Country,	Total	New	Total
Other	Cases	Cases	Deaths
World	161,077,130	750,620	3,344,779
USA	33,586,136	35,816	597,785
India	23,702,832	362,406	258,351
Brazil	15,361,686	76,638	428,256
France	5,821,668	21,498	107,119
Turkey	5,072,462	13,029	43,821
Russia	4,905,059	8,217	114,331
UK	4,441,975	2,284	127,640
Italy	4,131,078	7,852	123,544
Spain	3,592,751	6,418	79,208
Germany	3,558,148	13,833	86,009
Argentina	3,215,572	24,475	68,807
Colombia	3,048,719	16,993	79,261
Poland	2,842,339	4,255	70,679
Iran	2,707,761	16,409	75,934
Mexico	2,368,393	1,897	219,323
Ukraine	2,129,073	4,538	46,987
Peru	1,865,639	7,400	64,898
Indonesia	1,728,204	4,608	47,617
Czechia	1,648,667	1,673	29,787
South Africa	1,602,031	2,759	54,968
Netherlands	1,577,754	6,356	17,399
Canada	1,305,770	6,198	24,766
Chile	1,260,448	3,902	27,384
Iraq	1,127,580	4,666	15,855
Philippines	1,118,359	4,842	18,714
Romania	1,068,817	930	29,233
Sweden	1,027,934		14,267
Belgium	1,020,332	2456	24,609
Pakistan	867,438	2,881	19,210
Portugal	840,493	485	16,998
Israel	839,030	30	6,379
Hungary	793,784	905	28,888
Bangladesh	777,397	1,140	12,045
Jordan	722,336	483	9,180
Serbia	703,497	1,046	6,611
Switzerland	677,210	1,539	10,725
Japan	651,702	6,242	11,064
Austria	633,960	1,194	10,428
UAE	540,646	1,508	1,619
Lebanon	534,388	703	7,549
Morocco	514,432	268	9,088
Malaysia	453,222	4765	1,761
Saudi Arabia	429,389	1,020	7,111
Nepal	422,349	9,238	4,252
Bulgaria	412,814	657	17,150
Ecuador	404,632	2,037	19,349
Slovakia	386,540	404	12,096
Belarus	371,405	896	2,661
Greece	369,554	2,478	11,211
Panama	368,930	562	6,285
Kazakhstan	348,308	1,811	3,964
Croatia	347,094	1,471	7,589
Azerbaijan	328,159	558	4,726
Georgia	325,665	1,409	4,363
Tunisia	324,103	1,105	11,637
Bolivia	322,578	2,369	13,308
Paraguay	304,889	2,828	7,358
Palestine	303,270	493	3,401
Kuwait	288,184	985	1,669
Costa Rica	276,887	3,173	3,482
Dominican Republic	273,497	688	3,554
Ethiopia	264,367	695	3,938
Denmark	262,159	1,246	2,499
Lithuania	261,128	1,230	4,059
Ireland	254,013	446	4,937
Moldova	253,173	224	5,981
Slovenia	247,449	726	4,304
Egypt	240,927	1187	14,091
Guatemala	237,682	1,416	7,815
Uruguay	228,102	2,255	3,252
Honduras	222,118	1130	5,789
Armenia	219,950	354	4272
Qatar	212,124	392	519
Venezuela	210,948	832	2,337
Oman	202,713		2,148
Bosnia and Herzegovina	201,796	284	8,943
Bahrain	194,289	1539	705
Libya	180,945	253	3082
Nigeria	165,559	44	2,066
Kenya	164,386	410	2,950
North Macedonia	154,372	150	5,151
Myanmar	142,997	23	3,211
Sri Lanka	132,527	1429	868
Albania	131,845	42	2,423
S. Korea	128,918	635	1,884
Estonia	126,064	371	1,210
Latvia	125,689	729	2,223
Algeria	124,682	199	3350
Cuba	119,375	1207	768
Norway	117,995	500	774
Kyrgyzstan	99,316	283	1675
Montenegro	98,546	97	1,548
Uzbekistan	95,467	395	666
Ghana	93,125	114	783
Zambia	92,211	59	1259
China	90,799	16	4636
Finland	89,270	280	930
Thailand	88,907	1983	486
Cameroon	74,946		1,152
El Salvador	70,380		2,168
Suriname	11,427	121	220
Vietnam	3,623	86	35

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

 

 

 

Many states with the worst recent outbreaks in the U.S. show notable drops in new cases and hospitalizations.

