Thousands of performers, music fans, and festival organisers held marches across the Netherlands on Saturday as they protest against "unfair" coronavirus restrictions that have led to the cancellation of summer music festivals.
'Unmute us': Marchers demand return of Dutch music festivals
— Biedex Markets (@biedexmarkets) August 21, 2021
Thousands of fans of music festivals stage protests in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021, against the government's COVID-19 restrictions on large-scale outdoor events. On Saturday, the festivals came to... pic.twitter.com/NcpfRkaQL6
#Nijmegen #UnmuteUs #demonstratie #demo pic.twitter.com/d1y65xTawe
— Stop VACCISM! (@LambertVanDutch) August 21, 2021
Hallo #UnmuteUs pic.twitter.com/LCH1Chpdzv
— Hidde Roorda (@hidderoorda) August 21, 2021
De meute in Amsterdam is aangezweld tot zeker tienduizend. #UnmuteUs pic.twitter.com/eXTwfTTiK6
— Henrik-Willem H⭕️fs (@HWHofs) August 21, 2021
Euforisch momentje. #UnmuteUs pic.twitter.com/Xb4mva98JH
— Kypski (@Kypski_) August 21, 2021
The Public Health England has described the UEFA Euro 2020 final at the Wembley Stadium in London as a COVID-19 superspreader event, media reported on Saturday.
The authority said that about 2,300 people, who attended the final match, were “likely to be infectious” with the coronavirus at the event, while a further 3,404 people developed coronavirus symptoms shortly after the match, having possibly been infected there, The Times reported.
The Euro-2020 took place on 11 July and was attended by 67,173 people.
The match between the national teams of England and Italy ended with the latter’s victory in a penalty series.
Russian experts have approved the use of the single-shot Sputnik Light vaccine against the coronavirus for people aged 60 and over, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Saturday.
"Experts have given permission to use the Sputnik Light vaccine for people over 60, it is mainly used as a booster shot," Murashko told reporters.
The single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine was registered in early May in Russia, with its efficacy at 79.4%.
Earlier this week, the Russian Direct Investment Fund said that Sputnik Light showed a high safety profile and a 93.5% efficacy in Paraguay's ongoing vaccination campaign.
Seventy-four people have died of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours in Georgia, marking the highest daily figure since the onset of the pandemic, the national website reporting COVID-19 statistics said on Saturday.
The number surpassed the previous all-time high of 59 fatalities, which was reported on Friday.
In addition, the country has confirmed over 4,900 new cases, raising the tally to 510,941.
Since the start of the vaccination campaign, more than 938,000 Georgians have received a COVID-19 vaccine.
Russia registered 21,000 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, up from 20,992 the day before, taking the overall tally to 6,726,523, the federal response centre said on Saturday.
"Over the past day, 21,000 COVID-19 cases were confirmed across 85 Russian regions, including 1,832 cases (7.6%) without clinical symptoms," the centre said, adding that the rate of increase grew to 0.31%.
Moscow has the highest number of new cases with 1,852 daily infections, down from 1,925 the day before. The Russian capital was followed by St. Petersburg with 1,665 new cases, down from 1,691, and the Moscow Region with 1,119 cases, up from 1,029.
The response centre reported 797 new deaths linked to the coronavirus, up from 785 the day before, raising the country's death toll to 175,282.
In the same 24 hours, 20,647 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals across the country, up from 20,351 the day before, bringing the total to 6,004,052.
India has confirmed 34,457 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, with the total number of those infected having reached 32,393,286, the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Saturday.
The death toll from the disease has reached 433,964 people, with 375 new fatalities being recorded over the past day.
More than 31.59 million people have recovered in India since the start of the outbreak.
A day earlier, the country confirmed 36,571 new coronavirus cases, with 540 fatalities.
The next carnival in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro will take place from 27 January to 6 March 2022, the city administration said, adding that Carnival Saturday is scheduled for 26 February.
The carnival days are going to include some 500 parades, according to the city’s Ministry of Tourism.
Samba schools as well as other dancing groups are already submitting applications to take part in the carnival.
The iconic carnival in Rio de Janeiro was cancelled in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
