The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus-transmitted disease COVID-19 climbed to above 142 million on Tuesday, and India recorded a significant place in the last 24 hours alone, recording more than 250,000 new infections and more than 1,700 deaths.
The capital, New Delhi, closed again on Monday in an effort to curb an increase in cases of overflowing hospitals, intensive care units full and short of oxygen.
India is part of a spate of new cases that are increasing global growth, although some countries, including the US, are making good progress with vaccination, overshadowing the scale of the crisis in other places, including Brazil and France. The wave is due in part to new variants that are more contagious than the original virus.
India reports more coronavirus infections and deaths daily than any other country, while the economy has shrunk at a record pace. WSJ explains what nearly 1.4 billion is at stake for the country. Photo: Naveen Sharma / SOPA Images via ZUMA Wire
But the high infection rate in India is also the result of recent events in the superspreader, including a Hindu festival that causes many people to congregate in the Ganges River while not wearing face masks, as well as some busy state election rallies.
The US State Department warns against traveling to India and the UK has added the country to its ‘red list’. Hong Kong has banned all flights from India and Singapore, according to the Straits Times, added a week to the 14-day quarantine period it requires of travelers.
India’s case load also overwhelms its vaccination effort, and this has consequences for the world, as India is the largest producer of vaccines. The country was forced to delay deliveries to other places to keep up with domestic demand. The government said on Monday that it would extend the vaccination program to every adult, but according to the AP, it was unclear how it would meet the offer.
The World Health Organization has meanwhile again highlighted the issue of vaccine equality, in which richer countries are encouraged not to make vaccines, pointing out that if vaccinations are not given in poorer countries, more variants can simply arise and possibly produce one. which will not respond to current vaccines.
Environmentalist Greta Thunberg joined a WTO newsletter with the news that she would donate 100,000 euros ($ 120,000) to the WTO Foundation through her foundation to support its Covax program, which aims to promote vaccines spread under the greatest risk in the poorer countries of the country. world.
If you missed it: UN chief joins WHO to hit rich countries for COVID vaccines
“The international community needs to do more to address the inequality in vaccine inequality,” the Swedish Thunberg told reporters. “We have the means at our disposal to rectify the great imbalance that exists around the world today in the fight against COVID-19. As with the climate crisis, we must first help those who are most vulnerable. ‘
On average, 1 in 4 people in high-income countries received a coronavirus vaccine, compared to just one in more than 500 in low-income countries.
In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccination tracker shows that as of 6 a.m. ET Monday, 264.5 million doses were delivered in states, 211.6 million doses were administered, and 132.3 million people received at least one shot, equivalent. to 39.9% of the population.
A full 85.4 million people were fully vaccinated, equivalent to 25.7% of the population, meaning they received two shots of the two-dose vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc. PFE,
and the German partner BioNTech’s BNTX,
and Modern Inc. MRNA,
or one shot from the Johnson & Johnson JNJ,
one-shot vaccine. The AstraZeneca vaccine is not approved for use in the US
Among Americans 65 and older, 35.5 million people were fully vaccinated, equivalent to 64.9% of the group. Nearly 44 million people in the age group received a first blow, accounting for 80.1% of the population.
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In other news:
• In the U.S. earnings season, two companies reported Tuesday focusing on COVID-19. Johnson & Johnson posted better-than-expected numbers for the first quarter, saying COVID vaccine sales added $ 100 million to revenue. Abbot Labs ABT,
meanwhile, profit more than tripled as it generated $ 1.8 billion of its $ 2.2 billion in sales from COVID tests.
The US State Department has urged Americans to reconsider any international travel they may have planned, saying they would issue specific warnings not to visit 80% of the world’s countries due to the risks of the coronavirus pandemic , the AP reported. The US has not had a global anti-international travel advice since August, when the leadership was withdrawn by the previous government. The advice issued by the department is not a formal global advice. Instead, it says the state department will begin using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards as it sets health and safety guidelines for individual countries. Because of these standards, approximately 80% of the countries will be classified as “Level 4” or “not traveling”.
Read:What does a strong reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine mean?
• The coronavirus pandemic was used as a reason to block journalists’ access to information sources and reporting in the field, the non-profit reporter without borders reported. The organization’s 2021 World Press Freedom Index found that journalism, ‘the vaccine against disinformation’, was blocked in more than 130 countries, accounting for 73% of the 180 countries it evaluated. “The data show that journalists are finding it increasingly difficult to investigate and report on sensitive stories, particularly in Asia, the Middle East and Europe,” the report said. Journalists are subject to intimidation and threats, to strict media laws and even to the criminalization of reports that are considered critical of the government’s responses to the crisis, such as shortages of medical supplies or increasing death toll. The report includes Brazil, Egypt, Iran and China.
Index by region:
Source: Reporters Without Borders
• The European Medicines Agency has said that the safety committee has concluded that a warning about unusual low blood platelet clots should be added to the product information for Johnson & Johnson’s COVID vaccine, which he said weighs heavier. as the risk of a very rare side. effects. All eight U.S. cases, after more than 7 million vaccinations, occurred within three weeks of vaccination in men under 60 years of age, and mostly in women. The cases reviewed are very similar to the cases that occurred with the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca AZN.
AZN,
said the EMA. The launch of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine in Europe has been suspended by the company.
Watch now: Oxford study finds that a COVID is much higher risk for rare blood clots than vaccinations
• The European Union will have enough vaccine doses by mid-July to cover 70% of adults, reports the Guardian, citing Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, who is responsible for vaccines in the trade bloc. “Fifty-three factories produce vaccines in the EU. Our continent is now the largest producer in the world after the United States, ”said Commissioner for Internal Markets. Thierry Breton said the French daily Le Figaro in an interview. The 70% threshold is important, as some experts believe it is necessary to achieve ‘herd immunity’, or the point at which the virus has too few hosts to multiply.
Latest scores
The Johns Hopkins data show that the global score for coronavirus disease rose to above 142 million on Tuesday, as the death toll rose above 3.03 million after violating the 3 million violation on Saturday.
The US leads the world in cases and deaths with wide margins, with 31.7 million cases, or more than 20% of the world total, while the 567,729 death toll makes up about 20% of the global toll.
Outside the US, Brazil is third in business to India at 13.9 million and second with a death toll of 374,682.
Mexico is third by deaths at 212,466 and the 14th highest according to 2.3 million.
The UK has 4.4 million cases and 127,524 deaths, the highest in Europe and the fifth highest in the world.
China, where the virus was first discovered late last year, had 102,272 confirmed cases and 4,845 deaths, according to official figures.