Coronavirus live news: Turkey and Gaza both report record daily death tolls

Ankara records 318 deaths in 24 hours, while Gaza authorities have received 80,000 vaccine doses for population of 2 million people

Half of all adults in the US have received at least one Covid-19 shot, the government announced Sunday, marking another milestone in the nation’s largest-ever vaccination campaign but leaving more work to do to convince skeptical Americans to roll up their sleeves.

The Associated Press reports:

Almost 130 million people 18 or older have received at least one dose of a vaccine, or 50.4% of the total adult population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Almost 84 million adults, or about 32.5% of the population, have been fully vaccinated.

The US cleared the 50% mark just a day after the reported global death toll from the coronavirus topped a staggering 3 million, according to totals compiled by Johns Hopkins University, though the actual number is believed to be significantly higher.

Guinea received on Sunday a shipment of 300,000 Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines purchased from China and is also set to receive a donation of 200,000 Sinopharm shots, Guinean foreign minister Ibrahima Khalil Kaba said.

Reuters reports:

Kaba gave no further details on the Sinopharm donation. Guinea is reporting 93 new coronavirus infections on average each day, 59% of the peak in March.

There have been 21,460 infections and 138 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.

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Fauci: Republican vaccine deniers are hurting efforts to lift Covid restrictions

‘On the one hand they want to be relieved of the restrictions. On the other hand, they don’t want to get vaccinated’

Republicans who refuse the Covid-19 vaccination are actively “working against” efforts to lift the very coronavirus restrictions they insist are an infringement of their civil liberties, Dr Anthony Fauci, the US government’s leading infectious disease expert, said on Sunday.

Fauci, who was involved in a fiery exchange over the issue with the Republican congressman Jim Jordan on Thursday, told CNN’s State of the Union he was frustrated by recent studies showing that up to 45% of Republicans would not take the vaccine.

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Eager Londoners queue up to be tested in race to find Covid variants

Officials ‘astonished’ at level of public engagement a year into the pandemic

The steady stream of people at the two surge testing units in Finchley, north London, last week suggests that, more than a year after the pandemic hit, the public spirit to do something about Covid is still strong.

The effectiveness of surge testing is a more open question, however. The rapid testing of 5,000 households last week was an attempt to isolate the South African variant and others of concern. Yet although standard PCR tests come back within 24 hours, genomic sequencing tests to identify a Covid variant take 14 days – by which time the period of infectiousness is usually over.

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British families took bigger hit to income during Covid pandemic than Europeans

UK’s greater inequality levels made impact worse for the less well off, study suggests

British households were plunged into the Covid pandemic with lower savings, more debt and weaker welfare support than their French and German counterparts, according to analysis revealing how inequality increased the impact of the UK crisis.

High levels of income inequality also weakened the financial resilience of poorer households as the pandemic hit. The greater exposure of British households, revealed in an analysis by the Resolution Foundation thinktank to be published in full this week, comes despite similar levels of average income with our European neighbours.

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The obscure maths theorem that governs the reliability of Covid testing

There’s been much debate about lateral flow tests – their accuracy depends on context and the theories of a 18th-century cleric

Maths quiz. If you take a Covid test that only gives a false positive one time in every 1,000, what’s the chance that you’ve actually got Covid? Surely it’s 99.9%, right?

No! The correct answer is: you have no idea. You don’t have enough information to make the judgment.

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Could Marine Le Pen finally triumph with her third tilt at French presidency?

Next year’s Élysée race looks like a battle between a fading Emmanuel Macron and the far-right leader. And some believe she might win this time

In Paris’s symbolic Place de la République, under the watchful gaze of France’s allegorical figurehead Marianne, the skateboarders are not in the mood to discuss politics.

For the young here, as everywhere, life has been paused during a pandemic that has halted studies, jobs, socialising and parties. What they want is their lives back, not to talk about an election.

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Press play for Petflix: boom in gadgets for pandemic puppies as owners return to work

The realities of ownership are dawning as the UK’s lockdown eases and the dogs left at home need to be looked after

Pet cameras and activity trackers are flying off the shelves. Demand for anti-chew sprays, automatic feeders and water fountains for pets has rocketed, and dog walkers and sitters are being inundated with inquiries.

