March 18 coronavirus news

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on the federal coronavirus response on Capitol Hill on March 18 in Washington, DC.

The US may well need to vaccinate children against coronavirus to achieve true herd immunity, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday.

The nation’s lead infectious disease expert said people are too focused on the question of herd immunity in the first place.

Fauci said he has been estimating that anywhere between 70% and 85% of the population would need to be vaccinated or otherwise immune to the virus to get to the point of herd immunity – when the virus could not spread easily in the population.?

“If it is that we would probably have to get more children, and I believe as we get high school students vaccinated in the fall, we’ll be able to reach that,” Fauci said during a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.?

More importantly, he said, was steady vaccination of the US population.

More context: New variants of the virus that are more contagious and that may help the virus evade the effects of the vaccine are an important factor, Fauci pointed out.

He has said that vaccinating as many people as quickly as possible is the best way to prevent the rise of more variants – because viruses evolve when they infect people.

“We are doing a good job now — up to 2 to 3 million vaccinations per day. If more get vaccinated, literally every day that goes by and more and more people get vaccinated, we can stay ahead of what I would consider a race between our ability to vaccinate people and the emergence of variants,” Fauci said.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear speaks during a briefing on March 18.

Kentucky is easing the curfew for bars and restaurants by an hour starting Friday, Gov. Andy Beshear said.

These establishments will be able to serve until midnight and close at 1 a.m. local time, he said during a news conference.

Beshear said the capacity for bars and restaurants will remain at 60%.

Some context: The announcement comes as Kentucky reported its lowest Covid-19 positivity rate, 3.23%, since July 3, according to the governor.?

President Biden’s Covid-19 relief plan provides $125 billion to public K-12 schools and $2.75 billion to private schools to help them reopen.

CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta answered questions from readers on the latest updates surrounding coronavirus and the reopening of schools.

Here’s what he said:

- Source: cnn " data-fave-thumbnails="{"big": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/a4ce302e-07eb-4956-b328-d34fef0390f8.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" }, "small": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/a4ce302e-07eb-4956-b328-d34fef0390f8.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" } }" data-vr-video="false" data-show-html="" data-byline-html="" data-timestamp-html="" data-check-event-based-preview="" data-is-vertical-video-embed="false" data-network-id="" data-publish-date="2021-03-18T20:56:43.147Z" data-video-section="" data-canonical-url="" data-branding-key="" data-video-slug="cnn go there" data-first-publish-slug="cnn go there" data-video-tags="" data-details="">

Video Ad Feedback

98409dc0-9b8f-4640-b4e8-4f58c99c2493.mp4

10:20 - Source: cnn

President Joe Biden speaks on the national vaccination efforts in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 18.

President Biden just announced his administration is on track to hit 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses administered.

Biden said his administration would seek to administer 100 million doses in his first 100 days in office during the transition in December. Friday is Biden’s 58th day in office.

Biden added that “next week, we’ll announce our next goal” on vaccinations.

By the numbers: A total of 115,730,730 Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the United States since the first Covid-19 vaccine was authorized for emergency use in December, according to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Watch here:

- Source: cnn " data-fave-thumbnails="{"big": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/6c95d128-7123-4009-be91-66fea494c491.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" }, "small": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/6c95d128-7123-4009-be91-66fea494c491.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" } }" data-vr-video="false" data-show-html="" data-byline-html="" data-timestamp-html="" data-check-event-based-preview="" data-is-vertical-video-embed="false" data-network-id="" data-publish-date="2021-03-18T20:25:05.763Z" data-video-section="" data-canonical-url="" data-branding-key="" data-video-slug="biden vaccine update" data-first-publish-slug="biden vaccine update" data-video-tags="" data-details="">

Video Ad Feedback

2be555bd-aa73-4595-83bc-805f04fdc5fe.mp4

01:39 - Source: cnn

A nurse fills a syringe with the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in Vigo, Spain, on March 13.

Spain will resume administering the AstraZeneca vaccine next Wednesday, Health Minister Carolina Darias announced at a nationally televised news conference Thursday, after the European Medicines Agency said it was “safe and effective.”

