Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths
World	150,213,686	+887,228	3,163,563
USA	32,983,695	+56,604	588,337
India	18,368,096	+379,459	204,812
Brazil	14,523,807	+77,266	398,343
France	5,565,852	+31,539	103,918
Russia	4,787,273	+7,848	109,367
Turkey	4,751,026	+40,444	39,398
UK	4,411,797	+2,166	127,480
Italy	3,994,894	+13,385	120,256
Spain	3,504,799	+8,665	77,943
Germany	3,351,474	+24,696	83,018
Argentina	2,928,890	+23,718	62,947
Colombia	2,824,626	+19,745	72,725
Poland	2,776,927	+8,895	66,533
Iran	2,459,906	+21,713	70,966
Mexico	2,333,126	+3,592	215,547
Ukraine	2,047,838	+9,590	43,391
Peru	1,783,339	+8,277	60,742
Indonesia	1,657,035	+5,241	45,116
Czechia	1,626,053	+3,239	29,180
South Africa	1,578,450	+1,250	54,285
Netherlands	1,481,323	+8,649	17,104
Canada	1,202,737	+7,748	24,117
Chile	1,184,271	+4,499	26,073
Iraq	1,051,868	+6,858	15,392
Romania	1,051,779	+2,240	27,833
Philippines	1,020,495	+6,895	17,031
Belgium	979,034	+2,946	24,104
Israel	838,323	+106	6,361
Portugal	835,563	+572	16,973
Pakistan	810,231	+5,292	17,530
Hungary	774,399	+1,692	27,172
Bangladesh	754,614	+2,955	11,305
Jordan	708,265	+1,910	8,754
Serbia	685,937	+2,138	6,312
Austria	614,510	+2,340	10,152
Japan	575,563	+4,523	10,055
Lebanon	524,241	+1,478	7,224
UAE	516,301	+1,710	1,580
Morocco	510,465	+493	9,015
Saudi Arabia	415,281	+1,062	6,935
Bulgaria	402,491	+1,382	16,278
Malaysia	401,593	+3,142	1,477
Slovakia	381,180	+682	11,611
Ecuador	377,662	+2,333	18,470
Panama	363,895	+362	6,222
Belarus	355,924	+1,255	2,522
Greece	340,493	+2,770	10,242
Croatia	327,737	+2,904	7,001
Azerbaijan	316,521	+1,402	4,461
Kazakhstan	314,082	+2,682	3,621
Nepal	312,699	+4,774	3,211
Georgia	307,401	+1,551	4,077
Tunisia	305,313	+1,729	10,563
Bolivia	300,258	+1,480	12,885
Palestine	294,550	+1,084	3,206
Paraguay	274,170	+2,356	6,196
Kuwait	271,145	+1,464	1,546
Dominican Republic	265,819	+338	3,467
Ethiopia	255,288	+1,244	3,639
Moldova	250,138	+424	5,780
Denmark	249,785	+835	2,481
Ireland	247,857	+368	4,896
Costa Rica	245,601	+2,434	3,202
Lithuania	244,569	+1,599	3,903
Slovenia	238,421	+398	4,236
Egypt	225,528	+1,011	13,219
Guatemala	224,621	+1,596	7,478
Armenia	214,872	+808	4,071
Honduras	208,356	+1,036	5,212
Qatar	204,289	+690	445
Venezuela	194,959	+1,238	2,099
Uruguay	193,027	+2,931	2,497
Oman	192,326	+928	2,001
Libya	176,701	+447	3,019
Bahrain	174,659	+1,111	632
Nigeria	164,993	+81	2,063
Kenya	158,326	+834	2,688
North Macedonia	151,569	+447	4,772
Myanmar	142,790	+50	3,209
Albania	130,859	+123	2,386
Algeria	121,580	+236	3,234
Estonia	121,232	+396	1,148
S. Korea	120,673	+775	1,821
Latvia	117,099	+967	2,118
Norway	112,156	+470	753
Sri Lanka	104,953	+1,466	661
Cuba	104,512	+988	614
Montenegro	97,080	+150	1,485
Kyrgyzstan	94,599	+322	1,592
Ghana	92,513	+49	779
Zambia	91,484	+66	1,249
China	90,622	+12	4,636
Uzbekistan	90,008	+378	646
Finland	86,405	+244	911
Cyprus	64,565	+845	306
Thailand	61,699	+2,012	178
Singapore	61,086	+23	30
Aruba	10,585	+15	98
Suriname	10,218	+61	201
Vietnam	2,865	+8	35

