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In the US, the daily load of new Covid cases has plummeted with the advent of vaccines, from a seven-day average of more than 250,000 per day in January to the current average of about 43,000. Hospitalisations and deaths are also dramatically down.
As the US begins to feel the benefits of widespread vaccination, other parts of the world are still mired in the depths of the pandemic. The World Health Organization has pointed out that across the globe the past two weeks have seen more cases recorded than in the entire first six months of the pandemic, with India bearing the brunt.
Amid such a stark gulf between high- and low-income countries, the infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci called on the manufacturers of vaccines in the US to scale up production to allow large quantities of supplies to reach India quickly.
Read the full story here
Mexico’s health ministry on Sunday reported 1,175 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 57 more deaths, Reuters reports. It brings the total number of cases in the country to 2,365,792 and fatalities to 218,985.
Separate government data published in March suggested the real death toll may be at least 60% above the confirmed figure.
The number of Covid-19 patients in French intensive care units fell below 5,000 for the first time since late March on Sunday, Reuters is reporting that health ministry data showed.
The number was down for a sixth day in a row at 4,971, against 5,005 the previous day, the ministry said.
The ministry also said 115 more people had died in hospital from Covid-19, bringing the total to 80,100.
The United States is closer to getting the coronavirus pandemic under control and health officials are focused on the next challenge: getting more Americans vaccinated, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said on Sunday, Reuters reports.
“I would say we are turning the corner,” Zients said in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Zients said about 58% of American adults have received at least one coronavirus vaccine shot. The task now is to continue building confidence in vaccines and get enough Americans vaccinated to mitigate the spread of the virus and its variants, he said.
US health officials are aiming to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of 70% of American adults having at least one shot by the 4 July – US Independence Day. Zients said meeting that goal could help the country reach a sustainable low level of infections.
Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said another surge in coronavirus infections would be unlikely if the Biden goal is met or exceeded.
Italy has reported 8,292 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, against 10,176 a day earlier, Reuters says.
There were a further 139 deaths compared with 224 on Saturday.
Reuters has some more background about the UK figures. A total of 1,770 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded on Sunday, with the seven-day total of 14,659 cases down by 4.3% compared with the previous seven days.
The country recorded two new deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test. The seven-day death toll of 67 was down by 39.1% compared with the previous seven days.
The data showed that 35.37 million people, or 67.2% of the UK adult population, have now received a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine. Of those, 17.67 million, or 33.5% of adults, have received the recommended two doses.
Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 127,605 people have died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive.
The country experienced a devastating second wave that peaked in late January, but numbers of new infections, hospitalisations and deaths have plummeted since then.
That has been attributed in part to the impact of the mass vaccination programme, and in part to strict lockdown measures that were in place from January to March and are only gradually being eased.
Updated
UK reports two deaths on Sunday
The UK coronavirus daily data has been published. There were 1,770 new cases reported on Sunday and two deaths within 28 days of a positive test. Reuters is also reporting that 35.37m people in the UK have received their first dose of vaccine of whom 17.67m have also received their second.
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Summary
Here the latest key developments at a glance:
- The US is turning the corner on the coronavirus pandemic, with health officials now focused on getting more Americans vaccinated, the White House said on Sunday.
- Social distancing restrictions in England between family and friends will be relaxed, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has said, adding the prime minister would confirm details on Monday.
- The European Commission has so far not renewed its order for AstraZeneca vaccines against Covid-19 for after June.
- A third of UK adults are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, latest figures have shown.
- There are signs that Tokyo might experience an explosive resurgence of the virus, as the Japanese capital’s fever consultation hotline was deluged with inquiries from people, after a nationwide holiday period came to an end on Sunday.
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Vietnam’s prime minister Pham Minh Chinh said the country’s new outbreak of coronavirus infections threatened political stability if not brought under control, as Vietnam
reported 102 new Covid-19 infections, including 92 locally transmitted cases. - New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, will extend most of its Covid-19 restrictions for another week as it struggles to identify the missing link between a quarantine case and the recent, small outbreak.
- Laos has recorded its first death from Covid-19, losing its place among the few countries that haven’t seen Covid fatalities so far.
