US leaders, health officials urge COVID jabs amid surge in cases

Cases, hospitalisations and deaths continue to rise even as vaccination rates increase, US officials say.

With COVID-19 infections, hospitalisations and deaths rising across the United States over the past week – spurred largely by the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant – leaders in several states are renewing their efforts to encourage residents to get jabs. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday urged businesses to turn away unvaccinated customers. “If you are unvaccinated, the Delta variant should be a major concern to you and you should be worried about it,” Cuomo said during a briefing. Transport workers in New York and hospital, nursing home, and jail employees in New Jersey will be required to get vaccinated or submit to regular testing, governors in those states also have announced.