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Gulf Today Report

The overall global COVID-19 caseload has topped 176.9 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 3.83 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Britain is looking at easing travel restrictions, including allowing those who are double vaccinated against COVID-19 to enjoy a foreign holiday without intrusive red tape, a step that indicates vaccine passports are firmly back on the agenda.

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Countries in the European Union last week agreed to an easing of travel restrictions over summer that will allow fully vaccinated tourists to avoid tests or quarantines and broaden the list of EU regions from which it is safe to travel.

Australia has raised the age for which the AstraZeneca vaccine is recommended to 60 from 50 after the shot was blamed for a 52-year-old woman’s death last week from blood clots in the brain.

In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 33,498,145 cases.

Health Minister Greg Hunt described the decision on Thursday as conservative and reflecting the relatively low risk of catching the virus in Australia.

Taiwan reported 175 new domestic COVID-19 infections on Thursday, up from the previous day's figure of 167.

In its latest update on Thursday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 176,960,993 and 3,830,127, respectively.

The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (17,628,588) and France (5,809,319).

Ukraine, which has maintained lockdown restrictions though the number of new COVID-19 infections has fallen, has set a record for the daily number of coronavirus inoculations, the health ministry said on Thursday.

The ministry said 76,538 Ukrainians were vaccinated on Wednesday. That compared with the previous record of 73,376 shots on April 29.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 33,498,145 and 600,648, respectively, according to the CSSE.

In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 33,498,145 cases.

The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (17,628,588), France (5,809,319), Turkey (5,348,249), Russia (4,605,805), the UK (4,605,805), Italy (5,189,260), Argentina (4,198,620), Colombia (3,829,879), Spain (3,749,031), Germany (3,726,767) and Iran (3,060,135), the CSSE figures showed.

In terms of deaths, Brazil comes second with 493,693 fatalities.

Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are India (379,573), Mexico (230,624), the UK (128,190), Italy (127,153), Russia (125,443) and France (110,740).