BBC- Colombia’s office of the ombudsman has confirmed that at least 17 people were killed in five days of protests against a proposed tax reform, which have now been shelved.

At least 800 people were injured as the police clashed with demonstrators in major cities.

Human rights groups and protesters have accused riot police squads of using unnecessary force.

The reforms, which would have increased taxes on low- and middle-income groups, have now been shelved.

President Iván Duque announced on Sunday that the controversial measure would be withdrawn.

The casualty figures were made public by Colombia’s office of the ombudsman which used data provided by the police and the attorney general’s office.

They confirm reports by human rights groups which had reported more than a dozen people killed in protests in Colombia’s major cities.

Colombia’s ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, told Caracol Radio that the figure of those killed could be higher than the 17 they have so far listed. He said his office had received reports of 20 deaths but had not yet been able to verify all the reports.

Colombia’s ombudsman’s office is an official government agency tasked with overseeing the protection of citizens’ human and civil rights.

Among those injured in the clashes were hundreds of police officers, according to the ombudsman’s tally.

The protests started on Wednesday, when the largest trade unions called for a national strike to oppose the now shelved tax reform.

The government argued that the reform was key to mitigating Colombia’s economic crisis. Its gross domestic product (GDP) dropped by 6.8% last year, the deepest crash in half a century, and the coronavirus pandemic has further driven up its unemployment rate.

The proposed reform would have lowered the threshold at which salaries are taxed, affecting anyone with a monthly income of $656 (£470) or more. It would also have eliminated many of the current exemptions enjoyed by individuals, as well as increasing taxes imposed on businesses.

It caused outrage among Colombians already battered by the pandemic and the protests were joined by many middle-class people who feared the changes could see them slip into poverty.

Protesters took to the streets in defiance of a court order ruling that the marches should be postponed because of a current spike in Covid-19 cases.

Police were deployed in force to the major cities where members of trade unions, indigenous groups and civil society organisations converged to protest.

Footage shared on social media showed police firing tear gas and clashing with demonstrators.

The protests were particularly violent in Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, which experienced several days of street confrontations between protesters and security forces.

Local media named on of those who died in the city’s protests as Nicolás Guerrero, a 27-year-old artist. The mayor of Cali, Jorge Iván Ospina, said Guerrero had died of a gunshot wound to the head.

“I condemn this and I ask of all police to not even think about using guns in these protests,” the mayor said.

Police reported making more than 400 arrests nationwide. They also said that across the country 20 public transport buses had been set alight by protesters, 59 businesses had been looted and more than 250 had been vandalised.

It is not the first time that anti-government protests have turned deadly in Colombia.

In 2019, there was outrage after teenage protester Dilan Cruz died after being hit by a police projectile in the head.

And in September last year, at least seven people were killed in protests triggered by the deadly tasering of a man by police in the capital, Bogotá.

BBC- India has recorded more than 20 million Covid infections, but the government says that cases are “slowing down”.

The country added more than 355,000 cases on Tuesday, down from more than 400,000 daily cases on 30 April.

But testing numbers have have dipped as well, sparking fears that India’s true caseload is far higher.

Case numbers, however, been consistently falling in Maharashtra state, which had driven the second wave since early April.

Meanwhile an oxygen shortage has shown no signs of abating and people in several hotspot cities, including the capital Delhi, are struggling for treatment.

India’s second wave, fuelled by lax safety protocols and massive public festivals and election rallies, has also overwhelmed its hospitals. Delays in testing, diagnosis and treatment, as well as a shortage of critical care beds and crucial drugs, has resulted in a spike in deaths too.

The country has so far reported more than 222,000 deaths due to the virus. But experts say India’s Covid death toll is vastly under-reported as official tallies don’t appear to match what people are witnessing on the ground – long lines at crematoriums, mass funeral pyres and cities running out of space to bury or cremate the dead.