 

 

Fields of flowers during the Tulip Time Festival in Holland, Mich., last week. Cases of Covid-19 have taken a dive in Michigan after months at high levels.Credit...Emily Elconin for The New York Times

Many of the states that have suffered the worst recent coronavirus outbreaks have seen notable declines both in new cases and in hospitalizations over the last two weeks, according to a New York Times database.

For example, in Michigan, which has had one of the country’s steepest drops, the average number of daily cases sank 44 percent and hospitalizations tumbled 33 percent over that time period, as of Tuesday.

The average number of new cases is also down 32 percent in Minnesota, 38 percent in Pennsylvania and 36 percent in Florida in the past two weeks. In the same three states, hospitalizations are down 21 percent, 28 percent and 12 percent.

The progress for states like Michigan, which recently began to recover from one of its worst stretches in the pandemic, could indicate that vaccinations are beginning to rein in the virus in the United States. Hospitalization data can often lag behind case numbers for a number of reasons.

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, testified at a Senate hearing on Tuesday that while she was encouraged by the gains against the pandemic, she urged Americans to remain vigilant to the threat of the virus around the world.

Ms. Walensky said getting a vaccine was the fastest way to end the pandemic.

“But even with this powerful tool, while we continue to have community transmission, we must also maintain public health measures we know will prevent the spread of this virus, mask hygiene, hand hygiene, and physical distancing,” she said.

Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said in an interview that the vaccines were a key contributor to improvements in case numbers and hospitalizations, but that the virus had behaved in surprising ways and there remained aspects about which experts still needed to learn more.

As an example of the virus’s unpredictable ebbs and flows, Dr. Osterholm pointed to Indiana, which borders Michigan and haslower vaccination rates but did not see the same recent spike in case numbers as its northern neighbor.

“I don’t see us having a national surge. We’re not going to be like India. I do think the vaccine levels have surely helped us tremendously in taking that off the table,” Dr. Osterholm said. “But I do think at the state level, where we have substantial populations that need to be vaccinated, we could still see substantial activity.”

After reaching an average peak of 3.38 million doses reported a day in mid-April, the pace of U.S. coronavirus vaccinations had declined. Nearly all states have a supply of vaccine doses that could be quickly redirected to adolescents. On Wednesday, the federal government took a final step toward making the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine available to 12- to 15-year-olds.

President Biden is pursuing a strategy focused on local outreach and expanded accessibility to the vaccine to help reach his goal of at least partly vaccinating 70 percent of Americans by Independence Day.

“If it’s available, if it’s nearby, if it’s convenient, people are getting vaccinated,” Mr. Biden said at the White House on Wednesday, highlighting initiatives like walk-up availability and free Uber and Lyft rides to vaccination sites.

Making it easier to get vaccinated could appeal to the roughly 30 million Americans who say they would get the shot, but have not yet done so for myriad reasons. Local officials and private businesses are also offering a wide range of different incentives, like free subway rides, beer, baseball tickets and cash payouts, to convince more reluctant Americans to get vaccinated.

The changes in the trajectory of the virus in the United States comes as other regions of the world, especially India and Southeast Asia, are getting hit hard. A number of variants are also spreading around the world, and scientists told a U.S. congressional panel on Wednesday that variants will pose a continuing threat to the nation.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the W.H.O., said on Monday that the world was seeing a plateau in known cases, “but it is an unacceptably high plateau with more than 5.4 million cases and almost 90,000 deaths last week.”

