World Coronavirus Dispatch: Israel offers Pfizer booster jab to the 60-plus

China says it has made alternative proposal for virus origin probe, EU pulls ahead of US in vaccinations, and other pandemic-related news across the globe

Another 291 million people won’t have enough to eat this year

Global hunger will surge by about a third this year, driven by continuing income losses from the pandemic, according to the US Department of Agriculture. The department’s annual assessment of food security in 76 middle- and low-income nations that are past or current recipients of US food aid estimates an additional 291 million people in those countries won’t have enough to eat in 2021. That comes on top of a huge spike in hunger last year as the pandemic unleashed economic distress. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 196,631,596

Global deaths: 4,199,002

Vaccine doses administered: 4,001,521,825

Nations with most cases: US (34,751,033), India (31,572,344), Brazil (19,839,369), France (6,142,282), Russia (6,138,969).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

China says it has made alternative proposal for virus origin probe

China says it has put forward alternative parameters for a second probe into the origins of Covid-19 that should span multiple countries, in Beijing’s latest move to counter a push by the US for a deeper investigation into the theory the virus leaked from a Wuhan lab. China, from where the coronavirus that caused the pandemic first emerged, submitted a counterproposal for how the second phase of the World Health Organization’s study should be conducted, foreign ministry spokesman told a regular press briefing in Beijing. He didn’t specify when or to which body the proposal had been submitted. Read here

European Union pulls ahead of US in vaccinations

The 27 member states of the European Union altogether have now administered more coronavirus vaccine doses per 100 people than the United States, in another sign that inoculations across the bloc have maintained some speed throughout the summer, while they have stagnated for weeks in the US. EU countries had administered 102.66 doses per 100 people as of Tuesday, while the US had administered 102.44. This month, the European Union also overtook the United States in first injections; currently, 58 percent of people across the bloc have received a dose, compared with 56.5 percent in the United States. Read here

Israel to offer Pfizer Covid booster shots to people over 60

Israel’s prime minister has announced that the country would offer a coronavirus booster shot to those people over 60 who have already been vaccinated. The announcement by Naftali Bennett makes Israel, which launched one of the world’s most successful vaccination drives earlier this year, the first country to offer a third dose of a western vaccine to its citizens on a wide scale. The decision comes at a time of rising infections and signs that the vaccine’s efficacy dwindles over time. Read here