• Military
• WMD
• Intelligence

• Security Menu                     

• Systems
• Industry
• Operations
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Space

Other Security News
COVID-19 Pandemic News

Other Security News

• Amphetamine Seizures Highlight the Role of Syria in Trafficking VOA 04 Aug 2021 -- Customs officials at the Al-Haditha Port, located near Saudi Arabia's border with Jordan, intercepted last month a consignment of more than 2 million Captagon pills hidden in the hollowed-out lids of jars of tomato paste.

COVID-19 Pandemic News

• Weekly operational update on COVID-19 - 4 August 2021
• WHO calls for moratorium on COVID-19 booster jabs UN News 04 Aug 2021 -- The head of the UN health organization called on Wednesday for a moratorium on COVID-19 vaccine boosters until "at least the end of September" to enable the world's most vulnerable people to be inoculated.
• Latest COVID-19 data confirms infections have risen globally for four consecutive weeks UN News 04 Aug 2021 -- COVID-19 infections have continued to rise globally for more than a month now, with over four million cases reported in the past week alone, the UN health agency said on Wednesday.
• WHO Wants Moratorium on Booster Shots Until Low Income Countries Catch up VOA 04 Aug 2021 -- The World Health Organization's director-general is calling for a worldwide moratorium on COVID-19 booster shots until at least the end of September, to allow low-income nations to get more initial vaccination doses.

United States

• Top Military Medical Doctor Predicts Coronavirus Longevity DoD News 04 Aug 2021 -- COVID-19 and other such coronaviruses likely will stay in the environment and continue to mutate, Army Lt. Gen. Ronald J. Place, director of Defense Health Agency, said.
• Doctors Tracking Delta Variant Say Vaccines Help Even the Unvaccinated VOA 04 Aug 2021 -- The state of Florida is experiencing a hospital crisis because of a surge in the number of patients with COVID-19. These patients are younger and sicker than patients infected with the original virus, and they are largely unvaccinated. Most of them have the Delta variant that is sweeping through the southern U.S., where vaccination rates remain low.
• CDC: Delta Variant Accounts for More than 93 Percent of all US COVID-19 Cases VOA 04 Aug 2021 -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday the delta variant of the coronavirus accounts for more than 93 percent of all new COVID-19 cases in the country.
• FDA to Give Full Approval of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine by September: New York Times VOA 04 Aug 2021 -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is aiming to give full approval to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine by early September, according to The New York Times.

China

• Shenzhen Kangtai says vaccine effective against Delta variant Global Times 04 Aug 2021 -- The COVID-19 vaccine produced by Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products can protect against various mutations of the novel coronavirus, including the increasingly dominant Delta variant, the company told the Global Times on Wednesday.
• Risk areas in latest COVID-19 surge reach highest number since outbreak in Wuhan Global Times 04 Aug 2021 -- China had 153 medium- or high-risk COVID-19 areas as of 6 pm on Wednesday, the highest number since the nation's epidemic prevention and control situation was normalized after the outbreak in Wuhan was basically contained in April 2020, according to National Health Commission (NHC).
• Beijing reports 3 new infections, all close contacts under quarantine; patient's residential compound sealed Global Times 04 Aug 2021 -- Beijing reported three confirmed COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, two are family members of a patient confirmed on Sunday in Fangshan district and one Chaoyang district resident who had took the same flight with the patient.
• Macao to close amusement venues, second time since epidemic began Global Times 04 Aug 2021 -- Starting from Thursday, Macao Special Administrative Region will close some of its amusement venues after four COVID-19 infections were discovered. This marks the second time the city has shut down its amusement facilities since the epidemic began.
• Vaccines effective solution against Delta strain, China confident in containing COVID-19: top epidemiologist Zhang Wenhong Global Times 04 Aug 2021 -- The latest local coronavirus case reported at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Tuesday was infected by the imported Delta variant after gene sequencing as the patient, an airport foreign cargo terminal staff member, was exposed to a COVID-19 contaminated environment, Wu Jinglei, director of Shanghai Health Commission said at a press conference held in Shanghai on Wednesday.
• Tianjin carries out nucleic acid testing for employees and surrounding residents of railway stations Global Times 04 Aug 2021 -- North China's Tianjin Municipality, a city near Beijing, has carried out nucleic acid testing for employees and surrounding residents of the city's two railway stations, Tianjin Railway Station and Tianjin West Railway Station, starting from Wednesday.
• China's flood-hit Zhengzhou expands lockdown area amid new COVID-19 surge Global Times 04 Aug 2021 -- Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province, expanded lockdown area of residential communities and escalated epidemic control as the local outbreak continues to spread within the city. The city is just recovering from a severe flood disaster which caused nearly 300 deaths in the capital city.
• Wuhan COVID-19 surge caused by Delta variant, as city seals off 16 communities Global Times 04 Aug 2021 -- The COVID-19 flare-up in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, is caused by the Delta variant, and the virus sequencing is highly similar to that from the epidemic outbreak in East China's Jiangsu, Wuhan health authorities said on Wednesday.
• Zhangjiajie punishes 20 officials, management personnel responsible for latest COVID-19 spike Global Times 04 Aug 2021 -- Tourist city Zhangjiajie in Central China's Hunan Province, which has become the latest hot spot of COVID-19 infections, punished 20 officials and public post holders for slack response in dealing with the epidemic flare-up.
• Over 1.7 bln doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered in China People's Daily 04 Aug 2021 -- With new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases reported in multiple regions, strict anti-epidemic measures were urged, especially concerning imported cases and key locations which are currently vulnerable to spreading the virus.
• Chinese mainland reports 71 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases People's Daily 04 Aug 2021 -- The Chinese mainland on Tuesday reported 71 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the National Health Commission said in its daily report on Wednesday.
• China's Wuhan launches citywide COVID-19 testing People's Daily 04 Aug 2021 -- Wuhan City, capital of central China's Hubei Province, launched another citywide COVID-19 nucleic acid testing campaign on Tuesday, according to a press conference held by the provincial COVID-19 prevention and control headquarters.
• Lax management leads to COVID-19 infections at Nanjing airport People's Daily 04 Aug 2021 -- Lax daily management is the main reason for the COVID-19 cases at the Nanjing Lukou International Airport in east China's Jiangsu Province, said an official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
• China's Zhangjiajie tightens measures to contain COVID-19 People's Daily 04 Aug 2021 -- All the people in the central Chinese city of Zhangjiajie, including residents and tourists, are not allowed to leave the city from Tuesday as part of efforts to curb the latest resurgence of COVID-19, said the municipal headquarters on COVID-19 prevention and control.
• China strengthens efforts to curb Delta outbreak People's Daily 04 Aug 2021 -- China has stepped up efforts to contain a new cluster of COVID-19 infections, with 328 new locally transmitted confirmed cases registered in July.
• China imposes massive travel restrictions to combat Delta outbreak People's Daily 04 Aug 2021 -- China has imposed massive travel restrictions, including temporary closure of airports and travel alerts for citizens to other places across the country, to contain the spread of the Delta variant.

