People wearing face masks walk in central Moscow on April 30, 2021. (Yuri KADOBNOV / AFP)
HAVANA / SAO PAULO / BUENOS AIRES – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that 21.5 million people in Russia had been vaccinated against COVID-19, the TASS news agency reported. "We need to actively continue getting tested (for coronavirus) and getting vaccinated," the TASS news agency cited Putin as saying.
Russia confirmed 8,465 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 4,888,727, said the official monitoring and response center on Monday.
The national COVID-19 death toll rose by 321 to 113,647 in the past day, while the number of the country's recoveries grew by 6,774 to 4,502,906.
The outbreak in Russia is stabilizing as 8,419 new cases and 334 fatalities were reported on Sunday.
South Africa
Vaccines need to be viewed as a global public good and the intellectual property, knowledge, technology and data related to COVID-19 vaccines should be available to all, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his weekly letter.
South Africa and India have recently submitted proposals on the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights that would allow for a temporary waiver of certain aspects of TRIPS. This would mean wider access to the technologies needed to produce vaccines and medicines.
“A situation in which the populations of advanced, rich countries are safely inoculated while millions in poorer countries die in the queue would be tantamount to vaccine apartheid,” Ramaphosa said. “It will set a devastating precedent in our quest to realize a more egalitarian world and our ability to handle future pandemics.”
Inovio
Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc said its COVID-19 vaccine candidate was safe, well-tolerated and produced immune response against the new coronavirus in a mid-stage clinical trial, sending the drug developer's shares up over 3 percent.
The trial, which enrolled about 400 participants aged 18 and above, helped the company confirm an appropriate dose for testing in a late-stage Phase 3 trial, Inovio said on Monday.
AstraZeneca
Data from the rollout of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine shows one dose of the shot results in 80 percent less risk of death from the disease, Public Health England said on Monday. It also said protection against death from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine rises from approximately 80% after one dose to 97 percent after two doses in its new analysis.
BioNTech
BioNTech said on Monday that its order backlog together with partner Pfizer for delivery of COVID-19 vaccines this year had grown to 1.8 billion doses, underscoring its role as a major global supplier of immunization shots. That was up from 1.4 billion doses announced in March. Based on these delivery contracts, the firm said it expects about 12.4 billion euros ($15.1 billion) in revenues from the product this year, including sales, milestone payments from partners and a share of gross profit in the partners’ territories, up from a previous projection of 9.8 billion euros.
Africa
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa has reached 4,635,599 as of Monday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.
The Africa CDC, the specialized healthcare agency of the 55-member African Union, said the death toll from the pandemic stands at 124,434, while 4,190,714 patients across the continent have recovered from the disease.
South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Egypt are the countries with the most cases in the continent, according to the Africa CDC.
In terms of the number of cases, southern Africa is the most affected region, followed by northern Africa and eastern Africa regions, while central Africa is the least affected region in the continent, according to the African health agency.
EU
The European Union has not made any new orders for AstraZeneca vaccines beyond June when their contract ends, European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said on Sunday, after the EU signed a deal with Pfizer-BioNTech.
Breton also said he expected the costs of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to be higher than the earlier versions.
The Commission last month launched legal action against AstraZeneca for not respecting its contract for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines and for not having a “reliable” plan to ensure timely deliveries.
"We did not renew the order after June. We’ll see what happens," Breton told France Inter radio. He did not rule out a potential renewal at a later stage.
Concerns have risen on potential side-effects of the Anglo-Swedish COVID-19 vaccine.
Europe's medicines regulator said on Friday it is reviewing reports of a rare nerve-degenerating disorder in people who received the shots, a move that comes after it found the vaccine may have caused very rare blood clotting cases.
While the regulator has maintained that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh any risks, several European countries have limited use to older age groups or suspended use altogether.
In answer to a question at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the move towards what he sees are more effective vaccines against new variants of COVID-19, calling it "pragmatic".
Austria
Austria will reopen restaurants, hotels and allow sport and music events from May 19 as part of a planned easing of lockdown restrictions. Schools will also return to regular teaching next week after the nation registered 820 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the least since October.
