A Covid-19 awareness mural in New Delhi on April 2.
Photographer: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
We're tracking the latest on the coronavirus outbreak and the global response. Sign up here for our daily newsletter on what you need to know.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday will lay out a plan for opening up travel and vaccinated Britons could avoid some quarantine measures, the Telegraph reported. “Bickering” about possible side-effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine “needs to stop,” the former chair of the U.K. Vaccine Taskforce, told the Financial Times.
Global coronavirus cases surpassed 130 million, with India reporting the most new cases since the peak of its outbreak in September. China is battling a flareup in its Yunnan province, while South Korea saw more than 500 cases for a fourth straight day. Daily infections in Ukraine reached a record of more than 20,000.
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez tested positive after taking a preliminary antigen screening for his fever.
Key Developments:
Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here. Click CVID on the terminal for global data on cases and deaths.
Vaccinated Britons to Face Fewer Holiday Restrictions: Telegraph (5:27 p.m. HK)
Vaccinated Britons will face fewer Covid tests and could avoid some quarantine measures under U.K. government plans to ease restrictions around overseas summer holidays, according to the Daily Telegraph.
On Monday Prime Minister Boris Johnson will lay out a plan for opening up travel and is expected to reveal a traffic light system under which countries are rated red, yellow or green according to their risk based on vaccination levels, Covid rates and the prevalence of new variants, the newspaper said. All travelers returning to the U.K. will need pre-departure Covid tests irrespective of their vaccination status.
Poland’s New Cases Fall From a Week Earlier (4:56 p.m. HK)
Poland reported 28,073 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data. That compares with 31,757 new cases a week earlier and a record of 35,251 on April 1. The death toll increased to 571 from 448 a week ago and a record of 674 on Nov. 25.
AstraZeneca Vaccine Bickering Must Stop, U.K. Official Tells FT (4:47 p.m. HK)
“Bickering” and disputes about vaccine supplies and possible side-effects of the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine “needs to stop” as it “just layers uncertainty in people’s minds,” Kate Bingham, who headed and launched the U.K. Vaccine Taskforce, said in a Financial Times interview.
Bingham said that AstraZeneca, whose vaccine safety has been called into question in a number of countries, are “heroes” for picking up an experimental vaccine invented at Oxford University and working out how to test, manufacture and distribute it at low cost around the world. The company has signed more deals to supply low-income countries than any another pharmaceutical rival and have been “caught up in geopolitics,” Bingham told the FT.
Bangladesh Set to Enforce Seven-Day Lockdown (4:01 p.m. HK)
The Bangladeshi government has decided to enforce a seven-day lockdown from Monday as coronavirus cases and deaths are surging across the country, Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader said at a media briefing in Dhaka on Saturday.
IMF Approves $2.3 Billion Package for Kenya (2:45 p.m. HK)
The International Monetary Fund approved a $2.34 billion financing package for Kenya to support the country’s Covid-19 response and address an urgent need to reduce debt vulnerabilities. “Kenya was hit hard at the onset by the Covid-19 pandemic,” the IMF said.
Confirmed coronavirus cases in Kenya are at 136,893, with 2,186 fatalities as of April 2, according to the health ministry.
Australia Working With EU, U.K. on Clot Case (2:38 p.m. HK)
Australian authorities say they are working with the European Union and the U.K. to investigate the first local case of an unusual clotting in a patient after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, as global concern over the safety of the shot continues to grow. The case, first reported on April 2, is currently being investigated by the country’s Therapeutic Goods Administration.
“We don’t have definitive evidence of causality,” Acting Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd told reporters at a press briefing on Saturday. “But given how consistent the clinical features are in this case, with some similar cases which have been seen overseas, it is likely that this case reported is related to the vaccine.”
Vials of the AstraZeneca Plc Covid-19 vaccine at Central Mosque of Brent in the Willesden Green district of London, U.K., on Friday, March 19, 2021. Skepticism and misinformation are hampering efforts to protect the U.K.’s most diverse and deprived communities.
Amid growing reports of rare blood clots possibly linked to the AstraZeneca shot, the U.K.’s health regulator said the benefits of the shot continue to outweigh the risks. The Netherlands on Friday joined Germany in suspending the vaccine’s use in people under 60.
Argentine Leader Tests Positive (12:55 p.m. HK)
Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez said he has tested positive for Covid-19 after taking a preliminary antigen test for his fever.
Alberto Fernandez on March 23.
Photographer: Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images
Fernandez said in a tweet that he is currently isolated while waiting for the results of a polymerase chain reaction test, which is more definitive. The Argentine leader took a first dose of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in a public hospital in Buenos Aires province in January.
India Cases Rise the Most Since September (12:46 p.m. HK)
India reported 89,129 new cases, the highest daily tally in more than six months, as the nation sees a resurgence that threatens to be more severe than when infections peaked in September.
Cases have more than quadrupled over the past month, after India appeared to rein in its outbreak earlier this year. The country has the third most cases globally, though daily infections are now at a level similar to those seen by Brazil, the second-worst country.
A healthcare worker administers a rapid antigen test near the Gateway of India monument in Mumbai on March 31.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg
Maharashtra state, home to India’s financial hub of Mumbai, may be headed for another lockdown, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said Friday. With more than 50% of the state’s hospital beds occupied, systems could be overwhelmed in 15 to 20 days, he said. Some curbs will be announced in the coming days, Thackeray said.
Brazil Reports 70,238 Cases, 2,922 Deaths (10:11 a.m. HK)
Brazil, one of the worst Covid-19 hot spots around the globe, reported 70,238 cases in the last 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data. The country’s death toll rose by 2,922. President Jair Bolsonaro promised in a tweet that the government would make nearly 3,000 more doctors available to fight the outbreak.
A person waits in line to receive a dose of the Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine outside of a clinic in Rio de Janeiro on March 31.
Photographer: Andre Coelho/Bloomberg
China Cluster Grows; Korea Cases Above 500 (9:49 a.m. HK)
China’s biggest cluster since mid-February continued to expand in a border city in the southwestern province of Yunnan. The province reported seven new infections and five new asymptomatic cases on Friday, accounting for all the local cases in China for the day, according to the National Health Commission.
All of the Yunnan cases were found in the city of Ruili, which is close to the border with Myanmar, after city-wide testing, the provincial government said on its Weibo account Saturday. Earlier this week, Ruili said that it would test the entire local population. As of Friday, Yunnan had 26 cases.
South Korea, meanwhile, reported 543 cases on Saturday. It’s the fourth straight day that infections topped 500 -- the longest such streak since mid-January.
U.K. Variant Is Dominant One in U.S. (4:55 p.m. NY)
The B.1.1.7 virus version, which was first detected in the U.K., is now the dominant variant across an area comprising two-thirds of the U.S. population, according to the CDC.
The regions include much of the Eastern seaboard, from New York to Florida, as well as the Midwest and most of the Sun Belt, according to the agency. About 220 million people live in the five regions.
“From the reports we’re seeing, it very likely could be a bit more serious but it definitely is more transmissible,” Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a news briefing Friday.
— With assistance by Heather Burke, Emma Dong, Jeff Sutherland, Dorota Bartyzel, Arun Devnath, and Deirdre Hipwell
"virus" - Google News
April 03, 2021 at 05:14AM
https://ift.tt/3dzgOtH
Covid-19 Pandemic: Live Updates and News for April 3, 2021 - Bloomberg
"virus" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2OagXru
No comments:
Post a Comment