NEW DELHI – India yesterday posted another grim global record for daily coronavirus infections, pushing worldwide cases past 150 million, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) listed the Moderna vaccine for emergency use.
India now accounts for more than 40% of the world’s new Covid-19 infections and has overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums.
The country recorded another 385,000 cases in the past 24 hours – a new global record – and almost 3,500 deaths, according to official data that many experts suspect falls short of the true toll.
More than 40 countries have committed to sending medical aid to India, with a US Super Galaxy military transporter carrying more than 400 oxygen cylinders, other hospital equipment and nearly one million rapid coronavirus tests arriving in New Delhi yesterday.
Compounding India’s woes as cases soared has been its failure to get a much-needed vaccine programme off the ground.
Until now, only “frontline” workers like medical staff, people over 45 and those with underlying illnesses have been given the AstraZeneca shot or Bharat Biotech’s homegrown Covaxin.
As of today jabs will be open to all adults, meaning around 600 million more people will be eligible.
US vaccinates 100 mil
The US had good news at home with the vaccination campaign boasting a significant milestone of 100 million people now vaccinated.
The country has distributed 237 million doses, and 55% of adults have now received at least one dose.
But the White House announced yesterday that the US will restrict travel from India starting May 4, citing “extraordinarily high Covid-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in India”.
The pandemic has killed almost 3.2 million worldwide and continues to wreak devastation.
The WHO said it had listed Moderna for emergency use as its Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE) had found the vaccine to have an efficacy of 94.1%.
The listing procedure helps countries unable to assess a vaccine’s effectiveness themselves have access as quickly as possible and allow the Covax vaccine sharing scheme and other partners to distribute it to poorer countries.
The US vaccine is the fifth jab to earn WHO's emergency listing. The others are Pfizer BioNTech; AstraZeneca; Serum Institute of India; and Janssen.
The number of daily coronavirus cases has more than doubled since mid-February, an AFP tally showed, in an explosion in infections blamed in part on a new Covid-19 variant but also on failure to follow virus restrictions.
The countries with the highest total number of cases are the United States, India and Brazil.
Europe eyes reopening
Since the discovery of the virus, more than 50.2 million cases have been recorded in Europe – more than a third of worldwide infections.
But the continent is beginning to open up again as vaccination campaigns pick up.
Italy yesterday announced that for the first time it had inoculated more than 500,000 people in a day, meeting a key target.
In France, cafes, cultural venues and business will reopen in several phases from May, President Emmanuel Macron said.
He announced that all adults in France would be eligible to be vaccinated from June 15, blowing open the immunisation campaign he hopes will let the badly-hit country get back to normal.
And in neighbouring Belgium, renowned beer brewers hit hard by months of lockdown are rushing to ensure adequate supplies are available when establishments reopen next week.
Among those celebrating will be British pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca, which yesterday reported US$275 million (RM1.13 billion) in sales from its Covid-19 vaccine in the first three months of the year.
Argentina yesterday extended by three weeks a nightly coronavirus curfew for Buenos Aires, and President Alberto Fernandez said he would seek to compel the city to close schools.
Off West Africa, the archipelago nation of Cape Verde announced new virus restrictions to cope with a surge of infections.
Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva said sports facilities will close for a month from Friday, and restaurants and bars must shut after 9pm. – AFP, May 1, 2021
