Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths
World	128,789,638	+541,919	2,815,045
USA	31,097,154	+62,459	564,138
Brazil	12,664,058	+86,704	317,936
India	12,148,487	+53,158	162,502
France	4,585,385	+30,702	95,337
Russia	4,536,820	+8,277	98,442
UK	4,341,736	+4,040	126,670
Italy	3,561,012	+16,017	108,879
Turkey	3,277,880	+37,303	31,385
Spain	3,275,819	+4,994	75,305
Germany	2,809,510	+13,110	76,833
Colombia	2,397,731	+7,952	63,255
Argentina	2,332,765	+10,154	55,736
Poland	2,288,826	+20,870	52,392
Mexico	2,227,842	+1,292	201,826
Iran	1,875,234	+10,250	62,569
Ukraine	1,662,942	+10,533	32,418
South Africa	1,546,735	+756	52,788
Peru	1,540,077	+6,956	51,801
Czechia	1,523,668	+6,865	26,222
Indonesia	1,505,775	+4,682	40,754
Netherlands	1,264,983	+5,828	16,509
Chile	989,492	+5,008	23,107
Canada	976,598	+4,880	22,926
Romania	946,647	+6,204	23,409
Belgium	872,936	+2,179	22,921
Iraq	844,260	+5,995	14,286
Israel	832,639	+514	6,197
Portugal	821,104	+388	16,845
Philippines	741,181	+9,296	13,191
Pakistan	663,200	+4,084	14,356
Hungary	645,733	+4,609	20,435
Bangladesh	605,937	+5,042	8,994
Jordan	605,007	+7,751	6,747
Serbia	595,489	+5,471	5,270
Austria	542,542	+3,001	9,308
Morocco	495,421	+665	8,813
Japan	470,175	+1,561	9,086
Lebanon	465,007	+2,668	6,184
UAE	459,360	+2,289	1,492
Saudi Arabia	389,422	+556	6,663
Slovakia	359,330	+1,215	9,624
Panama	354,604	+519	6,109
Malaysia	344,018	+1,133	1,265
Bulgaria	338,426	+5,176	13,068
Ecuador	327,325	+2,201	16,780
Belarus	320,594	+995	2,237
Georgia	281,145	+673	3,773
Nepal	277,147	+167	3,030
Bolivia	270,347	+719	12,211
Croatia	269,009	+1,487	5,928
Greece	260,077	+4,322	8,017
Azerbaijan	259,476	+2,146	3,538
Dominican Republic	252,384	+202	3,317
Tunisia	252,171	+1,002	8,788
Kazakhstan	243,318	+1,445	3,029
Palestine	240,065	+1,817	2,614
Ireland	235,444	+366	4,681
Kuwait	230,821	+1,271	1,308
Denmark	229,902	+1,210	2,417
Moldova	228,370	+917	4,915
Costa Rica	216,764	+1,586	2,957
Lithuania	215,216	+835	3,566
Slovenia	214,045	+1,080	4,040
Paraguay	212,691	+2,266	4,161
Ethiopia	204,521	+1,976	2,841
Egypt	201,432	+693	11,956
Guatemala	193,834	+278	6,823
Armenia	191,491	+750	3,497
Honduras	187,975	+515	4,585
Qatar	179,184	+720	289
Nigeria	162,762	+121	2,056
Venezuela	159,149	+1,206	1,589
Libya	158,251	+706	2,658
Oman	158,056	+1,173	1,669
Bahrain	143,574	+905	517
Myanmar	142,412	+19	3,206
Kenya	132,646	+1,530	2,147
North Macedonia	128,511	+1,271	3,749
Albania	124,723	+304	2,227
Algeria	117,061	+115	3,089
Estonia	105,416	+1,202	896
S. Korea	102,582	+441	1,729
Uruguay	102,461	+2,877	953
Latvia	101,733	+526	1,893
Norway	95,208	+1,575	661
Sri Lanka	92,442	+139	566
Montenegro	90,832	+414	1,266
China	90,190	+8	4,636
Kyrgyzstan	88,276	+113	1,498
Zambia	88,199	+187	1,202
Uzbekistan	82,682	+146	628
Finland	76,845	+420	826
Cuba	74,212	+1,008	421
Jamaica	38,848	+334	587
Senegal	38,618	+52	1,049
Aruba	9,374	+80	85
Suriname	9,109	+5	177

 

Retrieved from:  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 

 

 

There is reason for hope, but Covid-19 prevention must continue, CDC director says

From CNN’s Virginia Langmaid

 

 

Pool

Vaccination rates in the United States provide hope for an end to the pandemic, but that hope is tempered by new infection rates, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday.

