Скачать или смотреть VOA News for Tuesday, March 30th, 2021

VOA News for Tuesday, March 30th, 2021
Thanks to https://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for transcribing
This is VOA news. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton.
Nine out of 10 adults in the United States will be eligible for a coronavirus vaccine three weeks from now. [that's] Those are the words of President Joe Biden, talking Monday during remarks [that were contained there were] that also contained a warning of a devastating resurgence of COVID-19 in this country.
Biden said with the number of cases rising again, Americans are in what he called "a life-and-death race.”
He talked about the spread of new variants of the virus and condemned what he called "reckless behavior" betrayed on television in recent weeks, such as college students gathering in Miami beach for their [p...] traditional spring [b...] break party week. Biden warned that that type of behavior means "more new cases are to come in the weeks ahead.”
At the White House, with Vice President Kamala Harris standing in the background Monday, Biden reiterated his call to governors, mayors and other local leaders not to relax restrictions on the mandatory wearing of masks.
Earlier in the day, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, expressed a feeling of, in her words, "impending doom," [requi...] regarding the virus. She compared the United States to Europe, where another wave of coronavirus infections is now sweeping the continent.
Walensky said the latest virus figures from around the United States show the daily average for infections rising by 10 percent over the past week to nearly 70,000 per day. Hospitalizations were up by more than 4 percent and deaths by almost 3 percent.
Republicans are criticizing President Biden for being too slow to reopen the economy and what they deemed an overly cautious approach. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Twitter, "What America needs now is to fully reopen our economy and our classrooms.”
From Washington, you're listening to VOA news.
Mexico has revised its coronavirus death toll figures, increasing the tally by 60 percent. That makes it one of the top three nations in the world with the highest death toll.
The new statistics are staggering as the Mexican population of 126 million is far below the populations of the first and second highest death toll nations. The United States has the highest death toll and Brazil is the next highest.
Public health analysts had warned that Mexico's death count was likely higher than previous figures had indicated because the country's health care system was overwhelmed by the pandemic. That resulted in few available intensive care beds. That led to many people dying at home. Their deaths many not have been counted in the COVID death toll. The new numbers follow a government review of death certificates.
[last] Late Sunday, Mexico received one and a half million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine. That's according to the Foreign Ministry. The vaccines were part of 2.7 million doses the United States promised its southern neighbor in a pact reached earlier this month between the two countries.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved in Mexico for use but has not been approved yet for use in the United States although the United States has stockpiled those shots.
Islamic State claimed responsibility Monday for a dayslong attack on the northern Mozambique town of Palma. The attack began last week and has prompted thousands of people to flee.
Dozens of people have been killed in the ongoing fighting in the Southern African nation, according to government officials.
IS said Monday through its Amaq News Agency that it is now in control of Palma. That's a town of about 75,000 people. The IS claim could not be independently verified.
On Sunday, Mozambique officials said they were fighting the rebels in several locations to in an effort to regain control of the town.
Islamist insurgents began a coordinated attack last Wednesday on the town, which is about 10 kilometers from [a nu...] a multinational gas project run by major oil companies, including the French energy company, Total.
And a group of U.N. human rights experts say it is "deeply concerned" about alleged human rights abuses by China in the treatment of its Muslim Uyghur minority.
The Working Group on Business and Human Rights says it has "received information that connected over 150 domestic Chinese and foreign domiciled companies to serious allegations of human rights abuses against Uyghurs.”
The group alleges that many Chinese companies as well as private firms outside China are accused of using slave labor or incorporating products made with slave labor into their supply chains. China denies those allegations.
Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton, VOA news.