Europe

Russia

• Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview with the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, Moscow, August 4, 2021 Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 04 Aug 2021

India

• India's Cumulative COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage crossed landmark of 48 Cr India PIB 04 Aug 2021 -- India's COVID-19 vaccination coveragehas crossed a landmark of 48 Cr yesterday.

• COVID-19 Vaccination Update- Day 201 India PIB 04 Aug 2021 -- India's Cumulative COVID Vaccination Coverage has crossed48.89 crore(48,89,36,423), as per the 7 pm provisional report today.The new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from 21st June
• COVID-19 Vaccination Update India PIB 04 Aug 2021 -- The Union Government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country
• COVID-19 UPDATE India PIB 04 Aug 2021

Iran

• COVID-19 kills 409 more Iranians over past 24 hours IRNA 04 Aug 2021 -- The number of deaths from the coronavirus pandemic in Iran increased to 92,194 with 409 more Iranians killed by the deadly disease over the past 24 hours, Iran's Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
• Iranian Hospitals Overflow As Number Of Reported Covid-19 Cases Passes 4 Million RFE/RL 04 Aug 2021 -- The number of reported coronavirus cases in Iran surpassed 4 million on August 4 amid a vicious wave of infections driven by the highly contagious delta variant.

Taiwan

• Taiwan reports 21 new COVID-19 cases, majority in New Taipei CNA 04 Aug 2021 -- Taiwan on Wednesday reported 21 new cases of COVID-19, the majority of which are part of two clusters in New Taipei, and zero deaths from the disease, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

NATO

• Coronavirus response: NATO delivers disinfectant to Ukraine NATO 04 Aug 2021 -- Ukraine has received 30,000 litres of surface disinfectant liquid from NATO's Pandemic Response Stockpile, in order to help the country respond to coronavirus infections. NATO's Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre and Latvia coordinated the donation, which arrived on Tuesday (3 August 2021), in response to a request by Ukraine for COVID-19 assistance. Latvia donated the surface disinfectant to the NATO stockpile and subsequently handed it over to the Ministry of Health, which transferred the donation to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence.

Other Countries

• South Africa's Cape Town Copes With Tens of Thousands of Active COVID Cases VOA 04 Aug 2021 -- South Africa's Cape Town is struggling to cope with more than 38,000 active cases of COVID-19, making it the epicenter of the pandemic in Africa's worst-hit country.
• UAE approves use of Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for 3-17 age group Global Times 04 Aug 2021 -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on Monday the approval of Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 3-17 in the country after its efficacy in that age group has been verified, Reuters reported.
• Funeral Service Volunteers Lay Lives on The Line as Myanmar COVID Deaths Surge Radio Free Asia 04 Aug 2021 -- As the death toll mounts from an outbreak of COVID-19 infections that Myanmar's junta has done little to control, volunteers in the country's largest city Yangon have stepped into the breach to provide funeral services to the poor and are putting their lives at risk to do so.
• Migrant Workers Stranded by COVID-19 Lockdown Desperate to Leave Laos SEZ Radio Free Asia 04 Aug 2021 -- Workers at a special economic zone (SEZ) in northern Laos that caters to Chinese gamblers are desperate to return to their homes amid an outbreak of the coronavirus that triggered a lockdown earlier this week, saying they haven't been paid in months and can no longer afford food or rent.