Attending social events will require a negative virus test, or proof of vaccination or immunity, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told reporters on Monday. Family gatherings will still be limited to four adults and their children indoors, and 10 adults outdoors, until a further decline in infections.
Sudan
Sudan is struggling to provide hospital beds, drugs and medical oxygen to COVID-19 patients hit by a third wave of infections that is straining the country's patchy healthcare system beyond what it can cope with.
With a population of over 40 million, Sudan has recorded 33,000 cases and over 2,600 deaths since the start of the pandemic, but officials say the real numbers are likely to be much higher given low rates of testing.
In recent weeks, an acute shortage of oxygen, partly due to power cuts that impeded production at the country's main plant, has left hospitals unable to provide adequate care to desperately ill COVID patients.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic opened all shops, museum and galleries as of Monday as the pandemic continued to ease. Restaurants will be allowed to open outside seating on May 17 for the first time this year, Industry Minister Karel Havlicek said on Monday, as the country continues with easing of anti-epidemic restrictions.
The country allowed the rest of elementary school pupils to go to classrooms, on a weekly rotating basis.
The country reported 381 new cases in 24 hours through Sunday, the lowest since the end of August.
The nation of 10.7 million had 1,819 hospitalized patients as of Monday, according to health ministry data.
Cuba
Nearly 1.7 million people from the Cuban capital Havana will receive doses of the homegrown COVID-19 vaccine candidates as part of an intervention study starting on Wednesday, according to local newspaper Tribuna de La Habana.
Clara Zamora, a resident of Havana's Camilo Cienfuegos district, is looking forward to receiving the first dose of Abdala COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the coming days.
"I very much trust in the expertise of Cuban scientists and doctors," the 72-year-old said. "I have no doubt the mass vaccination rollout will help the island contain the spread of the virus."
The government confirmed on Sunday that mass vaccinations will begin Wednesday in seven municipalities of Havana and will continue in the second half of May in the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, Santiago de Cuba, and the Special Municipality of Isla de la Juventud.
It came as the island nation registered on Sunday 1,069 new COVID-19 infections and ten more deaths related to the virus in the past 24 hours, with the totals standing at 115,981 and 732, respectively.
Francisco Duran, national director of hygiene and epidemiology at the Cuban Ministry of Public Health, is confident that the mass vaccination rollout will help decrease COVID-19 infection rates across the country.
"We will be able to go through this difficult situation working together, with the participation of people and the mass vaccination drive," he said, adding new COVID-19 variants circulating on the island are deadlier and more contagious.
Norway
Norway should exclude the COVID-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson in its inoculation program due to a risk of rare but harmful side-effects, a government-appointed commission said on Monday.
Those who would volunteer to take either of the two vaccines should however be allowed to do so, the commission added.
Authorities on March 11 suspended the AstraZeneca rollout after a small number of younger inoculated people were hospitalized for a combination of blood clots, bleeding and a low count of platelets, some of whom later died.
On April 15, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said the AstraZeneca vaccine should be dropped entirely but the government instead sought further advice, including on the jabs made by J&J which the country has yet to adopt.
Romania
Romania organized a vaccination marathon during the weekend in Bucharest. More than 20,000 people were inoculated in two days, double the initial target set by the authorities. The country plans to have 5 million people vaccinated by the end of the month.
ALSO READ: Brazil's sees rise in weekly COVID-19 cases
UK
England will press ahead with plans to ease COVID-19 restrictions further on May 17, including allowing people to meet indoors, thanks to favourable data on infections and vaccines, the government said on Sunday.
The country is in the process of gradually lifting its latest lockdown over a period of months, in line with a four-step plan unveiled in February.
Under Step 3 of the plan, as outlined when it was first announced, people will be allowed to meet up indoors for the first time in months, in groups of up to six people or two full households together.
Pubs, cafes and restaurants will be able to host customers indoors, also for the first time in months and subject to certain rules. Other indoor entertainment, hospitality and sports venues will also be able to resume activity.
Johnson's Downing Street office said the latest data on COVID vaccinations, on infections, hospitalisations and deaths, and on the risk posed by new variants had been taken into account in deciding to move forward with Step 3.
"The data reflects what we already knew – we are not going to let this virus beat us," Johnson said, according to a Downing Street statement.
