Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths
World	116,207,862	+446,938	2,580,901
USA	29,526,086	+68,321	533,636
India	11,173,572	+16,824	157,584
Brazil	10,796,506	+74,285	261,188
Russia	4,290,135	+11,385	87,823
UK	4,201,358	+6,573	124,025
France	3,835,595	+25,279	87,835
Spain	3,142,358	+6,037	70,501
Italy	2,999,119	+22,865	98,974
Turkey	2,746,158	+11,322	28,839
Germany	2,484,306	+11,410	72,007
Colombia	2,266,211	+3,565	60,189
Argentina	2,133,963	+7,432	52,644
Mexico	2,104,987	+7,793	188,044
Poland	1,750,659	+15,250	44,649
Iran	1,665,103	+8,404	60,431
South Africa	1,517,666	+1,404	50,462
Ukraine	1,374,762	+10,057	26,591
Indonesia	1,361,098	+7,264	36,897
Peru	1,349,847	+4,878	47,306
Czechia	1,284,448	+15,223	21,235
Netherlands	1,105,544	+4,114	15,730
Canada	878,391	+2,832	22,151
Chile	840,119	+4,567	20,838
Romania	816,589	+4,271	20,684
Portugal	807,456	+830	16,458
Israel	793,407	+3,922	5,822
Belgium	777,608	+3,264	22,169
Iraq	713,994	+5,043	13,507
Pakistan	585,435	+1,519	13,076
Philippines	584,659	+2,444	12,404
Bangladesh	548,549	+619	8,435
Morocco	485,147	+394	8,669
Serbia	474,807	+3,866	4,508
Austria	467,646	+2,324	8,652
Hungary	446,178	+6,278	15,476
Japan	435,548	+1,192	8,052
Jordan	413,350	+5,733	4,833
UAE	402,205	+2,742	1,286
Lebanon	386,868	+3,369	4,919
Saudi Arabia	378,708	+375	6,514
Panama	343,281	+540	5,895
Slovakia	317,159	+2,800	7,560
Malaysia	307,943	+2,063	1,153
Belarus	291,621	+1,174	2,011
Ecuador	289,735	+263	15,959
Nepal	274,488	+107	2,778
Georgia	271,872	+133	3,553
Bulgaria	255,381	+2,198	10,506
Bolivia	251,391	+834	11,734
Croatia	244,872	+667	5,564
Dominican Republic	241,392	+619	3,139
Azerbaijan	235,647	+314	3,232
Tunisia	235,643	+635	8,106
Ireland	221,649	+460	4,396
Kazakhstan	215,610	+804	2,540
Denmark	213,318	+520	2,374
Costa Rica	206,293	+403	2,829
Lithuania	200,884	+517	3,294
Greece	199,496	+2,217	6,632
Kuwait	196,497	+1,716	1,105
Slovenia	193,285	+1,019	3,878
Palestine	191,203	+1,877	2,091
Moldova	191,197	+1,800	4,049
Egypt	184,755	+587	10,871
Guatemala	176,876	+626	6,435
Armenia	173,307	+491	3,208
Honduras	172,100	+342	4,214
Qatar	165,546	+475	260
Paraguay	164,310	+1,439	3,256
Ethiopia	162,954	+980	2,394
Nigeria	157,671	+711	1,951
Oman	142,896	+369	1,583
Myanmar	142,000	+16	3,200
Venezuela	140,960	+577	1,364
Libya	136,587	+1,002	2,233
Bosnia and Herzegovina	134,892	+910	5,200
Bahrain	124,857	+588	462
Algeria	113,761	+168	3,002
Albania	110,521	+847	1,876
Kenya	107,329	+528	1,870
North Macedonia	105,269	+721	3,165
S. Korea	91,240	+424	1,619
China	89,943	+10	4,636
Latvia	88,668	+646	1,666
Kyrgyzstan	86,410	+54	1,468
Ghana	85,239	+890	629
Sri Lanka	84,610	+384	489
Zambia	80,687	+597	1,109
Uzbekistan	80,035	+29	622
Montenegro	78,060	+567	1,039
Norway	73,493	+570	632
Estonia	70,610	+1,420	623
Mozambique	61,170	+775	674
Uruguay	60,945	+871	631
El Salvador	60,800	+160	1,887
Finland	60,200	+758	764
Singapore	59,998	+19	29
Luxembourg	56,110	+208	647
Cuba	53,308	+807	336
Uganda	40,426	+18	334
Namibia	39,466	+169	436
Zimbabwe	36,223	+44	1,483
Cyprus	36,004	+384	232
Suriname	8,959	+6	175
Aruba	8,009	+36	75
Vietnam	2,488	+6	35

 

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

 

 

 

Japan extends state of emergency for Tokyo

 

 

People commute on a train in Tokyo, Japan on March 5 as officials extended a coronavirus state of emergency in the Tokyo area. Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images

Japan approved a two-week extension for Tokyo's Covid-19 state of emergency, the country's public broadcaster NHK reported Friday.

