Other Security News
COVID-19 Pandemic News

Other Security News

• Former White House aide testifies at hearing on U.S. Capitol riot People's Daily 29 Jun 2022 -- A former White House aide testified at a public hearing on Tuesday held by the U.S. House select committee investigating the Capital riot last year.
• Justice Department's Criminal Division Creates New England Prescription Opioid Strike Force to Focus on Illegal Opioid Prescriptions US Dept. of Justice 29 Jun 2022 -- Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr., of the Justice Department's Criminal Division today announced the formation of the New England Prescription Opioid (NEPO) Strike Force, a joint law enforcement effort that brings together the resources and expertise of the Health Care Fraud Unit in the Criminal Division's Fraud Section, the U.S. Attorneys' Offices for three federal districts, as well as law enforcement partners at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the FBI.
• French Court Finds All Defendants in 2015 Paris Terrorist Attack Case Guilty - Report Sputnik 29 Jun 2022 -- A French court has found all defendants in the 2015 Paris terrorist attack case guilty, the BFMTV broadcaster reported on Wednesday.
• New UK support to protect Georgia against Russian cyber attacks Gov.UK 29 Jun 2022 -- Russia has long used Georgia as a testing ground for its cyber capability. This began in 2008 when some of the world's first coordinated cyber attacks were used to cripple the country's security architecture while Russia carried out its illegal annexation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
• IDF's Secret Cyber Unit Claims It Helped Thwart Attack on US Power Plants Sputnik 29 Jun 2022 -- Israel and regional adversary Iran have engaged in a years-long cyberwarfare campaign, targeting both physical and virtual infrastructure. Last year, the Israel Defense Force Joint Cyber Defense Division and the Pentagon's Cyber Command held joint drills involving training "for a variety of cyber defense challenges in the US."
• Exclusive: US plants Trojan horse programs in hundreds of important Chinese information systems; new cyber weapon targets China, Russia Global Times 29 Jun 2022 -- On Wednesday, China's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center and a leading cybersecurity company disclosed a new vulnerability attack weapon platform deployed by the US National Security Agency (NSA), which experts believe is the main equipment of the NSA's computer network hacking operation team, and it targets the world with a focus on China and Russia.
• U.S. to distribute monkeypox vaccines nationwide to curb outbreak People's Daily 29 Jun 2022 -- The White House said Tuesday it will start distributing the monkeypox vaccines across the country to address the spread of the virus, focusing on people most at risk and communities with the highest numbers of cases.

COVID-19 Pandemic News

• Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 29 Jun 2022
• COVID-19: B.A4 and BA.5 variants spur 20 per cent rise in cases UN News 29 Jun 2022 -- COVID-19 cases are on the rise in some 110 countries, driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 variants, said the UN health agency chief on Wednesday, amounting to a 20 per cent spike overall, and a rise in the number of deaths across three of the six world regions monitored by the World Health Organization.

United States

• Biden-Harris Administration Secures More Than 100 Million Doses of Pfizer's Latest COVID-19 Vaccine for Fall Vaccine Campaign DoD 29 Jun 2022 -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with the Department of Defense (DOD), announced an agreement to purchase more than 100 million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for a fall vaccine campaign.

China

• China removes COVID infection risk marks in constant exploration for 'better balance of epidemic prevention, devt' Global Times 29 Jun 2022 -- China on Wednesday announced the nationwide travel tracking system will no longer mark cities having areas of COVID-19 infection risks to better balance epidemic prevention and economic and social development, the latest move which signaled China's continuous exploration to realize more scientific and precise epidemic prevention and control under the dynamic zero principle. The policy was announced after Tuesday's adjustment that halved collective quarantine for international arrivals and close contacts to seven days, plus three days of home health monitoring.
• Chinese mainland reports 3 new local confirmed COVID-19 cases People's Daily 29 Jun 2022 -- The Chinese mainland Tuesday reported three locally-transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, two of which were in Jiangsu Province and one in Guangdong Province, the National Health Commission said Wednesday.
• COVID-19 situation in China easing yet fluctuating: official People's Daily 29 Jun 2022 -- Remarkable progress has been made in China's COVID-19 containment work, as the resurgence is easing yet fluctuating, an official said on Tuesday.
• China tweaks COVID playbook for more precise epidemic control Global Times 29 Jun 2022 -- China has halved the amount of time international arrivals and close contacts of COVID-19 patients must spend in centralized quarantine from 14 days to seven days and has drawn a clear standard on what constitutes medium- and high-risk areas. Epidemiologists said the move is a further improvement in the country's COVID-19 playbook that will provide more balance between antivirus measures and the need to maintain people's lives and livelihoods.
• China shortens quarantine for close contacts & intl arrivals from 14+7 to 7+3; adjustment 'not a relaxation but more accurate' Global Times 29 Jun 2022 -- Close contacts of COVID-19 infected patients and people entering China from overseas will undergo shorter quarantine period. The time has been reduced from 14 days of collective quarantine and another seven days of home health monitoring to seven and three days respectively, the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council announced in an updated epidemic prevention announcement on Tuesday, adding that the measure is not a relaxation of dynamic zero-COVID policy, but it is simply aimed at more accurate and scientific prevention, said officials in a press conference following the announcement.

India

• India's Cumulative COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage exceeds 197.46 Cr India PIB 29 Jun 2022 -- India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 197.46 Cr (1,97,46,57,138) as per provisional reports till 7 am today. This has been achieved through 2,56,78,429 sessions.
• COVID - 19 Vaccination Update - Day 530 India PIB 29 Jun 2022 -- India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 197.60 Crore (1,97,60,22,570) today. More than 12 lakh (12,49,839) Vaccine Doses have been administered till 7 pm today. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late tonight.
• Update on COVID-19 Vaccine Availability in States/UTs India PIB 29 Jun 2022 -- The Union Government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country. The nationwide COVID 19 vaccination started on 16th January 2021. The new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from 21st June 2021. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to States and UTs for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccine supply chain.
• COVID-19 UPDATE India PIB 29 Jun 2022

Iran

• Iran registers zero COVID-19 deaths in 24 hours IRNA 29 Jun 2022 -- The number of deaths from the coronavirus pandemic in Iran stayed unchanged at 141,386 with another zero death day over the past 24 hours, Iran's Health Ministry announced on Wednesday.

Taiwan

• Taiwan reports 42,204 new COVID-19 cases, 85 deaths CNA 29 Jun 2022 -- Taiwan reported 42,204 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, all but 92 of which were domestic infections, and 85 deaths from the disease, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
• Taiwan to maintain mask mandate through July CNA 29 Jun 2022 -- Taiwan will maintain its mask mandate through the month of July, in light of the current domestic COVID-19 situation and the rising number of imported cases of the newest Omicron subvariants, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Wednesday.

North Korea

• Epidemic Spread and Treatment Results in DPRK KCNA 29 Jun 2022 -- According to information of the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters, more than 5 980 fever cases, with over 7 120 recoveries, were reported from 18:00 of June 27 to 18:00 of June 28 throughout the country.
• Main Role and Tactical Advantage Maintained in Anti-Epidemic Campaign KCNA 29 Jun 2022 -- A plan for maintaining and furthering tactical advantage in the ongoing anti-epidemic campaign by taking the initiative is intensified in the DPRK in keeping with the efforts made to eradicate the malignant virus by dint of the public health and anti-epidemic policies of the Party and the state.