- The mayor of Madrid has appealed for people to behave responsibly after thousands of people greeted the end of Spain’s six-month state of emergency by taking to the streets of towns and cities across the country in spontaneous celebration.
- India is to recruit hundreds of former army medics to support its overwhelmed healthcare system, as India’s capital, New Delhi, and the northern state of Uttar Pradesh extended their lockdown and curfew rules till 17 May amid calls for a nationwide lockdown.
- People who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in Germany are exempt from many restrictions from Sunday, after the government passed new legislation to restore some freedoms.
- The Duchess of Sussex has said women had been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, in remarks during her first TV appearance since her interview with Oprah Winfrey.
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Third of UK adults now fully vaccinated, while two thirds had first dose
A third of UK adults are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, latest figures have shown.
A total of 17,669,379 people have received both jabs - the equivalent of 33.5% of all people aged 18 and over.
England and Northern Ireland are both estimated to have given two doses to 33.6% of their adult population, slightly ahead of Wales (33.4%) and Scotland (33.1%).
Responding to the figures for England, Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and medical director for primary care at NHS England, said:
Yet another incredible NHS milestone has been reached as one in three adults in England have now had both doses of the Covid vaccine - meaning that they have maximum protection from the virus.
Reaching this milestone is no accident - it is down to months of hard work and everyone in the NHS who has played a role in this is helping to protect millions of people from serious illness and saving lives.
35,371,669 people in the UK have now received a first dose of vaccine - the equivalent of 67.2% of the adult population.
Wales has given a first dose to 76.2% of its adult population, ahead of Northern Ireland (66.9%), England (66.8%) and Scotland (65.4%).
All figures are based on the latest data for vaccinations reported by the UK’s health agencies.
Vietnam’s prime minister, Pham Minh Chinh, said the country’s new outbreak of coronavirus infections threatened political stability if not brought under control.
Reuters reports:
The new cases raised the total to 3,332 since the pandemic began, with 35 deaths, the Ministry of Health said.
Vietnam has been praised for its record in containing its outbreaks quickly through targeted mass testing and a strict, centralised quarantine programme.
But a new outbreak emerged late last month and has spread rapidly in the country, infecting 333 people in 25 cities and provinces, including the capital, Hanoi, and leaving around 10 hospitals under lockdown.
“The risk for the outbreak to spread nationwide is very high,” Chinh said on Sunday. “We need to deploy stronger measures to curb the outbreak.
“If the outbreak spread nationwide, it would affect political stability, people’s health and the National Assembly and People’s Council elections, and the consequence would be unpredictable.”
Chinh said coronavirus infections in neighbouring countries has put pressure on Vietnam, adding that illegal immigrants were among the prime sources of the virus.
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Laos records first Covid death
The south-east Asian country of Laos recorded its first death from Covid-19 on Sunday, losing its place among the few countries yet to suffer a fatality, Reuters reports.
State media said the victim was a 53-year-old Vietnamese woman who had underlying medical problems, including diabetes, and who worked at a karaoke club in a village outside the capital Vientiane, the state-run Vientiane Times website quoted the national Covid-19 taskforce as saying.
Infections have rocketed in the country of 9 million since last month, when the worst surges also began in neighbouring Thailand and Cambodia.
Laos has still identified only 1,302 infections since the pandemic began.
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The mayor of Madrid has appealed for people to behave responsibly after thousands of people greeted the end of Spain’s six-month state of emergency by taking to the streets of towns and cities across the country in spontaneous celebration.
At the end of October last year, the socialist-led coalition government of the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, declared a state of emergency that included a nationwide overnight curfew, restrictions on travelling between regions and a ban on gatherings of more than six people.
As the clock struck midnight on Saturday and the state of emergency ended, fireworks were let off in Madrid and people congregated in Puerta del Sol, the central square where revellers traditionally gather to see in the new year. There were similar impromptu celebrations in Barcelona and elsewhere.
The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, called for people to remember the rules after scenes of drinking, jubilation and often maskless celebrations spread across the internet.
