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President Biden shared words of solidarity and encouragement tonight during a nationally televised address acknowledging the one-year anniversary since Covid-19 shuttered most of the US.
Here are some of the key lines from his speech:
About 598,523 Americans will have died of coronavirus by July 1, according to the latest forecast from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.
That number is an increase of more than 22,000 deaths from an IHME forecast released over the weekend, which predicted about 576,026 American deaths by July 1. The team says that an increase in mobility, along with declining mask use in many states and the circulation of more contagious virus variants led to the increase in projected deaths.
The latest projection is based on a scenario that accounts for continued spread of the B.1.1.7 virus variant in some locations and scale-up of Covid-19 vaccination in the US over the next few months. Under that scenario, the current projected death rate of 1,395 deaths a day could drop to 86 deaths a day by July 1. If most people wore masks, it would be just 36 deaths a day by July 1.
However, if those who have been vaccinated move toward pre-pandemic levels of mobility, the model projects 822 deaths a day by July 1. In that scenario, IHME projected 655,666 American coronavirus deaths by July.
If 95% of Americans started wearing masks, the model projects 584,943 deaths by July 1.
CNN’s Van Jones said Thursday that President Biden’s address to Americans on the day he signed the Covid-19 relief bill into law was “what we needed right now.”
“He didn’t say, you need me. He said, ‘I need you,’” Jones said. “He didn’t just say the states. He said and the tribes and the territories. He talked about the rural America. He’s got money in there for rural Americans. He talked about corporations coming together. And he stuck up for the Asian-American community that’s been living a horror for this entire time.”
Jones went to praise Biden for not criticizing his opponents.
No Republican in the House and Senate voted in favor of the Covid relief bill.?
“He didn’t blame the other party for not being there,” Jones said. “He told the country that we can get this done.”
Hear from CNN’s Van Jones:
President Biden said later during his remarks on the anniversary of the pandemic that while he’d like Americans to spend July 4th with family, “things may get worse again as new variants of the virus spread.”
More on Covid-19 variants: The US is at risk of losing all its recent gains in the battle against Covid-19 as highly contagious variants?take advantage of Americans getting lax with safety measures.
“Please hear me clearly: At this level of cases with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
After weeks of?tumbling case numbers, new infections are on the rise again — about 2% more this past week compared to the previous week, Walensky said Monday.
“Similarly, the most recent seven-day average of deaths has also increased more than 2% … to nearly 2,000 deaths per day.”
Watch the moment:
President Biden admitted that many Americans had “lost faith” in democracy and the US government over the course of the pandemic during his primetime speech Thursday evening.?
“As I stand here tonight we’re proving once again something I’ve said time and time again, until you’re probably tired of hearing me say it. I say to foreign leaders and domestic alike. It is never, ever a good bet to bet against the American people,” he said. “America is coming back.”
Biden pointed to vaccine development and distribution, which he called “a true miracle of science” and the recent Mars rover landing before pivoting to the American Rescue Plan, which he signed earlier on Thursday.
Hear more from President Biden:
President Biden said that the federal government will launch tools in May to help people find places to get vaccinated.
“At the time when every adult is eligible (for a coronavirus vaccine) in May, we will launch, with our partners, new tools for you to find the vaccine and where to get the shot, including a new website that will help you first find the place to get vaccinated and the one nearest (to) you,” Biden said during his remarks at the White House marking the one-year anniversary of the pandemic.
See the moment:
President Biden concluded his first primetime address tonight saying he prays the nation will come together.
“We will come out stronger, with a renewed faith in ourselves, a renewed commitment to one another, to our communities and to our country,” Biden continued.
Biden then brought the speech to a close with short prayer, appealing to a higher power to protect our troops and give comfort to those who have lost loved ones in the pandemic.
“God bless you all and please God give solace to all those people who lost someone and may God protect our troops,” he said.
Hear Biden’s closing remarks:
President Biden called on all Americans “to get vaccinated” against coronavirus when it’s their turn.
“That doesn’t mean large events with lots of people together, but it does mean small groups will?be able to get together after this long hard year that will make this Independence day something truly special.”
Watch the moment:
President Biden confronted grief and loss at the beginning of his first primetime address to Americans tonight, on the one-year anniversary of the first Covid-19 shutdowns in the US.
“They’re husbands, wives, sons and daughters, grandparents, friends, neighbors, young and old,” he remarked. “They leave behind loved ones unable to truly grieve or to heal even to have a funeral.”
The President said he was thinking of everyone who died in the past year, not just Covid victims, who also died alone and left behind “loved ones who are hurting badly.”?He said over the course of the pandemic, people had lost jobs, “lost control,” and “maybe worst of all, the loss of hope.”?He talked about the children’s “loss of learning.”
“The details of life that matter most,” he continued, “and we missed those details. The big details on the small moments, weddings, birthdays, graduations, all the things that needed to happen. First dates, family reunions, Sunday night rituals. It’s all as exact a terrible cost on the psyche of so many of us.”
Biden said Americans were “fundamentally a people who wants to be with others, to talk. To laugh. To hug.”
“The things we used to do that always filled us with joy, have become things, we couldn’t do broke our hearts,” he lamented.
Hear Biden speak:
President Biden said during his Thursday address marking the one-year anniversary of the pandemic that Americans are owed nothing but the truth about when life will get back to normal.?
Biden, speaking from the White House, recalled meeting a small business owner in Philadelphia, who told him that what she needed most was the truth.
“She said, looking me in the eye, she said, ‘I just want the truth. The truth. Just tell me the truth,’” Biden recalled.?
“My fellow Americans, you’re owed nothing less than the truth,” the President continued. “And for all of you asking about when things will get back to normal, here is the truth. The only way to get our lives back, to get our economy back on track, is to beat the virus.”
Biden continued, “But this is one of the most complex operations we’ve ever undertaken as a nation in a long time. That’s why I’m putting every power I have as President of the United States to put us on a war footing to get the job done.”?
“Thank God we’re making some real progress now,” he said.
Hear from President Biden:
President Biden was confident that thanks to the passage of the American Rescue Plan, a “majority” of K-8 schools in the US will reopen by his first 100 days in the White House.
More on Cardona: Cardona, whose family is from Puerto Rico, enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top of Connecticut’s public education system.
He began his career as fourth-grade teacher in Meriden, in the same district where he attended school. Cardona soon became a principal and then assistant superintendent of the district before being named state commissioner in 2019.
Biden has pledged?to reopen most schools by May,?within his first 100 days in office, and is pushing Congress to approve another $170 billion in education funding.
Biden shares timeline for schools:
President Biden this evening said his administration is on track to beat his promise to deliver 100 million Covid-19 vaccination shots into the arms of Americans by day 60 — 40 days before his campaign promise.
“When I came into office, you may recall I set a goal, and many of you said it was way over the top,” he said. “I said I intended to get 100 million shots in people’s arms in my first 100 days in office.”
“Tonight, I can say we’re not only going to meet that goal we’re gonna be beat that goal,” Biden continued. “We are actually on track to meet the goal of 100 million in arms on my?60th day in office.”
“No other country in the world, has done this,” he added. “None.”
Watch the moment:
President Biden warned Americans about the divisions among the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic, pointing to something as simple as wearing a mask causing division.
“Too often we’ve turned against one another — a mask, the easiest thing to do to save lives, sometimes it divides us,” Biden said speaking from the East Room.?
Biden added, “States pitted against one another, instead of working with each other.”