"The roadmap remains on track, our successful vaccination programme continues – more than two thirds of adults in the UK have now had the first vaccine – and we can now look forward to unlocking cautiously but irreversibly."
Johnson was due to provide further details at a news conference on Monday.
The United Kingdom's chief medical officers on Monday agreed to lower the COVID alert level to 3, which means the epidemic is in general circulation, from 4, which means transmission is high or rising exponentially.
The re-elected Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has launched a domestic tourism campaign to kick-start the British capital's economy as restrictions on international travel likely to continue this year, local media reported Monday.
Brazil
A maskless President Jair Bolsonaro led a Mother’s Day motorcycle parade on Sunday as Brazil added almost 39,000 COVID-19 cases. Deaths increased by 1,024 to 422,340 in the latest daily count, according to Health Ministry data.
The ministry will begin distributing 1.12 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine Monday. The latest batch brings Brazil’s distribution to about 75.4 million doses and more than 46.8 million shots administered.
This undated photo shows syringes with doses of the Moderna Inc COVID-19 vaccine. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)
US
The number of new coronavirus cases in US rose last week at the slowest pace since the pandemic began, as more Americans are vaccinated and the nation recovers from a winter spike fueled by holiday travel.
There were 286,107 new infections in the week ended Sunday, a 0.9 percent increase from the prior week and the lowest total since the seven days ended Sept. 20, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.
The total on Sunday of 21,767 new cases was the lowest single-day tally since June 14, also a Sunday. Deaths, which typically lag behind new cases by several weeks, also rose at the slowest rate of the pandemic, 0.82 percent.
The 4,709 new fatalities were the least since the week ended July 5.
The share of US hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients fell to 5.37 percent, the lowest since Oct 5, according to the US Department of Health & Human Services.
Per capita cases in the US have declined enough to allow a lifting of restrictive ordinances and a resumption of “normal activity,” former Food and Drug Administration head Scott Gottlieb said.
“Certainly outdoors, we shouldn’t be putting limits on gatherings anymore,” Gottlieb said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” People should be encouraged to go outside in states that have low prevalence, high vaccination rates and good testing in place, he said.
Even so, he predicted that “we’re going to have to contend with Covid again this winter,” which may mean renewed mask mandates and school closings “in certain settings where we have outbreaks.”
There’s “no doubt” the US has undercounted its number of deaths from Covid-19, which now stand at over 581,000, President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser said.
But Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that a University of Washington analysis published May 6 that the true toll is probably over 900,000 is “a bit more than I would have thought.”
READ MORE: CDC: US-bound air travelers can use some self-administered tests
Spain
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said during a visit to Greece that Spain was about 100 days from reaching herd immunity with 70 percent of the population vaccinated. That’s in line with a previous government prediction that immunity would be achieved at the end of August. Spain has so far administered about 19 million vaccine doses, with nearly 6 million people receiving two doses.
Spaniards broke out in spontaneous celebration at midnight, after a national state of emergency that included curfews from 11 pm to 6 am in most of Spain ended at midnight. In the capital of Madrid alone, the police intervened in more than 450 incidents, the Associated Press reported, as hundreds of people, mostly youth, took to the main plazas and streets in several large cities.
“Freedom doesn’t involve holding booze parties in the street because street drinking is not allowed in the city of Madrid,” Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida said Sunday.
Restrictions were eased on restaurants, travel between regions, and on social gatherings.
Germany
Germany is to make Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine available to all adults, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Monday, adding that they will be able to receive the shot on the advice of a doctor.
Europe's drug regulator backed J&J's vaccine last month after examining cases of a rare blood clotting issue in U.S. adults who received a dose.
But it left it up to the European Union's member states to decide how to use it. Germany's move to offer the J&J single-dose vaccine widely follows the lifting of restrictions last week on the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Germany expects to confirm on Monday that one-third of its population have had at least one vaccine shot, Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters in Berlin. Despite concerns about side effects, Europe’s largest economy will offer J&J’s shot to all adults, and for younger people with medical advice.
Spahn said the vaccine — the only one approved in the European Union that offers full protection with a single dose — is an especially useful tool for the homeless and in refugee facilities.