“Freedom doesn’t involve having drinking parties in the street because those drinking parties aren’t allowed in the city of Madrid,” he said on Sunday. “Each one of us needs to understand that we live in a society … and that a street-drinking party in Madrid isn’t freedom.”
Spain is battling a fourth wave of the pandemic, which has so far infected 3,567,408 people and claimed almost 79,000 lives. However, the vaccination effort is picking up speed. To date, more than 13.2 million people of Spain’s 47 million population have received a shot, and almost 6 million have had both doses of vaccine.
The central government has decided against extending the emergency powers, instead allowing regional authorities to decide which measures are necessary to fight and contain the virus. Travel between regions is once again permitted, meaning people can go on holiday or visit friends and relatives elsewhere in Spain. Facemasks remain obligatory for all, except for children under six, people with health exemptions and those exercising or swimming in pools, the sea, rivers, reservoirs or lakes – as long as social distancing can be maintained.
Sánchez has also appealed for a shared sense of responsibility to help negotiate the pandemic and its aftermath.
Full story here:
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Saudi Arabia will organise the pilgrimage to Mecca this year, but under special conditions adapted to the pandemic, state TV reported on Sunday.
“The mechanism and conditions for holding the Hajj this year will be announced later,” it said, citing the ministry of pilgrimage, Reuters reports.
Last year, Saudi Arabia allowed a limited number of domestic pilgrim to perform the Haj.
The US is turning the corner on the coronavirus pandemic, with health officials now focused on getting more Americans vaccinated, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said on Sunday.
“I would say we are turning the corner,” Zients said in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The task now is to continue building confidence in vaccines and get enough Americans vaccinated to mitigate the spread of the virus and its variants, he said.
Vietnam’s health ministry on Sunday reported 102 new Covid-19 infections, including 92 locally transmitted cases.
Vietnam News reports:
The Ministry of Health has sent an official dispatch to chairpersons of provincial and municipal People’s Committees, directors of provincial and municipal Departments of Health and heads of medical facilities nationwide, asking them to raise the alert against the Covid-19 pandemic to the highest level and actively conduct Covid-19 testing at hospitals.
The document highlights the current serious developments of the pandemic, with outbreaks seen in many provinces and cities nationwide as well as patients and medical workers in some hospitals infected with the coronavirus, including its British and Indian variants with “super transmissibility”.
The ministry ordered the strict implementation of the directions on Covid-19 prevention and control issued by the Prime Minister and the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control.
With the alert raised to the highest level, plans to cope with any infections detected in hospitals must be in place, says the dispatch.
Localities detecting domestically-transmitted Covid-19 cases should conduct testing for all medical workers, patients, and their long-time caregivers.
Here some more detail from Reuters on the European Commission’s decision not to renew its order for Covid-19 vaccines with drugmaker AstraZeneca:
“We did not renew the order after June. We’ll see what happens,” said [European internal market commissioner Thierry Breton], adding that it was “a very good vaccine”.
Concerns has 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.
Breton said an increase in prices for second generation vaccines could be justified by the extra research required and potential changes to industrial equipment.
The European Union signed a new contract with Pfizer-Biontech to receive 1.8bn doses of Covid-19 vaccines for 2021-2023, to cover booster shots, donations and reselling of doses, the European Commission said on Friday.
“There may be a little extra cost but I will let the competent authorities unveil it in due course,” he told France Inter radio.
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India is to recruit hundreds of former army medics to support its overwhelmed healthcare system, the defence ministry said on Sunday, as the country grapples with record Covid-19 infections and deaths amid angry calls for a complete nationwide lockdown.
Some 400 medical officers are expected to serve on contract for a maximum of 11 months, the ministry said in a press release, adding that other defence doctors had also been roped in for online consultations, Reuters reports.
Infections and deaths have been hitting new records every two or three days, despite many Indian states having imposed strict lockdowns over the past month, while others have announced restrictions on public movement and shut down cinemas, restaurants, pubs and shopping malls.
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Wales recorded 54 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 211,827.
Public Health Wales said no further deaths were reported, with the total in the country since the start of the pandemic remaining at 5,552.
