So we can put our own situation into perspective here is a quick roundup of COVID news around the world thanks to The Guardian

These reports are from Sunday 22nd August

The UK reported 33,904 cases of Covid, with the weekly tally standing at 211,238, a 7% increase on the previous week.

There were 111 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, with 655 over the past week, an 8% rise on the previous week. There were 773 patients admitted to hospital, taking the weekly tally to 5,623.

The United States has administered 362,657,771 doses of Covid vaccines as of Sunday morning, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Of those, 201,425,785 people have received at least one dose while 170,821,621 people are fully vaccinated.

Brazil recorded 14,404 new Covid cases over the latest 24-hour period, along with 318 deaths, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday.

Brazil has registered more than 20 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 574,527, Reuters reports.

France reported 17,300 new Covid cases and 44 further deaths on Sunday, compared with 22,636 cases the previous day.

The number of people in French intensive care units for Covid is 2,128, a slight increase of 22 patients from yesterday.

Thousands demonstrated across France for a sixth consecutive weekend on Saturday against a coronavirus health pass required for daily activities.

Italy reported 5,923 new Covid cases and 23 further deaths on Sunday, according to the latest data from the health ministry.

Today’s numbers are a significant drop compared with yesterday, when 7,470 new cases and 45 deaths were recorded.

The country has registered a total of 128,751 deaths linked to Covid since the start of the pandemic – the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain.

The Greek government has reiterated its pledge to avoid shuttering the economy again this autumn, saying it will instead seek to curb cases through the use of Covid passes for hospitality venues.

Unvaccinated people will be unable to sit indoors in venues including restaurants, cafes, bars, theatres and cinemas, while those who have been inoculated will be required to show proof of vaccination.

Appearing Skai TV on Saturday, government spokesman Yiannis Oikonomou said: “We are not done with the pandemic, it is persistent and is not backing down, contrary to the stubbornness of those who interpret things in their own way.”

“Either these people will be vaccinated, or they will get sick, endangering society in its entirety, including those who are already vaccinated, and that is unfair,” he said.

Israel begins new measures requiring vaccination certificates or negative tests to enter public spaces

New restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of Covid took effect in Israel on Wednesday, after the largely vaccinated country reported the highest daily infection rate since January.

The measures, announced on Sunday, require vaccination certificates or negative coronavirus tests to enter a range of public spaces, including restaurants and bars, cultural and sports venues, hotels and gyms, the health ministry said.

The same applies to worshippers wanting to enter synagogues, mosques or churches with more than 50 people in attendance, Agence France-Presse reports.

In addition, the capacity of stores, shopping malls and industrial parks will be limited to one person per seven square metres (75 sq ft).

About 1 million Israelis have not been vaccinated even though they are eligible.

According to the health ministry, more than 8,700 people tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday, the highest number for a single day since January.

The prime minister, Naftali Bennett, has been imploring Israelis to get vaccinated, warning of a possible lockdown that could affect the Jewish high holidays next month unless inoculation numbers rise.

Russia reported 20,564 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the national tally to 6,747,087.

Of this total, 1,661 were recorded in Moscow and 1,481 in St. Petersburg, according to Reuters.

A further 762 deaths of coronavirus patients had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, the Russian coronavirus task force said, taking the official death toll to 176,044.

A separate count by Rosstat, the government statistics agency, has tallied about 315,000 deaths related to Covid-19 between last April and June this year.

Calculations by Reuters based on the latest Rosstat data show that there have been around 463,000 excess deaths between April 2020 and June 2021. Some epidemiologists say excess deaths are the most accurate way to measure the pandemic’s real death toll.

And because we love our neighbours over the ditch

A slip of the tongue from New Zealand’s Covid-19 response minister as he was updating the nation live on the coronavirus outbreak has given the country a lighthearted, albeit slightly x-rated, break from regular pandemic coverage.

At a media briefing on Sunday, minister Chris Hipkins was updating the country on the growing number of coronavirus cases in the community, when he urged New Zealanders to socially distance when they go outside to “spread their legs”.

“It is a challenge for people in high density areas to get outside and spread their legs when they are surrounded by other people,” he said.

Director General of health, the typically composed Dr Ashley Bloomfield, was standing next to Hipkins at the podium and briefly raised his eyebrows as the minister continued with his address.

New Zealand is currently in a nationwide lockdown in response to a Delta outbreak.

When Hipkins later realised his slip-up, he said he would go and “stretch his legs” and acknowledged that the media “would all have fun with him later”.

The gaffe was not lost on New Zealanders, who embraced the hashtag #spreadyourlegs and called on fellow citizens to “spread your legs, and save lives”.

Some pointed out that it gave new meaning to the government’s pandemic catch phrase “go hard, go early”.

Another Twitter user called the reaction “exactly the comic relief Aotearoa needed today.”