He continued, “Any decline is welcome but we have been here before, over the past year many countries have experienced a declining trend in cases and deaths, have relaxed public health and social measures too quickly, and individuals have let down their guard only for those hard-won gains to be lost.”

 

 

 

C.D.C. approves Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children 12 to 15 years old.

 

A middle school student waiting to receive a coronavirus vaccine shot on Wednesday in Decatur, Ga.Credit...Ron Harris/Associated Press

The federal government on Wednesday took a final step toward making the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine available to 12- to 15-year-olds in the United States, removing an obstacle to school reopenings and cheering millions of families weary of pandemic restrictions.

An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted to recommend the vaccine for use in children in that age group. The C.D.C. director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, formally adopted the recommendation on Wednesday evening.

Many parents are eagerly anticipating the availability of vaccines for children, at least in part to speed their return to schools. Roughly one-third of eighth graders, usually 13 or 14 years old, are still learning fully remotely.

Vaccinations of adolescents have already begun in a few states, like Maine. Others plan to offer the vaccine as early as Thursday. There are nearly 17 million 12- to 15-year-olds in the United States, accounting for 5.3 percent of the population.

Nearly all states now have vaccine supply that could be quickly redirected to adolescents. The dose used to immunize adults is also safe and effective for these adolescents, clinical trials have shown.

While children’s risk of severe illness is low compared with that of adults, the coronavirus has infected more than 1.5 million children and sent more than 13,000 to hospitals, more than are hospitalized for flu in an average year, according to data collected by the C.D.C.

Young children are thought to spread the virus less often than adults do, but their ability to transmit increases with age. Teenagers, particularly those in high school, may transmit the virus as readily as adults. Children aged 12 to 17 years represent an increasing proportion of Covid cases in the country.

Vaccinating children should increase the level of immunity in the U.S. population, helping to bring down the number of cases.

In remarks from the White House on Wednesday, President Biden touted the benefits of a vaccine for children 12 and older as “safe, effective, easy, fast and free.”

“My hope is parents will take advantage of the vaccine and get their kids vaccinated,” he said. He noted that “as of tomorrow, more than 15,000 pharmacies will be ready to vaccinate this age group,” and that pharmacies would make it easy for teens moving around to get the first shot in one location and a second shot elsewhere.

Mr. Biden also expressed skepticism about continued vaccine hesitancy. “If it’s available, if it’s nearby, if it’s convenient, people are getting vaccinated,” he said. “I believe the vast majority of Americans will get vaccinated.”

Pfizer announced in March that the vaccine seemed to be at least as effective in 12- to 15-year-olds as it has been in older teenagers and adults. Apart from a slight increase in the frequency of fevers, the shots also seemed to have comparable, mostly negligible side effects.

The Food and Drug Administration reviewed the clinical data and on Monday authorized the Pfizer vaccine for use in these children, capping weeks of anticipation from parents and children about a swifter return to normalcy.

 

 

 

The W.H.O. warns that a variant in India could be highly contagious.

 

Medical workers tending to a coronavirus patient in an emergency room in New Delhi last week.Credit...Adnan Abidi/Reuters

A virus variant that has been spreading rapidly in India and designated a variant of concern by the World Health Organization might be more contagious than most versions of the coronavirus, the agency said in a report it published on Tuesday evening.

The W.H.O. emphasized in its report that it wasn’t yet clear how much the variant, known as B.1.617, had contributed to the devastating surge that has crushed India in recent weeks. It cautioned that India, like many countries, is only sequencing a tiny fraction of positive samples, and that with so little surveillance, it’s difficult to make firm conclusions about B.1.617.

The W.H.O. study comes amid growing condemnation of the Indian government’s response to its ferocious virus wave and calls for nationwide restrictions to try to limit the death toll, as hospitals are overrun and crematories burn nonstop.

