The Real-Time Virtual Support program, launched in April 2020 puts a pool of 200 specialists and physicians, including ER doctors, at rural communities’ fingertips 24 hours a day.

Source: Virtual program brings specialists, ER doctors to remote B.C. communities 24/7 | Globalnews.ca

Source: Anti-vax app ejected from App Store over user content issues | AppleInsider

Amid a rise in COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant, New Orleans has required all city employees and contractors be vaccinated and reinstated a citywide mask mandate. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced the news rules Friday at a news conference.

“Thanks to the Delta variant, the COVID pandemic is once again raging out of control,” Cantrell said, citing 35,115 cases and 814 deaths reported in Orleans Parish since the pandemic began.

Source: COVID-19: New Orleans restores mask mandate, requires employees be vaccinated – UPI.com

Nigeria’s experience holds lessons for governments around the world, many of which are now thinking hard about how to regulate digital currencies. Britain’s chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is looking at creating a central-bank-controlled version, already being called Britcoin. EU regulators have set out plans to make digital currencies more traceable, in order to combat money laundering. In rural China, rows of computers used to create bitcoin in a computational process known as “mining” are being switched off after a clampdown by the authorities. The ruling party imposed a ban on transactions in May.

Elsewhere, Egypt, Turkey and Ghana have sought to clamp down on crypto trading, wary of potentially vast movements of digital funds beyond their regulatory controls.

Nigeria has one of the youngest populations in the world and is ripe for digital finance. With many people looking for ways to escape widespread poverty, pyramid schemes are proliferating.

Source: Out of control and rising: why bitcoin has Nigeria’s government in a panic | Cryptocurrencies | The Guardian

Source: SolarWinds: Russian hackers broke into email accounts at US attorney offices | Hacking | The Guardian

Ministers are no longer considering making two doses mandatory for students in England, the BBC learns.

Source: Covid vaccine will not be compulsory for university lectures – BBC News

Japan’s daily total of COVID-19 cases reached 12,342 on Saturday, a record figure for the fourth straight day, triggering concerns about an explosive surge in infections while the Olympics are held in the capital.

The nationwide tally of cases included 4,058 in Tokyo, which had confirmed over 3,000 new cases the past three days each, and record daily infections in 10 prefectures including Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba near the capital, which logged 1,580, 1,036 and 792 cases, respectively.

The capital saw a total of 44,034 new coronavirus cases in July, topping its previous monthly record of 40,367 infections in January. The number of COVID-19 patients in Tokyo quarantining at home has hit 10,392, topping 10,000 for the first time.

Source: Japan logs record new coronavirus cases for 4th day in row