As lockdown restrictions ease, dog owners are snapping up products and services that will enable them to monitor and care for their pets while they are out at work.

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Tokyo 2021: Olympic chief to visit Japan to approve safety amid Covid cases surge

Thomas Bach expected to give Japan the all-clear to host the Games, as PM secures extra vaccine doses from Pfizer to fight new virus wave

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The head of the Olympic movement will visit Japan in May as the nation struggles to contain a surge in Covid-19 cases before the start of the Games, with Pfizer agreeing to supply extra vaccine doses to the country.

Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, will attend a torch relay ceremony in the western city of Hiroshima on 17 May and meet prime minister Yoshihide Suga the next day, Kyodo News agency said on Saturday, citing sources close to the matter.

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Family of three contract Covid from infected neighbours in hotel quarantine in Sydney

NSW Health reclassifies three coronavirus cases to locally-acquired after testing showed they shared same viral sequence as infected family next door

The NSW health department is investigating how three members of a family acquired Covid-19 while in hotel quarantine in Sydney.

They were staying next door to a family with the virus at the Adina Apartment hotel.

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Coronavirus live news: UK put 600,000 vaccine doses into arms on Friday; Brazil crisis likened to ‘raging inferno’ by WHO

Global death toll tops 3m; pandemic made 2020 ‘the year of the quiet ocean’, say scientists

Mexico’s recorded another 4,157 coronavirus cases and 535 new deaths on Saturday, according to health ministry data, bringing the total number of cases to 2,304,096 and 212,228 deaths.

Israel will lift its mandatory requirement to wear a mask outdoors on Sunday, but wearing masks in closed spaces will remain compulsory.

Haaretz reports:

This comes as a result of Israel’s Health Minister Yuli Edelstein’s instruction to his ministry’s director general Chezy Levy on Thursday to sign an order lifting the restriction, after the opinion of ministry professionals stated that masks can be dispensed with in open-air areas due to low coronavirus morbidity.

The statement from Edelstein’s office on Thursday stressed that Israelis would still be required to wear a mask indoors, and this message was echoed by Israel’s coronavirus czar, Professor Nachman Ash.

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US coronavirus cases rise 8% in two weeks as more states ease restrictions

Michigan, which had some of the nation’s strongest health regulations, saw its second highest single-day case total on Friday

While the United States’ Covid-19 vaccination initiative has eclipsed that of many other countries, a significant number of US cities and states remain hotspots where coronavirus continues to spread at record rates. The upticks come as more states loosen public health restrictions that have been in place to stop Covid-19’s spread.

As of 16 April, the US saw an average of 70,117 cases daily, a surge of 8% from the mean 14 days ago, with hospitalizations increasing 9%, according to the New York Times. A minimum of 21 states have seen at least a 10% increase in daily positive coronavirus cases, CNN reports of recent Johns Hopkins University data. However, deaths are down 12% in this period.

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Add India to UK travel ban list to stop Covid variant, urges scientist

Indian coronavirus variant has potential to ‘scupper’ lockdown easing, says professor of immunology

India should be placed on the UK’s “red list” for travel after the discovery of a new coronavirus variant, according to a leading scientist.

Prof Danny Altmann, from Imperial College London, said it was “mystifying” and “confounding” that those flying in from the country were not required to stay in a hotel.

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UK church leaders warn against ‘dangerous’ vaccine passport plans

Hundreds of Christian clergy say proposal could ‘bring about the end of liberal democracy’

Hundreds of UK church leaders have told the prime minister that plans to use vaccine passports for entry into venues is “one of the most dangerous policy proposals ever to be made in the history of British politics” with the “potential to bring about the end of liberal democracy as we know it”.

An open letter to Boris Johnson signed by more than 1,250 clergy from different Christian denominations across the UK says the “introduction of vaccine passports would constitute an unethical form of coercion and violation of the principle of informed consent”.