Cyprus, Italy and France also said they planned to resume using the vaccine following the EMA announcement Thursday.?

Darias said that health experts from Spain’s 17 regional governments, which administer the vaccines against Covid-19, will meet this weekend to make a proposal on which parts of the population should get the AstraZeneca vaccine starting next Wednesday.

On Monday, the Spanish Health Ministry will meet with the regional health department chiefs, for final approval, about the population segments to be the AstraZeneca vaccine.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex, left, and French Health Minister Olivier Veran deliver a joint press conference in Paris on March 18.

In an attempt to tackle rising coronavirus infections, France will impose new coronavirus restrictions in 16 areas around the country, including the greater Paris and Nice areas, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said Thursday.?

The new measures – which go into effect Friday at midnight – will last at least four weeks but are less restrictive than measures imposed in March and November of last year.

“Our choice, to be less restrictive on possibilities to leave one’s home, will need to go hand in hand with real caution,” Castex said.?

People will be encouraged to work from home.?People will be allowed to go outdoors to walk or exercise but must have an approval “certificate,” and cannot go further than 10km (about six miles) from their home or travel between regions without a valid reason.?However the night time curfew – currently in effect from 6 p.m. local – will be moved to 7 p.m. when the new measures come into effect Friday.

Schools and universities will remain open. Essential businesses will remain open – and these will now include book shops and music shops.?

“Our conviction is that if new measures are necessary, we need to keep the same coherence, and prefer a pragmatic, proportionate, territorialized approach,” Castex said.

A medical worker draws COVID-19 vaccine from its vial during a public vaccination event at Washington National Cathedral on March 16 in Washington, DC.

About 116 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 115,730,008 total doses have been administered – about 77% of the 151,108,445 doses delivered.

That’s about 2.7 million more administered doses reported since yesterday, for a seven-day average of about 2.5 million doses per day.

About 22.7% of the population – 75 million people – have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 12.3% of the population – about 41 million people – have been fully vaccinated.

Among Americans 65 and older, 66.3% have now received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, and 38.6% are now fully vaccinated

Note: Data published by the CDC may be delayed, and doses may not have been given on the day reported.?

French Prime Minister Jean Castex speaks during a press conference in Paris on March 18.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex said the coronavirus pandemic is “accelerating considerably” and said it was “becoming clearer and clearer that it’s a third wave.”

The prime minister explained that at the moment, one person is entering intensive care every four minutes in France with Covid-19.

He said what is even more worrying is that – compared to previous waves – people being hospitalized with the disease are younger and healthier.

Castex said France recorded 35,000 new infections Thursday, a rise of 23.6% in the last week, and that the variant identified in the UK accounts for three quarters of cases.

A medical worker fills a syringe from a vial of the British-Swedish AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine on March 9 at the National Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo Da Vinci in Milan, Italy.

Italy and Cyprus announced plans to resume use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday following a recommendation by?the European Medicines Agency Thursday that the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks.

Italy’s medicines regulator, AIFA, considers that “the reasons behind the precautionary ban on the use of vaccine batches, issued on March 15, 2021, no longer exist,” according to the Italian Health Ministry press office.

On Friday “as soon as the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) releases its opinion, AIFA will proceed to revoke the ban on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, thus allowing a complete resumption of the vaccination campaign starting at 15.00,” the statement added.?

In a government statement, Cyprus said, “Following today’s scientific conclusion from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which clarifies that after a thorough investigation there is no link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and the thrombo-embolic events reported by EU countries and that the vaccine is considered safe and effective, the Ministry of Health announces that from tomorrow, March 19, 2021, vaccinations with the AstraZeneca vaccine will resume.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks at Colham Manor primary school during a constituency visit on March 18 in Uxbridge, England.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson continued to reassure the British public about the safety of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, saying that he himself will receive the vaccine on Friday.

The UK’s medicines regulator has confirmed that “the benefits of the vaccine in preventing Covid far outweigh any risks and people should continue to get their vaccine when asked to do so,” Johnson said at Downing Street.?

“It’s also very important for our European friends that today the European Medicine’s Agency came to a clear scientific conclusion – and I quote – ‘this is a safe and effective vaccine.’”