India recorded more than 360,000 new cases on Wednesday and more than 4,200 deaths, the country’s highest daily death toll since the pandemic began. India has now reported more than 250,000 deaths from the virus, although experts believe that the true toll is far higher.

Experts also caution that it is not yet clear just how much of a factor B.1.617 has played in the explosion of cases in India. They point to a perfect storm of public health blunders, such as permitting enormous political rallies and religious festivals in recent months. It’s possible that the variant is being lifted up by the surge, rather than the other way around.

The W.H.O. speculated that another variant known as B.1.1.7, first identified in Britain and now dominant in the United States, might also be driving the swell in cases.

It’s not yet clear whether B.1.617 causes more severe Covid-19. Anecdotally, doctors in India are reporting higher numbers of young people and children testing positive for the virus and more patients with severe disease requiring oxygen support. But until more genetic sequencing is done, it’s impossible to know if the variant is to blame.

Stacia Wyman, a genomics scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, said that the W.H.O. had made the right decision. She pointed to the fact that the variant had already spread to at least 49 countries. “This appears to be posing the biggest threat right now in terms of transmissibility, with many countries reporting increasing trajectories of the B.1.617 variant,” she said.

B.1.617 is the fourth variant of concern recognized by the W.H.O. The others include B.1.1.7; B.1.351, which swept through South Africa; and P.1, which has devastated Brazil.

B.1.617 first came to light in October 2020. It had a number of mutations, some of which have been proved worrisome in other variants. Preliminary studies on the mutations suggest that some of them might give the coronavirus a tighter grip on cells, increasing their chances of a successful infection.

Other mutations could make it more difficult for antibodies produced by infections with other variants to stick to them. Studies on antibodies produced by vaccinated people also suggest that they work less successfully against B.1.617. Experts expect that most vaccines will remain effective against the variant.

W.H.O. researchers determined that B.1.617 is spreading fast in India, making up over 28 percent of samples from positive tests. The shift suggests that B.1.617 has a higher growth rate than other variants circulating in India, with the possible exception of B.1.1.7. And B.1.617 has been growing rapidly in Britain.

Gagandeep Kang, a pre-eminent Indian virologist, said there was not enough data to conclude whether either variant was contributing to India’s deadlier second wave.

“There is some conflicting data regarding the B.1.1.7 variant, which seems to indicate in some studies that it does cause more severe disease, in other studies not,” said Dr. Kang, the executive director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute in India.

Based on reports from hospitals, Dr. Kang said, it appeared that B.1.617 was causing more severe disease but that, again, there was insufficient data to draw conclusions. She said that real-time genetic information would be needed to determine whether B.1.617-infected people needed more oxygen.

Officials in India are trying to track how many fully vaccinated people have fallen ill. If an unusual number of these so-called breakthroughs are caused by a variant such as B.1.617, then that could point to the variant’s ability to evade a vaccine.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/12/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-cases?name=styln-vaccines-combo&region=TOP_BANNER&block=storyline_menu_recirc&action=click&pgtype=Article&variant=1_Show&is_new=true

 

 

 

Taiwan sees vaccination rush as local Covid cases rise to single-day high of 16

From CNN's Sophie Jeong and Yong Xiong

 

Taiwan reported 16 new local Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest daily rise since the pandemic began, Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) reported.

Three of the cases are linked to an arcade in northeastern Yilan County, while 10 others are contacts of a case confirmed Tuesday involving a Taiwanese man in his 60s, CNA reported, citing Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung.

The recent spike in cases -- while a drop in the bucket compared to much of the world -- has caused some alarm in Taiwan, with many residents rushing to get vaccinated, according to CNA. 

Taiwan has been hailed for its effective and early response to the virus, becoming one of the first places to record no new cases and going months at a time without infections, which has allowed life on the island to proceed much as normal, albeit with limited overseas travel. 

Vaccination rush: Chen said 11,018 people were vaccinated Tuesday, the highest daily number so far. The figure pushed the total number of residents who have received a vaccine to 112,543, with around 180,000 doses currently remaining. 

