(Reuters) – India’s total COVID-19 cases passed 18 million on Thursday after another world record number of daily infections, as gravediggers worked around the clock to bury victims and hundreds more were cremated in makeshift pyres in parks and parking lots.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS * Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news
EUROPE
* EU contracts for COVID-19 vaccines to be delivered in 2022/23 contain clear rules about what would happen if the vaccine makers do not deliver, Germany’s Health Minister said.
* Germany has managed to break the rapid rise in new infections, but it is still too early to sound the all-clear, the head of the Robert Koch Institute said.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* China administered COVID-19 vaccinations to more people than any other country this week, but health authorities will need to accelerate the rollout to meet a target to inoculate 40% of its population by end-June.
* India has prioritised imports of oxygen, its foreign secretary said, adding that 40 countries had pledged their support.
* Pakistan purchased 13 million vaccine doses from three Chinese companies, its health minister said, which are expected to arrive in May and June.
* Bars and clubs in Hong Kong’s party zone reopened, but only for those who have had at least one vaccine shot.
* There is no evidence linking the deaths of two Australians to vaccine doses they received, the chief of the country’s medicines regulator said.
AMERICAS
* Brazil is set to become the second country to pass 400,000 COVID-19 deaths after the United States, and experts warned that the daily toll could remain high for several months due to slow vaccinations and loosening restrictions.
* Argentina has frozen the price of medicinal oxygen for 90 days and directed liquid oxygen producers in the country to give priority to the health system as cases spike.
* New York City aims to “fully reopen” on July 1, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, citing satisfactory progress in its vaccination campaign.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* The Democratic Republic of Congo started re-deploying hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 vaccines to other African nations which it says it won’t be able to administer before they expire at the end of June.
* The Turkish government’s decision to ban alcohol sales during a 17-day lockdown has angered some secular Turks who see it as the president’s latest imposition of a religious lifestyle.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Developers of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine said they were suing Brazilian regulator Anvisa for defamation, accusing it of having knowingly spread false information without testing their product.
* U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai met virtually with Moderna’s top executive to discuss a proposed waiver of certain IP rights in response to the pandemic.
* Three Lonza manufacturing lines for Moderna’s vaccine are due to reach production capacity by late June, its chief executive said, though he still needs about 100 more workers to staff them.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Global shares extended gains on Thursday, after the Federal Reserve said it was too early to consider rolling back emergency support for the economy and U.S. President Joe Biden proposed a $1.8 trillion spending plan. [MKTS/GLOB]
* Total global spending on COVID-19 vaccines is projected to reach $157 billion by 2025, driven by mass vaccination programs underway and “booster shots” expected every two years, according to a U.S. report.
* Europe’s major energy companies profited from a rise in oil prices to report big increases in first-quarter earnings, putting the worst of the pandemic-driven slump in fuel demand behind them.
(Compiled by Sarah Morland; Edited by Sonya Hepinstall)