What we know: Earlier today, the European Medicines Agency concluded that the AstraZeneca vaccine “is safe and effective in preventing Covid-19 and its benefits continued to be far greater than its risks.”

Dr. Sabine Straus, chair of the EMA’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC), said the committee “has found no evidence of a quality of batch issue.”

“The committee also concluded that the vaccine is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of thromboembolic events, or blood clots,”?EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke said.??

However Cooke added that the agency “cannot rule out definitely a link” between blood clot cases and the vaccine.

President Joe Biden walks toward Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on March 16 in Washington, DC.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed Thursday that the US has 7 million releasable doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, and the Biden administration is working to finalize plans to lend 2.5 million doses to Mexico and 1.5 million to Canada.?

Biden?could?announce the agreement upon finalization as soon as Friday.?CNN reported Wednesday night that negotiations between the US, Mexico and Canada were ongoing. If the agreement comes together, it would be the first time the US has shared vaccines directly with another country.?

Several European countries have temporarily halted the rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine over a small number of blood clot concerns. The European Medicines Agency said Thursday that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine “is safe and effective in preventing Covid-19 and its benefits continued to be far greater than its risks.” The committee however could not “rule out definitively” a possible link to a rare blood clotting disorder.

Biden has met virtually with both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President?Andrés Manuel López Obrador. During both conversations, his counterparts pressed him on the need for more vaccines in their countries.?The Biden administration has so far maintained the stance that they would not share vaccines until all Americans could be vaccinated.?

Mexican government officials pressed Biden officials on helping with vaccine supply during conversations between both parties regarding the surge on the southern US border. It was part of a broader discussion and not necessarily an exchange of one for the other, an official told CNN.?

The US has a limited amount of?AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine?in stockpile, but the vaccine has not been authorized for emergency use in the US yet.?AstraZeneca has been approved for use in both Canada and Mexico.?

The Biden administration will eventually share excess vaccines — beyond the AstraZeneca doses — and does not see joint efforts alongside US allies as precluding them from unilaterally donating vaccines to other countries down the road, according to the senior administration official.

Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Rochelle Walensky testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on the federal coronavirus response on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 18.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to update its physical distancing guidelines for schools from 6 feet to 3 feet on Friday, an administration official confirms to CNN.

US health officials have pointed to a study published last week that showed “no significant difference” in rates of Covid-19 at Massachusetts public schools that had implemented social distancing rules of more than 3 feet apart compared to those with rules to stay more than 6 feet apart.

“Indeed, because six feet has been such a challenge there, science has leaned in and there are now emerging studies on the question between three feet and six feet,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told Sen. Susan Collins during a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday.

“This is an urgent issue,” Walensky said.

A general view of Gillette Stadium is seen on December 28, 2020, in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Massachusetts is loosening restrictions and announcing new operation guidelines for sports and entertainment venues, as well as replacing its travel advisory starting Monday, the governor said.

As of March 22, large capacity sports and entertainment venues – including indoor and outdoor stadiums, arenas and ball parks –?will be permitted to operate at strict 12% capacity limit after submitting a plan to the Department of Public Health.

In addition, Gov. Charlie Baker said a range of previously closed business sectors will open under tight capacity restrictions:

The new travel advisory, according to governor, urges persons entering the state – including returning residents – to quarantine for 10 days upon arrival if they have been out of the state for 24 hours or more. It does not apply to travelers who have a negative Covid-19 result administered up to 72 hours prior, workers performing critical infrastructure functions or those who are fully vaccinated.

Empty phials of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine sit at a vaccination center at the Universite Bretagne Occidentale in Brest, France, on March 12.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) investigation has concluded that the AstraZeneca vaccine “is safe and effective in preventing Covid-19 and its benefits continued to be far greater than its risks.

Dr. Sabine Straus, chair of the EMA’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC), said the committee “has found no evidence of a quality of batch issue.”

“The committee also concluded that the vaccine is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of thromboembolic events, or blood clots,”?EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke said.??

Cooke reiterated that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks.

“It demonstrated that at least 60% efficacy in clinical trials and preventing coronavirus disease and in fact the real world evidence suggests that the effectiveness could be even higher than that,” she added.

