Despite an outbreak of the coronavirus caused by two new Omicron sub-variants of coronavirus; BA.4 and BA.5, South Africa has now put an end to school children wearing masks on Thursday (May 5).
The health ministry announced that regulations requiring all students to wear masks in class expired at midnight ad were not renewed. However, adults are still required to wear masks in public indoor locations, and there are still limits on the number of people for gatherings.
India expressed strong opposition on Thursday to the World Health Organization's (WHO) use of mathematical models to project excess mortality estimates linked to the coronavirus pandemic.
Citing the lack of authentic data, the country questioned the validity and robustness of the models used as well as the data collection methodology.
As per WHO estimates India has 4.7 million Covid deaths, which is ten times the official amount and accounts for nearly a third of all Covid deaths worldwide.