Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths
World	165,839,399	+651,703	3,444,476
USA	33,833,181	+30,214	602,616
India	26,030,674	+259,269	291,365
Brazil	15,898,558	+83,367	444,391
France	5,568,551	+15,415	108,314
Turkey	5,160,423	+9,385	45,626
Russia	4,974,908	+9,232	117,361
UK	4,455,221	+2,874	127,701
Italy	4,178,261	+5,741	124,810
Germany	3,638,504	+10,727	87,639
Spain	3,631,661	+5,733	79,601
Argentina	3,447,044	+35,884	72,699
Colombia	3,177,212	+16,086	83,233
Poland	2,861,351	+2,086	72,500
Iran	2,804,632	+12,428	77,994
Mexico	2,387,512	+2,000	220,850
Ukraine	2,170,398	+5,165	48,899
Peru	1,910,360	+6,745	67,253
Indonesia	1,758,898	+5,797	48,887
Czechia	1,656,202	+778	29,985
South Africa	1,625,003	+3,641	55,568
Netherlands	1,615,500	+4,632	17,506
Canada	1,347,445	+5,057	25,111
Chile	1,308,311	+7,682	28,169
Philippines	1,165,155	+6,100	19,641
Iraq	1,156,137	+4,580	16,102
Romania	1,074,297	+618	29,777
Belgium	1,038,514	+3,800	24,768
Pakistan	890,391	+4,207	19,987
Portugal	843,729	+451	17,014
Israel	839,263	+42	6,396
Hungary	800,368	+780	29,380
Bangladesh	785,194	+1,457	12,284
Jordan	728,549	+937	9,328
Serbia	708,878	+550	6,739
Japan	698,254	+5,819	11,940
Austria	639,616	+562	10,527
UAE	551,430	+1,401	1,642
Lebanon	537,437	+394	7,658
Morocco	516,091	+333	9,109
Malaysia	492,302	+6,806	2,099
Nepal	488,645	+8,227	5,847
Saudi Arabia	437,569	+1,330	7,214
Bulgaria	416,055	+368	17,447
Ecuador	415,255	+2,348	20,022
Slovakia	388,391	+253	12,272
Greece	385,444	+1,886	11,641
Belarus	381,546	+1,457	2,742
Panama	372,800	+579	6,314
Kazakhstan	366,481	+2,433	4,124
Croatia	352,692	+695	7,828
Bolivia	340,207	+2,766	13,693
Georgia	334,705	+1,104	4,540
Tunisia	331,674	+1,749	12,089
Azerbaijan	331,477	+437	4,828
Paraguay	324,063	+3,031	8,012
Costa Rica	296,632	+2,812	3,736
Kuwait	295,861	+1,168	1,711
Dominican Republic	280,994	+1,429	3,600
Denmark	270,557	+1,214	2,506
Lithuania	268,699	+880	4,155
Ethiopia	268,035	+438	4,048
Ireland	257,362	+469	4,941
Moldova	254,379	+166	6,061
Uruguay	253,941	+4,576	3,691
Slovenia	250,811	+358	4,345
Egypt	250,391	+1,153	14,559
Guatemala	245,247	+1,414	7,952
Honduras	229,211	+924	6,051
Armenia	221,559	+191	4,364
Venezuela	219,864	+1,050	2,465
Qatar	214,463	+313	539
Bahrain	209,293	+2,415	780
Oman	208,607	+802	2,239
Libya	182,649	+299	3,102
Kenya	166,876	+494	3,040
Nigeria	165,901	+49	2,067
North Macedonia	154,937	+50	5,265
Sri Lanka	154,786	+3,443	1,089
Myanmar	143,183	+24	3,216
S. Korea	134,117	+646	1,916
Albania	132,118	+23	2,440
Latvia	129,794	+497	2,301
Cuba	129,346	+1,252	840
Estonia	128,084	+328	1,235
Algeria	126,156	+260	3,401
Norway	120,797	+505	781
Thailand	119,585	+2,636	703
Kyrgyzstan	101,580	+361	1,729
Montenegro	99,098	+67	1,569
Uzbekistan	97,543	+263	676
Zambia	92,754	+124	1,265
Finland	90,946	+259	929
China	90,920	+12	4,636
Cyprus	71,610	+77	350
Suriname	12,571	+162	240
Aruba	10,892	+13	106
Vietnam	4,809	+119	39

 

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

 

 

 

India surpasses 26 million Covid-19 cases

From CNN’s Swati Gupta in New Delhi

 

Medical staff transfer a Covid-19 patient to a hospital in New Delhi on May 18. Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images

India reported 259,551 cases of Covid-19 Friday, bringing the country's total caseload past 26 million. The country has recorded roughly 1 million cases since Monday. 

Friday's tally brings India's total number of confirmed coronavirus cases to 26,031,991, according to figures from the Indian health ministry.