However Cooke added that the agency “cannot rule out definitely a link” between blood clot cases and the vaccine.

The EMA’s recommendation “is to raise awareness of these possible risks, making sure that they’re included in the product information. Drawing attention to these possible rare conditions and providing information to health care professionals and vaccinated people will help to spot and mitigate any possible side effects.”

A general view of Yankee Stadium is seen on August 20, 2020, in New York City.

Beginning April 1, large outdoor venues that host live concerts and shows across New York state will be permitted to reopen at 20% capacity, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in a Thursday news briefing.?

These large venues – that can hold over 2,500 people – will see capacity increase as Covid-19 numbers across continue to decline.

Sports venues with over 1,500 indoor or 2,500 outdoor capacity will be permitted to reopen – with indoor capacity capped at 10% and outdoor capacity raised to 20%.

“We’ll have testing required when we open,” Cuomo said.

Citi Field could see up to 8,384 fans and Yankee Stadium could see up to 10,850 fans, Cuomo said.

Starting March 29, statewide travel for sports and recreational activities will also be permitted across New York, the governor announced.

At present, travel for sports is limited to contiguous counties and regions.

March Madness banners for the NCAA college basketball tournament cover crosswalks in downtown Indianapolis on March 17.

As March Madness gets underway today, NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt says the effort to keep players safe during the Covid-19 pandemic has been “quite an undertaking.” ?

All?68 teams are competing in one city — Indianapolis —?for the entire tournament, one?year after the tournament was canceled?completely due to the pandemic.?

Gavitt outlined the protocols for this year’s tourney to CNN’s Kate Bolduan.

“We’re doing everything we?can to mitigate the risk,?obviously with social distancing,?with masking, to make sure that?everybody is safe and healthy,?and can both start and finish?the tournament to determine a?very worthy national champion,” Gavitt added.?

He said he thinks the chances for coronavirus spread are low, due to months of planning for these protocols.?

There’s still time to fill out your bracket. Find out how here.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on the federal coronavirus response on Capitol Hill on March 18 in Washington, DC.

The United States is now?sequencing 10,000 to 14,000 samples of coronavirus every week in its search for cases of new variants across the country, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday.??

But even more sequencing is needed to keep on top of the spread of concerning new variants, Walensky told a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

“We’re now doing somewhere between 10,000 and 14,000 sequences a week,” Walensky said. “Right now, we really would like to be up at the 25,000 range.”?

The US is doing far less genomic sequencing than other countries, such as the UK, and the CDC said this means there’s not a clear picture of the spread of variants. The CDC has forecast that the more contagious B.1.1.7 variant will be the dominant version of the virus across the US by the end of March.?

What the CDC needs: Walensky said the agency needs the money allocated in the American Rescue Plan to step up sequencing capability. “The additional $1.75 billion is in fact essential to help fund jurisdictions for next genome sequencing capacity,” she said. “Not all jurisdictions have this capacity and we really do need to be able to scale this up across the country.”

Equipment is also needed to sequence samples, and trained staff are essential, Walensky said. “We need to develop a work force, so that people understand how to do genomic epidemiology,” she said. “That is not standard application. That is not what people standardly know and so we need to develop that work force.”

From left to right, Sens.?Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Dick Durbin

Sens.?Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Dick Durbin, along with 19 more Democratic lawmakers,?sent a letter Thursday to the US Department of Juice Office of the Inspector General asking for an investigation into Covid-19-related deaths among people in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, as well as staffers.

Some of the key questions they want answered are whether incarcerated people in these prisons who died received “timely and sufficient care” for Covid-19.

The letter notes Bureau of Prisons data saying that 225 incarcerated people as well as four staff members have died as a result of Covid-19 in federal prisons as of March 17.

AMC Theatres, the world’s biggest movie theater chain, announced that 98% of its theaters in the US will be open on Friday, with even more theaters opening?a week later.

?“It was exactly one year ago that we closed all AMC locations in the United States,” said AMC CEO and President Adam Aron, in a?news release.

?“As we have done at all of locations around the country, AMC is reopening and operating with the highest devotion to the health and safety of our guests and associates,” he said.

