Delta. In China 76 new cases, in Indonesia many children among victims

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26 July 2021 Covid returns to

which registered 76 new infections on Sunday, the highest level since last January, of which 36 imported and 40 due to 'domestic transmission'. This was announced today by the national health commission in its daily updates.

Of the 40 cases of domestic transmission of covid-19, 39 were detected in Jiangsu and one in Liaoning, while as for the 36 imported, 18 related to Yunnan, 8 to Guangdong, 5 to Fujian, two each in Inner Mongolia and Henan, and one in Beijing. The commission then specified that no suspected cases of death due to the new Coronavirus were reported on Sunday, leaving the total deaths unchanged at 4,636.

Overall, imported cases rose to 7,246, of which 6,654 closed with hospital discharges and 592 still under medical treatment. The confirmed cases of Covid-19 have grown to 92,605, of which 17 in conditions considered serious, while the recoveries have risen to 87,228. On the other hand, over 700 patients are recovering. As for the asymptomatic, there were 24 new cases: a total of 436, of which 411 imported, were under medical observation.

Hundreds of children have died from Covid-19 in Indonesia in recent weeks, many of them under the age of 5: a death rate higher than that of any other country in the world and which contrasts with the idea that children are not at risk of the new Coronavirus. The alarm comes from local doctors, who give various explanations of when it is happening. The deaths, more than 100 a week this month, are accompanied by a pandemic crisis in general very heavy: the deaths among children coincide with a surge in cases, "inflated" by the Delta variant that has swept the south-east Asian (not only Indonesia, but also Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam).

On Friday, the Indonesian government recorded almost 50,000 new infections and 1,566 deaths. Children represent 12.5% ​​of confirmed cases, an increase compared to previous months. And more than 150 have died in the week since July 12 alone, half of them under the age of 5. In all, more than 800 children and young people under the age of 18 have died from Covid-19 in Indonesia, but most of these deaths have occurred in the last month.

There is still no clarity on the causes. Certainly the low vaccination rate has an impact: only 16% of Indonesians have received a dose and only 6% are fully vaccinated. It is also possible that the deceased children and young people started from unsanitary conditions. Furthermore, the hospitals, many of which are overloaded beyond capacity, are not equipped to care for children. "Our numbers are the highest in the world," said the head of the Indonesian Pediatric Society, Aman Bhakti Pulungan, speaking to the New York Times. "Why don't we give the best to our children?".

A strict curfew will take place in Vietnam in a few hours for the more than 10 million residents of Ho Chi Minh (south), a measure that is added to a lockdown that began in early July aimed at countering a rapid increase in cases of Coronavirus linked to the variant Delta. Authorities refuse to use the term "curfew", but residents will be banned from leaving the house between 6:00 and 6:00, and the authorities have not specified how long this measure will remain in effect. In addition to the city of Ho Chi Minh, which has recorded over 62 thousand infections since April out of a total of 101 thousand nationwide, industrial centers in the north of the country have also been hit hard by the Delta variant.

"Local law enforcement will have to step up patrols ... And issue appropriate penalties for offenders, including detention for resistance," said Ho Chi Minh Mayor Nguyen Thanh Phong. Almost all public transport connections to the city have already been suspended, while arrivals are subject to a mandatory two-week quarantine period. Currently, more than a third of Vietnam's 100 million inhabitants are in isolation, including residents of the capital Hanoi (north).