Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths
World	159,595,344	+611,096	3,317,384
USA	33,515,308	+30,152	596,179
India	22,991,927	+329,517	250,025
Brazil	15,214,030	+29,240	423,436
France	5,780,379	+3,292	106,684
Turkey	5,044,936	+13,604	43,311
Russia	4,888,727	+8,465	113,647
UK	4,437,217	+2,357	127,609
Italy	4,116,287	+5,080	123,031
Spain	3,581,392	+4,579	78,895
Germany	3,535,354	+7,814	85,481
Argentina	3,165,121	+17,381	67,821
Colombia	3,015,301	+12,543	78,342
Poland	2,835,083	+2,032	70,034
Iran	2,673,219	+18,408	75,261
Mexico	2,365,792	+1,175	218,985
Ukraine	2,122,327	+2,817	46,512
Peru	1,853,370	+3,080	64,373
Indonesia	1,718,575	+4,891	47,218
Czechia	1,645,448	+381	29,711
South Africa	1,597,724	+1,129	54,825
Netherlands	1,565,880	+5,858	17,340
Canada	1,294,186	+7,520	24,682
Chile	1,252,808	+5,339	27,318
Iraq	1,117,627	+4,902	15,800
Philippines	1,108,826	+6,846	18,562
Romania	1,066,731	+620	29,034
Belgium	1,016,609	+2,258	24,551
Pakistan	861,473	+3,447	18,993
Portugal	839,740	+158	16,993
Israel	838,957	+65	6,378
Hungary	792,386	+677	28,693
Bangladesh	775,027	+1,514	11,972
Jordan	720,998	+1,022	9,125
Serbia	701,326	+918	6,576
Japan	640,044	+6,247	10,876
Austria	631,896	+820	10,392
UAE	537,524	+1,507	1,615
Lebanon	533,141	+302	7,507
Morocco	513,922	+58	9,077
Malaysia	444,484	+3,807	1,700
Saudi Arabia	427,370	+986	7,085
Bulgaria	411,280	+1,078	17,045
Nepal	403,794	+9,127	3,859
Ecuador	402,060	+1,764	19,242
Slovakia	385,786	+311	12,051
Belarus	369,767	+879	2,642
Panama	367,908	+252	6,277
Greece	363,904	+1,900	11,089
Croatia	344,747	+253	7,503
Kazakhstan	344,731	+2,142	3,928
Azerbaijan	327,087	+371	4,698
Georgia	322,468	+549	4,305
Tunisia	321,837	+1,024	11,468
Bolivia	318,610	+1,063	13,228
Palestine	302,249	+498	3,378
Paraguay	299,684	+1,895	7,209
Kuwait	286,046	+978	1,652
Costa Rica	271,478	+1,500	3,430
Ethiopia	263,120	+418	3,897
Denmark	259,988	+932	2,497
Lithuania	258,623	+786	4,045
Ireland	253,189	+380	4,921
Moldova	252,798	+49	5,958
Slovenia	246,231	+147	4,299
Egypt	238,560	+1,150	13,972
Guatemala	235,304	+206	7,736
Uruguay	222,870	+2,187	3,171
Honduras	220,185	+897	5,665
Armenia	219,353	+83	4,249
Qatar	211,389	+397	512
Venezuela	209,162	+1,292	2,304
Oman	202,137	+787	2,138
Bahrain	191,018	+1,662	691
Libya	180,226	+256	3,072
Nigeria	165,468	+49	2,065
Kenya	163,620	+66	2,907
Myanmar	142,963	+16	3,210
Albania	131,753	+30	2,416
Sri Lanka	128,530	+2,624	827
S. Korea	127,772	+463	1,875
Estonia	125,337	+199	1,204
Latvia	124,301	+338	2,213
Algeria	124,288	+184	3,335
Cuba	117,097	+1,116	741
Norway	117,022	+579	767
Kyrgyzstan	98,654	+254	1,660
Montenegro	98,365	+62	1,544
Uzbekistan	94,759	+362	662
Ghana	93,011	+60	783
Zambia	92,112	+20	1,257
China	90,769	+11	4,636
Finland	88,866	+143	922
Thailand	85,005	+1,630	421
Suriname	11,213	+101	218
Aruba	10,781	+11	102
Vietnam	3,461	+129	35

