Portal:Current events/2021 August 7

August 7, 2021 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- Taliban insurgency
  - 2021 Taliban offensive
    - The Taliban captures Sheberghan, the provincial capital of Jowzjan Province, making it the second capture of a provincial capital by the Islamist group in the past 24 hours. (NDTV)
  - The British and American governments warn their citizens to leave Afghanistan "immediately" amid the Taliban advance and a worsening security situation in the country. (ABC News)
Fights erupt between two rival factions of the SPLA-IO party in South Sudan, resulting in the deaths of 32 people. (Al Jazeera)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Brunei
    - Brunei reports its first seven local COVID-19 cases in 457 days, with five of them being related to a monitoring centre cluster in the country and the remaining two having unidentified origins. (The Star)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India, COVID-19 vaccination in India
    - India issues an emergency use authorization for the single-dose Janssen COVID-19 vaccine. (Livemint)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
    - Japan reports a record for the fourth consecutive day of 15,753 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. (The Mainichi)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
    - Thailand reports a record for the fourth consecutive day of 21,838 new cases of COVID-19, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 736,522. The country also reports a record for the second consecutive day of 212 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 6,066. (The Straits Times)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Wales
    - Wales moves to level zero, indicating that most restrictions, including social distancing measures, are lifted. This allows nightclubs to reopen and indoor meetings to be permitted, although masks remain mandatory in most public indoor locations. (Sky News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
  - Australia reports 361 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, including a record 319 cases in New South Wales, which is the highest single-day total of new cases for the country this year. (CNBC)