A total of 1,922,881 first doses of Covid-19 vaccine have now been given in Wales.
The agency said 842,047 second doses have also been administered.
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European Union not renewing orders for AstraZeneca jabs after June
European internal market commissioner Thierry Breton said on Sunday the European Commission did not renew its order for AstraZeneca vaccines against Covid-19 for after June.
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.
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Emirates airline said on Sunday it will fly medical supplies from Dubai to nine cities in India free of charge from this week to help battle a devastating upsurge in infections and deaths.
Reuters reports:
International aid has poured in for India, where record infection rates have overwhelmed hospitals, depleting medicines, oxygen tanks and other supplies.
Earlier this month, Qatar Airways also airlifted 300 tonnes of aid free of charge from Doha to India.
Emirates will provide free spare capacity to transport supplies from charities based in Dubai, divisional senior vice president Nabil Sultan told reporters, saying the mechanism could later be extended to bring aid from other parts.
“We are absolutely committed to helping India,” he said.
The supplies will be organised through Dubai’s International Humanitarian City, a hub used by many non-governmental organisations to transport aid globally. Supplies would be flown for free until further notice, Sultan said.
The first flight under the new “airbridge” is scheduled to depart for New Delhi on May 13 carrying 12.6 tonnes of multi-purpose tents from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Emirates operates 95 weekly flights to nine Indian cities: New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad and Trivandrum. Those flights offer about 5,000 tonnes of weekly cargo capacity.
Lockdown and curfew extended in New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh
On Sunday, India’s capital, New Delhi, and the northern state of Uttar Pradesh extended their lockdown and curfew rules till 17 May.
But pressure is mounting on the prime minister, Narendra Modi, to announce a nationwide lockdown similar to the one imposed during the first wave last year, Reuters reports.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA), the umbrella body for all conventional doctors and surgeons, has called for a “complete, well-planned, pre-announced” lockdown across the country instead of “sporadic” night curfews and restrictions imposed by states for a few days at a time.
“IMA is astonished to see the extreme lethargy and inappropriate actions from the ministry of health in combating the agonising crisis born out of the devastating second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic,” it said in a statement on Saturday.
Modi has already been battling criticism for allowing a huge gathering at a religious festival and holding large election rallies over the past two months even though infections were already surging.
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As a curfew and six-month-long national state of emergency ended across most of Spain at midnight, people danced in streets, chanted “freedom” and partied on beaches overnight.
Reuters reports:
In scenes akin to New Year’s Eve celebrations, hundreds of mainly young people gathered in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square to applaud the clock striking midnight while in Barcelona revellers headed to the beach with drinks in hand.
Police in Barcelona had the strange task of moving people on after the last curfew began at 10pm, only to let them back at midnight when it ended for good.
Some people wore masks but there was scant social distancing as friends kissed, hugged, danced and sang.
One of Europe’s worst-hit nations, Spain has suffered 78,792 coronavirus deaths and 3.6 million cases. But infection rates have fallen and vaccinations are progressing fast, enabling most of the 17 regions to scrap the curfew until dawn.
Only four regions were keeping it: the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Navarra and Valencia.
As impromptu parties sprung up in town centres around the country, police kept a wary eye, reminding some revellers that drinking on the street was prohibited.
Madrid’s rightwing regional president Isabel Diaz Ayuso just won reelection after campaigning on looser measures, but the city has the second highest infection rate in Spain and was still ordering bars and restaurants shut from midnight.
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The head of the Oxford University vaccine group said he believed there is a future of no more social distancing and masks, but warned there is a “long way to go” given the current global wave of coronavirus.
Speaking on BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Prof Andrew Pollard said:
I think that there is a future with no social distancing and no more masks, but from a global perspective we’re still a long way from that.
Here in the UK we’ve had remarkable success through the vaccine programme and that is getting closer to happening, but from a global perspective there’s such a long way to go.
When asked for his view on the US waiving virus vaccine patents, he said:
I think it’s an absolutely laudable concept to have a waiver over the intellectual property rights to allow greater use of the vaccines around the world.
There clearly is already a political debate about this and there will be commercial interests at stake.
