Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths
World	114,681,061	+311,712	2,542,817
USA	29,255,344	+49,412	525,776
India	11,112,056	+15,616	157,195
Brazil	10,551,259	+34,027	255,018
Russia	4,246,079	+11,359	86,122
UK	4,176,554	+6,035	122,849
France	3,755,968	+19,952	86,454
Spain	3,188,553	+8341	69,142
Italy	2,925,265	+17,455	97,699
Turkey	2,701,588	+8,424	28,569
Germany	2,450,294	+6,117	70,687
Colombia	2,251,690	+3,555	59,766
Argentina	2,107,365	+3,168	51,965
Mexico	2,084,128	+7,246	185,257
Poland	1,706,986	+10,099	43,769
Iran	1,631,169	+8,010	60,073
South Africa	1,513,393	+1,168	49,993
Ukraine	1,347,849	+5,833	25,982
Indonesia	1,334,634	+5,560	36,166
Peru	1,329,805	+5,942	46,494
Czechia	1,235,494	+7,812	20,396
Netherlands	1,088,690	+4,669	15,563
Canada	866,503	+2,307	21,994
Chile	825,625	+4,207	20,572
Portugal	804,562	+718	16,317
Romania	801,994	+2,830	20,350
Israel	775,807	+2,472	5,752
Belgium	769,414	+2,760	22,052
Iraq	695,489	+3,248	13,406
Pakistan	579,973	+1,176	12,860
Philippines	576,344	+2,105	12,318
Bangladesh	546,216	+385	8,408
Morocco	483,654	+244	8,623
Austria	459,440	+2,123	8,561
Serbia	459,259	+2,809	4,443
Japan	431,740	+1,201	7,860
Hungary	428,599	+4,469	14,974
UAE	391,524	+2,930	1,221
Jordan	391,090	+4,594	4,701
Saudi Arabia	377,383	+322	6,494
Lebanon	375,050	+2,258	4,692
Panama	340,915	+470	5,845
Slovakia	308,083	+1,815	7,189
Malaysia	300,752	+2,437	1,130
Belarus	287,306	+1,347	1,976
Ecuador	286,155	+1,808	15,811
Nepal	274,143	+78	2,774
Georgia	270,758	+248	3,510
Bolivia	248,547	+656	11,628
Bulgaria	247,038	+332	10,191
Croatia	242,973	+356	5,526
Dominican Republic	239,617	+608	3,100
Azerbaijan	234,537	+270	3,220
Tunisia	233,277	+662	8,001
Ireland	219,592	+612	4,319
Kazakhstan	212,809	+791	2,540
Denmark	211,195	+463	2,361
Greece	191,100	+1,269	6,504
Kuwait	190,852	+962	1,083
Slovenia	190,081	+451	3,836
Moldova	185,453	+597	3,949
Palestine	183,612	+1,703	2,042
Egypt	182,424	+595	10,688
Guatemala	174,542	+207	6,393
Armenia	172,058	+265	3,192
Honduras	169,754	+843	4,141
Qatar	163,664	+467	258
Paraguay	159,474	+937	3,181
Ethiopia	159,072	+1,019	2,365
Nigeria	155,657	+240	1,907
Myanmar	141,896	+6	3,199
Oman	141,496	+908	1,570
Venezuela	139,116	+377	1,344
Libya	133,338	+880	2,179
Bahrain	122,394	+616	449
Algeria	113,092	+132	2,983
Albania	107,167	+952	1,796
Kenya	105,973	+325	1,856
North Macedonia	102,787	+305	3,137
China	89,893	+6	4,636
S. Korea	89,676	+355	1,603
Kyrgyzstan	86,229	+44	1,464
Latvia	86,186	+376	1,618
Ghana	84,023	+811	607
Sri Lanka	83,094	+204	464
Uzbekistan	79,886	+50	622
Zambia	78,534	+332	1,091
Montenegro	75,834	+502	1,003
Norway	71,006	+180	622
Estonia	65,600	+1,201	589
Singapore	59,936	+11	29
Mozambique	59,350	+578	641
Uruguay	57,994	+632	608
Finland	57,672	+620	742
Cyprus	34,707	+283	231
Senegal	34,520	+265	872
Ivory Coast	32,754	+123	192
Malawi	31,945	+147	1,044
Australia	28,970	+5	909
Sudan	28,351	+17	1,880
Thailand	25,951	+70	83
Suriname	8,929	+10	172
Aruba	7,891	+15	73
Vietnam	2,448	+16	35

 

Retrieved from:  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 

 

 

Indian Prime Minister receives first dose of Covid-19 vaccine 

From CNN's Esha Mitra in New Delhi

 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is administered a Covid-19 vaccine in New Delhi, India on March 1. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi/'s Twitter/AP

 

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi received his first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, kicking off the second phase of the country's immunization campaign.