 

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

 

 

 

More than 13 million people in India applied for Covid-19 vaccines after minimum age lowered to 18

From CNN's Manveena Suri in New Delhi

 

Syringes filled with COVISHIELD vaccine for COVID-19 lie on ice box at a primary health center in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, on April 28. Dar Yasin/AP

About 13.3 million people applied for Covid-19 vaccinations in India on Thursday, the first day the vaccine was made available to everyone between the ages 18 and 44, according to the government's dedicated vaccination website, CoWIN.

India is administering two vaccines domestically: the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot, also known as Covishield, and its homegrown Covaxin, developed jointly by Bharat Biotech and the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

CoWIN opened for registrations on Wednesday. As of Thursday at 12 p.m. local time, a further 4.15 million have registered to receive vaccinations. 

India kickstarted its vaccination program in January for health care workers and priority groups, hoping to fully inoculate 300 million people by August. The start was sluggish due to logistical issues and vaccine hesitancy among the population – especially toward Covaxin, which was approved for emergency use before the efficacy data of its third phase trial were released.

As of Wednesday evening local time, 150,020,648 vaccine doses had been administered in India

 

 

 

Manila to maintain strict Covid-19 restrictions until mid-May

From Yasmin Coles in Manila

 

Cyclists ride along a bike lane alongside traffic in Quezon city, Metro Manila, Philippines, on April 27. Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

Strict travel and public health restrictions will remain in metro Manila and surrounding areas until mid-May, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte announced Wednesday.

The latest restriction were imposed in mid-April. They limited travel in and out of the capital and shut many businesses outside of essential goods and services, according to CNN affiliate CNN Philippines.

Duterte apologized for the extension of restrictions and said Covid-19 has moved beyond a public health issue to one of national interest. Though he scolded people for violating health protocols, the outspoken leader said the ultimate blame remains with the government.

Duterte said lines are forming for admission to hospitals and that the government is running our of resources to provide aid to everyone.

 

 

 

Colombia reports record number of deaths in a day as protesters take to the streets

From Stefano Pozzebon in Bogota, Colombia

 

People take part in a protest against a tax reform bill launched by Colombian President Ivan Duque, in Bogota, Colombia, on April 28. Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images

Colombia's Health Ministry reported a record 490 new Covid-related deaths Wednesday, the same day protesters came out in force to oppose tax reforms and the government’s handling of the pandemic.

The South American country also reported 19,745 new coronavirus cases, bringing its total number to 2,824,626 since the pandemic began. At least 72,725 people have died so far.

Colombia has dispensed 4,625,373 vaccine doses so far, according to the country's Health Ministry.

 

 

 

Nepal orders 20,000 oxygen cylinders as cases surge

From Asha Thapa in Kathmandu, Nepal

 

Nepalese workers remove oxygen cylinders after refilling them in Lalitpur, Nepal on April 27 Narayan Maharjan/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Nepal recorded 4,897 new Covid-19 cases Wednesday, a surge in cases that's forcing the government to source 20,000 extra oxygen cylinders from abroad to cope with the country’s limited supply.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Health and Population, Dr. Jageshwor Gautam, told reporters Wednesday that demand for oxygen had increased threefold in the last week for medical purposes. Gautam said that some cylinders had been found to be faulty due to poor storage practices and that people had started hoarding cylinders in response to developments in neighboring India.

Nepal’s Ministry of Health has requested that all doctors and health workers on leave report back to work immediately to help deal with the latest increase in cases 

Gautam also said the government was aware that people may violate curfew and lockdown orders to celebrate upcoming festivals.

 

Retrieved from: https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-04-28-21/index.html

 

 

 

Covid-19 deniers in Germany are placed under surveillance

By Christopher F. Schuetze

 

Police officers carrying off a demonstrator who was protesting coronavirus restrictions at a rally in Berlin on April 21.Credit...Filip Singer/EPA, via Shutterstock

Germany’s domestic intelligence service said on Wednesday that it would surveil members of the increasingly aggressive coronavirus denier movement because they posed a risk of undermining the state.