While Biden acknowledged the divisions in the country, he also pointed to bipartisan efforts to?vaccinate Americans across the nation: “We’re working with governors and mayors – in red states and blue states – to set up and support nearly 600 federally-supported vaccination centers.”
President Biden this evening condemned those who have used the pandemic as an excuse for hate to divide the country at a time when healing is needed.?
“Too often, we have turned against one another,” he said tonight. “A mask, the easiest thing to do to save lives, sometimes, it divides us, states pitted against one another, instead of working with each other, vicious hate crimes against Asian-Americans, who have been attacked, harassed, blamed and scapegoated.”
Biden added: “At this very moment, so many of them, our fellow Americans, they’re on the front lines of this pandemic trying to save lives, and still, still they’re forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America. It’s wrong. It’s un-American. And it must stop.”
Watch the moment:
President Biden addressed the nation tonight on the one-year anniversary of the Covid-19 shutdown and discussed how through “loss we saw how much?there was to gain in?appreciation, respect and?gratitude, finding light in the?darkness is a very American?thing to do.”
Biden added: “A year filled with the loss of?life and the loss of living for?all of us.?But in the loss we saw how much?there was to gain in?appreciation, respect and?gratitude, finding light in the?darkness is a very American?thing to do.”
Hear President Biden:
President Biden?is delivering an address from the White House right now to commemorate the anniversary of the?Covid-19 shutdown.
Biden says he plans to talk about the next steps to address the pandemic.
Using his executive authority, Biden will also say that all states, tribes and territories must make all adults eligible for the vaccine by the start of May, a step he’ll say could allow for small Independence Day gatherings on July 4.
He’ll use the July 4 holiday as a target date by which all Americans can gather in small groups with family and friends, though will warn that doing so will require continued vigilance about wearing masks, socially distancing and getting a vaccine when eligible.
During his primetime address this evening, President Biden will address the recent rise in violence targeted at Asian-Americans, a senior White House official confirmed to CNN.
The spike in racist attacks coincides with the Covid-19 pandemic, with top officials in the Trump administration referring to coronavirus as the “China Virus” and one Trump official anonymously referring to it as “Kung Flu.”
CNN has?reported?there have been nearly 3,000 incidents reported across the country, according to an advocacy group.
This was first reported by CBS News’ Weijia Jiang.
President Biden has been line editing the drafts of his first primetime address for the past week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.?
As CNN has reported, in his speech tonight, Biden is expected to reflect on the sacrifices made during the pandemic, including 500,000 lives lost, his team’s efforts to accelerate vaccine production and distribution, and the next steps.?
“He plans to provide a clear outline of his approach, level with the American people about what is require of them, but also provide a sense of hope about what is possible,” she added.
President Biden will direct US states to open vaccine eligibility to all adults by May 1 in his primetime address on Thursday, a step he’ll say could allow for small Independence Day gatherings on July 4.
The announcements, previewed by senior administration officials, amount to the most aggressive timeline toward reopening yet, one that comes as cases drop but as thousands of Americans continue to die from the virus per week.
Using his executive authority, Biden will say that all states, tribes and territories must make all adults eligible for the vaccine by the start of May.?
Many states are already speeding toward wide eligibility for vaccinations, with Alaska – for example – already there.
He’ll use the July 4 holiday as a target date by which all Americans can gather in small groups with family and friends, though will warn that doing so will require continued vigilance about wearing masks, socially distancing and getting a vaccine when eligible.?
He will lay out new steps the administration believes makes the May 1 timeline realistic, including expanding the types of professionals who are able to administer vaccine shots. Dentists, veterinarians and paramedics will all be included in the new approved list.
He will detail a national website launching at the start of May that provides information about locating a vaccine.
And he’ll unveil a doubling of the number of federal mass vaccination centers and will announce an additional 4,000 active duty troops will participate in the vaccination effort.
Officials said the target by which enough vaccine will be available for anyone who wants it — the end of May — hasn’t changed. And they cautioned that it would still take longer than that for every person who wants a shot to receive one.
In his speech, Biden will also address school reopening efforts, announcing a summit convened by the Department of Education and expanded testing capacity for K-8 facilities.
Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa on Thursday announced a plan to ease the country’s lockdown restrictions imposed since mid-January to curb the spread of coronavirus.?
Costa said the easing of restrictions would begin on March 15 when pre-schools and primary schools will reopen, as well as hair salons and libraries.???
From April 5, small shops, museums and art galleries will be allowed reopen with strict social distancing rules. Children attending middle school will also be able to return.??
Restaurants, cafes and cinemas can reopen on April 19 under a set of strict restrictions that include limiting the number of people in a group and earlier closing times. High schools and university students will also be able to return to school.
Starting May 3, catering businesses can open with no time restrictions but are still limited to groups with a maximum of six people indoors or 10 outdoors.?
Costa warned he will not be afraid to take a step back and reintroduce restrictions if the situation becomes worse.????
The prime minister added that the measures to ease lockdown restrictions will be re-evaluated every 15 days.?
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, urged people not to be fooled by falling case number in coming months and warned of a second winter surge if people decide to forgo vaccination as warmer weather arrives.
Offit, a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee, cautioned people from declaring victory too early.??
“The test of whether or not we have successfully stopped the spread of this virus will come next winter,” he said. “If we can get 80%, which is probably another 120 million people that need to be vaccinated, which would, at 2 million doses a day, means we can do that by the summer, then I think when next winter comes, because this virus isn’t going away, we’ll see a bump instead of a surge, and that’d be the test of how well we’ve done with getting this in hand.”
And while there is reason for optimism, now is not the time to abandon proven mitigation practices, Offit said.?
“You see Texas for example, saying we can all go back to business as normal that doesn’t bother me as much as that and they lift the mask mandate,” he said.
Largely due to the coronavirus pandemic, the year 2020 appears to have been the?deadliest?in the recorded history of the United States – at least since the year 1900, according to early data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC confirmed to CNN in an email on Thursday that?an agency analysis suggests that 2020 was the?deadliest?year in recorded history?in terms of total number of deaths,?and there was a 15% increase in the US death rate last year due to the pandemic.?“We are working on a future report, but the underlying data on which the report is based are already available from our website,” a CDC spokesperson wrote in the email.?
The upcoming report will be published in an issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, and it will detail the rates at which deaths occurred by race, age and other demographic groups, the CDC confirmed to CNN via email.
For now, provisional data online show that last year, more than 3 million people – specifically, 3,362,151 – died from all causes in the United States. Among those deaths, 378,292 involved Covid-19, according to the data. With the US population being around 330 million people, about 3.3 million deaths represent 1% of the nation’s total population.
The provisional data note that?total deaths in 2020 were 18% higher than expected relative to recent years, according to the data on the CDC’s website.
In January, CDC statisticians shared with CNN that Covid-19 was likely the third leading cause of death in the United States last year, following heart disease and cancer.
Life expectancy in the United States also dropped a full year in the first half of 2020, according to a?provisional report published by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics in February.?The report shows that US life expectancy fell to 77.8 years, back to what it was in 2006.
Italy’s main train operator aims to have “Covid-free” rides to tourist destinations by the summer. Passengers and staff will have to test negative before boarding and should arrive at the station an hour ahead of departure.
The company is working with the Red Cross and Italian Civil Protection on the testing. A spokesperson for Trenitalia told CNN it could not immediately confirm details. However, it is expected that the Rome-Milan tickets will go on sale in the near future, on the high-speed Frecce trains.
Read more:
Based on the analysis of 130 studies on school reopening, including studies focused on the physical, academic, and emotional toll school closures have had on students, schools can safely reopen now, if they follow mitigation strategies like mask wearing and social distancing, according to a new report.