“We have so much reason for hope. We have 95 million Americans vaccinated with one dose of vaccine and 53 million Americans who are fully vaccinated, 15%,” Walensky said during at a news conference following a tour of a Federal Emergency Management Agency  mass vaccination site at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. 

“There is some tempered news, and that is that we are currently in this country at 61,000 new infections a day, a 13% increase from last week at this time,” she said. 

“While we have so much hope on the horizon, we are just asking you to hang on just a little bit longer. Wear your masks, continue to distance, and do things that keep you safe so that we don’t have to see sickness or hospitalizations with Covid-19 for anyone who was supposed to get their vaccine the following week.”

 

 

 

European Commission says more work is needed to understand Covid-19 origins

From CNN’s James Frater and Zahid Mahmood

 

The European Commission has called a World Health Organization-led report on coronavirus origins a “helpful first step,” but says further work is need to understand the origins of coronavirus and its transmission to humans.

“This will require further and timely access to all relevant locations and to all relevant human, animal and environmental data available, including data from the first identified COVID-19 cases and cases picked up by surveillance systems, as well as further serologic testing of blood samples,” the commission said in a statement.

“The identification of the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus will require full and transparent cooperation by all WHO Member States and a collaborative effort by scientists from various disciplines.”

The WHO released a new 120-page report on Tuesday listing four commonly discussed scenarios for the virus’ introduction to humans, dismissing two of them as unlikely. It did not give evidence to support the lab leak theory. 

The statement added that a better understanding of the virus is essential to support the international response to pandemics, including equitable access to vaccines and treatments. 

“Ultimately, pandemic preparedness is not only about response capacities; it is above all about how countries act when a threat arises,” the commission said.

The governments of the United States Australia, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom jointly expressed concern about WHO's study into the origins of Covid-19 in China and called for independent and fully transparent evaluations with access to all relevant data in the future.

 

 

 

German vaccine experts recommend AstraZeneca only be given to people over 60

From Inke Kappeler, Chris Liakos and Lindsay Isaac

 

Germany’s vaccine committee, STIKO, has recommended AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine only be used in people aged 60 and over. 

The recommendation comes after reports of “rare but very severe thromboembolic side effects,” in 31 people following the first dose. The symptoms occurred four to 16 days after the shot, mainly in people younger than 60, according to Germany’s Paul Ehrlich Institute – the country's medical regulatory body. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Health Minister Jens Spahn are expected to hold a news conference Tuesday evening in Berlin to address the recommendation.  

STIKO will issue further guidance on whether to administer a second dose to people under 60 who have already had their first shot.

The AstraZeneca vaccine started being administered in Germany in February. 

CNN reached out AstraZeneca which gave the following statement:

"We respect the decision taken by STIKO in their advisory capacity for use of vaccines in Germany.
Patient safety remains the Company’s highest priority. Investigations by both the UK Medicines & Products regulatory agency (MRHA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) were not able to establish a causal relationship between the vaccine and clotting events, however, the EMA concluded that for very rare cases of serious cerebral thromboembolic events with thrombocytopenia a causal link with the vaccine is not proven but deserves further analysis.
Regulatory authorities in the UK, European Union, the World Health Organization have concluded that the benefits of using our vaccine to protect people from this deadly virus significantly outweigh the risks across all adult age groups. The benefit risk profile of the vaccine was reaffirmed in the EMA’s monthly safety update published earlier today
Tens of millions of people have now received our vaccine across the globe. The extensive body of data from two large clinical datasets and real-world evidence demonstrate its effectiveness, reaffirming the role the vaccine can play during this public health crisis. 
AstraZeneca continues to analyse its database on tens of millions of records for COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca to understand whether these very rare cases of blood clots associated with thrombocytopenia occur any more commonly than would be expected naturally in a population of millions of people. We will continue to work with German authorities to address any questions they may have."

 

 

 

Chinese city on border with Myanmar goes into lockdown

From CNN’s Beijing bureau

 

Before the lockdown, trucks are seen coming and going at a border post in Ruili, China, on March 27. Kyodo News/Sipa USA

A city in southwestern China near the country's border with Myanmar is going into lockdown after nine Covid-19 cases were reported Tuesday.