The movement — fueled in part by wild conspiracy theories — has grown from criticizing coronavirus lockdown measures and hygiene rules to targeting the state itself, its leaders, businesses, the press and globalism, to name a few.

“Our basic democratic order, as well as state institutions such as parliaments and governments, have faced multiple attacks since the beginning of the measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement confirming that parts of the denier movement were under observation. The Interior Ministry oversees the intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

In announcing the decision to keep tabs on conspiracy theorists, intelligence officials noted the movement’s close ties to extremist groups like the Reichsbürger, who refuse to accept the legitimacy of the modern German state.

The news comes days after Germany instituted new virus rules that apply nationwide and allow the federal government to enforce lockdowns. (Such regulation had previously been in the hands of the country’s 16 states.) It also suggests that the authorities believe coronavirus denier groups could continue to flourish and pose a threat after the pandemic ends.

The movement, called Querdenken, German for lateral thinking, communicates and recruits over social media and has a large presence on the encrypted chat service Telegram, where its main channel has 65,000 subscribers.

A week ago, when Parliament passed the law giving the government powers to impose the latest lockdown, about 8,000 of the movement’s activists took to the streets in Berlin before being dispersed by the police for ignoring mask and distancing rules. Germany has seen a persistently high number of new daily cases recently, averaging about 19,000, up from about 8,000 two months ago.

Pia Lamberty, a psychologist and expert in the German conspiracy scene, warned of connections between the deniers and far-right extremists. “The danger of Querdenken,” she said, “has long been underestimated.”

 

Retrieved from:  https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/28/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-cases/covid-conspiracy-qanon-neo-nazi-germany

 

 

 

As more people in the U.S. get vaccinated, how long will mask mandates stick around?

By Bryan Pietsch and Kevin Draper

 

Watching the Stockyards Championship Rodeo in Fort Worth, Texas, where mask mandates have been lifted.Credit...Shelby Tauber for The New York Times

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that fully vaccinated Americans can, in most cases, avoid wearing masks outdoors. But this group of nearly 100 million, scattered across the country, remains for now under the authority of a patchwork of mask mandates, varying by state and sometimes by county, dictating when and where face coverings should be worn.

Some states, like Arizona and Texas, have already lifted mask mandates. But most indoor mask mandates could be eased or eliminated by the summer, said Dr. Arthur Reingold, chair of the epidemiology division at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley — as long as people continue to get vaccinated, and as long as the United States avoids the troubling waves it has endured over the past year.

About 2.7 million Covid-19 vaccine doses are being administered nationally each day on average — a drop from the peak of more than 3.3 million this month, when those who were most eager and able to get shots were getting them quickly.

By summer, Dr. Reingold said, “there won’t be big regional differences” in mask wearing as there are now. Strict outdoor masking has been standard behavior in urban centers like New York City and San Francisco, but less common in other parts of the country.

The C.D.C. on Tuesday advised that Americans who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus no longer need to wear masks outdoors, except in some cases, like during large gatherings.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said that New York would adopt the C.D.C.’s guidance on outdoor mask wearing for vaccinated people, and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said, “If you’re fully vaccinated, outdoors and not in a large crowd — you do not need to wear a mask.”

A federal mask policy “was always going to be somewhere between difficult and impossible to achieve” in the United States, Dr. Reingold said. Still, outside of places like airports and stores — where strictly enforced mask requirements have sometimes led to heated confrontations — mask wearing has often been an individual choice, as local government mask mandates have rarely led to fines or punishment.

The C.D.C. is maintaining its advice on other safety measures, saying that all adults should wear masks and stay six feet apart at outdoor performance and sporting events and in indoor shopping malls and movie theaters.

President Biden said on Tuesday at an outdoor news conference that the updated guidance was a step toward getting “life in America closer to normal.”

Xavier Becerra, the secretary of health and human services, said on “CBS This Morning” on Tuesday, “The message is clear: You’re vaccinated? Guess what, you get to return to a more normal lifestyle.”

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/28/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-cases/as-more-people-in-the-us-get-vaccinated-how-long-will-mask-mandates-stick-around