He received India's home-grown vaccine, Covaxin, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi.

"Remarkable how our doctors and scientists have worked in quick time to strengthen the global fight against Covid-19," he tweeted on Monday. "I appeal to all those who are eligible to take the vaccine. Together, let us make India Covid-19 free!"

The second phase: This next part of the vaccination drive will allow shots for those aged 60 years and older, and those aged above 45 with serious medical conditions.

The first phase had been targeted at healthcare and frontline workers, but vaccines will now available to the general public within the age bracket.

India has distributed more than 14.3 million vaccines since the program began on January 16, according to the Indian Ministry of Health.

The Indian Ministry of Health has recorded more than 11 million cases to date, and more than 157,000 related deaths.

 

 

 

Mexico's president expected to ask Biden to share US Covid-19 vaccines, source says

From CNN’s Matt Rivers in Villahermosa, Mexico

 

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is expected to ask US President Joe Biden to share some of the Covid-19 vaccine supply on Monday, according to a Mexican government official briefed on plans for the conversation.

The two leaders are due to hold a virtual bilateral meeting on Monday.  

What the collaboration could look like -- a purchase agreement, donation, or loan -- is undefined, the official told CNN.

The first step is to ask whether the United States is willing to cooperate, the source said.  

Mexico has purchase agreements in place for hundreds of millions of vaccine doses with different vaccine makers around the world, the large majority of which have yet to be fulfilled.

It has also purchased vaccine supplies from both Russia and China, but it hasn't received any vaccines directly from the US, its most important ally and largest trading partner.   

Pfizer, an American company, has shipped Covid-19 vaccines to Mexico -- but they were produced in European laboratories and have arrived in relatively limited supply.   

As of Sunday evening, Mexico reported having administered just under 2.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccines. 

 

 

 

More than 2,400 reported cases of Covid variants in the US

 

 

A patient enters a Covid-19 testing site on February 13 in Seattle, Washington. David Ryder/Getty Images

The United States has reported at least 2,463 cases of coronavirus variants that were first spotted in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The CDC warned that these figures don't represent the total number of such cases circulating nationwide -- just those that have been detected by analyzing positive samples.

The UK variant: The vast majority of these cases, 2,400, are the more contagious variant known as B.1.1.7, which was originally detected in the UK. This variant has been found in 44 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, DC. About a quarter are in Florida.

South Africa variant: There are 53 cases of the B.1.351 variant, first seen in South Africa, reported in 15 states and Washington, DC. 

Brazil variant: Lastly, 10 cases of the P.1 variant first linked to Brazil have been discovered in five US states.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-03-01-21/index.html

 

 

 

After harsh criticism, Israel says it will vaccinate Palestinians who hold work permits

By Adam Rasgon

 

A Palestinian woman receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in the Old City of Jerusalem on Friday.Credit...Mahmoud Illean/Associated Press

JERUSALEM — The Israeli government approved a measure on Sunday to vaccinate tens of thousands of Palestinian laborers, after facing fierce criticism over the small number of inoculations it had provided to Palestinians living under its military occupation.

Israeli medical teams will soon begin vaccinating Palestinians who have permits to work in Israel or in settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to a statement by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Defense Ministry unit that is responsible for liaising with the Palestinians.

There are approximately 80,000 Palestinians who have permits to work in Israel, and about 30,000 who have permits for work in the settlements. Most are construction workers, but some have jobs on farms or in factories, stores, restaurants and other workplaces.

The tens of thousands of Palestinians who work in Israel without official documents would not be eligible for inoculations.

A heated debate has raged for weeks over whether Israel bears responsibility for the health of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip. Human rights groups have argued that international law requires Israel to provide Palestinians with the same access to vaccines as its own citizens receive. But supporters of Israel’s policies have contended that the Palestinians assumed responsibility for health services when they signed the Oslo Accords in the 1990s.

As of Sunday, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has received 2,000 doses from Israel and 10,000 from Russia, according to Palestinian officials. Israel has put the number of doses it sent at 2,200, and promised to hand over another 3,000.

The Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has obtained 20,000 doses from the United Arab Emirates and 2,000 from the Russian shipment to the Palestinian Authority.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/28/world/israel-vaccine-palestine.html

 

 

 

Protests roil Spain as a generation furiously laments a future lost to the pandemic

By Nicholas Casey

 

 

A police van set on fire in Barcelona on Saturday by protesters demonstrating against the arrest of the rapper Pablo Hasél.Credit...Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

For 10 nights, Barcelona’s streets, long quiet from pandemic curfews, have erupted in sometimes violent demonstrations that have spread to Madrid and other Spanish hubs.

What began as a protest over the arrest in mid-February of Pablo Hasél, a Spanish rapper known as a provocateur, has become a collective outcry by a generation that has struggled through years of economic hardship and that faces a lost future even after the pandemic ends.

The frustration is not limited to Spain. Across Europe, university life has been deeply altered by the limitations of virtual classes. Social isolation is endemic. Anxiety and depression have reached alarming rates among young people nearly everywhere, mental health experts and studies have found. The police and mostly young protesters have also clashed in other parts of Europe, including last month in Amsterdam.

“It’s not the same now for a person who is 60 — or a 50-year-old with life experience and everything completely organized — as it is for a person who is 18 now and has the feeling that every hour they lose to this pandemic, it’s like losing their entire life,” said Enric Juliana, an opinion columnist with La Vanguardia, Barcelona’s leading newspaper.

Barcelona was once one of the best places in Europe to be young, with all-night bars and music festivals on the beach. But the crisis, which devastated tourism and shrank the national economy by 11 percent last year, was a catastrophe for Spain’s young adults.

For those who lived through the financial crisis of 2008, which took one of its heaviest tolls in Spain, the pandemic brings a strong sense of déjà vu. Once again, young people have had to move back into the homes of their parents, with entry-level jobs being among the first to vanish.

But the pandemic has cut deeper than past economic downturns. It hit at a time when unemployment in Spain for people under 25 was already high, at 30 percent. Now 40 percent of Spain’s youth are unemployed, the highest rate in Europe, according to statistics by the European Union.

For many young people, the arrest of the rapper Mr. Hasél — and his rage-against-the-machine defiance — has become a symbol of the frustration of Spain’s young people.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/02/28/world/covid-19-coronavirus/virus-briefing-spain-unrest

 

 

 

Many older adults lack the tech skills needed to get vaccine appointments

 

 

People like Annette Carlin of Novato, Calif., find it challenging to navigate the web sites and notification systems associated with getting vaccinated. Credit...Kenny Hurtado for The New York Times

The sometimes-chaotic vaccine rollout has come with a maze of confusing registration pages and clunky health care websites. And the technological savvy required to navigate the text alerts, push notifications and email reminders that are second nature to the digital generation has put older adults who need the vaccine the most at a disadvantage. As a result, people who lack tech skills are missing out on potentially lifesaving shots.

The digital divide between generations has always been stark, but the pandemic’s abrupt curtailing of in-person interactions has made that division even more apparent.

Advocates for older Americans, 22 million of whom lack wired broadband access at home, say it is ridiculous that a program that has vaccinating vulnerable older people as one of its top priorities would be set up to depend on internet know-how, Twitter announcements and online event pages.

“We’re running into a crisis where connectivity is a life-or-death alternative for people,” said Tom Kamber, the executive director of Older Adults Technology Services, a nonprofit organization that trains older people to use technology. “It couldn’t get much more stark than people being told, ‘If you go outside, you’re likely to be at risk of dying.’”

People in nursing homes, among the first to get vaccines, had staff members to assist them. But when vaccines became available to a wider group of older adults in late December and early January, many who lived alone had to navigate the rollout by themselves.

Federal agencies like the Administration for Community Living, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as nonprofit groups, say they are doing what they can to guide older adults, but they are stretched thin.

As of Thursday, about 24 million Americans ages 65 and older, or about 41 percent, had received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose, according to population and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/02/28/world/covid-19-coronavirus/many-older-adults-lack-the-tech-skills-needed-to-get-vaccine-appointments

 

 

 

Pfizer vaccine may be less effective in people with obesity, says study

By Linda Geddes Science correspondent

 

 

A nurse fills a syringe with the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre in Seoul. Photograph: Song Kyung-Seok/AP

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine may be less effective in people with obesity, data suggests.