The report, Is it Safe to Reopen Schools? An Extensive Review of the Research, was written by education and policy expert John Bailey, and co-sponsored by United States of Care, Opportunity Labs, the Evidence Project at the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), COVID Collaborative, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and the Walton Family Foundation.
The report also covers the findings around the risk of children contracting Covid-19 in school, the possibility of community spread, academic losses and the more severe impact that’s having on communities of color.
One year ago tomorrow, Ohio became the first state to announce it would close all public schools due to growing concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus. One year later, many school districts are still doing full remote learning as the debate over safely reopening continues.
The report also examines how reopening schools has been tied to the potential strain on hospitals and health systems.
“Our ability to reopen schools is directly related to what the health system capacity is,” said Dr. Mario Ramirez, an emergency physician who worked with the Obama administration during the Ebola outbreak.
“As the case counts have come down, and as our health system capacity has increased, and we’ve actually instituted a lot of these protective health measures, I do think we can open schools,” Ramirez said.
Part of the debate that has recently emerged is regarding social distancing, and whether schools should space kids six feet apart as the CDC recommends, or whether three feet of distance is sufficient. For many school districts, this difference will be a key component for reopening, as most don’t have space for six feet of distancing with all their students present.
According to Bailey, school districts in Indiana, Virginia, and Massachusetts have all adopted a three foot standard instead of six feet.
Those states “have not seen a surge of cases that you would expect if somehow that protection was less adequate,” Bailey said.
More than 98 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the United States, according to data published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC reported that 98,203,893 total doses have been administered – about 75% of the 131,131,470 doses delivered.
That’s nearly 2.5 million more administered doses reported since yesterday, for a seven-day average of more than 2.2 million doses per day.
About one in 10 people in the US – about 33.9 million people – are fully vaccinated, and close to 1 in 5 people – more than 64 million – have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine.?
Note on the data: Data published by the CDC may be delayed, and doses may not have been given on the day reported.
A new study in Brazil identified two cases of people simultaneously infected with two different strains of the coronavirus.?The study was published online and will appear in April’s edition of Virus Research.?
The researchers analyzed genomic sequencing of 92 samples from Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state and found simultaneous infections with two different coronavirus strains in two cases.
Here’s what the study found:
According to the study, the concern with co-infection is not due to the worsening of the disease, but to the possibility of recombination of the genomes of the different strains, which can generate new variants of the coronavirus.?
Meanwhile, a second wave of?Covid-19?is ripping through Brazil, pushing hospitals and intensive care units toward collapse and claiming a record numbers of daily deaths.
While a new variant of the coronavirus spreads?throughout the country, many Brazilians continue to defy mask mandates mobility restrictions following the example of?President Jair Bolsonaro, who recently said people need to “stop being sissies” and “whining” about the virus.
President Biden and other top officials will promote the coronavirus relief package next week by hitting the road on what the White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the “Help is Here Tour.”
Psaki said that on Monday first lady Jill Biden will travel to Burlington, New Jersey, and Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada.?
On Tuesday, the President will travel to Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and Harris and Emhoff will travel to Denver, Colorado.?
On Wednesday, Emhoff will travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and on Friday, the President will join Harris in Atlanta, Georgia.?
“During their trips, they will discuss the benefits of the ARP for working families,” Psaki said, adding that they “will engage with people at each of these stops about how the American people can benefit from the component of the package.”?
She said they will talk about the $1,400 stimulus checks, which will begin to be deployed “as early as this weekend,” as well as the child tax credit, the extension of unemployment insurance, rental and homeowner assistance, the expansion of the earned income tax credit, health insurance subsidies, “and of course the fact that the bill will lift 11 million people out of poverty and cut child poverty in half.”
An internal memo obtained by CNN’s Phil Mattingly says the White House will deploy messaging to “every corner” of the country with the President, vice president, first lady, and second gentleman, as well as Cabinet members and top officials.
For 10 days, administration officials will focus on one element of the bill per day, from the stimulus checks and emergency unemployment insurance extensions, to vaccine distribution and reopening schools.
Americans will start seeing stimulus checks in their bank accounts as early as this weekend, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday.
This moves up the previous timeline from the administration, which was that?checks would only begin to go out at the end of the month.?
Psaki said the checks will begin to hit bank accounts this weekend for those who have their direct deposit information on hand at the Treasury Department and the IRS.?
Vaccine maker Moderna says it hopes to have results on a Covid-19 vaccine booster by May, possibly earlier.?
Just yesterday?Moderna announced that the first participants have received its modified Covid-19 vaccines, designed as potential boosters to address emerging virus variants.??
As part of its Phase 2 study, 60 participants who were already vaccinated with Moderna’s original Covid-19 vaccine will be given a booster dose of the modified vaccines the company is testing.
Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine is currently authorized for emergency use in the US. Though the vaccine was shown to provide protection against virus variants, it did show a six-fold decrease in the antibody response created against the B.1.351 variant, first identified in South Africa.
Moderna says it’s developing a strategy to address these emerging variants out of an abundance of caution.
Samantha Schacher, host of “Daily Blast Live,” described the tough situation her family has been in since her 51-year-old brother-in-law, Eric, was put into a medically induced coma after suffering complications from coronavirus as “cruel.”
Schacher, of Denver, Colorado, is advocating for her brother-in-law who is in need of a double lung transplant. She said doctors have said Eric’s lungs are “no longer compatible with life.” Schacher said she feels like she has the responsibility to do so since Eric and her sister advocate for others as health care workers: “Now it’s my turn… to help advocate for him.”
“Eric no longer?has Covid.?He cleared his Covid load?because he’s so strong way back?in January, so these are all?Covid complications. And now?we’re in a position where, we’ve?run out of options.?And we have a very healthy guy?otherwise, who can’t come home to?his —my sister, his wife and?their two babies, because of his?lungs,” she explained.
And on the one year anniversary of when the pandemic became official, Schacher has this message for people:
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge tweeted a message of support for both teachers and students as schools and colleges across England reopened on Monday.
They also acknowledged that returning to school won’t be easy for everyone, referencing the ongoing mental health effects of the pandemic.
Families with primary, secondary and college age children can test themselves twice every week from home as schools return, according to a statement from the UK government. Opening schools is one of the first phases to “cautiously ease restrictions in England,” the statement said.
It has been more than a?year since Covid-19 started circulating the globe, and one year to the day that the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global pandemic. Since then, our world has changed in profound ways.
CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta answers viewers’ questions about coronavirus and what lies ahead.
Watch:
President Biden just signed the sweeping $1.9 trillion Covid relief package?that was approved in the House today. A third round of?stimulus payments?is expected to be sent to millions of Americans soon.
The checks are worth up to $1,400 per person, including dependents.
So a couple with two children could receive up to $5,600. Unlike prior rounds, families will now receive the additional money for adult dependents over the age of 17.
The income thresholds will be based on a taxpayer’s most recent return. If they’ve already filed a 2020 return by the time the payment is sent, the IRS will base eligibility on their 2020 adjusted gross income. If not, it will be based on the 2019 return or the information submitted through an online portal set up last year for people who don’t usually file tax returns.
Use our calculator below to see what you can expect to get:
President Biden said the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package he signed just moments ago was crucial in “rebuilding the backbone of this?country.”
Biden added: “And I believe this is, and most?people I think do as well, this historic legislation is about?rebuilding the backbone of this?country and giving people in?this nation, working people, the?middle-class folks, people who?built the country a fighting?chance.?That’s what the essence of it?is.”
