Coronavirus live: US expected to announce new travel rules for India; record daily deaths in Turkey – as it happened | World news

• Brazil has reported 2,595 new coronavirus deaths, its health ministry said, bringing the total to 403,781. Brazil also reported 68,333 new cases of the virus, which now total 14,659,011, Reuters reports
• A fire has broken out at a Covid centre in Gujarat, India, according to local reports.
• US president Joe Biden has imposed new travel restrictions on India starting on Tuesday amid the Covid-19 epidemic, barring most non-US citizens from entering, the White House said.
• The number of people hospitalised for Covid-19 in France decreased on Friday for the fourth straight day and the average number of new daily infections fell to the lowest in more than a month, Reuters reports.
• Health officials in the Pakistani province of Sindh said they had detected two coronavirus variants first identified in Brazil and South Africa.
• Turkey recorded 394 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, its biggest ever daily toll, data from the health ministry showed.
• South Africa’s drug regulator has said that Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine can be given to pregnant women with co-morbidities or at high risk of contracting Covid.
• Countries should share spare vaccine doses with Brazil to help the global fight against Covid-19, according to the Brazilian health minister.
• Spain will extend the gap between the first and second doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine in under 60-year-olds to 16 weeks from 12, the health ministry said.

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Britain’s NHS Test and Trace system is reducing the size of its contact tracing workforce after a decline in coronavirus cases in the country.

“Just as we increased numbers working in the trace service over the winter, we are now responding to the reduction in case numbers we’ve seen this spring”, a spokeswoman for the Department for Health and Social Care said.

“We are continuing to respond to changes in demand and reflect staff numbers accordingly”, the statement added.

The UK’s south Asian communities were more likely to test positive for Covid, become severely ill and die than any other minority ethnic group in the country’s second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study.

During the first wave from February to September 2020, the paper in the Lancet medical journal found, all minority ethnic groups had a higher risk than the white community of testing positive for Covid, ending up in hospital, being admitted to intensive care, and dying, after accounting for any underlying health conditions.

But in the second wave, from September to December 2020, minority ethnic groups did better – except for the south Asian communities.

Brazil has reported 2,595 new coronavirus deaths, its health ministry said, bringing the total to 403,781.

Brazil also reported 68,333 new cases of the virus, which now total 14,659,011, Reuters reports.

Mexico’s president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the US would probably send them around 5 million more doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, saying a factory set to make the drug domestically was not yet ready.

Reuters reports:

Struggling with delays at the factory and shortfalls in deliveries from foreign vaccine suppliers, Mexico has asked the United States for more shots after an initial loan of some 2.7 million AstraZeneca doses.

“It’s probable that they help us with a loan, while the AstraZeneca plant in Mexico gets up and running,” Lopez Obrador said.

The role of vaccines in keeping down coronavirus infections is growing but caution must be exercised in easing restrictions, a member of the UK’s government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation member said.
Professor Adam Finn told BBC Newsnight: “I think the role of the vaccine programme is increasing week on week. “Increasingly we’re seeing the impact of the vaccine, initially on hospitalisation and now increasingly actually on transmission of the virus. So we are in a good place. “The low figures are a reflection of that but I think there’s one thing we’ve learned over the last 14 months is that how things are today is not a close and accurate predictor of how things will be in two or three months time, so we have to expect a certain amount of instability going forward, I don’t think this is all over yet.”

Here is some more information on US president Joe Biden announcing new travel restrictions on India.

The restrictions, which take effect on May 4 , are on the advice of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and were imposed because “the magnitude and scope of the Covid-19 pandemic” in India was “surging,” the White House said.

Biden on Friday signed a proclamation implementing the restrictions, which were first reported by Reuters.

The proclamation said India “accounts for over one-third of new global cases” and added that “proactive measures are required to protect the nation’s public health from travelers entering the United States” from India.

A fire has broken out at a Covid centre in Gujarat, India, according to local reports.

The US is hearing “huge demand” from countries around the world for vaccines not needed by Americans but has not developed a criteria for allocating them, its government said.

The White House said on Monday it will start to share up to 60 million doses of AstraZeneca Plc’s coronavirus vaccine with other countries, as soon as the next few weeks, but the Federal Drug Administration still needs to approve those doses, Reuters reports.

Gayle Smith, the U.S. State Department’s coordinator for global Covid-19 response, said Washington has not decided yet on how to allocate those vaccines that will be shared with other countries, despite the clamor from allies like India, where the virus is surging.

“I think we certainly will be making a decision based on what impact we can have on the spread of the virus, where needs are most acute and what will be the most effective,” said Smith.

She said the situation in India was “very, very serious” but had not yet peaked and would need persistent attention for some time and the immediate aid that the United States was already providing, such as protective gear and vaccine manufacturing supplies.

“We’re also looking at other things that can be done to build up supply chains within India so there can be a more steady supply of all those things that are needed to manage this overtime.”

The US is extending face mask requirements across all transportation networks through to September 13, Reuters reports.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration requirements that took effect on February 1st were to set to expire on May 11.

They cover workers and travelers at airports, on board commercial aircraft, on over-the-road buses, and on commuter bus and rail systems through September 13.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued the federal mask mandate in nearly all transportation modes in late January, including on ride-share vehicles.

The order does not apply to private cars or commercial trucks being driven by a sole operator.

Airlines for America, a trade group, hailed “the administration’s decision to extend the mandate requiring face coverings onboard commercial aircraft and in airports.”

Canada will start getting Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines from the US next week, a company spokesperson said, in what will be the first time the U.S. has allowed that company’s vaccine exported to Canada.

Canada has been getting Pfizer’s vaccines from Belgium until now, Reuters reports.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said starting next week, Canada will be receiving 2 million doses a week from Pfizer alone.

Vaccinations have ramped up in the country in recent months. Every adult in Quebec will be eligible to make a vaccine appointment on May 14 and in Ontario every adult can book an appointment starting May 24.

Brazilian pharmaceutical associations called for lawmakers to reject a bill that seeks to suspend Covid-19 vaccine patents, saying it could spark international retaliation and reduce medical supplies, Reuters reports.

Brazil’s Senate passed the proposal on Thursday night, sending it to the lower house for consideration.

The bill’s backers say the emergency measure is needed due to a shortage of shots and a grave outbreak in Brazil, where over 400,000 people have died from the virus.

The government of President Jair Bolsonaro has publicly opposed calls to suspend patent protections, arguing they could endanger talks with vaccine producers.

In a joint statement, five of Brazil’s leading pharmaceutical associations sided with his administration.

“The approval of a bill that allows for the weakening of intellectual property could lead to international retaliation and reduce the supply of pharmaceutical inputs.

“We cannot support measures that could generate more instability and scenarios that may have irreversible consequences, in the short, medium and long term for Brazil.”

More than 90 people were found “huddled together” in a home in Houston in the US in a possible case of human smuggling, police said, ABC News is reporting.

No one was seriously injured but Houston Police Assistant Chief Daryn Edwards said “We are concerned that there may be some positive Covid cases inside the house.”

Cape Verde announced new coronavirus-related restrictions on Friday, after a recent surge of infections in the West African archipelago nation.

AFP reports:

Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva told reporters on the island of Sal, a popular tourist destination, that sports facilities will close for a month from Friday, and that restaurants and bars must shut after 9 pm.

Cape Verde has reported over 23,500 Covid-19 infections, with 213 deaths, according to official statistics.

But health officials in the country of 550,000 people have recorded an uptick in cases, which have recently averaged about 250 a day.