Bahrain
Hussain Barakat, a political prisoner in Bahrain, has died of COVID-19, according to the interior ministry. The Gulf state is currently going through a surge in cases and activists had for weeks been raising the alarm on the spread of the virus in prisons.
More from Al Jazeera here. Also, Brian Dooley, a very experienced human rights activist, is an excellent follow on Twitter for Bahrain. He has been campaigning specifically on the issue of COVID-19 in prisons there.
Afghanistan
Ten mine clearance workers for the UK-based Halo Trust demining organisation have been shot dead in Afghanistan. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack after government officials initially blamed the Taliban. Interestingly, it appears the Taliban came to the aid of the Halo Trust workers, chasing the ISIS attackers away. Violence has surged in Afghanistan since US and NATO troops began withdrawing.
More from BBC here.
COVID
“People are dying. Time is against us. This IS INSANE.”
African nations are desperately short of COVID-19 vaccines, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. Poorer countries and WHO have expressed frustration over rich countries hoarding vaccines while the rest of the world falls behind.