Biden names officials to head U.S. monkeypox response

People line up at a monkeypox vaccination site, Thursday, in Encino, California. Pic/AP

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday appointed top officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to coordinate the administration's response to monkeypox in the United States.

The appointments come as the United States aims to bolster vaccination efforts to slow the spread of a monkeypox outbreak that has infected more than 5,800 Americans. On Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency over monkeypox.

Biden named Robert Fenton as the White House coordinator to head the monkeypox response and Demetre Daskalakis as the deputy coordinator. Fenton is the regional administrator at the FEMA who helped lead mass vaccination effort for COVID-19 in February 2021. Daskalakis serves as the director of CDC's HIV prevention division.

No new local Covid cases in Shanghai
Shanghai reported no new domestically transmitted coronavirus cases for Aug. 1, the same as a day before, the city government said on Tuesday. It was the second day Shanghai recorded zero new infections.

9,17,852
No of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

57,82,84,562
Total no of cases worldwide

64,02,795
Total no of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins