Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths
World	120,406,936	+364,130	2,665,019
USA	30,081,657	+36,896	547,234
Brazil	11,483,370	+44,120	278,327
India	11,385,158	+26,514	158,762
Russia	4,390,608	+10,083	92,090
UK	4,258,438	+4,618	125,516
France	4,071,662	+26,343	90,429
Italy	3,223,142	+21,315	102,145
Spain	3,183,704	+5348	72,258
Turkey	2,879,390	+13,378	29,489
Germany	2,578,835	+8,985	73,959
Colombia	2,303,144	+4,062	61,143
Argentina	2,195,722	+3,697	53,670
Mexico	2,163,875	+6,104	194,490
Poland	1,906,632	+17,259	47,178
Iran	1,746,953	+7,593	61,230
South Africa	1,529,420	+1,006	51,326
Ukraine	1,460,756	+9,012	28,303
Indonesia	1,419,455	+4,714	38,426
Peru	1,412,406	+4,443	49,003
Czechia	1,399,129	+6,936	23,291
Netherlands	1,157,192	+5,974	16,069
Canada	909,157	+2,956	22,463
Chile	891,110	+5,731	21,674
Romania	859,709	+4,383	21,483
Israel	818,548	+749	6,008
Portugal	814,257	+541	16,684
Belgium	805,321	+3,598	22,421
Iraq	758,184	+3,866	13,751
Philippines	621,498	+4,899	12,829
Pakistan	605,200	+2,664	13,508
Bangladesh	557,395	+1,159	8,545
Hungary	516,490	+8,863	16,952
Serbia	516,277	+4,226	4,719
Austria	493,568	+2,503	8,873
Morocco	488,937	+305	8,723
Jordan	477,053	+8,053	5,346
Japan	446,873	+1,288	8,560
UAE	426,397	+1,992	1,395
Lebanon	418,448	+3,086	5,380
Saudi Arabia	382,407	+348	6,567
Panama	347,919	+278	5,994
Slovakia	337,503	+1,268	8,528
Malaysia	323,763	+1,354	1,210
Belarus	302,323	+995	2,095
Ecuador	302,221	+1,555	16,236
Bulgaria	278,557	+679	11,285
Nepal	275,231	+53	3,014
Georgia	274,989	+268	3,648
Bolivia	259,004	+680	11,944
Croatia	251,045	+561	5,677
Dominican Republic	246,045	+429	3,222
Tunisia	241,834	+577	8,389
Azerbaijan	240,295	+603	3,282
Ireland	226,741	+383	4,534
Kazakhstan	223,720	+1,049	2,851
Greece	221,147	+1,626	7,091
Denmark	220,459	+541	2,391
Kuwait	209,523	+1,063	1,172
Palestine	209,304	+1,868	2,268
Lithuania	205,385	+397	3,396
Moldova	204,463	+753	4,330
Slovenia	200,374	+520	3,934
Egypt	190,924	+644	11,300
Guatemala	182,881	+202	6,568
Paraguay	180,014	+942	3,476
Armenia	178,385	+486	3,255
Honduras	177,832	+664	4,331
Ethiopia	175,467	+1,413	2,550
Qatar	170,252	+485	266
Nigeria	160,657	+120	2,013
Oman	146,867	+1,610	1,608
Libya	144,993	+1,350	2,386
Myanmar	142,147	+11	3,202
Bahrain	131,001	+597	484
Albania	117,474	+653	2,045
Algeria	115,265	+122	3,036
Kenya	113,236	+431	1,913
North Macedonia	112,646	+539	3,319
S. Korea	95,635	+459	1,669
Latvia	93,781	+297	1,767
China	90,044	+10	4,636
Sri Lanka	87,907	+307	527
Ghana	87,762	+282	685
Kyrgyzstan	86,850	+32	1,481
Estonia	84,807	+935	719
Zambia	84,797	+323	1,158
Montenegro	83,693	+528	1,129
Uzbekistan	80,567	+86	622
Norway	80,440	+640	639
Uruguay	71,691	+1,558	712
Finland	66,869	+863	786
Mozambique	64,516	+220	725
Cyprus	39,651	+374	240
Ivory Coast	37,653	+349	211
Senegal	36,892	+166	963
Zimbabwe	36,484	+13	1,503
Jamaica	30,499	+587	485
Australia	29,117	+5	909
DRC	27,014	+76	717
Thailand	26,927	+170	86
Malta	26,535	+268	351
Maldives	21,572	+96	64
Angola	21,380	+57	521
Rwanda	20,186	+43	280
Guinea	17,742	+150	102
Mauritania	17,438	+14	444
Eswatini	17,237	+3	661
Syria	16,478	+77	1,099
Cabo Verde	16,101	+66	156
Suriname	9,024	+2	176
Aruba	8,395	+19	79
Vietnam	2,554	+1	35

 

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

 

 

 

Netherlands pauses use of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine

From CNN’s Mick Krever in London

 

 

Boxes of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccines in Oss, Netherlands on February 12. Remko de Waal/ANP/AFP/Getty Images

 

The Netherlands has joined a growing list of countries suspending use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine following reports of possible side effects post inoculation.

The Dutch government said Sunday it will pause the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for two weeks “as a precautionary measure and pending further investigation.”

The decision came just days after Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said there was “no cause for concern,” and that vaccinations could continue. In a statement Sunday, the Dutch Health Ministry said its Medicines Evaluations Board (CBG) had received “new information” over the weekend.

The statement said as yet no “causal relationship” has been established between the vaccine and the newly reported side effects from Denmark and Norway, but that it would pause use of the AstraZeneca vaccine until March 29.

“The CBG indicates that a total of six new reports of possible side effects have been received from Denmark and Norway. These are serious, rare signs of clot formation (thrombosis) and a reduced number of blood platelets (thrombocytopenia) in adults under age 50," the statement said, adding that no such cases have yet occurred in the Netherlands.
“The crucial question is whether this is about complaints after vaccination, or caused by vaccination,” De Jonge said in the statement. “There cannot be a single doubt about the vaccines.”

AstraZeneca has robustly defended its vaccine, saying in a statement Sunday there were no confirmed quality issues for any batch of the drug, and "no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or thrombocytopenia" for people who had received it.

Some context: The Netherlands is the latest European country to partially or fully suspend its rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports of patients developing blood clots after inoculations.

Austria was the first to sound the alarm on the potential dangers of the vaccine, suspending one batch of doses last Tuesday.

Italy banned the use of vaccines from a specific batch of AstraZeneca doses last Friday, after a man in Sicily died of cardiac arrest one day after receiving his first dose of the vaccine.

Denmark became the first European country to temporarily suspend the entire rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine last Thursday, followed by Iceland, Norway and Ireland.

The European Union's medicines regulator, the EMA, is currently investigating whether the shot could be linked to a number of reports of blood clots.

 

 

 

'Superspreader' outbreak at luxury Hong Kong gym sparks fears of fifth wave

From Eric Cheung in Hong Kong and Eliza Mackintosh in London

 

 

A pedestrian walks past the closed Ursus Fitness center in Hong Kong, China, on Friday, March 12. Lam Yik/Bloomberg/Getty Images

A Covid-19 outbreak at a luxury gym in Hong Kong has sparked fears of a "superspreader" event that could set off another wave of the virus in the city, after 60 new cases were confirmed on Friday.

Many of the latest infections were linked to the outbreak at Ursus Fitness center, which offers boxing and powerlifting classes in Hong Kong's trendy Sai Ying Pun district, which is popular with the city's expatriate community.

"We can say this is a super-spreading event," David Hui, a government adviser on the pandemic, told Hong Kong state media Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) on Friday, adding that the explosive spread in the fitness center had prompted concerns of a fifth wave of the pandemic.

Hong Kong reported its highest number of Covid-19 cases in more than six weeks on Thursday, according to the Centre of Health Protection (CHP). Of the 60 new cases, 47 have been linked to the gym, according to Chuang Shuk-kwan, CHP's head of communicable disease branch.

Chuang said the Hong Kong government will issue an order requiring workers at fitness centers to receive a compulsory Covid-19 test by Sunday. Anyone who visited gym facilities recently should also monitor their health and consider receiving a test, she added.

As of Friday, about 360 people related to the gym outbreak had been placed under government quarantine, she said, while their close contacts are required to take a Covid-19 test.

"It is a serious outbreak because many cases have popped up over a short period of time," Chuang said, adding that it is challenging because many of those infected work in different professions at the city center.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-03-12-21/h_d3f334bedcff12aa89345666d38b3c03

 

 

 

Fauci says Covid guidelines "will be much more liberal" by July 4 if US cases drop

From CNN's Devan Cole

 

Federal Covid-19 guidelines "will be much more liberal" by the Fourth of July if US cases drop as more Americans are vaccinated, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.

"If by the time we get to the Fourth of July, with the rollout of the vaccine, we get the level of infection so low -- I'm not going to be able to tell you exactly what the specific guidelines of the (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) are, but I can tell you for sure (guidelines) will be much more liberal than they are right now about what you can do," the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."

Asked whether people will return to a degree of normalcy without masks and distancing by the summer holiday, Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, replied: "Yes ... there will be a greater degree of confidence" in that.

The comments from Fauci come nearly a week after the CDC released new guidance saying people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can safely visit with other vaccinated people and small groups of unvaccinated people in some circumstances.

The agency is still urging unvaccinated Americans to socially distance from people who don't live in their home, wear masks and avoid crowds, measures that have been critical to slowing the spread of the deadly virus over the past year.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/15/world/covid-19-coronavirus/hungary-sinopharm-covid

 

 

 

Ireland suspends use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, citing blood clot reports

Isabella Kwai

 

 

A dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine being administered in Dublin last month.Credit...Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

Ireland suspended use of the Covid-19 vaccine by Oxford-AstraZeneca on Sunday, citing reports of unusual blood clotting problems among people who recently received the shots in Norway.

The decision followed a new advisory from Norway on Saturday that four people given the AstraZeneca vaccine had experienced blood clotting issues and all had low platelet counts. Leading public health agencies, including the World Health Organization, point out that millions of people have received the vaccine without experiencing such blood clotting issues, and that experts have not found a causative link between any of the vaccines and the conditions.

Ireland’s health minister, Stephen Donnelly, said on Twitter that the suspension was a “precautionary step.”

Regulators like the European Medicines Agency are investigating whether there is evidence of any link.

AstraZeneca defended its vaccine on Sunday, saying that the company is continually monitoring its safety.

“Around 17 million people in the E.U. and U.K. have now received our vaccine, and the number of cases of blood clots reported in this group is lower than the hundreds of cases that would be expected among the general population,” Ann Taylor, the company’s chief medical officer, said in a statement.

Prof. Karina Butler, the chairwoman of Ireland’s immunization advisory committee, said the panel’s recommendation was made while agencies were investigating. “We will continue to monitor the situation, and if we can be satisfied that these events are coincidental and not caused by this vaccine, we will reassess the situation.”

No such cases have been reported to Ireland’s medicine regulators, with over 117,000 doses of the vaccine administered in the country. Of the newest reports in Norway, one patient died from an unexpected brain hemorrhage, and the three others with severe cases of blood clots or brain hemorrhages were being treated in a hospital, according to the Norwegian Medicines Agency.

That agency issued an advisory for people under age 50 who had received the AstraZeneca vaccine in the past two weeks, and who feel increasingly unwell with several large blue patches on their skin more than three days after vaccination, to consult doctors or other medical advice as soon as possible.

Ireland joined other European countries in halting use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the past week as a precaution because of concerns over the risk of blood clots. Thailand and the Democratic Republic of Congo have also delayed their rollouts of the vaccine in recent days. On Sunday, Italy’s northern region of Piedmont said it would temporarily stop administering the AstraZeneca vaccine, a day after a teacher there died after receiving the shot.

The European Medicines Agency, which is investigating the relationship, said Wednesday that 30 cases of obstructive blood clots had been reported in the nearly five million people who received the shot — a rate no higher than that seen in the general population — and that the vaccine’s benefits outweighed the risks. AstraZeneca has said that its safety data of more than 10 million records does not show evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis.

In its statement, AstraZeneca also said that as of March 8, the company was aware of 15 reports of deep-vein thrombosis and 22 of pulmonary embolism among those who had received the vaccine across the European Union and Britain.

“This is much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population of this size and is similar across other licensed Covid vaccines,” the company said.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/14/world/astrazeneca-ireland.html

 

 

 

Italians prepare for a widespread lockdown on Monday

 

 

In Milan, the police imposed one-way pedestrian paths on Sunday in the Darsena and Navigli area, one of the busiest parts of the city.Credit...Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times

Italians enjoyed the last weekend outdoors before three-quarters of the population goes into a strict lockdown on Monday, when the government puts in place restrictive measures to fight the rise in coronavirus infections.

A more contagious variant first identified in Britain, combined with a slow vaccine rollout, led to a 15 percent increase in cases in Italy last week.

“I am aware that today’s measures will have an impact on children’s education, on the economy but also on the psychological state of us all,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Friday. “But they are necessary to avoid a worsening that will make inevitable even more stringent measures.”

