August 2021

  TOKYO – The official price tag for the Tokyo Olympics in $15.4 billion, which a University of Oxford study says is the most expensive on record. What else could those billions buy? The ballpark figure for building a 300-bed hospital in Japan is $55 million. So you could put up almost 300 of these. The average elementary school in Japan costs about $13 million. For that price, you get 1,200 schools. A quick search finds a Boeing 747 is priced at roughly $400 million. Voila: 38 jumbo jets for the cost of the Tokyo Olympics. The point is that Olympic Games

The U.S. averaged more than 107,000 new COVID-19 cases a day for the first week of August, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center on Saturday. For comparison, on June 7, the U.S. reported just more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The increase in coronavirus infections comes as the highly contagious delta variant continues to spread quickly throughout the United States. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in an interview with CNN earlier this week that government data shows infections in the U.S. “could be up to several hundred thousand cases

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Philippine capital, Manila, returned to coronavirus lockdown Friday as authorities sought to slow the spread of the hyper-contagious delta variant and ease pressure on hospitals while trying to avoid crushing economic activity. Police checkpoints across the National Capital Region, where more than 13 million people live, caused long lines as officers in camouflage uniforms inspected vehicles to ensure only essential workers were on the road. Experts warned that an explosion in delta cases could overwhelm the health system if restrictions were not tightened in the crowded capital, which accounts for about a third of the country’s

  Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 has had positive results in South Africa, the co-head of a trial, Glenda Gray, told reporters Friday. A research study conducted from mid-February to May with upwards of 470,000 health workers showed positive results in those inoculated, and the country’s health regulator approved the single-shot J&J vaccine in Apri. It is being used in addition to Pfizer’s. The study showed 91% to 96.2% protection against death, Gray said, and 67% efficacy against infection when the beta coronavirus dominated and 71% when the delta variant did. As of Thursday, more than 8.3 million people had been

  The White House has confirmed that it is considering requiring foreign visitors to show proof of vaccination to potentially restart international travel. Jeff Zients, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, told the Reuters news agency that multiple federal agencies are looking into the possibility. The United States still has no timetable for resuming international travel given the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 disease. The U.S. first imposed travel restrictions on China in January 2020. Since then, several other countries, including India and many in Europe, have faced similar restrictions. Two issues facing