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Global covid-19 cases hit a weekly record despite vaccine rollouts, topping 5.2 million worldwide.
Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said a decision on how to resume the Johnson & Johnson shot will probably come by Friday. Half of Americans 18 years or older have received at least one dose of vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Sunday.
The Philippines will resume the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccines on individuals under 60 years old. Quarantine-free travel kicked off between Australia and New Zealand. Hong Kong is set to ban flights from India, Pakistan and the Philippines for 14 days starting April 20.
Key Developments:
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Osaka to Seek State of Emergency (12:01 p.m. HK)
Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said the Japanese prefecture would make a request to the central government on Monday to declare a state of emergency over the virus.
Read more on his remarks here
Philippines to Resume Astra Shots Use for Under 60s (11:41 a.m. HK)
The Philippines will resume the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccines on individuals under 60 years old. The Southeast Asian nation’s Department of Health will issue new guidelines on the vaccine’s use, Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said at a virtual forum.
Buenos Aires City In-Person Classes to Continue April 19 (10:16 a.m. HK)
Schools will continue with in-person attendance after a local court decision ruled against a presidential decree that called for virtual learning, Buenos Aires City mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta said on Sunday night.
In-person school attendance in the Latin American country’s capital was set for suspension for two weeks starting Monday.
Global Infections Hit Weekly Record (9:32 a.m. HK)
More people around the world were diagnosed with the coronavirus during the past seven days than any other week since the virus emerged, topping 5.2 million globally, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The worst outbreaks are gaining speed in many countries that are ill-equipped to cope.
The data also showed a 12% increase in cases from a week earlier, throwing doubt on hopes that the end of the pandemic is in sight.
Quarantine-Free Travel Begins Between Australia, New Zealand (7:49 a.m. HK)
Australia and New Zealand kicked off their first quarantine-free flights since the pandemic began, after they each successfully halted the spread of the virus.
The flights reflect “a world-leading arrangement that opens up travel while aiming to keep Covid-19 out of the community,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern said in a statement. Travelers between the two nations had been previously required to quarantine for at least two weeks upon arrival.
Passengers check-in for Air New Zealand flight destined for Wellington, in Sydney on April 19.
Photographer: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
Japan Dentists May Be Able to Administer Vaccines: Yomiuri (7:06 a.m. HK)
Japan is considering an exception that would allow dentists to administer Covid vaccines in places where enough doctors and nurses aren’t available, according to the Yomiuri newspaper.
Meanwhile, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said Sunday evening that had she instructed officials to consider a state of emergency as an option to contain the virus, public broadcaster NHK reported. “The number of confirmed virus cases is on a rising trend and it should be considered with a sense of speed,” Koike said.
Oxford Starts First Study to Reinfect Recovered Patients (7:01 a.m. HK)
People who have fought off Covid will be reinfected in a first-of-its-kind trial at the University of Oxford, potentially illumating how to develop more effective vaccines against the virus. Researchers are looking for 64 healthy, previously-infected volunteers aged 18 to 30 year to be studied under controlled, quarantined conditions for at least 17 days, the university said. They’ll be infected with the original strain from Wuhan and followed for a year.
Tokyo Weighs State of Emergency (6:24 a.m. HK)
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said on Sunday evening that she instructed officials to consider a state of emergency as an option to contain the coronavirus outbreak, public broadcaster NHK reports.
Asked when she would seek an emergency declaration, she said “the number of confirmed virus cases is on a rising trend and it should be considered with a sense of speed.”
Yuriko Koike
Photographer: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images
Canada Sends Emergency Aid to Ontario (5:35 p.m. NY)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday he’ll deploy additional health-care workers and equipment to help Ontario, the country’s most populous province, which is struggling to contain a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases.
The move follows Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s decision on Friday to impose some of North America’s toughest restrictions to get a handle on the region’s third wave of the pandemic that threatens to overwhelm its health-care system.
Half of U.S. Adults Have At Least One Dose (2:41 p.m. NY)
Half of Americans 18 years or older have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Sunday. About 32% of adults have been full vaccinated.
Another 3.5 million doses were reported on Sunday, as the seven-day average dipped slightly to 3.19 million doses, according the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker. Most states have opened shots up to all people 16 years and older, and some are reporting a growing surplus of unused vaccine. Total doses administered are 209 million.
Turkey Reaches Record Deaths (1:28 p.m. NY)
Turkey reported 318 fatalities on Sunday, a 10% rise from the previous day and the highest figure since the start of the pandemic.
As the number of new cases continues to hover among the highest in the world, an expert warned about the surge in the number of critically ill younger people.
Sunday’s death toll raised total fatalities to 35,926, official data show. Social distancing measures announced on April 13 have “started to decrease the speed of the increase,” Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a tweet. However, the nation ranks as the third in the number of daily cases, behind India and Brazil.
A Covid-19 patient is treated in an ICU at a hospital in Ankara, on April 16.
Photographer: Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua/Getty Images
Hong Kong Bans Flights From Asia Hot Spots (11:42 a.m. NY)
Hong Kong will ban flights from India, Pakistan and the Philippines for 14 days starting April 20, the government said in a statement Sunday.
A circuit breaker arrangement is triggered for each of the countries as there had been five or more arrivals with the N501Y mutant coronavirus strain within seven days, the government said. Under the mechanism the three countries will be designated as “extremely high-risk.”
Neighboring Macau will also require visitors who have been in India, Pakistan and the Philippines in the past 28 days to quarantine for 28 days upon arrival, according to a government statement on Sunday.
U.S. at Precarious Point, Fauci Says (10:34 a.m. NY)
The U.S. is “in somewhat of a precarious position” with a seven-day average of more than 60,000 new Covid-19 infections per day, though vaccinations will bring the number down, Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Anthony Fauci
Photographer: Leigh Vogel/UPI/Bloomberg
“That’s good news, we’ve got to keep that up,” he said. “But we also have to make sure that people don’t throw caution to the wind and declare victory prematurely.”
He also said a decision on how to resume vaccinating Americans with the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus shot will probably come by Friday. “I doubt very seriously if they just cancel” the J&J vaccine, one of three approved for use in the U.S., he said.
— With assistance by Karen Leigh
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