandates to slow the delta strain of the virus. The strain is surging in their states and other parts of the country that have large numbers of unvaccinated people.

"If you're not going to help, at least get out of the way of people trying to do the right thing," Biden said.

Biden endorsed New York City's move to require vaccinations to dine indoors or go to the gym, as well as corporate moves to require vaccines to return to work, and said more localities and businesses should follow suit. Such policies have been barred to varying degrees in at least seven Republican-led states.

A person is administered a COVID-19 vaccine shot in in Jackson, Miss., on Tuesday. (Rogelio V. Solis/The Associated Press)

A rise in infections in the U.S., fuelled by the highly contagious delta strain of the virus, led U.S. public health officials last week to recommend that even people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 resume wearing face coverings in some public indoor settings.

After months of dangling carrots of incentive to Americans to get vaccinated including million-dollar cash lotteries and opportunities to earn free college tuition the Biden administration is looking to wield a stick by making it harder for people to remain unvaccinated without seeing their daily lives disrupted.

As he seeks to drive up vaccinations at home, Biden is also spotlighting his administration's progress in sharing shots with the rest of the world an initiative helped in part by the slowed pace of domestic vaccination that has increased the nation's stockpile of doses. Roughly 90 million eligible Americans aged 12 and over have yet to receive one dose of vaccine.

Biden announced that the U.S. has donated and shipped more than 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 60 countries, ranging from Afghanistan to Zambia.He has promised that the U.S. will be the "arsenal of vaccines" for the world, but while notable the 110 million doses the U.S. has donated largely through a global vaccine program known as COVAX represent a fraction of what is needed worldwide.

The White House said in a statement Tuesday that the U.S. at the end of August will begin shipping 500 million doses of Pfizer vaccine that it has pledged to 100 low-income countries by June 2022.


What's happening in Canada

WATCH |Renewed concern over rising cases, delta variant:

Renewed concern over rising COVID-19 cases, delta variant

3 years ago
Duration 2:34
Despite Canada having one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, that might not be enough to slow the spread of COVID-19 driven by the highly contagious delta variant.
  • Nunavut releases COVID-19plan with no more 'drastic public health measures.'

What's happening around the world

As of Tuesday, more than199.3million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. The reported global death toll stood at more than 4.2 million.

In Asia,Chinese authorities have announced mass coronavirus testing in Wuhan as an unusually wide series of COVID-19 outbreaks reached the city, where the disease was first detected in late 2019.Three cases were confirmed in the city on Monday, its first non-imported cases in more than a year.

In the Americas, the Frenchterritory of Guadeloupe will to go into a new lockdown for at least three weeks.France's overseas territories of La Reunion and Martinique have also entered new lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus.

In Africa,Nigeria has received fourmillion doses of Moderna's vaccine,donated by the U.S., as the most populous nationon the continent battles a third wave of infections.Nigeriahas seen a rise in coronavirus cases since mid-July.

In Europe,Germany will start offering coronavirus vaccinations for all children and teenagers aged 12 and older. The previous cutoff agewas 16, but pressure has mounted to vaccinate more young people as schools across the country are starting to open again after the summer vacations.

With files from Reuters and CBC News

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