Veteran American civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson was on Saturday hospitalised after testing positive for Covid-19, despite having been vaccinated, representatives said. Jackson, 79, and his wife, Jacqueline Jackson, 77, were being treated at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago, the reverend’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition organisation said in a statement on Facebook. “Doctors are currently monitoring the condition of both,” it said, adding that anyone who had been around either of them for the last five or six days should follow the guidelines of the government’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Former NBA star Jeremy Lin tests positive for Covid-19 in Shanghai Baptist minister Jackson has been a leader in the American Civil Rights movement since the 1960s, when he marched with Martin Luther King and helped raise funds for the cause. He was the most prominent Black-American to run for the US presidency, with two unsuccessful attempts to capture the Democratic Party nomination in the 1980s, until Barack Obama took the office in 2009. Jackson announced in 2017 that he was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. He was vaccinated against Covid-19 in January this year, putting out a statement at the time urging Black-Americans, among whom there is a higher rate of vaccine hesitancy, to get the shot. “For understandable reasons ... African-Americans harbour suspicions about scientists and vaccines,” the statement said, adding, however, that if they “decline to be vaccinated, all will remain at risk”. Covid-19 vaccines are free and widely available in the United States , though only half of the total population is fully vaccinated. The announcement of Jackson’s hospitalisation comes as the US is being battered by a new wave of Covid-19 cases driven by the hyper-contagious Delta variant. US weekly infections slightly exceeded 1 million on Friday, apparently for the first time since the surge last winter, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg. You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it. https://t.co/TWb75xYEY4 — U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) August 21, 2021 The state of Mississippi is charting the worst outbreak in the US, with the highest per capita cases and the lowest rate of vaccination. The US Food and Drug Administration on Saturday issued a strong and unusual warning amid reports that people in Mississippi had been taking ivermectin – a drug used to treat parasite infections – to treat or prevent Covid-19. “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” the FDA said. As Delta spreads in Asia, anti-parasitic drug ivermectin is hot property Mississippi’s health department had on Friday issued a warning that more than 70 per cent of recent calls to the state’s poison centre came after people took ivermectin bought at livestock supply centres. Thomas Dobbs, the state health officer, said earlier this week he knew of only one hospitalisation but was hearing reports of people taking the drug “as a preventative”. “Which I think is really kind of crazy, so please don’t do that,” he said at a press briefing. The health department warning said 85 per cent of callers had mild symptoms but that one person was “was instructed to seek further evaluation due to the amount of ivermectin reportedly ingested”. Meanwhile in the East Coast, New York City on Saturday shut down its star-studded concert meant to mark its “homecoming” in the wake of the pandemic’s worst devastation, as Hurricane Henri churned closer. Barry Manilow, who was on a line-up that included Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith and Paul Simon, was cut off mid-song by a booming voice urging concert goers to proceed swiftly but calmly to the nearest exit due to approaching storm clouds. “I was so disappointed,” Manilow told CNN after his set was cut short. “This was a wonderful, wonderful experience up until the rain hit. We were so excited to do this.” Some 60,000 people were expected at the concert in Central Park, as the hurricane, packing maximum sustained winds near 120kmh and heavy rains, was drawing closer to making landfall sometime on Sunday. Even before the bad weather hit, many were still concerned over Covid-19, despite vaccination requirements. All attendees aged 12 and over had to provide proof of vaccination, except for those prevented from getting shots for reasons of disability. Masks were not required at the outdoor event, except for unvaccinated children. “At least everyone is vaccinated” at the show, said Ilana Gomez, who was most excited to see guitarist Carlos Santana’s band play. “Music is what I missed the most” during the pandemic, the 27-year-old said, adding that it was “amazing” to be with so many people but that she thought it was not “the best idea” to have such a large event.