AMC says it expects 52 of its 54 locations in California will be open. That list includes two brand new theaters in the Los Angeles area.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio just received the Johnson & Johnson vaccination during his Covid-19 briefing. It was administered by the city’s Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi.

He said he could “barely feel” the shot, adding “really I’m not joking you.”

He joins the over three million who have received vaccinations in New York City, “on track” he says to hit the five million goal the city intends to hit by June, so long as the supply remains.?

“That was easy,” he said.?

Finland has recorded the highest weekly number of new Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, the country’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Health said Thursday in a statement.

Because the situation has “worsened considerably” throughout the country, “it is justified that regions maintain and proactively increase comprehensive and effective ways to prevent infections and to ensure the capacity of the healthcare system.”

The ministry also said that the Covid-19 situation “remains difficult” in the southern region of Uusimaa, which includes the greater Helsinki area, and Southwest Finland region, which includes the historic city of Turku.?

In these regions, “over the past few weeks, the need for specialized healthcare and particularly the need for intensive care have increased considerably.”

The Small Business Administration is targeting an early April roll out of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund Grant,?the agency said Thursday.

The $28.6 billion fund, passed as part of the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill,?will provide?funding for restaurants and bars that have suffered pandemic related losses.?Establishments must have less than 20 locations?to qualify.

The SBA historically acts as a lending institution, working though lenders and banks to process loans to businesses.?Instead,?this grant program will be distributed directly to businesses from the SBA. The agency says it is building a new automated system?in order to accept?the grant applications.

The proposed timeline for the Restaurant Relief Fund is swift compared to the roll out the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant – $16 billion?fund?aimed at helping live venue spaces. That grant was passed as part of the December stimulus bill.?However, it?is also scheduled to roll out in early April, the agency announced last week.

The agency said it is hiring additional staff to review both grant programs.

There is no evidence the AstraZeneca vaccine causes blood clots, a British medical regulator said Thursday, advising people to continue getting the vaccine.

The statement from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency comes shortly before the European Medicines Agency is expected to announce the results of an emergency review of the vaccine.?

“The MHRA’s advice remains that the benefits of the vaccines against COVID-19 continue to outweigh any risks and that the public should continue to get their vaccine when invited to do so.”

The World Health Organization?said it is?“particularly worried” about the Covid-19 situation in the Balkans and Central Europe.?

“We are particularly worried about the epidemiologic situation in the Balkans, as well as many other countries around Central Europe,” Catherine Smallwood, Senior Emergency Officer at WHO Europe,?said during a news conference Thursday.?

The current situation is “most acute in parts of the region that were successful in controlling the disease in the first?six?months of 2020. It is in central Europe, the Balkans and the Baltic states where case incidence, hospitalizations and deaths are now among the highest in the world,” WHO Europe director Hans Kluge said.?

Kluge noted that case incidence in the region “continues its increasing trend and is moving eastwards. We have now seen three consecutive weeks of growth in Covid-19 cases with over 1.2 million new cases reported last week across Europe.”?

The WHO’s European region includes 53 countries, as well as Russia and several Central Asian nations.?

While many countries around Europe are currently under “a partial or full nationwide lockdown,” some are gradually easing?their?Covid-19 restrictions, Kluge said.?

“Vaccines work, and will eventually allow a return to a new normal,”?he added.?

This afternoon President Biden will address the progress his administration has made in reaching the goal of 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office, a White House official told CNN.

The US is on the cusp of reaching that milestone before Biden hits 60 days in office — even though Biden set that number as a new goal during his primetime address last week.

More than 113 million coronavirus shots have been administered in the US to date.

Of those, more than 96 million?have been administered since Biden took office on Jan. 20.

At least 16.5 million vaccine doses had been administered in the US by the end of the day on Jan. 20, according to the CDC.

World Health Organization European director Hans Kluge, speaks during a joint press conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, on March 27, 2020.

The World Health Organization is working on “a smart digital certificate,” WHO Europe director Hans Kluge said, making a point of distinguishing it from a “vaccine passport.”?

