Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Indian authorities scrambled to shore up supplies of medical oxygen to hospitals in the capital, Delhi, on Wednesday as a fast-spreading second wave of coronavirus stretched medical infrastructure to breaking point, officials and doctors said.
India, the world’s second most populous country, is reporting the world’s highest number of new daily cases and is approaching a peak of about 297,000 cases in one day that the US hit in January.
Nearly six months after the first Covid-19 vaccines were approved for emergency use, Guardian analysis shows that the vast majority of the world is yet to see a substantial benefit.
Supply shortages, safety concerns, public apathy and slow rollouts have resulted in most countries still being reliant on onerous lockdowns and other quarantine measures to reduce the severity of their outbreaks.
Trying to downplay the risk of severe but rare clotting that appears to be associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine by comparing it with the clotting risk from taking the contraceptive pill, or to the chances of dying in a car crash, is unhelpful and likely ineffective in building vaccine confidence, an expert medical panel said.
Earlier in April the Australian Technical Advisory Group for Immunisation (Atagi) recommended those aged under 50 be offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca vaccine due to a small but potentially increased risk of developing a rare and severe clotting disorder following the vaccine in that age group.
Company blames dearth of new content and last year’s growth
Netflix reported a dramatic slowdown in subscribers in the first three months of 2021, ending a record run in growth during the coronavirus pandemic.
The streaming giant added 4 million new subscribers in the first quarter, 2 million fewer than its original estimate of 6 million and a quarter of the 8 million it added in the last three months of 2020. The company expects to add only about 1 million subscribers in the current quarter, which would be its slowest growth on record.
Greek registered a further 3,789 coronavirus cases and 87 deaths on Tuesday, according to media reports, as the country continues to battle its third wave.
Tuesday’s figures compare with 4,017 infections and 93 deaths reported a week ago.
Europe’s medicines regulator has found a possible link between Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine and very rare cases of unusual clotting disorders that prompted authorities in Europe and the US to pause the shot’s rollout last week.
The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency (EMA) said in a statement on Tuesday its safety committee had concluded a warning should be added to the vaccine’s product information, but that the shot’s benefits outweighed its risks.
Europe’s medicines regulator has found a possible link between Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine and rare cases of unusual blood clotting disorders it said were “very similar” to those that had occurred with the AstraZeneca shot.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Tuesday recommended a warning should be added to the vaccine’s product information, but stressed that the benefits of the shot – whose rollout was paused last week in Europe and the US – outweighed its risks.
People with mild Covid-19 could take a pill or capsule at home to prevent the illness turning serious and requiring hospital treatment, under government plans to fast-track development of treatments for the disease.
The government is launching an antivirals taskforce to find at least two drugs by the autumn that people can take to stop coronavirus in its tracks and speed up recovery from it.
France has become the first EU member state to begin testing a digital coronavirus travel certificate as part of a Europe-wide scheme that Brussels hopes will allow people to travel more freely within the bloc by the summer.
The TousAntiCovid app, part of the country’s contact tracing programme, has been upgraded to store negative Covid-19 test results on travellers’ mobile phones and is being trialled on flights to Corsica and overseas départements from this week.
The health department secretary, Brendan Murphy, has made opening remarks at the Covid-19 Senate inquiry. Murphy said Australia is “still in a very good place” even as comparable countries are battling fresh outbreaks and a fourth wave of the novel coronavirus.
He said:
“We are in a very fortunate place, even though we have border measures in place we are basically living a normal life – we have full football stadiums, restaurants, things are back to normal.”
Two state education ministers, Labor and Liberal, had criticised the milkshake video earlier today, via AAP.
Victoria’s Education Minister James Merlino called for the federal government to pull all content featured on The Good Society website, which launched as part of the Department of Education’s Respect Matters program last week.
Persecution of journalists in China may have contributed to the global coronavirus outbreak by stopping whistleblowers coming forward in the early days of the pandemic, according to the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders.
China ranks 177th out of 180 countries on the organisation’s annual Press Freedom Index, with the organisation warning that persecution of journalists in totalitarian regimes affects citizens in western democracies.
Tens of thousands of people did not claim universal credit during the early part of the pandemic because they felt too ashamed to sign on benefits, often despite struggling to pay rent and bills, a study has found.
The perceived stigma around benefits – with some people feeling, for example, that they were for “dole scroungers” and “freeloaders” – meant many refused state help, or put off making a claim until they ran into serious difficulty.
Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has urged governments, vaccine developers and the world to “step up their game” to fight vaccine inequity after the richest countries bought up most Covid-19 vaccine doses and those in poorer nations have gone without.
Her comments on Monday came as the World Health Organization announced 5.2 million new confirmed virus cases over the latest week, the largest weekly count yet, according to the UN health agency.
Finance minister Chrystia Freeland seeks to slash deficit by 2025
‘This budget is about finishing the fight against Covid’
Canada’s federal government has put childcare and Covid-19 relief at the heart of the country’s first pandemic budget, as the governing Liberals announced massive spending plans in an attempt to address growing inequality – and avert a snap election.
Delivering her government’s first budget in more than two years, the finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, on Monday framed the ambitious spending programme as both necessary to combat the disastrous “economic wounds” of the coronavirus pandemic and an opportunity to build a more equitable society.
India has announced it will soon open its vaccination programme to every adult in response to soaring Covid-19 infections – a measure that could further strain supplies in parts of the world reliant on Indian-made vaccines for their own campaigns.
From 1 May, Indian states will be free to administer doses to anyone aged older than 18, the central government announced on Monday as part of a package of policies to tackle a second wave that has overwhelmed hospitals and led to oxygen shortages across the country.
Province announces plans to make coronavirus vaccines more accessible in response to public pressure
Canada’s most populous province has announced plans to make coronavirus vaccines more accessible and the federal government pledged emergency aid as authorities scramble to combat a worsening outbreak in Ontario.
The shift in strategy comes after the premier, Doug Ford, was forced into a U-turn over deeply unpopular new restrictions announced on Friday.
India will let all citizens aged over 18 get coronavirus vaccinations from May 1, the government said on Monday, as cases there surge to record highs.
Vaccine manufacturers will need to supply 50% of doses to the federal government and the rest to the state and the open market at a pre-declared price, the government said.
It come as new coronavirus cases in India reached more than 273,000 on Monday, a doubling of the peak of new infections during the country’s first wave in September last year, while Boris Johnson was forced to cancel his India trip due to the coronavirus situation.
Hi there, this is Rhi Storer taking over from Clea Skopeliti for the next hour. Please send your contributions to rhi.storer@guardian.co.uk, or alternatively, you can message me on Twitter.
Boris Johnson’s planned visit to India next week has been cancelled because of the country’s escalating coronavirus crisis, a joint statement by the UK and India has announced.
“In the light of the current coronavirus situation, prime minister Boris Johnson will not be able to travel to India next week,” said the statement, released by Downing Street.
After a year of closed borders, Wellington airport in New Zealand was filled with emotional reunions as hundreds of travellers touched down on the first day of quarantine-free travel from Australia
Cambodians who break Covid rules could face 20 years in prison under a new law that human rights groups say takes the country “a step towards a totalitarian dictatorship”.