The state of emergency has been in place for Tokyo and three prefectures -- Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa -- since January 7, and was set to end Sunday. It will now continue until March 21.

The extension was approved to lessen the strain on hospitals and ensure hospital bed availability, said Nishimura Yasutoshi, Japan's Covid-19 response minister, on Friday.

Nishimura also noted infection rates were higher in March and April 2020 as people's movements increase during that time. 

Tokyo reported 279 new cases on Thursday, bringing its total to 112,624, according to the city's Metropolitan Government.

 

 

 

Australia says it has enough AstraZeneca vaccines until domestic production is established

From CNN's Carly Walsh

 

A container holding the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine arrives at Sydney International Airport on February 28. Edwina Pickles/Pool/Getty Images

Australia has enough doses of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine to continue plans to inoculate its citizens, according to a statement from the spokesperson of the Minister for Health.

The statement said existing vaccines in the country will see Australia through until domestic production is established in late March. 

Australia started inoculating citizens with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on February 22. Distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine began Thursday in the state of South Australia. 

 

 

 

Italy blocks export of Covid-19 vaccine doses, using EU powers for the first time

From CNN’s Nicola Ruotolo and James Frater

 

Doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are seen at the vaccination unit of the Italian Defense, on February 23 in Rome, Italy. Antonio Masiello/Getty Images

Italy has blocked the export of Covid-19 vaccine doses, in the first case of European Union powers being used in a long-simmering dispute between the European Union and vaccine makers.

Italy invoked EU powers to prevent AstraZeneca from exporting 250,000 doses to Australia, a spokesperson for Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi told CNN Thursday.

The spokesperson said Italy and the European Commission had agreed on the action.

The move was first reported by the Financial Times. CNN is seeking comment from AstraZeneca.

 

 

 

Cuba announces its vaccine candidate is authorized to begin Phase 3 trials

From CNN’s Patrick Oppmann

 

A technician works with the Soberana 02 Covid-19 vaccine at the Finlay Vaccine Institute in Havana, Cuba, on January 20. Yamil Lage/Pool/AP

Cuban scientists announced that the island’s Soberana vaccine candidate had received authorization to begin phase three trials immediately.

A second vaccine Abdala would also begin phase three trials soon, scientists said.

While many developing countries have struggled to import vaccines, Cuba has focused on making their own as a way to raise money and instill national pride in the island’s bio-medical industry. 

Two of the four Cuban vaccines candidates are named Soberana – Spanish for sovereignty. The remaining two are called Abdala, the name of a poem written by Cuban revolutionary icon Jose Marti, and Mambisa, referring to Cuban guerillas who fought a bloody war for freedom against the Spanish.

More than 85,000 Cubans would take part in the two final phases of the trials as the island’s state-run biomedical industry begins larger production of the vaccines. If approved for widescale use, Soberana and Abdala would be the first two vaccines developed in Latin America.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-03-05-21/index.html

 

 

 

The E.U. gives Austria extra vaccines to deal with an outbreak

By Christopher F. Schuetze, Benjamin Novak, Aurelien Breeden and Natasha Frost

 

 

Closed restaurants in Vienna this week. Like most of the rest of the European Union, Austria has lagged behind some other wealthy nations — such as Britain, Israel and the United States — in its vaccine rollout. Credit...Lisi Niesner/Reuters

Austrian officials will carry out a mass vaccination drive in the western district of Schwaz in the hopes of stabilizing the alpine area, which has been battered by a surge in new coronavirus infections driven in part by the variant B.1.351, first identified in South Africa.

The pilot program in Austria is the first such inoculation drive in the European Union. Like most of the rest of the bloc, the country is lagging behind some other wealthy nations — such as Britain, Israel and the United States — in its vaccine rollout. Only 5 percent of residents in the alpine state of Tyrol, which includes Schwaz, have received at least one shot.

All residents above the age of 16 will be able to get free vaccinations when the drive begins next week. The European Union has allocated 100,000 extra doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for the area near the western Austrian city of Innsbruck, which is home to about 86,000 people.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Wednesday that the effort would be “our chance to eradicate the variant in the region of Schwaz.”