Most regions in northern Italy, as well as Lazio and Marche in central Italy and Campania and Puglia in the south, will shut schools and forbid residents from leaving their homes except for work, health or necessity. Among business activities, only supermarkets, pharmacies and a few other stores will stay open, while restaurants will be closed.

In the rest of the country, residents will not be allowed to leave their municipality except for certain reasons, but schools and many stores will stay open.

“We believe that only with widespread vaccinations will we be able to avoid measures like these,” Mr. Draghi added.

Fewer than two million people in the country have been fully vaccinated so far, partly because of late deliveries from pharmaceutical companies, but also because of logistical problems in some regions. Italy, a country of about 60 million people, is one of the hardest-hit countries in the world: More than 3.2 million people have contracted the virus, more than 100,000 of whom have died.

Last Saturday, the government said it aimed to vaccinate at least 80 percent of the population by September. The plan, designed by an army general picked by Mr. Draghi for his expertise in logistics, envisioned administering up to 500,000 doses a day and also hiring junior doctors and dentists to give the injections in a variety of facilities, such as military barracks, production sites, schools and gyms.

According to a government document, vaccination capacity is expected to increase in coming months. Deliveries are set to rise from 15.7 million doses in the first quarter to 52.5 million from April to June, peaking at almost 85 million in the third quarter. After canceling or limiting supplies for weeks, Pfizer-BioNTech should increase deliveries in the near future, while AstraZeneca is still planning a slower rollout of vaccines to Italy. The Piedmont region, however, suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Sunday, a precautionary measure pending investigations into the risk of blood clots.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/14/world/italy-covid-lockdown.html

 

 

 

The discovery of the dangers of a variant in South Africa shows that global vaccine trials are indispensible

By Benjamin Mueller

 

Vaccine trials are underway at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto, South Africa. Pharmaceutical companies conduct relatively few trials in poorer countries.Credit...Joao Silva/The New York Times

The revelation last month that a coronavirus variant in South Africa was dampening the effect of one of the world’s most potent vaccines was a sobering one.

That finding — from a South African trial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot — exposed how quickly the virus had managed to dodge human antibodies, ending what some researchers have described as the world’s honeymoon period with Covid-19 vaccines and setting back hopes for containing the pandemic.

As countries adjust to that jarring turn of fortune, the story of how scientists uncovered the dangers of the variant in South Africa has put a spotlight on the global vaccine trials that were indispensable in warning the world.

“Historically, people might have thought a problem in a country like South Africa would stay in South Africa,” said Mark Feinberg, the chief executive of IAVI, a nonprofit scientific research group. “But we’ve seen how quickly variants are cropping up all around the world. Even wealthy countries have to pay a lot of attention to the evolving landscape all around the world.”

Once afterthoughts in the vaccine race, those global trials have saved the world from sleepwalking into year two of the coronavirus, oblivious to the way the pathogen could blunt the body’s immune response, scientists said. They also hold lessons about how vaccine makers can fight new variants this year and redress longstanding health inequities.

The deck is often stacked against medicine trials in poorer countries: Drug and vaccine makers gravitate to their biggest commercial markets, often avoiding the expense and the uncertainty of testing products in the global south. Less than 3 percent of clinical trials are held in Africa.

Yet the emergence of new variants in South Africa and Brazil has shown that vaccine makers cannot afford to wait years, as they often used to, before testing whether shots made for rich countries work in poorer ones, too.

“If you don’t identify and react to what’s happening in some supposedly far-flung continent, it significantly impacts global health,” said Clare Cutland, a vaccine scientist at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who coordinated the Oxford trial. “These results highlighted to the world that we’re not dealing with a single pathogen that sits there and does nothing — it’s constantly mutating.”

Despite offering minimal protection against mild or moderate cases caused by the variant in South Africa, the Oxford vaccine is likely to keep those patients from becoming severely ill, averting a surge of hospitalizations and deaths. Lab studies have generated a mix of hopeful and more worrisome results about how much the variant interferes with Pfizer and Moderna’s shots.

Nevertheless, vaccine makers are racing to test updated booster shots. And countries are trying to isolate cases of the variant, which the South African trials showed may also be able to reinfect people.

So long as the Oxford vaccine and others prevent severe disease, even in cases of the variant, the world can live with the virus, scientists said. But the trial in South Africa nevertheless underscored the need to stamp out the virus before it mutates further. Without it, scientists said, the world could have been blind to what was coming.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/14/world/covid-19-coronavirus/the-discovery-of-the-dangers-of-a-variant-in-south-africa-shows-that-global-vaccine-trials-are-indispensible