“We encourage very strongly – as with any vaccine – that there is a documentation, whether this is paper-based or preferably digital. And that’s why WHO is working on a smart digital certificate,” Kluge said during a news conference Thursday.?

Kluge cited several reasons for the distinction:

Kluge’s comments come a day after the?European Commission unveiled its proposal for a “Digital Green Certificate,” or vaccine passport, to allow for safe and free movement within the EU during the pandemic.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said controlling spring break crowds is a “tremendous challenge.”

Suarez, a Republican, said that leaders and residents have worked hard for months to decrease Covid-19 spread, but that may not translate for visitors.?

“They may not be as careful.?They, obviously, want to have a?good time.?When they’re having a good time,?they may not be as concerned?about how their actions are?impacting others.?… We’ve been trying to work?together to message it correctly?and make sure that people know?they need to be safe as they?have fun,” he said.?

Suarez also said that while he has publicly disagreed with some of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decisions during the Covid-19 pandemic, he has to “commend him in a sense” because the economy in his city is not feeling the repercussions as much as others across the country.

Watch more:

Several African countries are likely headed toward a third wave of Covid-19 in the coming weeks after reporting an increase in cases, WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moet warned in a virtual news briefing Thursday.

Although new cases on the continent have dropped by 40% compared to the previous month, there has been an upward trend of confirmed cases in?12?countries,?including Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya and Guinea, Moeti?said. She did not list all 12.

She cited population fatigue toward health measures and the rolling back of government restrictions as part of the reason cases are on the rise in a number of countries.

More than 16 million doses of the vaccine have been delivered to 27 African countries so far.??

In response to the death of Tanzanian President John Magufuli?– one of the region’s most prominent Covid deniers –?Moeti reiterated the WHO remains ready to support Tanzania to reintroduce health measures, work toward acquiring vaccinations for the population and resume reporting cases.

“We have constantly been communicating with and engaging with the Tanzanian government on the measures to be undertaken, providing our advice on prevention, the public health measures and of course emphasizing the importance of sharing information so that the WHO can share with other countries,” she said.

In this photo illustration, a person files an application for unemployment benefits.

Last week, 770,000 Americans filed initial claims for unemployment benefits on a seasonally adjusted basis as the pandemic continues to hammer the economy, the Department of Labor reported Thursday.

It was an increase from the prior week and 70,000 claims more than economists had expected. It was also nearly three times as many claims as in the same week last year, just before the pandemic layoffs made benefit claims skyrocket.

On top of that, 282,394 filed for benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program open to the self-employed and gig workers. Added together, more than 1 million people filed for first-time benefits last week, without seasonal adjustments.

Continued claims, which count people who have filed for benefits for at least two weeks in a row, stood at 4.1 million adjusted for seasonal swings.

In total, more than 18 million American workers received benefits under the government’s various programs in the week ended Feb. 27.

A year after the pandemic shut down the US economy, America’s workers are still hurting. For the past 12 months, first-time claims for jobless benefits have been higher than during the worst moments of the Great Recession.

Economists, politicians and workers alike are hoping that the continued vaccine rollout and warmer weather that allows more outdoor social activities will help the economy heal at a faster pace in the coming months.

Travelers are seen at Salt Lake City International Airport in Utah, on Wednesday, March 17.

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has screened more than a million passengers per day over the last seven days, marking the biggest week of air travel since the pandemic began.

Even still, new numbers are about half of what they were pre-pandemic.

The TSA screened 1.1 million people at airports on Wednesday, which exceeded 953,699 screenings on March 17, 2020 – a first during the pandemic, but at odds with health officials who continue to warn against travel.?

Now the question is whether this surge in travel will lead to a surge of the virus.

Health officials say they are looking at travel now for clues on how best to relax CDC restrictions for those who are fully vaccinated— something health officials said would be premature without more data.?

On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that they are “revisiting the travel question.”

More than 500 people in the United Kingdom were put on “do not resuscitate” orders without their consent or their carers’ consent during the coronavirus pandemic, a study released by the country’s Care Quality Commission (CQC) reported Thursday.