Germany had 2,630 new cases on Sunday, extending a decline in infections that started last month. The seven-day incidence rate fell below 120 for the first time since early April. The country is pushing ahead with first steps for a gradual easing of restrictions.
Malta
Malta reopened restaurants for lunch on Monday after the island's health minister said the COVID-19 vaccination drive had reached 60% of the adult population and cases were down. Restaurants were closed two months ago when case numbers hit a record 510 on March 10 and the Mediterranean island of about 450,000 people tightened restrictions with an eye to reopening for tourism on June 1.
Cyprus
The Health Ministry of Cyprus issued a decree Monday, easing most coronavirus-related restrictions and introducing a SafePass for shops, restaurants and crowded events as well as on buses.
Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou said there is both optimism and concerns as the eastern Mediterranean island is gradually moving out of the pandemic crisis.
Shopping malls, department stores, retail, restaurants and cafes opened as of 5 a.m. on Monday, while a mandatory SMS message for an outing once a day was scrapped.
Argentina
Argentina reported 11,582 new cases of the novel coronavirus disease on Sunday, for a total of 3,147,740 confirmed cases, as well as 283 deaths, bringing the death toll to 67,325, the Ministry of Health reported.
The ministry stated that so far, 2,817,165 patients have recovered from the disease while 263,250 cases remain active.
Additionally, 5,294 people are currently hospitalized in intensive care units, with bed occupancy reaching 68.6 percent nationwide.
The Province of Buenos Aires accounts for 43.68 percent of the total cases in the country, with 1,374,852 infections, ahead of the city of Buenos Aires, with 11.5 percent, equivalent to 361,864 infections.
So far, just over 9 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been applied, with more than 7.6 million people receiving the first dose and more than 1.3 million people receiving both doses.
The Minister of Health of the Province of Buenos Aires, Daniel Gollan, reported on Sunday the expansion of vaccination eligibility to those over the age of 40 with health complications and over 60 without complications.
Ecuador
Ecuador surpassed 400,000 cases of the novel coronavirus disease on Sunday after registering 1,375 new cases, for a total of 400,296, the Ministry of Public Health reported.
Meanwhile, 75 more deaths from COVID-19 were also reported, bringing the death toll to 13,997.
Another 5,225 deaths are considered to be COVID-19 related, but not verified, according to the ministry.
Ecuador is facing an accelerated increase in infections due to citizen relaxation, mainly in large provinces where hospitals have been overwhelmed with requests for beds in intensive care units.
The provinces of Pichincha and Guayas have registered the largest increase in infections in the country, and Pichincha, where the capital Quito is located, has a case incidence rate of 4,364 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Chile
The Chilean Ministry of Health reported on Sunday that the decline in new cases of the novel coronavirus disease continues in 15 regions of the country.
The ministry stated that 15 regions of Chile have decreased new cases in the last seven days and 14 have done so in the last 14 days.
The only region with a considerable increase in new confirmed cases in the last week is Los Rios, in the south of the country.
Another 5,521 new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Sunday, bringing the total to 1,247,469, with 36,406 patients in the active stage, said the ministry.
The national death toll rose to 27,218 with 117 more deaths.
Morocco
A total of 236 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Morocco on Sunday, taking the country's tally of infections to 513,864, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
In the past 24 hours, eight people have died from the disease, taking the death toll to 9,072 in the country, while 241 people are in intensive care units.
The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 in Morocco increased to 500,914 after 374 more were added.
The COVID-19 fatality rate in Morocco stands at 1.8 percent while the recovery rate is 97.4 percent.
Meanwhile, 5,473,809 people have received so far the first vaccine shot against COVID-19 in the country, and 4,390,752 people have received the second dose.
Morocco on Saturday expanded eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines to residents aged 50 and older, in line with the vaccination campaign, which aims to reach herd immunity by vaccinating 80 percent, or 30 million, of the Moroccan population.
Georgia
Georgia on Monday reported 549 new COVID-19 cases, taking its total to 322,468, according to the country's National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC).
Data from the NCDC showed that 1,439 more patients recovered in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 302,428.
Meanwhile, 24 people died in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 4,305.
The NCDC said 9,535 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours around the country.