Taiwan has a population of more than 23 million. After weeks of concern over low vaccination uptake, Chen said he was now worried stocks may run out, CNA reported. 

The elderly, medical personnel and other emergency or high-risk workers, as well as diplomats, police, care workers and some other professions are currently eligible for vaccination under the government program.

However, anyone not covered who is traveling abroad and wishes to get inoculated can do so by paying 600 New Taiwan dollars ($21) at certain clinics -- around three times the price of government-provided shots. 

Wednesday could prove to be another record vaccination day, with CNA reporting paid slots for hospitals in metropolitan areas were already full as of midday, and some through to near the end of the month. 

Pilot quarantine: On Monday, Chen said Taiwan will quarantine all active pilots working for Taiwanese carrier China Airlines for 14 days amid a recent outbreak of Covid-19 among flight crews and hotel workers. 

Taiwan has reported a total 1,231 Covid-19 cases and 12 related deaths, according to the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control.

 

 

 

Singapore airport and passenger terminals closed to public after Covid cluster

From CNN’s Sophie Jeong

 

Singapore airport is closing its passenger terminal buildings to the general public for two weeks following a rising number of Covid-19 cases linked to the facility.

In a joint statement, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Changi Airport Group said all workers in Changi Airport’s Terminals 1 and 3, and Jewel Changi Airport are undergoing mandatory Covid-19 tests as of May 9.

"This is to quickly detect, isolate and treat any potential Covid-19 cases in the airport community," the statement said, adding the closures were "a precaution."

The closures -- which include the Jewel shopping mall and entertainment complex -- will start from Thursday. The facilities will reopen on May 27.

During this time, the airport will remain open for air travel and passengers can still be dropped off and picked up from the terminals.

"Access to the Passenger Terminal Buildings will be restricted to only passengers with air tickets and essential airport workers. Some essential services and food & beverage outlets will remain open to serve them," CAAS and CAG said. 
"For clarity, members of the public will not be allowed to enter the Passenger Terminal Buildings."   

Singapore reported 10 new locally transmitted Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, of which seven cases are linked to an 88-year-old cleaner at Changi Airport Terminal 3, Singapore’s Ministry of Health said. His case was confirmed on May 5, the ministry added.

The country has reported 61,419 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 31 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

 

Retrieved from:  https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-05-13-21/index.html

 

 

 

EU countries urged to halt non-essential travel from India

Reuters

 

People wearing protective face masks wait to receive their second dose of COVISHIELD, a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India, outside a vaccination centre in Kolkata, India, May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

 

The European Union’s executive on Wednesday called on countries of the bloc to temporarily halt non-essential travel from India, to limit the spread of a COVID-19 variant.

The European Commission said its proposal followed the World Health Organisation's proposal on Monday to reclassify the B.1.617.2 variant of COVID-19 found in India as a "variant of concern", raising the alert from a "variant of interest".

EU countries should apply an "emergency brake" on non-essential travel from India, it said in a statement.

"It is important to limit to the strict minimum the categories of travellers that can travel from India for essential reasons and to subject those who may still travel from India to strict testing and quarantine arrangements," it added.

Last week the Commission proposed that the EU's 27 member states ease COVID-19 travel restrictions from June to allow foreign travellers from more countries to enter the bloc, while keeping the option to quickly restrict travel from countries where the health situation deteriorates sharply. read more

The member states have not yet adopted this recommendation but could individually opt to ban non-essential travel from India before it is adopted.

India's coronavirus death toll crossed 250,000 on Wednesday in the deadliest 24 hours since the pandemic began and experts around the world have expressed concern the variant first identified there may be highly transmissible.

The European Commission said limited exemptions should apply to its proposed halt to travel from India, including to those travelling for "imperative family reasons" or EU citizens and long-term residents.

Those travellers should face additional health measures on arrival in the EU, such as strict testing or quarantine requirements, it said.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-countries-urged-halt-non-essential-travel-india-2021-05-12/