Watch:
President Biden just signed his sweeping $1.9 trillion Covid relief package into law.
The passage of the bill yesterday marked the first major legislative achievement of the new administration and a Congress that is now under full Democratic control, with narrow majorities in the House and Senate.
Key features of the relief package include:
The bill arrived at the White House last night, a White House official said, and Biden decided he wanted to sign it as soon as possible.?He was originally expected to sign the bill tomorrow afternoon.
Biden is slated to deliver remarks later today at 8 p.m. ET to commemorate the milestone of one year since Covid-19 shut down much of the US and is expected to discuss the next phase of his pandemic response.
Read more about what is in the bill here.
Some European countries have suspended the use of the?Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine?while the European Union’s medicines regulator investigates whether the shot could be linked to a number of reports of blood clots.
Here’s a look at where things stand across the continent:
Countries in Europe completely suspending use of AstraZeneca vaccine:
European countries suspending use of specific AstraZeneca vaccine batches:?
How other European countries are reacting:
Read more:
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Prince Daniel?Westling have tested positive for Covid-19, according to a statement from the Swedish Royal Court on Thursday.?
The statement said the couple immediately isolated themselves after experiencing “mild symptoms” of a cold along with their children Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar.
“Contact tracing is initiated under the supervision of the Physician to His Majesty The King,” according to the statement, which was issued in both Swedish and English.?
The couple did not attend Thursday’s events, according to the statement, including a memorial service at?Drottningholm Palace Chapel which was instead attended by Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia.
Friday’s Name Day celebration of the Crown at the Royal Palace is also canceled, the statement said.?
Crown Princess Victoria married Prince Daniel Westling – who was previously not royalty –in 2010 during a four-day wedding celebration at Stockholm Cathedral.?
More than 529,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic one year ago — with up to a projected 571,000 to die by early April — a number that Dr. Sanjay Gupta calls “numbing.”
“This should not feel?normal,” Gupta told CNN’s John King. “… So many of these deaths were?preventable.”
Gupta said that vaccines are not solely responsible for the downward trend in coronavirus cases.
He used the example of South Africa, which experienced a large surge in cases from a variant in the winter, but has since flattened the curve. Less than 1% of the country has been vaccinated so far, according to Gupta.
“That steep decline is not?because of vaccines, that is?another reminder, even with one?of these concerning variants,?that basic public health?measures work.?So we want the vaccine, we want?science to rescue us, but South?Africa should remind us of what?is possible even without those?vaccines,” he said.?
Gupta is optimistic as the US moves ahead through the spring and summer, he said.?
“Going into summer, we’ll have a?lot of people vaccinated, and?we’ll get to that herd immunity,” he said.
At least nine customers who were mistakenly administered empty syringes?at a Kroger Covid-19 vaccine clinic in Virginia on Monday later “returned to the clinic and have received the vaccine,” according to?Cheryle Rodriguez,?public information officer for?the Virginia Department of Health.
“Kroger?is taking steps to ensure that similar incidents don’t occur in the future,” the statement said.?
Carrie Hawes?told CNN affiliate WWBT?that she went in on Monday to get the?Johnson & Johnson?vaccine and got a call the next day to inform her of the mistake.
Hawes was able to get the real vaccine at the clinic about two hours after getting the call.
President Biden will be signing the Covid-19 relief bill at 1:30 p.m. ET today, according to an updated schedule from the White House. A White House press briefing will take place at 2 p.m. ET.
The bill arrived at the White House last night, a White House official says, and Biden decided he wanted to sign it as soon as possible.?Biden was originally expected to sign the bill on Friday afternoon.
The President will later deliver remarks at 8 p.m. ET to commemorate the milestone of one year since Covid-19 shut down much of the US.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a tweet that a “signing event” for the Covid-19 relief bill will also take place tomorrow.
White House?chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted that congressional leadership will be at the White House Friday for the signing celebration.
More on the bill: The House of Representatives voted yesterday to approve the?$1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan, paving the way for Biden to sign his top legislative priority into law and deliver aid to most American households amid the pandemic.
Key features of the plan include up to?$1,400-per-person stimulus payments?that will send money to about 90% of households, a?$300 federal boost to weekly jobless benefits and $350 billion in state and local aid, as well as billions of dollars for K-12 schools to help students return to the classroom, to assist small businesses hard-hit by the pandemic and for vaccine research, development and distribution.
CNN’s Clare Foran,?Katie Lobosco?and?Tami Luhby contributed reporting to this post.
One year after Covid-19 was deemed a pandemic, the United Nations top leader says there is some light at end of tunnel but urges vaccinations must go for all people.
“One full year into the COVID-19 pandemic, our world has faced a tsunami of suffering.?So many lives have been lost.?Economies have been upended and societies left reeling.?The most vulnerable have suffered the most.?Those left behind are being left even further behind,” Secretary-General António Guterres said in his statement.
Guterres went on to say that he is “deeply concerned” some low income countries have not received one dose of the vaccine.
“Only together can we end this pandemic and recover. Only together can we revive our economies. And then, together, we can all get back to the things we love,” he said.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced Thursday that the state will have no restrictions on events and no longer require face masks in state buildings.
“As long as I’m governor, I will protect the freedoms of Oklahomans,” he said.?
Stitt said he still encourages residents to wear face masks.?
Coronavirus deaths in the?United Kingdom topped?125,000?Thursday, with the government?recording 181 new deaths?within 28 days of a positive test.
It becomes the fifth country to reach that number of Covid-19 deaths, and the smallest of the group, according to Johns Hopkins University data.?
The UK has one of the highest death rates per capita in the world,?with 188.33 per 100,000 residents, JHU data shows.
On Jan. 26, the UK became the fifth country in the world to reach 100,000 deaths following?the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico, according to JHU?data.
Here is a look at how the UK’s figures compare to other countries:
Jordan’s health ministry reported 8,300 new cases of coronavirus Thursday, which is the highest number since the pandemic began. It also reported 63 new deaths.
Most of the new cases were reported in the capital, Amman.
On Wednesday, Jordan announced new restrictions that will go into effect starting Saturday until March 31. They include suspension of Friday prayers at mosques and Sunday mass at churches. Nightclubs, bars, indoor swimming pools, gyms, sports clubs and parks will be closed until the end of March.
As we mark the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization calling the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic – and ahead of President Joe Biden’s first prime-time address tonight – here is a look at the current state of the Covid-19 pandemic through the latest trends and metrics of Covid data, as well as comparisons to the peak of the pandemic.
There have been?over 29 million total cases, per data from JHU, this is?about 9% of the total US Population.
The?US is averaging?56,240 new cases per day?over the past seven days. This is the?lowest that metric has been since mid-October.
The?US is averaging 1,437 deaths per day?over the past seven days.?This the?lowest that metric has been since Nov. 19.
The?US is currently under 43,000 hospitalizations from Covid, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The?US positivity rate is currently 4.2%,?per data from HHS. It?dropped under 5% at the end of February.
The European Commission approved the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine on Thursday, the fourth licensed vaccine to be authorized in the European Union.
The approval follows the European Medicines Agency (EMA) – the EU’s medicines regulator – authorization for the single dose vaccine “after a thorough evaluation” of Johnson & Johnson’s data found it met the criteria for efficacy, safety and quality.?
Its approval offers a boost for the EU’s vaccination rollout that has been criticized as going at a slow pace, hit by supply problems and delays.
The statement added the Commission has approved the contract with the conditional market authorization that J&J deliver 200 million of their single dose Covid-19 vaccines to the EU starting in the second quarter of 2021.