Italian researchers have discovered that healthcare workers with obesity produced only about half the amount of antibodies in response to a second dose of the jab compared with healthy people. Although it is too soon to know what this means for the efficacy of the vaccine, it might imply that people with obesity need an additional booster dose to ensure they are adequately protected against coronavirus.

Previous research has suggested that obesity – which is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) over 30 – increases the risk of dying of Covid-19 by nearly 50%, as well as increasing the risk of ending up in hospital by 113%.

Some of this may be because people with obesity often have other underlying medical conditions, such as heart disease or type 2 diabetes, that increase their risk from the coronavirus, but excess body fat can also cause metabolic changes, such as insulin resistance and inflammation, which make it harder for the body to fight off infections.

This constant state of low-grade inflammation can also weaken certain immune responses, including those launched by the B and T cells that trigger a protective response following vaccination. Separate research has shown that the flu vaccine is only half as effective in people with obesity compared to those who are a healthy weight.

The new study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, provides the first direct evidence to suggest a similar problem might occur with Covid-19 vaccines.

Aldo Venuti, of the Istituti Fisioterapici Ospitalieri in Rome, and his colleagues assessed the antibody response following two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in 248 healthcare workers. Seven days after receiving the second dose, 99.5% of them had developed an antibody response, and this response was greater than that recorded in people who had recovered from Covid-19. However, the response was blunted in people who were overweight and obese.

“Since obesity is a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality for patients with Covid-19, it is mandatory to plan an efficient vaccination programme in this subgroup,” Aldo and his colleagues wrote. “Although further studies are needed, this data may have important implications to the development of vaccination strategies for Covid-19, particularly in obese people. If our data was to be confirmed by larger studies, giving obese people an extra dose of the vaccine or a higher dose could be options to be evaluated in this population.”

“We always knew that BMI was an enormous predictor of poor immune response to vaccines, so this paper is definitely interesting, although it is based on a rather small preliminary dataset,” said Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London. “It confirms that having a vaccinated population isn’t synonymous with having an immune population, especially in a country with high obesity, and emphasises the vital need for long-term immune monitoring programmes.”

In a separate study of Brazilian healthcare workers, Altmann and his colleagues showed that reinfection with Sars-CoV-2 was also more common among people with a high BMI, and that they tended to have lower antibody responses to the original infection.

 

 

 

Summary

 

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

· Covid vaccine acceptance has risen in some countries: study. Willingness to get a Covid-19 vaccine is on the rise compared with last year, a survey of six industrialised countries published on Monday showed. More people in the UK, the US and even vaccine-sceptical France now accept the idea of getting a coronavirus jab. The survey also covered Germany, Japan and Sweden where a similar trend was clear, it said.

· The Philippines kicked off its Covid vaccination programme on Monday, with health workers the first to be inoculated in a delayed campaign as the country tries to secure supplies to address one of Asia’s most stubborn coronavirus epidemics.

· Ardern under pressure over latest Auckland lockdown. New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has expressed frustration over rule-breaking by people implicated in the recent cluster of coronavirus cases, leading to further restrictions for Auckland.

· Indian prime minister Narendra Modi was inoculated with the first dose of a home-grown coronavirus vaccine on Monday, kicking off an expansion of the country’s immunisation campaign that began in mid-January with healthcare workers, Reuters reports.

· South Africa’s coronavirus alert level has been downgraded from three to one following a fall in infections, president Cyril Ramaphosa has announced, with the change coming into effect at midnight.

· AstraZeneca has sold its Moderna stake for over $1bn – report. AstraZeneca Plc has sold its 7.7% stake in Moderna Inc for more than $1bn after the US biotechnology company’s shares soared on the back of its coronavirus vaccine breakthrough.

· The Norwegian capital Oslo is ramping up its coronavirus restrictions after a surge in infections connected to the more transmissible variant first detected in the UK.

· Cases of the virus variant first detected in Brazil have been discovered in the UK for the first time, Public Health England has said. Three cases have been found in England and three in Scotland. Officials will begin surge testing in the South Gloucestershire postcodes of BS320, BS328, BS329, BS345 and BS346 tomorrow.

· Nigeria will receive its first batch of Covid-19 vaccines this week, with nearly 4m of its 16m vaccines due to arrive in Africa’s most populous nation via the Covax scheme.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/mar/01/coronavirus-live-news-vaccine-acceptance-rising-in-uk-us-and-france-south-africa-eases-restrictions?page=with:block-603c8c928f088c613add5b98#block-603c8c928f088c613add5b98