A weekly infection survey shows that coronavirus case numbers have increased more than 15 per cent across England in the most recent week measured after the government relaxed virus curbs, AFP reports.

The figures for the week ending last Saturday contrast with the health ministry's daily testing data, which registered dramatically declining cases during much of last week. The recorded halving in new daily cases, which has since gone into reverse, surprised officials and experts who had predicted that the July 19 removal of remaining pandemic rules would prompt a surge in infections.

However, the latest survey by the Office for National Statistics — which is seen as more reliable as it randomly samples the population — suggests cases may not have fallen and that daily testing failed to detect many new infections.

The world is at risk of losing hard-won gains in fighting Covid-19 as the highly transmissible Delta variant spreads, but WHO-approved vaccines remain effective, the World Health Organisation has said.

Covid-19 infections have increased by 80 per cent over the past four weeks in most regions of the world, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. Deaths in Africa — where only 1.5pc of the population is vaccinated — rose by 80pc over the same period.

"Hard-won gains are in jeopardy or being lost, and health systems in many countries are being overwhelmed," Tedros told a news conference.

The Delta variant has been detected in 132 countries, becoming the dominant global strain, according to the WHO.

VIDEO: Israel launches a campaign to give the over-60s coronavirus booster shots pic.twitter.com/jURceCx5m3

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) July 30, 2021

Sindh has reported 2,862 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours — up from 2,797 a day earlier, making it the highest daily caseload since June 19, 2020.

The new infections have taken the provincial tally to 380,076, according to an update from the chief minister's office.

Moreover, 24 more people succumbed to the virus, taking the death toll to 5,971.

A total of 21,578 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, while 493 more patients recovered from the disease.

Australia will have to vaccinate 80 per cent of its adults against Covid-19 before it can consider reopening its border, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said.

According to Reuters, Australia is now in phase A, or the suppression phase of the plan, with large parts of the country plunging in and out of lockdowns to stamp out the coronavirus.

Morrison said the border would be gradually reopened in phase C of the plan, when 80pc of adults have been vaccinated. About 18pc of adults have been vaccinated already under a campaign that got off to a slow start.

Australia handled the coronavirus crisis much better than many other developed countries, with just over 34,000 cases and fewer than 1,000 deaths, but that has been achieved largely by sealing its border to all but a trickle of people since the pandemic began.

The Philippines has extended an ongoing travel ban for all inbound travellers from Pakistan, India and eight other countries till August 15, the Khaleej Times quotes the presidential spokesperson as saying.

In a statement, spokesperson Harry Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte approved the travel ban extension to curb the further spread and community transmission of Covid-19 variants in the country.

Aside from Pakistan, the nine other countries are Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

The Southeast Asian country had initially imposed travel restrictions on India from April 29 due to the surge in Covid-19 infections in the country. Later it widened the ban to include travelers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka from May 7, Xinhua news agency reports.

Google has announced a total commitment of $7.5 million in new grant funding and other support to help alleviate the current pandemic crisis in Pakistan and five other Southeast Asian countries, said a press release from the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef).

"As part of this new commitment, Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, is providing a $1.5m grant to Unicef to support urgent Covid-19 response needs across five countries including Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines," the press release reads.

Unicef will use the grant to deploy female vaccinators in vaccination centres to increase the number of women being vaccinated and boost vaccine communication in Pakistan, according to the press release.

It added that Google.org will provide $5m worth of ad grants to local government agencies and organisations across Southeast Asia to run public health information campaigns for free.

"The current surge in Covid-19 cases is causing immense pressure on our healthcare system, and this Google.org grant to Unicef aims to deepen our support for Pakistan at this critical time," said Farhan Qureshi, country director for Google Pakistan.