The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported at least 5,170 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of cases in Iraq to 745,462.
The health ministry also reported 26 Covid-19 related deaths, bringing the total number of reported deaths in Iraq to 13,671 since the pandemic began.
There are currently 57,626 Covid-19 patients hospitalized across the county, among them 426 cases are in the Intensive Care Unit.
On Monday, the Iraqi health ministry extended a series of restrictive measures announced last month for two more weeks “in light of the increasing number of infections among citizens,” to contain the spread of coronavirus.
The measures include a full curfew on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between March 9 through March 22.
Restaurants and cafes will be closed for dining but will allow pick-up services. All entertainment venues will be closed for two more weeks, including indoor parks, cinemas, sports halls, and swimming pools.
Many of the people who got a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine in an early clinical trial developed neutralizing antibodies against the virus by about day eight, and by day 57, all of the volunteers had, according to a study published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The US Food and Drug Administration authorized the Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine in February.?This?is one of the first?peer-reviewed?studies to show how?the?single dose of the J&J vaccine worked in humans – and it worked well.
The company released data throughout the trial process.?In January,?J&J?also published interim results of a larger part of the vaccine trial in the New England Journal of Medicine. That study showed the vaccine was safe and generated an immune response.?
For this part of the early stage trial, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston recruited 25 adult volunteers who were randomized into five different groups. One group got a single shot, another got two. In those two groups, scientists tried two different vaccine doses.?Another group got a placebo.?
Scientists checked the volunteers’ antibody levels throughout the trial. For the purpose of this study, they reported the total results after 71 days. The company will follow up with these volunteers for two years.?
For the volunteers who got the vaccine, researchers saw that about 90% of those who got the vaccine developed antibodies against the coronavirus by day eight. By day 57, all of the volunteers who got the vaccine had developed neutralizing antibodies, a T-cell response and a cellular immune response after just a single dose. The response was even stronger at day 71.
A note on the study: The study had its limitations. It’s small and the elderly were not included, so it can’t necessarily be generalized to other age groups. Researchers say they will follow up with these volunteers to see exactly how long this protection may last.?
J&J is currently working on several other Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials, including to determine whether a second dose works better. It is also studying how its vaccine works in children and will study how it works in pregnant women.?
The European Medicines Agency said Thursday that the benefits of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine outweigh the risks, and did not recommend suspending use.
The agency said “the vaccine’s benefits continue to outweigh its risks and the vaccine can continue to be administered while investigation of cases of thromboembolic events is ongoing.”
And it said the number of blood clots seen in vaccine recipients was no higher than the rate among people had not received it in Europe. Full EMA statement here.
What this is about: Denmark, Iceland and Norway have suspended the use of the?Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine?while the European Union’s medicines regulator investigates whether the shot could be linked to a number of reports of blood clots.
Read more about the European countries who’ve decided to suspend use of the AstraZeneca vaccine:
A new coronavirus variant linked to travel from Antigua, and first identified in the UK, is being investigated by Public Health England (PHE), the agency said Thursday.?
The PHE statement said the variant B.1.324.1 was designated as “under investigation” on March 4 after two cases were found in the South East of England who had recently travelled to Antigua, but is not being categorized as concerning for now.
PHE added that contact tracing teams have completed thorough investigations to identify and follow up any close contacts and no additional cases have been found to date.?
Domestic travelers will no longer be required to quarantine after entering New York from another state or US territory beginning April 1, according to a press release from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
International travelers are still mandated to quarantine.
Regardless of quarantine status, all people exposed to Covid-19 or returning from travel must still continue daily symptom monitoring through day 14 and immediately self-isolate if any symptoms develop.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said 2.5 million total doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered. He says he plans to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine when he becomes eligible on March 17.
Africa?is?inching?toward four million cases and over 106,000 deaths, one year after the Covid-19 global pandemic was declared, according to the World Health Organization.
Of those confirmed cases, in Sub-Saharan Africa and Algeria,?about 3.5% were healthcare workers, said?Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, in a virtual press briefing Thursday.?
Moeti said some 11 healthcare workers catch Covid-19 every hour, and that number is even higher in some countries such as Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and Algeria where over 10% of cases are healthcare workers.
Although there has been an uptick in cases in some African countries, “the continent has experienced a plateau over the past three weeks,” Dr. Moeti said.
The WHO continues to monitor the circulation of Covid-19 variants, recording 15 African countries now reporting the variant first detected in South Africa, while nine countries have reported the variant first detected in the UK.?
COVAX is an entity run by a coalition that includes the Vaccine Alliance known as Gavi and WHO and is funded by donations from governments, multilateral institutions and foundations. Its mission is to buy coronavirus vaccines in bulk and send them to poorer nations that can’t compete with wealthy countries in securing contracts with the major drug companies.
YouTube has removed more than 30,000 videos containing misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine, the company said Thursday.?
The videos “included claims about Covid-19 vaccinations that contradict local health authorities or the World Health Organization,” said Elena Hernandez, a YouTube spokesperson. “Overall, since February 2020, we have removed over 800,000 videos related to dangerous or misleading coronavirus information.”
YouTube’s policy against Covid vaccine misinformation dates to October of last year, when the company announced that false claims, such as that the vaccine is lethal or will lead to microchip tracking, would be removed.?
YouTube has come under increasing scrutiny for the way its recommendation engine can lead unsuspecting users down extremist rabbit holes and spread misleading claims. Earlier this month, CEO Susan Wojcicki said former President Donald Trump’s account will eventually be restored after it was suspended for incitement.?
Axios?was first to report YouTube’s latest removal statistic.
It’s just after 10 a.m. in New York, 3 p.m. in London, and 11 p.m. in Hong Kong. On this day one year ago, the World Health Organization officially declared coronavirus a global pandemic.
Here’s what you need to know to get up to speed today:
US: More than?29 million cases have been reported?in the US since WHO declared a global pandemic.
On this day last year, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a congressional hearing that “things are going to get much worse before they get better.”
Europe: Iceland, Norway?and Denmark became the latest countries in Europe to say they’re suspending the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as they investigate reports of blood clots in some patients who were inoculated.?AstraZeneca says “patient safety is the highest priority.”
Latin America: A second wave of?Covid-19?is ripping through Brazil, pushing hospitals and ICUs toward collapse and claiming record numbers of daily deaths. The US has the most deaths it the world followed by Brazil and Mexico, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Africa: At least 19 African countries have now started vaccination campaigns and through Covax, more than 518,000 doses have been administered, according to Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. At least 22 African countries have received almost 14.8 million doses through Covax as of Wednesday, WHO African Region reported in a tweet.
Asia: India has the highest cases in Asia and the second highest cases in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Middle East: Turkey and Iran are the only countries in the Middle East to make the list of the top 20 countries with the highest cases in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Go There: CNN’s Sanjay Gupta will answer your questions as the world marks a year of the Covid-19 pandemic. While we wait, read more of his reflections on a year of the pandemic here:
A new study suggests that in-person learning within New York City’s public schools was not associated with a rise in Covid-19 infections compared with the surrounding community – rather, the overall incidence was lower for people in public schools compared with the community.
But the study showed differences among children versus adults.?
Dr. Jay Varma, the city’s senior health adviser, led the new study that published in the medical journal Pediatrics this month. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday that the peer-reviewed study offers “the strongest evidence to date” of low Covid-19 transmission during in-person learning within schools.?
