The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Friday there are more 125.5 million global COVID-19 infections.
The U.S. has more cases than any other country, with over 30 million infections, followed by Brazil, with 12.3 million, and India, with 11.8 million.
India said Friday it set a record with a tally of more than 59,000 new cases in the previous 24-hour period.
On Thursday, Brazil said it had recorded its highest number of new coronavirus cases in 24 hours with 100,158 infections.
UNESCO said a new study has found that the coronavirus pandemic has adversely affected the reading proficiency of more than 100 million children.
“The number of children lacking basic reading skills was on a downward curve prior to the pandemic, and expected to fall from 483 million to 460 million in 2020,” UNESCO said in a statement Thursday. “Instead, as a result of the pandemic, the number of children in difficulty jumped to 584 million in 2020, increasing by more than 20% and wiping out gains made over the past two decades through education efforts.”
UNESCO is convening a meeting Monday with education ministers from around the world to discuss ways to combat the troubling trend.
Canada hit a small stumbling block in its vaccination program when U.S. vaccine manufacturer Moderna said it was delaying a shipment of nearly 600,000 shots expected to be delivered this weekend.
Anita Anand, Canada’s federal procurement minister, said Moderna officials attributed the setback to a “backlog in its quality assurance process.” The vaccines, however, are expected to be shipped out before the end of next week.
New York City’s theater industry workers are about to receive a literal shot in the arm. Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday that a vaccination site will be set up on Broadway for theater workers, with satellite sites around the city. New York officials say they want Broadway to reopen in the fall. “It’s time to raise the curtain and bring Broadway back,” de Blasio said.