India also reported 4,209 new virus-related deaths. The number of fatalities reported each day in the country have been consistently above 3,000 since April 28. India’s total coronavirus death toll stands at 291,331.

The country has seen a slight drop in new daily cases in the past week following several weeks of more than 300,000 infections per day.

A total of 191.8 million vaccine doses have been administered since the country began its vaccination program on January 16. On Thursday, India distributed 1,456,088 vaccine doses. 

 

 

 

South Korea grants conditional approval for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine 

From CNN's Yoonjung Seo in Seoul, South Korea

 

Moderna vaccines are prepared for application at a United States military vaccination centre at Camp Foster on April 28, in Ginowan, Japan.  Carl Court/Getty Images

South Korea granted conditional approval for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine on Friday, according to Food and Drug Safety Minister Kim Ganglip.

Two rounds of 0.5 ml of the Moderna vaccine can be administered to people age 18 or older, with a four-week interval between the first and second shot.

Moderna’s vaccine is the fourth Covid-19 vaccine to be approved in South Korea, after AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.

Kim said the approval comes with the condition that the company submits a final report about clinical trials.

South Korea has fully vaccinated just 2.5% of its population, according to CNN's vaccine tracker.

 

 

 

EU vaccine passports expected to take effect on July 1

From CNN’s Vasco Cotovio

 

The European Union Covid-19 vaccine certificates should take effect on July 1, the chair of the European Parliament's civil liberties committee, Juan Lopez Aguilar, said at a news conference in Brussels on Thursday.

“It’s going to be called EU Digital COVID Certificate, a unified certificate,” Lopez Aguilar said. “It’s a better alternative than the absence of this certificate, which will create a new legal safeguard, which we hope will provide an incentive to trust, not just between member states, but also in citizens over the possibility of starting to enjoy the free circulation this summer, as the vaccination process advances.”

Lopez Aguilar said the deal guaranteed that European citizens’ rights and would help enact a common travel policy within the European Union, in opposition to the current system where each state acts unilaterally.

The European Covid-19 vaccine certificate is expected to help reopen borders within the common European travel area and member states will only be allowed to reimpose travel restrictions in exceptional circumstances, where the epidemiological situation warrants it.

Those measures must be announced 48 hours before being implemented, Lopez Aguilar said.

Lopez Aguilar also said the three European bodies had agreed to mobilize an additional 35 million euros ($42 million dollars) to cut the cost of antigen tests, to make them more affordable, while the need, especially in order to travel, remains high. An additional 100 million euros ($122 million dollars) will be made available to member states to offset the costs of PCR tests, while they continue to be needed.

 

 

 

UK defends allowing direct flights from India as variant cases rise 28% in 2 days

From CNN's Niamh Kennedy in Dublin

 

 

Passengers arriving from India are escorted through Heathrow airport on April 23, in London. Leon Neal/Getty Images

The United Kingdom defended its continuation of direct flights from India despite a 28% rise in cases of the B1.617.2 variant in two days.

The UK "cannot ban its own citizens from returning home," Transport Minister Grant Shapps told Sky News Thursday, adding that all passengers on Indian flights are either British or Irish citizens or permanent residence holders with the right of abode in the British Isles. 
A ban could prompt people to "spread amongst many other flights," he added, consequently "making it harder to carry out the mandatory hotel quarantine."

India was added to the UK's highest-risk red country list on April 23 in order to "protect the country against a new variant of coronavirus (COVID-19) and against other existing variants," according to a news release from the Department of Transport.

About 2,967 cases of the B1.617.2 variant, which was first detected in India, have now been identified in the UK, Health Minister Matt Hancock told the House of Commons Wednesday. This represents a 28% increase on the 2,323 cases reported Monday.

The transport minister reiterated his calls for UK citizens not to visit amber or red list countries for vacations, emphasizing that travel to these countries is only for essential purposes. 

He said there was a "heck of a lot of hassle" involved in traveling to an amber country, such as France or Italy, citing the need for three Covid tests upon return and the completion of a five-day home quarantine.

"We're not at the stage of, you know, saying to people: 'Go to those places on holiday.' In fact, please don't," he added.

 

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

 

 

 

The W.H.O. announces a steep drop in new cases in Europe over the past month, though a top agency official cautions ‘this progress is fragile.’

By  Nick Cumming-Bruce and Daniel E. Slotnik

A crowded cafe at the end of the day at Châtelet-Les Halles in Paris on Wednesday.Credit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times

Europe has recorded a 60 percent drop in new coronavirus infections over the past month, the World Health Organization said Thursday, encouraging news that comes as the continent plans to reopen its borders. Still, “this progress is fragile,” a top agency official cautioned.

On Wednesday, the 27 member states of the European Union agreed that the bloc would reopen its borders to nonessential travelers who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus with an approved shot, as well as to those coming from a list of countries where the coronavirus is relatively under control.