He said there was “huge heavy lifting” to do to allow more manufacturers to produce the vaccine, adding: “It will take the rest of this year before we start seeing large amounts of production.”
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Social distancing restrictions in England between family and friends to be relaxed, minister says
The British Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has said “contact between friends and family” in England is something the government wants to see “restored”, and confirmed prime minister Boris Johnson would announce a further relaxation of restrictions on Monday.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show:
All being well, the prime minister will confirm tomorrow that there will be a relaxation, we’ve already indicated a proportionate relaxation on international travel, very limited at this stage because we have to be safe.
In the same way, as we move into stage three of our road map it will be the case that we will see people capable of meeting indoors.
And without prejudice to a broader review of social distancing, it is also the case that friendly contact, intimate contact, between friends and family is something we want to see restored.
Asked if pupils wearing masks in school would be coming to an end, Gove added:
We’re reviewing the evidence at the moment and, of course, what we want to do throughout is balance public health by making sure we can return to normal as quickly as possible.
I won’t pre-empt that judgement, we’ll be seeing more about it shortly.
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There are signs that Tokyo might experience an explosive resurgence of the virus, as the capital’s fever consultation hotline was deluged with inquiries from people, after a nationwide holiday period came to an end on Sunday.
The Japan Times reports:
The situation is eerily reminiscent of early January, when Tokyo was hit by the biggest wave of cases yet, driving its medical system to the breaking point and leaving many patients without proper care as they waited to be hospitalised.
With the conclusion of the Golden Week holiday period, metropolitan government officials are bracing for a worst-case scenario that they fear may be in the cards.
Their concerns stem largely from a recent spike in the number of calls to Tokyo’s so-called fever consultation center, which typically accepts inquiries on ill health from those without immediate access to primary doctors. How many calls the hotline receives is considered a bellwether for overall virus trends in Tokyo.
The past week saw the daily number of calls to the hotline soar well beyond the 2,000 mark for several consecutive days, reaching 2,700 on Wednesday. The last time the center was inundated with so many calls was late December through early January, when the capital was in the grip of a fresh wave of infections that ultimately led to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declaring a second state of emergency for Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures.
The number of such inquiries was relatively subdued throughout the bulk of February and March, when the second state of emergency was in place, topping 1,000 only occasionally.
But once the declaration was lifted in late March, the figure began to gradually rise in April and surpassed the 2,000 mark on April 29 for the first time since January 17 — a trend that persisted for a few days afterward.
On Sunday, the capital confirmed 1,032 new cases, topping 1,000 for the second straight day.
People who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in Germany are exempt from many restrictions from Sunday, after the government passed new legislation to restore some freedoms.
AFP reports:
Curfews and limits on social contacts no longer apply to those fully vaccinated – more than 7 million people – or recovered from a Covid infection under the new rules.
They will also no longer have to present a negative test result to access certain services such as hairdressers and “click and meet” shopping appointments.
If returning to Germany from abroad, they will not be required to quarantine unless arriving from a country deemed high risk due to virus variants.
However, they will still be required to adhere to social distancing and hygiene measures such as wearing masks in shops and on public transport.
Announcing the measures this week, justice minster Christine Lambrecht said there needed to be a “good reason” for any restrictions on public life.
“As soon as this reason ceases to exist... these restrictions should then no longer be in place,” she said.
In a poll for the RTL broadcaster, 64 percent of Germans said they were in favour of Germany going further and reopening hotels, restaurants, theatres and cinemas for vaccinated people.
Berlin’s mayor Michael Mueller admitted that it was going to be “damn difficult to check” whether people were exempt from the rules or not.
Mueller advised people to carry proof of vaccination with them until the arrival of the EU’s planned digital vaccination passports.
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Russia reported 8,419 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours on Sunday, taking the national tally to 4,880,262.
The government’s coronavirus task force said a further 334 people had died, taking the national death toll to 113,326.
The federal statistics agency has kept a separate count and has said Russia recorded around 250,000 deaths related to the virus between April 2020 and March 2021.