More on the study: The study included data on more than 200,000 people who were tested for coronavirus infection in New York City public schools between Oct. 9 and Dec. 18 last year. Among them, 0.4% tested positive for Covid-19. When cases were detected, the data showed that 0.5% of their close contacts in the schools subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.
The study’s authors — from the mayor’s office, New York City Health and Hospitals and the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene — analyzed the data, comparing Covid-19 cases that were connected to schools with those diagnosed in the community.
The researchers found that between Oct. 9 and Nov. 19, the incidence of Covid-19 was about 341 cases per 100,000 people?among the school population?compared with about 529 cases per 100,000 among the general community.
“We’ve said that our public school buildings are some of the safest places in New York City— and we’ve got the numbers to back it up,” Mayor Bill?de Blasio said in his announcement on Wednesday.
But there were differences by age:
“We found that staff may have an elevated risk of COVID-19 infection relative to the community, but that this risk is not clearly attributable to transmission in schools,” the researchers wrote in the study.?
Spain’s Health Minister Carolina Darias said the country has not reported any cases of blood clots in patients inoculated with AstraZeneca vaccines. During an interview with local TV station, La Sexta, she called for caution while the matter is being reviewed by the European?Medicines Agency?(EMA).?
“I would like to send a message of calm and caution. In Spain we have not been notified of any case related to blood clots,” Darias said.?
Darias said her Ministry is aware of the cases in Austria but not Denmark.
Earlier on Thursday, Denmark decided to suspend for 14 days the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine as a “precautionary measure” as it investigates “signs of a possible serious side effect in the form of fatal blood clots,”?Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said.
Although several European countries have this week suspended use of vaccines from a specific batch of doses – batch ABV5300 – following reports of blood clots in a few patients, Denmark, Iceland and Norway are the first to pause use of all AstraZeneca vaccines.
The pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech announced on Thursday morning that real-world evidence from the Israel Ministry of Health show that there have been “dramatically” fewer Covid-19 cases and deaths among people in Israel who have been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine compared with those who have been not vaccinated.
The latest analysis from the Israel Ministry of Health is based on data collected between Jan. 17 and March 6, according to the announcement. During that time, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was the only Covid-19 vaccine available in the country and the coronavirus variant B.1.1.7, which was?first identified in the United Kingdom, was dominant.
According to Pfizer and BioNTech’s announcement, the latest analysis from the Israel Ministry of Health shows that two weeks after the second dose, vaccine effectiveness was at least 97% in preventing symptomatic disease, hospitalizations and death. The analysis also found that the vaccine effectiveness was 94% in preventing asymptomatic Covid-19, where infections show no symptoms
“We are extremely encouraged that the real-world effectiveness data coming from Israel are confirming the high efficacy demonstrated in our Phase 3 clinical trial and showing the significant impact of the vaccine in preventing severe disease and deaths due to COVID-19,”?Luis Jodar, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Pfizer Vaccines, said in the announcement.
SARS-CoV-2 is the name of the virus that causes Covid-19.
The announcement comes about two weeks after a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine finding that the risk of symptomatic Covid-19 – meaning people who were infected with the coronavirus and felt sick – decreased by 94% among those who received two doses of the vaccine. Even before the second dose, the vaccine’s effectiveness approached 60%.
“This clearly demonstrates the power of the COVID-19 vaccine to fight this virus and encourages us to continue even more intensively with our vaccination campaign. We aim to achieve even higher uptake in people of all ages, which gives us hope of regaining normal economic and social function in the not so distant future,”?Yeheskel Levy, Israel Ministry of Health director, said in the announcement.
“When we started our development last year in January, our aim was to make a difference for people worldwide and to help end this pandemic,” Dr.?Ugur Sahin, co-founder and CEO of BioNTech, said in the announcement.?“One year after the declaration of a pandemic by the WHO, we now see that we are on the right track to accomplish our goals.”
Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said data from Israel that shows the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine prevents asymptomatic infection and death is a message of hope one year on from the declaration of a pandemic.?
“It is a great opportunity, I think, that in this day of the first anniversary of the declaration of a pandemic, we do have a message of hope,” Bourla told CNBC’s Meg Tirrell on Squawk Box.?
Bourla explained that the data comes from a country where more than 55% of the total population has been vaccinated.
Efficacy so far in Israel is at 97%, saying “all three measures, mild disease, hospitalizations and deaths are north of 97% in real world efficacy with millions of people vaccinated.”?
Perhaps most important of all, he said, it appeared to be 94% effective against asymptomatic transmission.?
Bourla said that this is important for society, “because the asymptomatic carriers, the asymptomatic patients are the ones that they are spreading the disease mainly.”?
Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said he felt liberated after getting his second dose of Covid-19 vaccine.?
“I did my second shot a few days ago and I tweeted about it and I felt liberated,” he told CNBC’s Meg Tirrell on Squawk Box Thursday. “My family haven’t received it yet, but I hope pretty soon we’ll find opportunities to get them vaccinated as well.”?
?Bourla also echoed public health experts, telling CNBC’s Becky Quick that he would encourage people to get whichever vaccine was available to them first.
Germany is changing its priority vaccination strategy in “hotspot areas” to vaccinate the entire population in border areas in an effort to reduce entry of the virus into the interior of the country, the German Health Ministry Press Office told CNN on Thursday.
New vaccination rules in Saxony, Bavaria, Saarland and, if necessary, other states mean they can start to vaccinate the entire population in hotspots at Germany’s borders.
For example in Vogtland, Saxony, a border region where infection numbers are very high, everybody over 18 will now be able to be vaccinated according to local health authorities.
The UK’s medical regulator has issued a statement reassuring the British public that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is still safe, despite Denmark’s decision to suspend use of the vaccine after one person died from a blood clot following inoculation.
“Blood clots can occur naturally and are not uncommon. More than 11 million doses of the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca vaccine have now been administered across the UK,” Dr. Phil Bryan, MHRA Vaccines Safety Lead said.?
Stressing that public safety will always come first, Bryan said that “reports of blood clots received so far are not greater than the number that would have occurred naturally in the vaccinated population.”
Swiss-Italian company Adienne confirmed that it has struck a deal with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to produce Russia’s coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V
Dr. Antonio Francesco Di Naro, Adienne?Pharma & Biotech President, told CNN the?deal was signed last month and his company is currently in the technology transfer process.?
Di Naro stressed he could not say when production will actually begin as Adienne requires approval from the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) – the regulatory body that oversees pharmaceutical companies in Italy – before they can start manufacturing.?
“I need to inform the AIFA when I am ready to be inspected. We have not applied for it yet, we are in the process of technology transfer from Russia,” Di Naro told CNN on Thursday.?
Di Naro added the goal is to receive the approval to manufacture by the end of the year.
Di Naro explained the?European Union’s vaccine regulator – the?European?Medicines?Agency (EMA) –?which?began a rolling review of Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine last week,?is the body to approve the clinical safety of the product and “commercialization.” But AIFA can give go ahead to manufacture the vaccine without EMA approval.?
The Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce released a statement earlier this week welcoming the Adienne-RDIF deal and said?production could start as early as July 2021, adding the partnership could see production of 10 million doses by the end of the year.?
But Di Naro was much more conservative with his timeframe: “We are working towards being inspected by the end of this year [by AIFA]. Today we cannot confirm any numbers and of course there is a potential for the next year coming, but I cannot produce this amount of vials this year, if I’m not inspected.”
Di Naro added manufacturing a vaccine is not like “manufacturing chewing gum.”
Even as Covid-19 vaccinations ramp up in the US, epidemiologist Michael Osterholm says the country is at a “perfect-storm moment.”