 

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

 

 

 

Philippines detects first two cases of Indian Covid variant

From journalist Yasmin Coles and CNN’s Gawon Bae

 

A medical worker conducts a swab test at a Covid-19 test site in Metro Manila, Philippines on April 26. Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Philippines has detected its first two cases of the Indian Covid variant B.1.617, the country’s Health Department said Tuesday. The cases are from two asymptomatic people without travel history to India and were workers returning from Oman and the UAE.

The two tested positive for the virus in April, the Health Department said. They are in quarantine while other passengers that shared the flight are being monitored. The passengers who shared rows with them on the flights have tested negative. 

The Health Department also said that it will test nine samples from 11 Filipino seafarers who contracted Covid-19 on the cargo ship MV Athens Bridge that had traveled to India and made a medical evacuation in Manila on May 7.

The country has been restricting entry for people with travel history to India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the past 14 days. The ban is effective until May 14.

 

 

 

India records 329,942 new cases as total tally edges towards 23 million

From CNN’s Manveena Suri in Delhi

 

A health care worker collects swab samples in Mumbai, India on May 6. Satish Bate/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

India recorded 329,942 cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total to 22,992,517, according to figures released by the Health Ministry.

This is the second day in a row that the number of new daily cases reported has been below 400,000. India had previously recorded four consecutive days of over 400,000 cases. 

The country also reported 3,876 deaths Tuesday. Since April 28, the daily number of deaths has exceeded 3,000, with the total death toll at 249,992. 

India is the second-worst affected country after the United States with 32.7 million cases and ahead of Brazil, which has the third-highest number of cases at 15.2 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.

To date, 172,633,761 vaccine doses have been administered in India. With 37,159,467 people having received their second dose, around 2.85% of India’s 1.3 billion-strong population is fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry said this week.

 

 

 

EU to hit AstraZeneca with second lawsuit over Covid-19 vaccine delivery 

From CNN’s Arnaud Siad 

 

Boxes of AstraZeneca vaccines are seen in cold storage in Oss, Netherlands on April 6. Rob Engelaar/ANP/AFP/Getty Images

The European Commission will take further legal action against AstraZeneca over delayed shipments of its Covid-19 vaccines on Tuesday, an EU spokesperson said in a statement on Monday. 

Stefan De Keersmaecker, European Commission spokesperson for health, food safety and transport, said: “The second lawsuit concerns the merits of the case: on the basis of the provisions of the Advance Purchase Agreement [APA], the Commission requests the Court to adjudicate whether AstraZeneca has violated the APA.” 

“Tomorrow, the introductory hearing will take place. The Court is expected to fix the deadlines for the submission of trial briefs and hearings,” he added. 

On April 26, the EU announced it was suing AstraZeneca over an alleged breach of its vaccine supply contract, a dramatic escalation of a months-long dispute over delivery delays that hampered the rollout of shots across the continent. 

The 27 nations of the European Union had ordered 300 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from the British-Swedish drugmaker to be delivered by the end of June, with an option to purchase an additional 100 million. But deliveries of the vaccine repeatedly fell short, sparking a bitter public fight over the terms of the contract. 

In his statement on Monday, De Keersmaecker said that the first case was an emergency injunction while the second is a lawsuit on the merits of the case.  

Regarding that first lawsuit, he said, “Given the urgent need of vaccine doses to continue the vaccination in the Member States, the Commission asked the court to require the company to deliver a sufficient number of doses. The court will only make a preliminary assessment of the case and assess whether there is an emergency to deliver doses. The hearing in this case will take place on 26 May.” 

He said the objective of the commission is the same through both lawsuits, that is, “ensuring, through legal actions, the delivery of a sufficient number of doses for the European citizens.” 