“From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were concerns that ‘do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation’ (DNACPR) decisions were being made without involving people, or their families and/or carers if so wished, and were being applied to groups of people, rather than taking into account each person’s individual circumstances,” according to the study from the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

Out of 2,048 adult social care providers who responded to the CQC’s information request, 5.2% (508 out of 9,679) of DNACPR decisions put in place since March 17, 2020 “had not been agreed in discussion with the person, their relative or carer,” the study said.

The report includes at least one case study of a man whose death may have involved an involuntary order not to resuscitate.?

The report is a result of a request from the Department of Health and Social Care to the CQC to conduct a “rapid review of how DNACPR decisions were used during the coronavirus pandemic, building on concerns that they were being inappropriately applied to groups of people without their knowledge.”

“It is unacceptable for any DNACPR decisions to be made without proper conversations with the individual, or an appropriate representative, taking into account their wishes and needs,” the report said.?

An interim report from the CQC in November 2020 revealed “a combination of unprecedented pressure on care providers and rapidly developing guidance may have led to decisions concerning DNACPR being incorrectly conflated with other clinical assessments around critical care,” CQC said.?

Despite positive feedback from most care providers, CQC revealed some concerns regarding the use of “blanket” DNACPR decisions proposed at a local level.?

“Across the review process, whilst inspectors did find some examples of good practice, they also found a worrying picture of poor involvement of people using services, poor record keeping, and a lack of oversight and scrutiny of the decisions being made,” the study said.

The CQC called for government action to address a “worrying variation” in people’s experiences of DNACPR decisions and “to take responsibility for delivering improvements in this vital and sensitive area.”

The CQC’s goal with the plea to ministers is to have a bigger focus on “information, training and support,” as well as a “consistent national approach to advance care planning” and “improved oversight and assurance,” it said.

Correction: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated the date the CQC?interim report was released.

Tanzanian President John Magafuli, whose Covid-19 policies were widely criticized by health authorities across the globe, has died.

Magafuli died at a hospital in Dar es Salaam, the country’s vice president announced in a televised address on Wednesday. He was 61.

“President John Magufuli died of a heart ailment that he has battled for over 10 years,” Samia Suluhu Hassan said.

She added that the president had been receiving treatment at Mzena hospital since Sunday, and announced 14 days of national mourning.

Magufuli, who usually made weekly public appearances at Sunday church services, had not been seen since February 27, fueling speculation that he was ill and was being treated abroad.

The late leader of the East African nation was a polarizing figure.

Early on in the pandemic, Magufuli downplayed the coronavirus and urged his citizens to “pray coronavirus away,” believing the “satanic virus can’t live in the body of Jesus Christ,” and blaming the growing number of positive cases on faulty test kits.

In June, he claimed his country had eradicated coronavirus “by the grace of God,” questioned the safety of foreign Covid-19 vaccines and made no plan to procure any shots for his country, instead pushing for the use of herbal medicine and steam treatments.

Tanzania hasn’t reported Covid-19 figures since April 2020, prompting the World Health Organization to call for Tanzania to publish data on the coronavirus and ramp up public health measures.

Last month, the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam warned that Covid-19?cases had been surging?since January.

Read more:

Tanzanian President John Magufuli attends the burial ceremony of the former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa has died age 81 at Mkapas home village in Lupaso, southern Tanzania, on July 29, 2020. (Photo by STR / AFP) (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Tanzania's President John Magufuli dies after weeks unseen

A Korean Air plane arrives at Los Angeles International Airport in California on September 15, 2020.

Korean Air announced that its customers will be among the first in the world to gain access to International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s travel pass, an app that proves a passenger’s Covid-19 testing result as well as its vaccination status, according to the airline’s communication team.

Billing itself as “a global and standardized solution to validate and authenticate all country regulations regarding Covid-19 passenger travel requirements,” the IATA Travel Pass??works in four ways.

Korean Air said that it is testing the IATA Travel Pass in preparations for a safe and convenient air travel in the post-Covid era.?

The airline will conduct an internal test in April and do a trial for the Incheon-Los Angeles KE011 flight scheduled in May.?

The passengers will be able to take Covid-19 antigen test at the Incheon Airport’s testing center and receive the result on the Travel Pass within an hour, according to Korean Air.

