\u25baThe United States was expected to send 2.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan on Saturday, according to a senior Biden administration official.<\/p>\n
\u25baMilkha Singh, one of India\u2019s first sport superstars and ace sprinter who overcame a childhood tragedy to become the country’s most celebrated athlete,\u00a0died late Friday of complications from COVID-19. He was 91.<\/p>\n
\u25baMexico City schools that had just returned to in-person classes will be closed again starting Monday as COVID-19\u00a0cases continue to rise in Mexico’s capital, Reuters reported Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u25baOman has lurched back into a strict nightly lockdown as it struggles to curb a major surge in severe coronavirus cases that has overwhelmed hospitals.<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcc8\u00a0Today’s numbers:\u00a0<\/strong>The U.S.\u00a0has more than 33.5\u00a0million confirmed coronavirus cases and at least 601,700 deaths,\u00a0according\u00a0to\u00a0Johns Hopkins University\u00a0data. The global totals: More than 177.9 million cases and more than 3.85\u00a0million deaths. More than 149 million Americans have been fully vaccinated \u2013 nearly 45% of the population,\u00a0according to\u00a0the CDC.\u00a0<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcd8\u00a0What we’re reading:\u00a0<\/strong>The same mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines could help treat cancer.\u00a0Here’s how<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n Keep refreshing this page for the latest updates. Want more?\u00a0Sign up for our Coronavirus Watch\u00a0newsletter\u00a0for updates to your inbox and\u00a0join our Facebook group.<\/em><\/p>\n A health worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine at the Orange Farm Clinic near Johannesburg. (Photo: Themba Hadebe, AP)<\/span><\/p>\n Anti-government protesters took to the streets in cities across Brazil Saturday as the nation\u2019s confirmed death toll from COVID-19 soared past half a million. It\u2019s a tragedy many critics blame on President Jair Bolsonaro\u2019s attempt to minimize the disease.<\/p>\n Thousands gathered in Rio de Janeiro, waving flags reading “Get out Bolsonaro.”\u00a0Other marchers hoisted posters reading: “500 thousand deaths. It\u2019s his fault.” Similar marches took place in at least 22 of\u00a0Brazil\u2019s 26 states.<\/p>\n Critics Bolsonaro’s message that lockdown measures have hurt businesses, as well as his promotion of disproven treatments such as hydroxychloroquine, have contributed to the soaring death toll and a sluggish vaccine campaign that has fully inoculated less than 12% of the population. The country of some 213 million people is registering nearly 100,000 new infections and 2,000 deaths a day.<\/p>\n Women simultaneously hold up placards with a message that reads in Portuguese; "500K deaths! His fault!" during a demonstration against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and economic policies protesters say harm the interests of the poor and working class, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, June 19, 2021. (Photo: Bruna Prado, AP)<\/span><\/p>\n Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike says plans to hold mass public viewings of the Olympics at six sites have been canceled, as worries grow about the coronavirus pandemic amid one of the slowest vaccine rollouts in the developed world.<\/p>\n “These are necessary measures to make the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics a success,”\u00a0Koike told reporters after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.<\/p>\n The sites had included Inokashira and Yoyogi parks as well as a university in Tokyo to watch livestreaming of the games, which open July 23. Koike said the sites will instead be offered as vaccination sites.<\/p>\n The coronavirus pandemic continues to wane in many parts of the U.S., but the spread of the highly-contagious Delta variant among the unvaccinated could pose a new public health threat, warned President Joe Biden and the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.<\/p>\n During a coronavirus update with the press, Biden described the Delta variant as being “more easily transmissible, potentially deadlier and particularly dangerous for young people.” While Biden took a moment to acknowledge the “bright summer”\u00a0that lies ahead for those who are vaccinated, he said there\u2019s cause for concern for people living in “lower vaccination rate states.”<\/p>\n “People getting seriously ill and being hospitalized due to COVID-19 are those who have not been fully vaccinated,”\u00a0Biden said. “The new variant will leave unvaccinated people even more vulnerable than they were a month ago.”<\/p>\n CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky shared Biden\u2019s concern during an appearance on Good Morning America on Friday. Walensky said the higher transmissibility of the Delta variant will likely help make it the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S in the near future.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2021\/06\/19\/USAT\/99d38733-5d10-4bee-b63c-9a116cf1d5fe-AP21159823061849.jpg?width=540&height=&fit=bounds&auto=webp\")
<\/p>\nProtesters decry Brazil policies as country’s death toll tops 500K<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2021\/06\/19\/USAT\/525984d4-4fa9-4677-b5f8-f62e4c890561-AP21170634571280.jpg?width=540&height=&fit=bounds&auto=webp\")
<\/p>\nMass public viewings of Olympics canceled at 6\u00a0sites\u00a0to be used for vaccincations<\/h2>\n
CDC director: Delta variant likely to become dominant in US<\/h2>\n