 

 

 

Malaysia imposes nationwide lockdown during 3rd wave of coronavirus

From CNN's Akanksha Sharma and Pauline Lockwood

 

A road near Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is near-empty on May 7. Wong Fok Loy/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Malaysia’s prime minister has declared a nationwide lockdown from Wednesday until June 7 in an effort to contain the rise in coronavirus cases, state media Bernama News Agency reported.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced the lockdown, known as the Movement Control Order or MCO, saying "Malaysia is facing the third wave of the pandemic which can trigger a national crisis."

The prime minister added that Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 cases have exceeded 4,000 as of Monday. There are 37,390 active coronavirus cases and the death toll stands at 1,700 as of May 10, he said.

Yassin also warned of “the emergence of new variants with higher infection rates” that could pressure the country’s healthcare infrastructure.

Under the nationwide lockdown all social gatherings will be banned along with inter-state and inter-district travel.

The Hari Raya Aidilfitri or Eid al-Fitr prayers will also be limited to 50 people for mosques that can accommodate 1,000 people and 20 for mosques that accommodate less.

The limit also applies to Friday prayers.

Restaurants will not be allowed dine-in customers, only take-aways are permitted. No weddings or social functions are permitted during the lockdown.

Educational institutes will also remain closed.

The lockdown comes while Malaysia is still under a state of emergency, which was declared by the prime minister back in January to contain the pandemic.

The first nationwide lockdown in Malaysia was imposed on March 18 to May 3, 2020.

 

Retrieved from: https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-05-11-21/index.html

 

 

A coronavirus variant first found in India is now officially a ‘variant of concern,’ the W.H.O. said

By Carl Zimmer, Daniel E. Slotnik and Karan Deep Singh

 

Funeral pyres of coronavirus victims at a makeshift crematorium in New Delhi on Sunday.Credit...Anindito Mukherjee/Getty Images

Amid a deepening crisis in India, the World Health Organization announced Monday that it had designated the B.1.617 variant, which has been growing more common in the country, as a variant of concern. Scientists still don’t know much about the variant yet, but they are worried that it may be helping to fuel the rise in the nation’s coronavirus infections, which experts say are likely undercounted.

“There is increased transmissibility demonstrated by some preliminary studies” of the variant, said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead of the W.H.O.’s coronavirus response.

Dr. Van Kerkhove also said that a study of a limited number of patients, which had not yet been peer reviewed, suggested that antibodies from vaccines or infections with other variants might not be quite as effective against B.1.617. However, the agency said that vaccines will likely remain potent enough to provide protection against B.1.617.

More details will be released in a report on Tuesday, Dr. Van Kerkhove said.

The variant was first detected in India at the end of 2020 but became more common in the country starting in March. It has since been found in 32 countries including the United States and the United Kingdom. The W.H.O.’s announcement comes as growing numbers of medical experts are adding their voices to a chorus of condemnation of the Indian government’s response and calling for nationwide restrictions to try to limit the horrifying death toll.

Although the official figures are already staggering — more than 350,000 new infections daily this month and nearly 250,000 total deaths — some experts say that the numbers are a vast undercount and estimate that India is on pace to suffer more than one million deaths by August.

Initially, the W.H.O. classified B.1.617 as a “variant of interest,” because it had certain mutations that have been linked to higher transmission and the potential to evade vaccines. At a news conference on Monday, agency officials announced they were elevated it to a higher level.

Other variants of concern include B.1.1.7, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, and P.1, which was originally detected in Brazil.

But experts caution that it’s not yet clear just how much of a factor B.1.617 has played in the catastrophic rise in cases in India. They point to a perfect storm of public health blunders, such as permitting massive political rallies and religious festivals in recent months.