One year since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic, Osterholm expressed caution as the B.1.1.7 variant — first reported in the United Kingdom — has “transmission unlike I’ve?seen any at all since this?pandemic began” in some areas.??
“Over 50% now of all the viruses?coming from Florida, Texas, and?Georgia, in fact, are this?B.1.1.7 variant,” said Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, on CNN’s “New Day.”
Health officials in New York City say two variants — B.1.1.7 and B.1.526, first reported in New York — account for half of new cases. And Houston health officials announced that the B.1.1.7 variant has been identified in over half of the city’s wastewater treatment plants.
Some governors, like Gov. Greg Abbott in Texas, have lifted mask mandates and fully opened businesses.?
“We’re?inviting the virus to go?wherever it may want over?the course of the next week.?So this is the challenge we have,?this is all kind of a perfect-storm moment.?Will this increase?transmissibility? Will this more?serious illness with us opening?up — at the same time doing more?vaccination — how will this all?play out??And I think the dynamics of the?virus right now, I’m afraid, are?going to beat us at the?vaccination game,” he said.?
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said patient safety was its “highest priority” as multiple European countries suspend use of its Covid-19 vaccine.
Iceland, Norway and Denmark on Thursday said they were suspending all use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as they investigate reports of blood clots in some patients who were inoculated.
Several other European countries have suspended use of specific batches of the AstraZeneca vaccine.?
Iceland and Norway are suspending the use of all AstraZeneca vaccines as the European Medicines Agency investigates reports of a patient in Denmark dying of blood clots after being inoculated, the Icelandic Directorate of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said on Thursday.
Speaking to CNN, Kjartan Njálsson, assistant to the director of health in Iceland, said that although there had been no reports of patients developing blood clots in the country, they are waiting for advice from the European Medicines Agency. “It’s the lack of data right now that concerns us,” he added.?
Meanwhile, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health issued a statement saying the country had also chosen to “pause” inoculations with the AstraZeneca vaccine following report of a death in Denmark as a result of a blood clot.
The Norwegian statement also notes that there have been reported cases of blood clots shortly after receiving a Covid-19 vaccination in Norway but “mainly in the elderly where there is often another underlying disease as well.”
Neither Norway nor Iceland have indicated how long the suspension will last.
Some more background: Earlier on Thursday, Denmark decided to suspend for 14 days the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine as a “precautionary measure” as it investigates “signs of a possible serious side effect in the form of fatal blood clots,”?Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said.
Although several European countries have this week suspended use of vaccines from a specific batch of doses – batch ABV5300 – following reports of blood clots in a few patients, Denmark, Iceland and Norway are the first to pause use of all AstraZeneca vaccines.
On Wednesday, the European Medicines Agency said there was “currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine.”
Italy on Thursday “as a precaution” decided to ban use of vaccine doses from AstraZeneca batch ABV2856 due to “adverse reactions” but did not provide any further details on what those reactions might be.
Air travel levels are already surging even as health experts warn against spring break trips.
The Transportation Security Administration screened?955,177 at America’s airports yesterday— the busiest Wednesday for air travel since the winter holidays. Wednesdays are typically slow days for air travel.?
This weekend could be another big one for air travel after last weekend when 5.6 million travelers flew in five days, the busiest commercial airlines have been this year.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still recommending Americans avoid travel, even if they have received a Covid-19 vaccination.?
The European Medicines Agency – the European Union’s medicines regulator – recommend approval on Thursday for the single-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.?
The vaccine is the fourth to be authorized for use in the EU, following Pfizer/BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca and Moderna.?
One year since the World Health Organization described Covid-19 as a pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Thursday that while he warned a year ago that things would get worse, he didn’t realize it would be anything close to the number of deaths the US actually had.
“I knew we were in for trouble, and you remember, you go back, I said it then, we better be really careful. In fact, that day at a congressional hearing, I made the statement things are going to get much worse before they get better, and that was at a congressional hearing a year ago today, it was March 11, 2020, I said that. But I did not in my mind think that much worse was going to be 525,000 deaths,” he told Guthrie.?
A year ago today, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a global pandemic.
President Biden?is expected to deliver his first prime-time address from the White House on Thursday night to commemorate the anniversary of the?Covid-19 shutdown.
The address is scheduled to air live at 8 p.m. ET.
Here are key things to know about tonight’s speech:
The speech’s focus: Biden says he plans to talk about the next steps to address the pandemic.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki?said earlier this week?that the President will also “discuss the many sacrifices the American people have made over the last year and the grave loss communities and families across the country have suffered.”
She said Biden looks forward to “highlighting the role that Americans will play in beating the virus and moving the country toward getting back to normal.”
What’s special about the speech? Biden’s scheduled address to the nation will take place exactly one year after?President Trump?delivered remarks to the country after the World Health Organization declared the?coronavirus?a global pandemic.
Since the pandemic began, more than 29 million Americans have been diagnosed with Covid-19 and more than half a million Americans have died because of it.
The coronavirus pandemic has rocked the US economy, challenged the American health care system in unprecedented ways, halted travel, squeezed supply chains and changed the way many Americans work and learn.
Biden’s speech comes on the heels of the final passage of his top legislative priority:?the $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package. He’s expected to sign the package into law on Friday.
How can I watch it? The address will be broadcast on CNN, CNN en Espa?ol and CNN International, with access to the livestream on CNN.com’s homepage and across mobile devices via CNN’s apps for iOS and Android, and simulcast on SiriusXM Channels 116, 454 and 795.
It can also be viewed on CNNgo (at CNN.com/go on your desktop, smartphone and iPad, and via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Android TV, Chromecast, Roku and Samsung Smart TV). The speech will be available on demand to subscribers via cable/satellite systems, CNNgo platforms and CNN mobile apps.
CVS is now providing Covid-19 vaccinations through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program in 29 states and Puerto Rico, the pharmacy chain said in a press release Thursday.?
This is nearly double the 17 states where CVS was previously offering vaccinations.?
?“We’re increasing the number of active stores and expanding to additional states as fast as supply allows,” said Karen S. Lynch, President and Chief Executive Officer, CVS Health in the statement.?
Appointments in the newly activated states and jurisdictions will start to become available for booking on Saturday, March 13, CVS said.?
CVS now offers vaccinations in nearly 1,200 stores in: Alabama, Arizona, California,?Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii,?Illinois,?Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts,?Minnesota,?Missouri,?Montana,?North Carolina,?North Dakota,?Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio,?Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas,?Utah,?Vermont and Virginia.??
Not every CVS location in these states will be offering vaccinations, and eligibility requirements in each jurisdiction still apply.?
The Biden administration announced last week that Federal Retail Pharmacy Program participants would prioritize teachers and child care workers.?
“From March 3 to March 10, this population accounted for more than 30 percent of COVID-19 vaccine appointments at CVS Pharmacy locations,” according to CVS’ statement.?
Austin?Mayor?Steve Adler and Travis County Judge Andy Brown responded to threats from the Texas Attorney General on CNN on Wednesday night.?
On Wednesday afternoon,?Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton?had sent a letter to Adler and Brown saying he would sue unless the public health mask order issued in?Austin?and Travis County was rescinded by 6 p.m. CST, as CNN previously reported.
Adler told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday night that they were “not going to rescind anything.”??
He said that Dr. Mark Escott,?Austin?Chief Medical Officer and Interim Health Authority and Public Health Medical Director for the City of?Austin?and Travis County,?said that masks should be mandated when people leave their homes and are around others in public.?