Six of the nine cases found in Ruili city were symptomatic and three were asymptomatic, according to a statement from provincial health officials. Four of them are Burmese nationals.

Authorities said they will crack down on illegal border crossings from neighboring Myanmar, where the ruling military junta overthrew the country's democratically elected leaders last month, in order to prevent the virus from spreading further within China.

Ruili officials stopped all inbound and outbound travel at 10 p.m. Tuesday and began a citywide Covid-19 testing campaign at 8 a.m. Wednesday, according to a statement from the information department of Yunnan province.

Chinese officials blamed smugglers from Myanmar for a previous surge of Covid-19 cases in Ruili in September.

 

Retrieved from: https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-03-31-21/index.html

 

 

 

Chile is a leader in vaccinations but Covid cases are surging, offering a cautionary tale about reopening too quickly

By  Pascale Bonnefoy and Ernesto Londoño

 

 

An almost empty Plaza de Armas square in downtown Santiago, Chile, on Sunday after a quarantine order was imposed.Credit...Cristobal Olivares for The New York Times

 

SANTIAGO, Chile — Having negotiated early access to tens of millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccines, Chile has been inoculating its residents faster than any other country in the Americas and appears poised to be among the first in the world to reach herd immunity.

But experts say the country’s speedy and efficient vaccination drive — only Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Seychelles have vaccinated a larger share of their populations — gave Chileans a more lax outlook toward the virus, contributing to a sharp spike in new infections and deaths.

The surge in cases, even as more than a third of Chile’s population has received at least the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, serves as a cautionary tale for other nations looking to vaccination drives to quickly put an end to the era of beleaguered economies, closed borders, and social distancing. The rise in cases triggered a new set of strict lockdown measures that have restricted mobility for much of the country, affecting nearly 14 million people.

The severity of the crisis became clear Sunday, as President Sebastián Piñera asked Congress to delay by six weeks a vote scheduled for early April to elect the representatives who will draft a new Constitution and other officials. In a statement Sunday, Mr. Piñera argued that the current state of the pandemic was not conducive to holding a vote that was “democratic, inclusive and safe.”

While more than six million of the country’s 18 million people have been vaccinated, a surge in infections has left intensive care units operating with few beds to spare and the system at a breaking point.

Last week Chile recorded 7,626 new Covid-19 cases in a single day, a record, and the pace of new infections has doubled in the past month. Officials have also identified cases of new variants that were first seen in the United Kingdom and Brazil.

“No one questions that the vaccination campaign is a success story,” said Dr. Francisca Crispi, a regional president of Chile’s medical association. “But it conveyed a false sense of security to people, who felt that since we’re all being vaccinated the pandemic is over.”

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/30/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-cases/chile-is-a-leader-in-vaccinations-but-covid-cases-are-surging-offering-a-cautionary-tale-about-reopening-too-quickly

 

 

 

For Syrians, the pandemic has increased the need for humanitarian assistance, but donations prove ‘woefully inadequate.’

 

 

A woman and a child at a camp in northeastern Syria earlier this month. The pandemic has worsened the economic and humanitarian crises the country faces.Credit...Delil Souleiman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

 

A virtual humanitarian pledging conference to raise money for Syria’s war-ravaged populace came up billions of dollars short of the goal for 2021 and beyond on Tuesday, a telling indicator of how the pandemic has made many affluent donor nations less charitable.

The annual conference, sponsored by the United Nations and the European Union, garnered $6.4 billion, compared with $7.7 billion in 2020. The objective was $10 billion — $4.2 billion for Syrians inside the country and $5.8 billion to assist neighboring countries hosting millions of Syrian refugees.

Humanitarian agencies expressed deep disappointment at the outcome, which comes as Syria enters its 11th year of war. Mercy Corps, an international charity, said the pledges were “woefully inadequate for the task before us.”

The United Nations has estimated that 13.4 million Syrians — more than half the country’s prewar population — are in need of humanitarian assistance, 20 percent more than a year ago. The war and the pandemic have combined to further depress the country’s economy, reflected in the collapse of its currency and the doubling or more of food prices over 2020.