The infection rate in the broader Tyrol region has declined from its peak of about 800 cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period in November to just over 100 per 100,000 in the past week. But the German government closed its side of the border with the area on Wednesday night when it became clear that a high percentage of those infections were caused by the B.1.351 variant.

On Thursday, Mr. Kurz traveled to Israel where, together with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark, he planned to speak with experts about collaborating on future vaccines.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/04/world/covid-19-coronavirus/the-eu-gives-austria-extra-vaccines-to-deal-with-an-outbreak-and-other-news-from-the-world

 

 

 

China subjects some travelers to anal swabs, angering foreign governments

 

The arrivals hall at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in January.Credit...Aly Song/Reuters

China is requiring some travelers arriving from overseas to receive an invasive anal swab test as part of its coronavirus containment measures, a move that has outraged and shocked several foreign governments.

Japanese officials said on Monday that they had formally asked China to exempt Japanese citizens from the test, adding that some who had received it complained of “psychological distress.” And the United States State Department last moth said it had registered a protest with the Chinese government after some of its diplomats were forced to undergo anal swabs, though Chinese officials denied that.

It is not clear how many such swabs have been administered or who is subject to them. Chinese state media has acknowledged that some arrivals to cities including Beijing and Shanghai are required to take the tests, though the reports said the requirements might vary depending on whether the travelers were deemed to be high-risk.

Chinese experts have suggested that traces of the virus may survive longer in the anus than in the respiratory tract and that samples of the former may prevent false negatives. China has imposed some of the strictest containment measures in the world, including barring most foreign arrivals, and has largely suppressed the epidemic.

Lu Hongzhou, an infectious disease specialist at Fudan University in Shanghai, told the state-controlled Global Times tabloid that nasal or throat swabs could cause “uncomfortable reactions,” leading to subpar samples. He acknowledged that fecal samples could replace anal swabs, to prevent similar discomfort.

But other experts — including in China — have questioned the need for anal samples. The Global Times quoted another expert, Yang Zhanqiu, as saying that nasal and throat swabs are still the most effective because the virus is contracted through the respiratory tract.

Benjamin Cowling, a public health professor at the University of Hong Kong, said in an interview that even if someone did test positive on an anal swab but not a respiratory one, he or she would likely not be very contagious.

“The value of detecting people with the virus is to stop transmission,” Professor Cowling said. “If someone has got an infection but they’re not contagious to anyone else, we didn’t need to detect that person.”

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said this week that the government would make “science-based adjustments” to its containment policies.

Professor Cowling said he did not know what the scientific rationale was behind the existing policies. “I presume there’s some evidence leading to this decision, but I haven’t seen that evidence,” he said.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/04/world/asia/china-anal-swab-tests.html

 

 

 

San Diego Zoo apes get an experimental animal vaccine against coronavirus

 

 

Some gorillas in a troop at the San Diego Zoo tested positive for the coronavirus in January. Zoo officials have been using an experimental vaccine on other apes, like orangutans and bonobos. Credit...Ken Bohn/San Diego Zoo Global, via, via Reuters

The San Diego Zoo has given nine apes an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by Zoetis, a major veterinary pharmaceuticals company.

In January, a troop of gorillas at the zoo’s Safari Park tested positive for the virus. All are recovering, but even so, the zoo requested help from Zoetis in vaccinating other apes. The company provided an experimental vaccine that was initially developed for pets and is now being tested in mink.

Nadine Lamberski, a conservation and wildlife health officer at San Diego Zoo Global, said the zoo vaccinated four orangutans and five bonobos with the experimental vaccine, which is not designed for use in humans. Among the vaccinated orangutans was an ape named Karen, who made history in 1994 when she became the first orangutan to have open-heart surgery.

Dr. Lamberski said one gorilla at the zoo was also scheduled to be vaccinated, but the gorillas at the wildlife park were a lower priority because they had already tested positive for infection and had recovered. She said she would vaccinate the gorillas at the wildlife park if the zoo received more doses of the vaccine.

Mahesh Kumar, senior vice president of global biologics for Zoetis, said the company is increasing production, primarily for its pursuit of a license for a mink vaccine, and will provide more doses to the San Diego and other zoos when possible. “We have already received a number of requests,” he said.

Infection of apes is a major concern for zoos and conservationists. They easily fall prey to human respiratory infections, and common cold viruses have caused deadly outbreaks in chimpanzees in Africa. Genome research has suggested that chimpanzees, gorillas and other apes will be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that has caused the pandemic. Lab researchers are using some monkeys, like macaques, to test drugs and vaccines and develop new treatments for the virus.