The rules are set to become formal policy next week, and could be implemented immediately. Under the E.U. plan, the bloc would accept visitors who have completed their immunization at least two weeks before their arrival, using one of the shots approved by the union’s own regulator or by the W.H.O. That covers the vaccines from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinopharm, according to a draft of the rules seen by The New York Times.

Most countries are likely to introduce changes slowly and conservatively, but some of them, like Greece, have already removed quarantine requirements for vaccinated travelers or those who have a negative PCR test from no more than 72 hours ago. England, France, Spain, Poland, Italy and other countries in the bloc have already started easing restrictions.

The W.H.O.’s announcement of declining cases is welcome for the soon-reopening bloc, as tourists and other nonessential travelers who have been mostly barred for more than a year will be able to return and could invigorate the struggling tourism and hospitality sectors of many countries.

The number of new cases reported weekly across Europe dropped from 1.7 million in mid-April to close to 685,000 last week, reported Dr. Hans Kluge, the W.H.O.’s European director. But as regulations are relaxed, increased social gatherings and travel during the summer holiday season could result in more transmission of the virus, he said, and worrisome variants that appeared to be spreading within the bloc remained a cause for concern.

“This progress is fragile, we have been here before,” Dr. Kluge told reporters at a news conference, advising vigilance over outbreaks “that could quickly evolve into dangerous resurgences.”

The B.1.617 variant, which was first identified in India and has been deemed a variant of concern by the W.H.O., has now spread to 26 of the 53 countries the W.H.O. includes in its European region. Dr. Kluge said that although most cases of the variant were connected to international travel, transmission of the variant was occurring within Europe.

“We are heading in the right direction, but need to keep a watchful eye on a virus that has claimed the lives of nearly 1.2 million people in this region,” Dr. Kluge said.

Dr. Kluge added that the vaccines had so far been effective against variants, but that the slow vaccine rollout in Europe had only reached a small percentage of the population, and that precautions like social distancing and wearing masks were still necessary.

“Vaccines may be a light at the end of the tunnel, but we cannot be blinded by that light,” he said.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/20/world/europe/europe-covid-who.html

 

 

 

Severe Covid is more often fatal in Africa than in other regions, according to a study

By Denise Grady

 

A medical team at Kenyatta National Hospital, in Nairobi, Kenya rolls a coronavirus patient from a bed onto a stretcher in the Covid-19 intensive care unit.Credit...Brian Inganga/Associated Press

People in Africa who become critically ill from Covid-19 are more likely to die than patients in other parts of the world, according to a report published on Thursday in the medical journal The Lancet.

The report, based on data from 64 hospitals in 10 countries, is the first broad look at what happens to critically ill Covid patients in Africa, the authors say.

The increased risk of death applies only to those who become severely ill, not to everyone who catches the disease. Over all, the rates of illness and death from Covid in Africa appear lower than in the rest of the world. But if the virus begins to spread more rapidly in Africa, as it has in other regions, these findings suggest that the death toll could worsen.

Among 3,077 critically ill patients admitted to the African hospitals, 48.2 percent died within 30 days, compared with a global average of 31.5 percent, the Lancet study found.

The study was observational, meaning that the researchers followed the patients’ progress, but did not experiment with treatments. The work was done by a large team called The African Covid-19 Critical Care Outcomes Study Investigators.

For Africa as a whole, the death rate among severely ill Covid patients may be even higher than it was in the study, the researchers said, because much of their information came from relatively well-equipped hospitals, and 36 percent of those facilities were in South Africa and Egypt, which have better resources than many other African countries. In addition, the patients in the study, with an average age of 56, were younger than many other critically ill Covid patients, indicating that death rates outside the study could be higher.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/20/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-mask/severe-covid-is-more-often-fatal-in-africa-than-in-other-regions-according-to-a-study

 

 

 

Summary

 

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

· Northern Ireland’s devolved government has agreed to add Portugal, Israel and Gibraltar to its “Green list” for international travel, according to a letter to lawmakers seen by Reuters.

· The EU has reached a deal on Covid certificates designed to open up tourism across the bloc this summer, the centre-right European People’s Party said.

· Two doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine are around 85% to 90% effective against symptomatic disease, Public Health England analysis indicates.

· Canada announced it is renewing non-essential travel restrictions along the US border until 21 June.

· Japanese regulators recommended the approval of Covid vaccines developed by Moderna Inc and AstraZeneca PLC.

· Waiving intellectual property rights for Covid vaccines will not be enough to close the huge supply gap between rich and poor countries, the head of the World Trade Organization warned.

· South Korea has said it will conduct a clinical trial that mixes Covid vaccine doses developed by AstraZeneca Plc with those from Pfizer Inc and others

· Dogs are better at detecting Covid-19 in humans than many fast lateral flow tests, a French study found.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/may/21/coronavirus-live-news-argentina-to-return-to-strict-lockdown-china-has-its-citizens-in-thailand-vaccinated