Many states have introduced restrictions, from full lockdowns to night curfews. The northern state of Bihar, which has been adding about 13,000 daily cases in recent days, is the latest to announce a full lockdown -only essential services, such as government offices, groceries and hospitals, will be open.

While India’s daily caseload does appear to have fallen, it’s too early to say if infections are slowing down.

Given delays in testing and official record-keeping, experts typically look at weekly averages rather than daily cases for a more accurate picture. And on average, India’s cases were rising this past week – but at a slower rate than the previous week.

But it’s also true that daily cases have fallen, on average, in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, all hotspot states.

Erratic testing, however, makes it hard to gauge the significance of these numbers. While Maharashtra’s testing numbers have been consistent, Delhi’s have dropped in recent weeks.

The other issue, experts say, is insufficient testing. While Uttar Pradesh, one of the worst-affected states, has recorded no drop in testing figures, it’s testing far less than other states.

It’s India’s most populated state, with more than 220 million people and is doing about 184,000 tests per million people. Compare that to Tamil Nadu, which has about 75 million people and is doing more than 300,000 tests per million of its population.

Health officials said there was “cautious hope” of some respite from the second wave. But Lav Agarwal, joint secretary of the health ministry, said that the “gains” were very early and needed to be sustained by “containment measures at district and state level”.

Experts also say that other hotspots are likely to emerge in the coming weeks as the pandemic moves through the country.

Delhi’s government has said it wants the army to run Covid care facilities and intensive care units.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has repeatedly said that the city is not getting enough oxygen from the federal government, which allocates oxygen quotas to states.

But federal officials deny there are shortages, saying the challenge has come from transportation.

India produces thousands of tonnes of oxygen a day, but some experts say the supply crunch comes from a lack of investment in distribution networks.

Delhi hospitals have resorted to sending SOS messages on social media to secure supplies. For residents, hours spent in queues to top up portable canisters have become part of daily life.

Officials have also been urged to find more sites for cremations as the city’s morgues and crematoriums are overwhelmed by masses of Covid deaths.

A sluggish vaccination campaign has compounded the crisis.

Since January, India has administered more than 157 million vaccine doses so far – it ranks third in the world, after China and the United States. But just over 10% of India’s 1.4 billion people have had one dose and only about 2% have got both doses.

Despite being the world’s biggest producer of vaccines, India is facing a shortage of supplies. And vaccination rates are down, from 3.7 million doses a day about a month ago to just 1.7 million a day.

The chief executive of India’s Serum Institute, the world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer, has warned shortages will last for months. It’s set to deliver 220 million doses over the next few months, which would still only cover 8 per cent of India’s population.

The Indian government is reported to be in discussions with Pfizer, which is seeking an “expedited approval pathway” for its Covid-19 vaccine.

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Moderna providing up to 500M vaccine doses to Covax program for lower-income countries

The Hill- Moderna committed to providing up to 500 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to a United Nations-backed initiative designed to supply vaccinations to middle- and low-income countries.

The company announced an agreement with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to sell an initial 34 million doses to COVAX at the “lowest tiered price” within the fourth quarter of this year. The deal also permits Gavi to purchase 466 million additional vaccine doses in 2022.

But while the move will help with global access, the vaccines won’t be delivered until the second half of the year. That means the short- and even medium-term supply issues won’t be solved by the sale.

What’s COVAX? Gavi co-leads, along with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the World Health Organization (WHO), the COVAX program, which aims to give lower-income nations access to shots by 2022. Covax aims to distribute up to 2 billion doses this year, with a goal of reaching 20 percent of the population in participating countries. To date, it has delivered 49 million doses.

The COVAX program hit a roadblock in recent weeks when India outlawed exports of COVID-19 vaccines as the nation deals with rapidly rising case and death numbers. India hosts the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer and has been a main supplier of AstraZeneca doses.

Follows: Moderna’s pledge comes three days after the WHO authorized the company’s vaccine for emergency use – the fifth vaccine to get such approval.

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