“I am concerned about 617 — I think we have to keep a very close eye on it,” said Kristian Andersen, a virologist at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. But he cautioned that relatively few variant samples are being analyzed in India, making it hard to know just how dangerous B.1.617 is. “We really, really need better data out of India,” he said.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/10/world/asia/india-covid-virus-variant.html

 

 

 

Saudi Arabia says pilgrimage to Mecca will be allowed, but the rules remain unclear

By Vivian Yee

 

Saying evening prayers around the Kaaba in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday.Credit...Abdulghani Essa/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Saudi Arabia said on Sunday that it would hold the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that in normal times draws millions of Muslims to the kingdom, but did not say how many pilgrims would be allowed to come, which countries would be allowed to send them or what coronavirus precautions they would have to take.

The hajj, the ritual all Muslims are supposed to complete at least once, was also held last summer, but under tightly controlled conditions. Only about 1,000 Muslims from Saudi Arabia, including Saudis and foreign nationals living in the kingdom, were able to take part, down from about 2.5 million pilgrims in 2019; the rituals were performed at social distance, with masks, and the pilgrims were not allowed to kiss the Kaaba, the holy shrine at the center of Mecca that pilgrims are supposed to circle as they complete the hajj.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/10/world/covid-19-coronavirus/saudi-arabia-says-pilgrimage-to-mecca-will-be-allowed-but-the-rules-remain-unclear

 

 

 

China will partition Mount Everest’s summit to reduce coronavirus risk

By Austin Ramzy

 

China said on Sunday that it had taken steps to prevent coronavirus cases from entering the country — over the top of the world’s tallest mountain.

Nyima Tsering, head of the Tibet Sports Bureau, told the state-run Xinhua News Agency that control measures would be put in place on Mount Everest, including the installation of a dividing line on the summit to prevent climbers from the Chinese side and the Nepal side from coming into contact.

Last week, a team of Sherpa guides affixed a rope to the summit of Mount Everest from the Nepal side, allowing expeditions to resume for the first time since the pandemic forced a cancellation of attempts last year.

Nepal has this year approved a record 408 permits to climb Everest, even as coronavirus cases have surged in the country and several climbers have been flown from base camp with symptoms of Covid-19.

China, which has approved just 21 permits to climb the mountain from its side this year, has expressed concern about the risk of coronavirus transmission on the mountain. Since the coronavirus first emerged in China in 2019, the country has carried out strict measures to prevent its spread internally and reintroduction from abroad.

The border between Nepal and China crosses the peak of Everest, a small area where a handful of climbers can stand after making a successful ascent. At the summit, 29,031.7 feet above sea level, most climbers already wear masks to supply oxygen and protect themselves from the cold. But China will implement additional steps to reduce the risk of transmission.

In addition to restrictions on the summit, a checkpoint has been installed outside the Chinese base camp. People returning from the Chinese side will have to undergo disinfection, temperature checks and potentially isolation, Xinhua reported.

 

 

 

Summary

 

Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:

· The World Health Organization has said the B.1.617 variant spreading in India shows signs of being more transmissible, and is now being treated as a variant of concern globally.

·  US health authorities have approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for emergency use in adolescents. US regulators authorised the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for use in children as young as 12.

· Malaysia’s government has announced that it will impose a national lockdown in response to rising cases. All social gatherings will be banned and schools closed.

· WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that public health capacities must be strengthened to prepare for the possibility of vaccine-evading Covid-19 variants.

· France records its’ lowest case figures of 2021. The country records 3,292 new Covid-19 cases and 292 deaths.

· University students at the State University of New York (SUNY) and the City University of New York (CUNY) must get vaccinated against Covid-19 to attend classes during the fall semester.

· The French prime minister Jean Castex has said that France was “emerging on a long-term basis” from the Covid-19 crisis.

· Argentina’s health ministry confirmed its first cases of the Covid-19 variants first discovered in India and South Africa in three travellers returning from Europe.

· Novavax Inc has said the development of its Covid-19 vaccine is slower than previously anticipated and does expect to file for regulatory approval until the third quarter of 2021.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/may/11/coronavirus-live-news-india-variant-of-concern-globally-says-who-pfizer-vaccine-approved-for-us-12-15-year-olds