The United States pledged more than $596 million at the conference, among the largest donations but still down from nearly $700 million announced at the conference last year. Britain pledged about $280 million, down from $412 million last year. The notable exception among Western donors was Germany, which pledged more than $2 billion; its United Nations ambassador, Christoph Heusgen, called the amount the country’s highest contribution for Syrian relief in the last four years.

Other humanitarian crises confronting the United Nations have also been hampered by less generous financial support during the pandemic, as donor nations devote many billions of dollars to dealing with the domestic health and economic fallouts of the crisis. A March 1 pledging conference to help avoid famine in Yemen, for example, yielded $1.7 billion, less than half the total sought.

“At a time where global humanitarian needs are rising, we are seeing, unfortunately, a drop in financial contributions towards those humanitarian needs,” Stéphane Dujarric, a United Nations spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday.

“Now, it is clear we’re also living, the world and governments are living, in a period where there is less money, where there are greater needs at home,” he said. “So, we understand that, but the investment in humanitarian needs is a critical investment in peace and security and for the well‑being of the planet.”

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/30/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-cases/for-syrians-the-pandemic-has-increased-the-need-for-humanitarian-assistance-but-donations-prove-woefully-inadequate

 

 

 

Biden signs an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program, calling it a ‘bipartisan accomplishment.’

 

 

 President Biden signed the extension less than a week after Congress gave final approval.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Biden on Tuesday signed a two-month extension of the Paycheck Protection Program, which offers loans for small businesses struggling with the economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. Biden signed the extension in the Oval Office alongside Vice President Kamala Harris and Isabella Casillas Guzman, the administrator of the Small Business Administration, less than a week after Congress gave final approval to the extension.

“It is a bipartisan accomplishment,” Mr. Biden said before signing the act. “Small business is the backbone of our economy.”

The House approved the extension on a 415-to-3 vote earlier this month, and the Senate on Thursday cleared the legislation on a 92-7 margin. The program had been set to expire on March 31. The extension also gives the Small Business Administration an additional 30 days to process loans submitted before the new May 31 deadline.

The federal loan program was first established in the $2.2 trillion stimulus law passed last March under President Donald J. Trump. In December, Congress restarted the program and added more funding. Around 3.5 million borrowers have received forgivable loans this year, taking the program’s total lending to $734 billion.

The Biden administration overhauled the program in late February, prompting self-employed people and the smallest of businesses to rush to take advantage of newly freed-up aid. The extension by lawmakers gave small businesses, as well as lenders, more time to adjust to the overhaul.

Mr. Biden said the extension would especially help small businesses in minority communities.

“Many small businesses, as you know, particularly Hispanic as well as African-American small businesses, are just out of business because they got bypassed the first time around,” Mr. Biden said.

JPMorgan Chase, the program’s largest lender, had previously refused to make the Biden administration’s changes to the loan formula for self-employed applicants, saying it lacked the time to do so before the program’s deadline. A bank spokeswoman said Chase will now make those changes in the next few days. And Bank of America, which stopped accepting new applications earlier this month, reopened its system on Monday.

Around $79 billion remains in the fund. Banks and financiers, which make the government-backed loans, generally expect the money to be depleted in mid- to late April, well ahead of the program’s new deadline.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/30/us/biden-news-today/ppp-loan

 

 

 

Summary

 

· Greece reported 4,340 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, its highest daily tally.

· A World Health Organization team probing the new coronavirus’s origins cited problems accessing raw data, the health agency’s chief said.

· Germany’s standing vaccination commission (Stiko) has recommended that no-one aged under 60 should be given Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines, according to a report in Augsburger Allgemeine. (See post at 16:06)

· Residents in Canada’s nursing homes didn’t receive enough medical care during the first wave of the pandemic, according to a new study.

· In the Netherlands, despite the lockdown, new Covid cases increased for a seventh consecutive week, health authorities said earlier.

· The number of people in Sweden needing intensive care as a result of Covid-19 infection increased 9% compared to last week, health officials said.

· Germany will only administer AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine to people aged 60 and above following reports of rare blood clots in the brains of 31 people following the first dose. The decision contravenes recommendations from the EMA and WHO over the safety of the vaccine.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/mar/31/coronavirus-live-news-who-lab-leak-theory-investigation-quito-hospitals-overwhelmed?page=with:block-6063ed948f0807bf71ddf27c#block-6063ed948f0807bf71ddf27c