“The orders that he put into place last summer are still in place,” Adler told Cooper. “They’re still enforceable here in the city.”?
Travis County Judge Andy Brown told CNN’s Erin Burnett earlier Wednesday that Paxton knew they wouldn’t respond before the deadline he imposed, and it was “meaningless” to start this.?
“He is the one who is supposed to know what the Open Meetings Act is and there is honestly no way we could comply with it today,” Brown said.?
He also said that Paxton is “confused about the law” and that the issue at hand is not the same thing as when the Texas Supreme Court backed a challenge to curfew orders in December.?
“Ken Paxton is over here tweeting about lawsuits,” Brown told Burnett. “If he wanted to do something, he could come this weekend and we would put him to work as a volunteer.”?
Adler told Cooper that Paxton tweets at him a lot and he tries “not to engage at that level”.?
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order rescinding the statewide mask mandate and allowing all businesses to open without restrictions starting Wednesday, but Escott announced Tuesday that masks remain required in?Austin?to protect from the spread of Covid-19.
Denmark is suspending the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for 14 days as it investigates reports of some patients developing blood clots after being inoculated, days after several other EU countries suspended use of a specific batch of the vaccine.
Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said Thursday authorities were looking into “signs of a possible serious side effect in the form of fatal blood clots,” though he made clear it was a “precautionary measure,” saying it was not possible yet to conclude whether the clots were linked to the vaccine.?
“We act early, it needs to be thoroughly investigated,” he said in a tweet.
The Danish Medicines Agency also confirmed the investigation on Thursday in a statement, saying it would work with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the other EU pharmaceutical authorities following the reports.?
“One report relates to a death in Denmark,” the statement added.
“We do not yet know whether the blood clots and the Danish death are due to the vaccine, but it must now be thoroughly examined for safety,” said Tanja Erichsen from the Danish agency.
Earlier this week, Austria suspended the use of one specific batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine – batch ABV5300 – after “a person was diagnosed with multiple thrombosis,” according to the EU’s medicines regulator, the EMA.
As of Tuesday, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Latvia had also suspended use of batch ABV5300.
It has not been specified if the Danish death was connected to this batch.
On Wednesday, the EMA said there was “currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine.”
The EMA statement added: “Batch ABV5300 was delivered to 17 EU countries and comprises 1 million doses of the vaccine. Some EU countries have also subsequently suspended this batch as a precautionary measure, while a full investigation is ongoing. Although a quality defect is considered unlikely at this stage, the batch quality is being investigated.”
Brazil has reported another day of record-high daily?Covid-19 deaths, according to official data, the second in a row for the South American country.
On Wednesday, Brazil reported 2,286 new?Covid-19 related deaths, according to the Health Ministry, topping Tuesday’s previous record of 1,972 fatalities.
The country also recorded 79,876 new cases of?Covid-19, bringing the country’s total to 11,202,305 and the death toll to 270,656, the ministry reported.
Brazil has the the third-highest number of?Covid-19 infections worldwide after the United States and India, and the second-highest death toll, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Earlier Wednesday,?the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported that while the US, Canada and Mexico are seeing a drop in cases, nearly every Brazilian state saw an increase over the last week.
Millions of dollars in funding from the Covid-19 relief bill passed Wednesday will be used to help the federal government improve its cybersecurity efforts in the wake of high-profile breaches that have caused alarm for officials and lawmakers.
Goldstein, a top political appointee, said the funding stems from the fact that?federal agencies are providing services either “directly or indirectly related to our country’s ability to recover from the pandemic.”
In an interview with CNN, he also pointed to increased remote work during the pandemic, which has created a reliance on cloud computing, which therefore increases the need for security tools.?
Congress included $650 million in the Covid relief bill for CISA’s cybersecurity risk management programs.
Some background: CISA, a Department of Homeland Security agency that was founded during the Trump administration, is dealing with the fallout from two recent cyber breaches. Last week, Microsoft reported that a sophisticated group of hackers linked to China exploited its popular email service that allowed them to gain access to computers.
On Wednesday, CISA and the FBI?issued an alert saying there are potentially?“tens of thousands” of systems in the United States vulnerable to the breach.?
The alert was intended to “further amplify” the need for organizations to implement the directions in CISA’s recent emergency directive, as well as the guidance from Microsoft, said Goldstein.?
As of today,?about 90% of federal government Microsoft Exchange Server instances have been mitigated, according to Goldstein, who pointed out that there is no confirmation yet that any agency has been “compromised.”
President Joe Biden?will deliver his first primetime address this Thursday, commemorating the milestone of one year since the global pandemic?coronavirus shut down much of the nation.
She said Biden looks forward to “highlighting the role that Americans will play in beating the virus and moving the country toward getting back to normal.”
Then-President Trump addressed the nation from the Oval Office on March 11, 2020, hours after the World Health Organization declared coronavirus a global pandemic.
Trump announced at the time?that he was “marshaling the full power of the federal government” to confront the growing public health crisis, including a monthlong halt in travel from Europe to the United States. It came days after he signed an $8.3 billion emergency spending bill aimed at fighting Covid-19, which Trump described as a “foreign virus.”
One year later, more than 29 million Americans have been diagnosed with Covid-19 and nearly 530,000 have died. The resulting shutdowns have rocked the US economy, with 6.2% unemployment.
Canada?will honor?those?who?died?of Covid-19 on Thursday in what is being billed as a national day of observance.?
Canada?has recorded nearly 900,000 cases of Covid-19 and more than 22,000 deaths.
After a sluggish rollout, Trudeau promised that vaccine shipments would continue to pick up across the country.
Public health officials say more than 5% of Canadians have received at least one dose of a vaccine but new variants will continue to pose a significant risk to public health in the weeks to come.
This week’s news coverage of the coronavirus toggled between retrospectives about the one-year anniversary of the pandemic and forward-looking reports about vaccines and variants.
Here is a flashback to 12 months ago:
March 9, 2020?was a Monday, the start of a new workweek. It was the day when CNN began to use the term?pandemic?to describe the outbreak. Dr. Sanjay Gupta explained that day that the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hadn’t taken the step yet, but it was necessary. “Now is the time to prepare for what may be ahead,” he?said, previewing closed schools and canceled events.
That same day, Fox’s Sean Hannity?accused?the media of “scaring the living hell out of people” and said “I see it, again, as like, let’s bludgeon Trump with this new hoax.”
On March 10?the cancellations accelerated. Conferences and concerts were postponed. The US was in the midst of what one reporter called a?“low-key slowdown.”?The New York Times’ banner headline said “MARKETS SPIRAL AS GLOBE SHUDDERS OVER VIRUS.”
On March 11 WHO began to call it a pandemic. The US slowdown turned into a full-blown shutdown. Bloomberg Businessweek published a prescient cover calling 2020 “the lost year” due to coronavirus. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson?tested positive?for the virus. The NBA?suspended?its season. President Trump gave a primetime speech and made things?worse.
On March 12?the New York Post’s front page said the world had “TURNED UPSIDE DOWN.” New York Times editor Dean Baquet told his newsroom that this was the biggest story since 9/11. News outlets?shifted?into public service mode. The AP said that people around the world “became increasingly closed off from one another.” Almost every media company?postponed?almost everything.
On March 13?— appropriately, Friday the 13th — more companies implemented work from home plans. Even more events were put?on hold. Stocks continued to plummet. The crisis overwhelmed the news nervous system. New York felt different. We were all in this together. Trump said “I don’t take responsibility at all.” A New York magazine headline warned:?“This will get worse.”