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FTSE 100 closes above 7,000 for first time since Covid crash

Shares rise by more than 30 points as China reports record economic growth

The FTSE 100 has closed above 7,000 for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a collapse in global markets last year, driven by rising hopes for the world economy after record growth in China.

The index of leading UK company shares ended the day up 36 points on Friday, or 0.5%, at 7,019, the highest level since late February 2020 when the first wave of Covid-19 sent shock waves through financial markets around the world.

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Ontario gives police sweeping powers as Covid crisis spirals out of control

New measures to enforce stay-at-home order with hospitals ‘bursting at the seams’ but civil liberties campaigners cry foul

Ontario has announced sweeping new police powers to enforce an extended stay-at-home order, in the latest sign that officials in Canada’s most populous province have lost control of the rapidly spreading coronavirus.

With a record number of new cases, there is growing worry among experts that the already-strained healthcare system is being further pushed to the brink.

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What are the new Covid variants and what do they mean for the pandemic?

From Doug to Nelly and Eeek, we look at how mutations are affecting the battle against the virus

From the moment public health officials started to track new variants of coronavirus, it became clear that the same mutations were cropping up time and again and making the virus more troublesome. What are these mutations, what do they do, and what do they mean for the pandemic?

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Brazil warns women to delay pregnancy amid Covid-19 surge

Advice comes as country’s clinicians claim P1 Covid variant more aggressive during pregnancy

Brazil has warned women to delay getting pregnant until the worst of the pandemic passes, saying the virus variant that is devastating the South American country appears to affect expectant mothers more than earlier versions of the coronavirus.

The recommendation comes as Brazil continues to be one of the global epicenters of the pandemic, with more Brazilians dying of the virus each day than anywhere else in the world.

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Coronavirus live news: India extends record daily run of new infections; Japan to expand quasi-emergency measures

Spike in Indian cases spurred by hundreds of positive tests at major religious gathering; Japan to extend Covid restrictions to 10 regions

The head of the world’s largest vaccine maker directly tweeted the US president Joe Biden on Friday urging him to lift an export ban on raw materials desperately needed to make more coronavirus shots.

The unusual step by Serum Institute (SII) chief Adar Poonawalla underlined the crisis in providing vaccines to developing nations, many of which rely heavily on the firm for supplies, AFP reports.

Respected @POTUS, if we are to truly unite in beating this virus, on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the U.S., I humbly request you to lift the embargo of raw material exports out of the U.S. so that vaccine production can ramp up. Your administration has the details.

Johnson & Johnson reached out to rival Covid-19 vaccine makers to join in an effort to study the risks of blood clots, but Pfizer and Moderna declined, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Only AstraZeneca, which had been buffeted by similar blood-clotting concerns for weeks, agreed, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

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How the UK government sidestepped the data on coronavirus – video explainer

This time last year, NHS bosses asked doctors and nurses to ‘wear aprons’ and work without protective full-length gowns when treating Covid-19 patients, as hospitals were within hours of running out of supplies.

This is just one example of how the UK government has been slammed for its handling of the pandemic, through a series of missteps, U-turns, lockdowns, denials – and more than 150,000 deaths.

Twelve months on, the Guardian's Pamela Duncan looks at three major areas where officials were out of line with the data on coronavirus infections and deaths available at the time.

A government spokesperson responded, saying: ‘Throughout the pandemic, our approach has been guided by data and the advice of scientific and medical experts … As new evidence emerged, we acted quickly and decisively to implement life-saving measures, including restrictions and lockdowns, to protect lives, livelihoods and our economy. We are doing everything we can to ensure care home residents and staff are protected, including providing more than 9.9 billion items of PPE to the frontline.’

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Australia records first death from blood clots likely linked to AstraZeneca Covid vaccine

NSW woman, 48, died this week after receiving vaccine on 8 April, federal health authorities say

Australia’s drugs regulator has determined the death of a 48-year-old diabetic woman who developed blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine was likely to be linked to the vaccine.

After a meeting of Australia’s vaccine safety investigation group on Friday, the Therapeutic Goods Administration said experts had concluded the case of the New South Wales woman, who died this week, “was consistent with causal association to immunisation”.

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