A pedestrian wearing a form of PPE (personal protective equipment) of a perspex full-face covering, as a precautionary measure against COVID-19, walks across Oxford Street in central London on June 11, 2020, as non-essential shops prepare to re-open on June 15. Britain's current guidelines on social distancing remain at two metres (2M), but business leaders and some politicians are on Thursday calling for it to be reduced to one (1M), or one-and-a-half (1.5M) metres. (Photo by Justin Tallis/AFP Photo)

A “friendly giant” sculpture hangs from a tree in the Hanmer Heritage Forest at Hammer Springs, New Zealand, Sunday, June 14, 2020. Christchurch sculptor Andrew Lyons created the creatures out of a redwood tree that had to be removed from nearby Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa in 2018 and carved nine sculptures including big friendly giant, some enormous mushrooms, a falcon, and a dog. (Photo by Mark Baker/AP Photo)

A model poses during the fashion show on May 23, 2019 during the amfAR 26th Annual Cinema Against AIDS gala at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d'Antibes, southern France, on the sidelines of the 72nd Cannes Film Festival. (Photo by Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

Revellers in Leeds, United Kingdom were excited to be out and about again on July 18, 2021. At a minute past midnight, England dropped most of its remaining Covid-19 social restrictions, such as those requiring indoor mask-wearing and limits on group gatherings. These changes come despite rising infections, pitting the country's vaccination programme against the virus's more contagious Delta variant. (Photo by Ioannis Alexopoulos/PA Wire Press Association via Getty Images)

American gymnast Nia Dennis attends The 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by John Shearer/WireImage)

A tattoo artist applying ink on a girl's thigh at the 2016 Italian Tattoo Artists at the Palavela on September 17, 2016 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Stefano Guidi/ZUMA Press/Splash News)

The northeastern United States sweltered this week in a scorching summer heat wave, complete with stagnant, sticky air and no winds for relief, forecasters said. Even in a summer already filled with stretches of very hot weather, this week will be stubbornly brutal, with no relief in sight until the weekend brings thunderstorms to the region, they said. "Plain and simple, this week may feel the worst of any week for this summer in the Northeast," said Accuweather.com meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. (Reuters)

A woman poses next to a giant mining truck at the entrance of the Dakar Rally camp in Calama, Chile. The truck operates in copper mines near the city. (Photo by Victor R. Caivano/Associated Press)