Coronavirus: What’s happening in Canada and around the world on Aug. 2

Biden had set a goal of reaching the 70 percent threshold by the July 4th national holiday. But this goal was set before the highly contagious delta variant could lead to a resurgence of cases and undermine the assumptions used in arriving at this number.

There was no new celebration or goal on Monday at the White House, which is struggling to overcome popular resistance to mass vaccination efforts.

The 70 percent target represents the minimum initial government estimate of the level of vaccination needed to achieve herd immunity in the United States. However, the number was made insufficient due to the delta variable.

The United States has yet to meet the administration’s other goal of vaccinating 165 million American adults by July 4th.

New cases daily in the US have increased sixfold over the past month to nearly 80,000, a level not seen since mid-February. The number of deaths per day over the past two weeks has increased from an average of 259 to 360. Those deaths are still well below the level of 3,400 deaths and a quarter of a million cases a day during the worst of the outbreak, in January.

Some places across the country are seeing newly confirmed infections and hospital case numbers reaching their highest levels since the pandemic began a year and a half ago. Almost all deaths and serious illnesses now fall among unvaccinated people.

Florida now leads the nation in the number of hospitalizations per capita for COVID-19. The Hospital Association reported that the state received 10,389 cases of COVID-19 on Monday.

That number is nearly 200 more than on Sunday, when the state broke the previous record of 10,170 hospitalizations on July 23, 2020 — more than half a year before vaccines were widely available.

The increase has prompted states and cities across the United States to weather a decline in easing restrictions, just weeks after signs the country is returning to a more normal summer.

Louisiana has ordered nearly everyone, vaccinated or not, to wear masks again in all indoor public places, including schools and colleges. Other cities and states have moved to re-take precautions in the face of a crisis that has been blamed on the fast-spreading variant and stubborn resistance to a vaccine.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said New York City airport and transit workers will have to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing. He has not mandated masks or vaccinations for the general public, saying he lacks the legal authority to do so.

Health officials in San Francisco and six other Bay Area counties announced Monday that they have reimposed the requirement that everyone — whether vaccinated or not — wear masks in indoor public spaces.

The Denver mayor said the city will require police officers, firefighters and some other municipal employees to get vaccinated, along with workers in schools, nursing homes, hospitals and prisons.

Minnesota public colleges and universities will require masks while on campus, regardless of vaccination status. New Jersey said workers in state-run nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals and other similar institutions should get the vaccine or face regular testing.

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What is happening in Canada

• Sask’s popularity. Current events after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.

• Experts say Alberta’s removal of public health restrictions is a “bad mistake” for now.

• The return of full seats at Yukon restaurants is attracting mixed reviews.

What is happening around the world

As of Monday, more than 198.4 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 4.2 million deaths have been reported.

in a AsiaHundreds of Pakistani businessmen, mostly shopkeepers, rallied in the southern port city of Karachi against the lockdown imposed to curb the surge in coronavirus cases.

In the AmericasPresident Nicolas Maduro said Venezuela will receive 6.2 million doses of vaccines through the COVAX initiative “in the coming days”.

in a EuropeIn Moldova, 150,000 doses of a planned supply of 500,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines – a donation from the United States to help the former Soviet Republic vaccinate its tiny nation – have arrived in Moldova.

in a AfricaDoctors resident in Nigerian public hospitals have started an indefinite strike over grievances they said include non-payment of COVID-19 benefits to some doctors and staff shortages in hospitals, according to the doctors’ union.