Scientists are worrying not just about the danger the virus poses to great apes and other animals, but also about the potential for the virus to gain a foothold in a wild animal population that could become a permanent reservoir and emerge at a later date to reinfect humans.

Infections in farmed mink have produced the biggest scare so far. When Danish mink farms were devastated by the virus, which can kill mink just as it kills people, a mutated form of the virus emerged from the mink and reinfected humans. That variant showed resistance to some antibodies in laboratory studies, raising suspicion that vaccines might be less effective against it.

That virus variant has not been found in humans since November, according to the World Health Organization. But other variants have emerged in people in several countries, proving that the virus can become more contagious and in some cases can diminish the effectiveness of some vaccines.

Denmark ended up killing as many as 17 million mink — effectively wiping out its mink farming industry. In the United States, thousands of mink have died, and one wild mink has tested positive for the virus.

Although many animals, including dogs, domestic cats, and big cats in zoos, have become infected by the virus through natural spread, and others have been infected in laboratory experiments, scientists say that widespread testing has yet to find the virus in any animal in the wild other than the one mink.

National Geographic first reported the vaccination of the apes at the San Diego Zoo.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/04/world/covid-19-coronavirus/san-diego-zoo-apes-get-an-experimental-animal-vaccine-against-coronavirus

 

 

 

Summary

 

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

· WHO to scrap interim report on virus origins – report. The Wall Street Journal reported that a World Health Organization team investigating Covid’s origins is planning to scrap an interim report on its recent mission to China amid mounting tensions between Beijing and Washington over the investigation and an appeal from one international group of scientists for a new inquiry.

· Japan to extend Tokyo state of emergency. The Japanese government plans to extend a state of emergency for Tokyo and three neighbouring prefectures to combat Covid until March 21, two weeks longer than originally scheduled, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Friday.

· New coronavirus variant under investigation in UK. Scientists have identified 16 cases of a new coronavirus variant in the UK, Public Health England announced. Cases of the variant, referred to as VUI-202102/04, were first identified on 15 February. The variant, which is understood to have originated in the UK, was designated a “variant under investigation” on 24 February.

· Survey shows UK parents’ concern over Covid effect on children’s activity. More than two-thirds of UK parents believe their children have become less active during the pandemic, new research has found, placing more pressure on schools before their reopening next week.

· Calls grow to prioritise Italy’s priests for Covid vaccination. Calls are growing in Italy to prioritise the vaccination of priests against Covid-19 as the death toll among members of the clergy, many of whom have assisted and comforted the sick since the beginning of the pandemic, approaches 270.

· Australia says Italy’s block on AstraZeneca vaccine frustrating but not crucial. The Australian government on Friday expressed frustration at Italy’s decision to block a shipment of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine, but stressed it would not affect the rollout of Australia’s inoculation program.

· China to develop vaccines against major infectious diseases. China pledges to develop vaccines to cope with major infectious disease, part of its flurry of efforts to boost the competitiveness of its manufacturing sector, the government said on Friday in its development plan for 2021-2025.

· Vietnam to launch vaccinations on Monday. Vietnam will launch its Covid vaccination campaign on Monday, the country’s health minister said, after the country received the first batch of 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last month.

·  Papua New Guinea hospitals run out of funding as Covid cases surge. Papua New Guinea is battling to control a surge in coronavirus cases across the archipelago, just as hospitals are shutting their doors because they have run out of money.The country’s crowded capital, Port Moresby, is the epicentre of the latest outbreak.

· Australian experts warn Covid vaccines being sold on darknet likely to be scams. Three major Covid-19 vaccines are being advertised for sale on the darknet – the part of the internet not visible to search engines and which requires specialised software to access, an analysis of 15 marketplaces has found.

· Jacinda Ardern announces Auckland’s Covid lockdown will lift on Sunday. Auckland’s seven-day lockdown is due to lift on Sunday morning after no new cases of coronavirus were recorded in the community on Friday.

· ‘Fear of missing out’ boosting global acceptance of Covid jab. An international survey shows vaccine confidence is already on the rise even though relatively few countries have launched public awareness campaigns, with the fear of missing out on a jab suggested as one driver.

· South Korea approved the Pfizer vaccine. South Korea’s drug safety ministry said on Friday it has granted final approval for the use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/mar/05/coronavirus-live-news-who-wuhan-mission-uk-investigating-new-covid-variant?page=with:block-6041ca2f8f08acb794a37ed8#block-6041ca2f8f08acb794a37ed8