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South Korea on Tuesday announced a record 40 deaths from COVID-19, as daily coronavirus cases rose to more than 1,000 again and the government moved to procure more vaccines. The daily death toll the highest since the country reported its first case of coronavirus in late January comes amid a stubborn third wave of infections that have forced the authorities to tighten social-distancing measures, amid what the Yonhap news agency described as a “looming medical system crisis”. The country added 1,046 more cases, including 1,030 local infections, raising the total caseload to 58,725, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Daily cases have been hovering around the 1,000 mark since mid-November and nearly 80 percent of Tuesday’s cases were reported in Seoul and its surrounding areas. The total death toll from COVID-19 in South Korea stands at 859. On Sunday, the KDCA extended current social-distancing measures in Seoul and the surrounding area until January 3. A decision on

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has spoken of his “personal pain” about the “worsening” conflict raging in his home country of Ethiopia. “In addition to COVID, 2020 has been very difficult for me because my country is in trouble,” Tedros told reporters in the United Nations health agency’s last news conference of the year on the pandemic on Monday. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, ordered troops into the northern region of Tigray on November 4, saying the operation was in response to alleged attacks on federal army camps by the regional governing party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The fighting in Tigray has left thousands dead, according to the International Crisis Group think-tank, and sent tens of thousands of refugees streaming across the border into Sudan. Tedros, the world’s highest-profile Tigrayan, told Monday’s news conference that he had many relatives in the troubled region, “including my younger b

  Deutsche Bank suggests slapping a 5% tax on remote workers to help the world rebuild from COVID and create a more inclusive economy. Deutsche Bank argues a 5 percent tax is justified because people who work from home 'are contributing less to the infrastructure of the economy while still receiving its benefits' The COVID-19 crisis is worsening inequality around the world as people fortunate enough to work remotely continue to earn a pay cheque while millions of others lose their livelihoods or risk their health in jobs that are deemed “essential” but pay low wages. Now, one of the world’s biggest banks has proposed a fix to level the playing field and create a more inclusive economy as nations rebuild from the pandemic: Tax remote workers. In a report called “What we must do to rebuild” (PDF), Deutsche Bank suggests slapping a 5 percent daily tax on people who work from home and using the funds raised to subsidise the lowest-paid workers who are unable to work remotely. “For

Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo says Rawlings died in hospital in Accra after a short illness. Rawlings seized power twice in military coups but went on to bring democratic rule to Ghana. Ghana’s former leader Jerry Rawlings, who seized power twice in military coups but went on to bring democratic rule to the West African country, died on Thursday at the age of 73, the country’s president said. President Nana Akufo-Addo said Rawlings died on Thursday morning at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in the capital, Accra, where he had been receiving treatment after a short illness. “A great tree has fallen, and Ghana is poorer for this loss,” the president said. Akufo-Addo ordered flags around the country to be lowered to half-mast for seven days of national mourning from Friday and said he was suspending campaigning for the upcoming election in December. Rawlings was born in 1947 to a Scottish father and a Ghanaian mother who died in September at the age of 101. Rawlings, who trained as an

Algerian leader, 74, receiving treatment in Germany and is ‘gradually recovering’. President Tebboune was transferred from hospital in Algiers to Germany last week, days after going into self-isolation following reports of cases among his aides. Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has tested positive for the coronavirus and is being treated in a German hospital. The Algerian presidency made the announcement on Tuesday, ending days of speculation over the health of the 74-year-old leader. Tebboune, a heavy smoker, “continues to receive treatment in a specialised German hospital after catching the Covid-19 illness”, his office said in a statement. “The medical team is reassured that the president is responding to treatment and gradually recovering.” The president was transferred from hospital in Algiers to Germany last week, days after going into self-isolation following the report of novel coronavirus cases among his aides. Algeria has seen a resurgence in COVID-19 infections in re