“Today we rejoined the world,” said Australia’s New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrotte Monday, as the country opened to international travelers after lifting COVID-19 restrictions that had been imposed for nearly two years.
Israel said Sunday it will allow unvaccinated tourists to enter the country, beginning March 1. However, tourists will be required to pass two PCR tests — one before departure and one upon landing in Israel.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the health and mortality of healthcare workers around the world. The World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization have now published a guide on how to implement stronger occupational health and safety programs for health workers.
James Campbell, director of the WHO Health Workforce Department, said, “COVID-19 has exposed the cost of this systemic lack of safeguards for the health, safety and wellbeing of health workers. In the first 18 months of the pandemic, about 115,500 health workers died from COVID-19.”
The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Monday that it has recorded more than 424 million global COVID infections and almost 6 million global COVID deaths. The center said more than 10 billion vaccines have been administered.