The Duchess of Sussex has said women had been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, in remarks during her first TV appearance since her interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The Duchess appeared as part of the Global Citizen VAX Live concert, which also featured performances from Jennifer Lopez, Eddie Vedder, Foo Fighters, J Balvin and H.E.R., with a pre-recorded video message in which she said:
The past year has been defined by communities coming together tirelessly and heroically to tackle Covid-19.
We’ve gathered tonight because the road ahead is getting brighter, but it’s going to take every one of us to find our way forward.
As campaign chairs of Vax Live, my husband and I believe it’s critical that our recovery prioritises the health, safety and success of everyone - and particularly women, who have been disproportionately affected by this pandemic.
Women, and especially women of colour, have seen a generation of economic gain wiped out.
Since the pandemic began, nearly 5.5 million women have lost work in the US, and 47 million more women around the world are expected to slip into extreme poverty.
Thailand on Sunday reported 2,101 new coronavirus cases and 17 new deaths, as the country struggles with a third wave of infections.
The new cases took the total number of infections to 83,375 and total fatalities to 399 since the pandemic started last year.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany continues to fall, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.
The RKI reported 12,656 new infections on Sunday, as well as a further 127 deaths, taking the total tally of fatalities to to 84,775.
That is a good 3,600 fewer cases than a week ago. The seven-day incidence has dropped to 118.6 from 121.5 the previous day. The value indicates how many people per 100,000 people have been infected in the past seven days.
Eight of the 16 federal states now have an incidence of less than 100. After Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Hamburg, Brandenburg, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rhineland-Palatinate and Bremen also fell below this threshold, below which opening steps are possible in districts and cities with correspondingly lower numbers, and above which contact restrictions must be tightened.
However, regional differences remain large. Schleswig-Holstein, with an incidence of 50, again has the lowest incidence. With an incidence of 180, Thuringia is still the federal state with the highest value, followed by Saxony with 172.8.
New South Wales extends Covid restrictions for another week
New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, will extend most of its Covid-19 restrictions for another week as it struggles to identify the missing link between a quarantine case and the recent, small outbreak.
The state has again not reported any further community transmission, recording zero cases in the 24 hours to 8pm Saturday.
But NSW Health said it was still unable to identify the link between a case in hotel quarantine and two cases in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, which were connected by rapid genomic sequencing work last week.
The state will therefore extend the restrictions by another week across greater Sydney, aside from one change, which will allow customers to shop without masks. Retail staff will continue to need to wear masks.
On Thursday, the state announced two locally acquired cases, a man in his 50s from Woollahra – dubbed Patient X – and his wife, also in her 50s.
The source of their infection has not yet yet been established. But authorities continue to believe he contracted the virus upon brief contact with an infectious person going about their business in the community unwittingly.
“Investigations are ongoing into the source of two locally acquired cases, announced on Thursday 6 May,” NSW Health said on Sunday. “They are household contacts of each other; a man and woman in their 50s from the eastern suburbs.
“Despite extensive investigations to date, NSW Health has not identified how the initial case, the man in his 50s, was exposed to Covid-19, which suggests he acquired the infection through brief contact with a currently unidentified person who was infectious in the community.”
Updated
Hello everyone.
India’s Covid-19 deaths rose by more than 4,000 for a second consecutive day on Sunday, amid intensifying calls for a nationwide lockdown.
The country recorded 403,738 new infections in just 24 hours, just shy of the record, and 4,092 further fatalities, taking the overall death toll to 242,362.
On Saturday, India reported its highest ever single-day Covid-19 death toll of 4,187 fatalities.
Experts have said the actual numbers for new infections and deaths could be far higher.
Many Indian states have imposed strict lockdowns over the past month to stem the surge in infections while others have announced restrictions on public movement and shut down cinemas, restaurants, pubs and shopping malls, Reuters reports.
But pressure is mounting on prime minister Narendra Modi to announce a nationwide lockdown similar to the one imposed during the first wave last year.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimates that India will see 1 million deaths from the virus by August.
I’m Jedidajah Otte and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments in all things pandemic for the next few hours. As ever, feel free to get in touch with tips and updates, I’m on Twitter @JedySays or you can email me.
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