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1. The Earth is now home to eight billion people, the United Nations said, because people are living longer and fertility rates have surged in some countries. The U.N.’s population division calculated that the global population reached eight billion on Tuesday. The milestone came about a year later than expected because of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Patrick Gerland, the chief of population estimates and projections for the U.N.’s population division. The pandemic slowed global birthrates and killed millions of people. U.N. officials said the milestone was an indicator of humanity’s achievements in medicine, nutrition, public health and personal hygiene. (Source: wsj.com)
2. Just days after China announced an easing in coronavirus rules, local governments throughout the country are grappling with the growing challenge of containing new outbreaks without imposing excessive measures. Earlier today, the country reported 20,059 new local infections, including 18,491 asymptomatic cases, up from 17,772 a day earlier. China reported about 1,000 local infections daily at the end of last month. In Beijing, Peking University locked down the entire campus after finding one Covid-19 case. Faculty, staff and students were not allowed to leave the grounds and classes were moved online. The campus will conduct testing three times a day until Friday. The spike in cases put China’s overhauled Covid-19 control measures to the test as the central government shifted to a more targeted strategy. (Source: scmp.com)
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