Coronavirus news: Indian hospitals in oxygen SOS plea as 50% of Britons get first vaccine dose
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Your support makes all the difference.Hospitals in India were near “total collapse” as the country’s Covid-19 crisis spiralled further out of control amid a second wave of the killer disease, doctors are warning.
Record numbers of new cases put extreme pressure on hospital beds while oxygen supplies ran dangerously low across vast swathes of the country.
A number of medical centers issued desperate SOS pleas on social media, calling for oxygen container replacements. In Delhi, four hospitals were shut down earlier this week after supplies were exhausted.
The Supreme Court described the Covid-19 crisis as a “national emergency” and demanded the government to bring forward a plan to help stem rising cases and deaths.
On Saturday, health officials reported 346,786 new cases in the previous 24 hours, setting a world record for the third consecutive day, official figures show. Some 2,264 people died after contracting the infection, up from 2,263 on the day before.
Elsewhere, over half of the UK’s total population had received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to official figures. The UK first dose total stood at 33,496,293 after NHS England confirmed a further 107,656 jabs were administered as of 23 April.
Malaysia receives first batch of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines
Malaysia received 268,800 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines on Friday night, its first batch from the pharmaceutical company, state news agency reported on Saturday.
Health minister Adham Baba said the batch was purchased through the COVAX facility.
“The COVAX facility sent the vaccine from South Korea, and we will keep it at the designated storage centre,” he told reporters, according to Bernama.
The country had initially given conditional approval in March for the use of the vaccine made by the firm, but placed it under review after the European Medicines Agency found that unusual blood clots with low blood platelets was a rare side effect of the vaccine.
Reuters
Merkel defends sweeping new lockdown powers
Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended sweeping new lockdown powers in Germany.
MPs this week passed legislation for federal “emergency brake” laws.
The measures, which came into force at midnight, apply to areas of the country where the seven-day incidence of Covid is above 100 per 100,000.
Tough new restrictions include limiting restaurants to take away services, a cap on the number of people taking part in sport and a nighttime curfew.
In her weekly video address on Saturday, the chancellor accepted the rules are “tough” but necessary.
She said: “No country that managed to break the third wave of the pandemic and then loosen restrictions again did so without tough measures such as nighttime curfews.”
Health officials on Friday reported a further 23,392 new Covid-19 cases and more 286 deaths.
Iran bans all flights to and from India, Pakistan
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency is reporting the country's civil aviation agency has banned all flights to and from India and Pakistan because of the dramatic surge in coronavirus cases in the two nations.
IRNA says the decision was made by Iran's Health Ministry and it takes effect Saturday at midnight.
Mohammad Hassan Zibakhsh, spokesman for Iran's Civil Aviation Organization noted there are no routine flights between Iran and India and "flights are operated occasionally."
Several other countries in the region, including the sheikhdoms of the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait, also have banned flights to and from India over the rise in coronavirus cases there.
AP
US resumes Johnson & Johnson vaccine roll out
Federal health agencies are lifting a pause on Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uncovered 15 cases of a rare blood clot, three of which were fatal.
My colleague Alex Woodward has the details:
US to restart use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine
Federal health officials end pause of single-dose shot after 15 patients among more than 8 million were diagnosed with rare blood clots
AstraZeneca vaccines sent to Mexico from Baltimore plant safe, deputy health minister says
Millions of doses of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine manufactured at a US plant that had a contamination issue and then shipped to Mexico are safe and have been approved by two regulators, Mexico's deputy health minister said on Friday.
The doses were sent to Mexico as part of an agreement with the administration of President Joe Biden for 2.7 million shots of AstraZeneca's vaccine to help supplement Mexico's vaccination campaign amid global delays and shortages.
"They were produced in the Baltimore plant," Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez Gatell wrote on Twitter. "The product is safe and of quality, it was evaluated by the FDA and (health regulator) COFEPRIS."
The US Food and Drug Administration halted production at the US plant in Baltimore which produced the vaccines while it investigated an error that led to millions of doses being ruined last month.
Reuters
Mexico death toll hits 214,504
Mexico’s Covid-19 death toll rose to 214,504, according to health ministry data.
But government critics say the true figure is likely to be much higher.
Last month, former president, Felipe Calderon wrote on Twitter that “400,000” Mexicans have died from the disease.
Parts of Western Australia in three-day lockdown after small outbreak
More than 2 million people in the state of Western Australia on Saturday began their first full day of a snap three-day lockdown after a coronavirus outbreak in a hotel quarantine facility led to community transmission.
People in the state capital Perth and the neighbouring Peel region have been asked to stay home except for essential work, and medical and shopping purposes.
Reuters
Scotland records four more deaths and 177 new cases
Four more coronavirus deaths and 177 new cases have been recorded in Scotland in the last 24 hours, according to the latest statistics.
The daily figures on Saturday said 1.1% of tests for Covid-19 had come back positive.
There have been 7,651 deaths in total and 225,028 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.
Some 2,764,607 million people have now received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in Scotland and 993,180 have had their second dose, the Scottish Government said.
The figures came as UK Government statistics showed that more than half of the population of the UK has now had a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
PA
50% of Britons have received 1st vaccine dose, figures show
Over half of the UK’s total population has now received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to official figures.
The UK first dose total so far stands at 33,496,293 after NHS England confirmed a further 107,656 jabs were administered as of 23 April.
That takes it past the half way point to the UK population of 66,796,807. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have not yet released their latest figures.
Full report:
More than half of the UK population has now had first Covid vaccine
Over half of the UK’s total population has now received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to official figures.
Covid surge forces Cambodia markets to close as residents go hungry
Cambodia closed all markets in the capital Phnom Penh on Saturday to contain a surge in coronavirus infections and thousands of families pleaded to the government for food as a two-week lockdown continued.
Amid a rise in cases, Phnom Penh went into lockdown on 15 April and has declared some districts "red zones," banning people from leaving their homes except for medical reasons.
In a new order issued on late Friday, Phnom Penh City Hall said all markets are to be closed from Saturday until 7 May, adding that they have seen rising infections in markets and urging vendors and guards to get tested for the disease.
City officials have given thousands of families who can't leave their homes 25kg of rice, a box of soy sauce, a bag of fish sauce and a bag of canned fish, according to the City Hall's Facebook page.
A government Telegram group set up recently for people seeking emergency food aid, has received thousands of requests.
“I and my family ask for immediate assistance in the form of essential daily food... I have completely lost my family income due to the closure of the factory and the lockdown,” said Thorn Meng who has a family of 5.
Reuters
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