Health care workers help Covid-19 patients in the intensive treatment unit of Health Sciences University Kanuni Training and Research Hospital in Trabzon, Turkey, on March 15.

Turkey on Wednesday reported 18,912 new coronavirus cases in the previous 24 hours – the country’s highest daily caseload this year, according to its health ministry.

Turkey has so far reported more than 2.9 million cases and a total of 29,696 related deaths, with 73 new fatalities announced on Wednesday, the ministry said.??

Turkey’s highest single-day increase in infections since the pandemic began was in early December, when it recorded more than 33,000 daily infections.?

The country is facing a resurge in infections following the easing of its Covid-19 restrictions earlier this month, including reopening restaurants and partially reopening schools.??

About 12 million doses of the Chinese-made Sinovac coronavirus vaccine have so far been administered in Turkey, with frontline health workers and people over 65 years old prioritized.

Coronavirus reinfections are relatively rare, but it’s more common for people 65 and older to get infected more than once, according to a study published Wednesday in the?Lancet?medical journal.

A team of scientists, including some from Denmark’s Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, noted that most people who have had Covid-19 seemed to have protection from reinfection that remained stable for more than six months. In the follow-up after six months, the study didn’t find evidence that protection was waning.

But a check of the demographics of who was getting infected again showed it was mostly people age 65 and older.

Researchers looked at the reinfection rate among 4 million people during the second surge of Covid-19 from September through December 31, and compared this to the infection rate during the first surge between March and May. Of the 11,068 people who tested positive during the first surge, only 72 tested positive again during the second.

The older age group had only about 47% protection against repeat infection, compared to younger people who seemed to have about 80% protection from reinfection, the team wrote.

The finding is not completely unexpected, since immune systems weaken as people age.

Read the full story:

PERTH, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 20: Registered nurse Heather Hoppe receives a flu vaccination in the trial clinic at Sir Charles Gairdner hospital on April 20, 2020 in Perth, Australia. Healthcare workers in Western Australia are participating in a new trial to test whether an existing tuberculosis vaccine can help reduce their chances of contracting COVID-19. 2000 frontline staff from Fiona Stanley, Sir Charles Gairdner and Perth Children's Hospital are taking part in the research trial, which will see half of participants receiving the existing Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine in addition to their flu vaccine, while the other half receive the regular flu shot. The BCG vaccine was originally developed to work against tuberculosis, but it is hoped it might help reduce the chance of contracting coronavirus as well as lessen the severity of symptoms and boost immunity in the long term. The BRACE trial is being led by by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Related article Covid-19 reinfections are rare, but more common in people 65 and older, study finds

Covid-19 patients in the intensive care unit of Emilio Ribas Hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 17.

Brazil reported 90,303 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday – its highest daily surge in infections since the beginning of the pandemic.

The country’s total caseload now stands at 11,693,838, according to its health ministry. Brazil has registered a total of 284,775 virus-related deaths, with 2,648 new fatalities reported Wednesday.

The new high in daily infections came after Brazil reported its highest daily coronavirus death toll of 2,841 on Tuesday, with ICU occupancy rates surging past 80% in 25 of the country’s 26 states and its federal district.

On Tuesday, Brazilian research institute Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FioCruz) warned the coronavirus crisis in the country is “the greatest health and hospital collapse in the history of Brazil.”

The Biden administration is considering sending some?AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses stockpiled and waiting for official usage approval in the US over the border to Mexico and Canada, according to a senior administration official.

Intense discussions are taking place following a request for doses from both countries and, for Mexico at least, an agreement could be announced as soon as Friday, according to Mexican officials.

The Biden administration has committed to having enough vaccines for all Americans before sharing doses, and if this agreement comes together it would be the first time the US has shared vaccines directly with another country. It would also likely give a major boost to vaccination efforts in?Canada?and Mexico, which are struggling with their vaccine rollouts in comparison to the US.

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed requests have been received from both Mexico and Canada, and they are being considered carefully. She provided no details on when a decision would be reached.

Read the full story:

A health worker shows the media how she prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be administered to a patient at a vaccination center set up in front of Rome's Termini central station, Monday, March 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Related article Biden administration is considering sending some AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Canada and Mexico