Relatives of a victim of the novel coronavirus attend the burial at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida cemetery in Manaus, Amazonas State, Brazil, on May 7, 2021, on the first day that cemeteries reopened for the general public since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. (MICHAEL DANTAS / AFP)
LISBON / BUENOS AIRES / SAO PAULO / SANTIAGO / BOGOTA / HAVANA / QUITO / LISBON / CAPE TOWN – Weekly cases in Brazil ticked up again but remain well below a peak from mid-March, health ministry data showed. The country reported 63,430 new cases on Saturday, at the end of a week in which 419,904 new infections were recorded. That compares with a peak of almost 540,000 six weeks ago. Total infections are 15.1 million.
Deaths fell for the fourth consecutive week, to 14,879. Another 2,202 fatalities were reported on Saturday, for a total of 421,316, the most after the US.
EU
European Union leaders urged US President Joe Biden to lift restrictions on exports of COVID-19 vaccines to address the desperate needs of developing countries before embarking on complex discussions about whether patent waivers might also boost supply in the longer term.
Gathering in Porto, Portugal on Friday and Saturday shortly after the US suggested suspending intellectual property rights to boost the supply of COVID-19 shots, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Mario Draghi appealed in unison to the US president to follow the EU example and start shipping significant numbers of vaccines. They argued that any patent waiver will only increase supply in the long term and the world needs a faster solution.
“I hope that now that large parts of the American society have been vaccinated we will come to a free exchange of components and opening of the market for vaccines,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin after dialing in remotely to the summit talks. “Europe has always exported a big part of its production to the world and that should now become the regular case.”
Vaccine manufacturers in the EU have exported about half of the 400 million shots they’ve produced whereas the US has gobbled up nearly all of the doses produced on its soil. According to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, the US has now fully vaccinated a third of its population while in India, where the virus is raging out of control, only 2.5 percent of the population is fully immunized.
A healthcare worker administers the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the American Museum of Natural History vaccination site in New York, US, April 30, 2021. (GABBY JONES / BLOOMBERG)
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Argentina
Argentina on Saturday reported 170 more deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, raising the nationwide tally to 67,042, the health ministry said.
Meanwhile, 18,024 new infections were reported, bringing the national count to 3,136,158, the ministry said.
A total of 5,285 patients have been hospitalized in intensive care units, with a bed occupancy rate of 68.3 percent nationwide and 75.3 percent in the city of Buenos Aires.
Chile
The Chilean Ministry of Health reported 6,219 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on Saturday, the third consecutive day of more than 6,000 daily infections.
With the latest figures, the total number of cases has reached 1,241,976, of which 36,852 are in the active stage.
So far, 1,177,342 people have recovered from the disease.
Another 97 deaths from the virus were reported, bringing the death toll to 27,101.
Colombia
Colombia on Saturday reported 492 more deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, raising the nationwide tally to 77,359, the ministry of health and social protection said.
Meanwhile, 16,910 new infections were reported, bringing the national count to 2,985,536, the ministry said.
Cuba
The Cuban Ministry of Public Health reported on Saturday that the country has exceeded 1,000 daily cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for the fifth consecutive day, with 1,036 new infections and nine deaths.
With these new figures, total cases rose to 114,912 and the death toll to 722.
Of the newly diagnosed cases, 1,000 are from community transmission and 626 were registered in Havana, which has an incidence rate of 449.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest in the country.
Ecuador
Ecuador's Ministry of Health reported 2,033 cases and 68 more deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases to 398,921 and the death toll to 13,922.
Currently, 2,078 people are hospitalized, with 1,458 in stable condition and 620 with a reserved prognosis.
The provinces of Pichincha and Guayas continue to be the most affected by the disease, particularly the city of Guayas and the capital of Quito, which remains the epicenter of the virus in the country.
People sunbathe on May 8, 2021 at the Lido di Ostia, southwest of Rome, as the easing of lockdown measures allows people to go to the beach in their municipality of residence. (VINCENZO PINTO / AFP)
Italy
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Saturday that the US proposal to suspend patents on COVID-19 vaccines would not guarantee increased supply of vaccines.
Speaking at a press conference during the social summit of the European Union (EU) held in the Portuguese city of Porto, Draghi said: "An application of provisional measures should not be a major disincentive to research and production of other vaccines, but the issue is much more complex than that. Patent liberalization does not guarantee the production of vaccines, because this is a very complex process."
According to Draghi, the solution to speed up vaccination against the novel coronavirus depends on increasing production, but this must be done in a "safe" way for public health, with more research and technology.
He stressed that vaccine manufacturing requires organization, technology, and knowledge and that the Europe exports as much as it has given to its citizens.
Russia
The outbreak in Russia is stabilizing with 8,419 new cases and 334 fatalities on Sunday. Before the Moscow parade held for Victory Day, the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that planned vaccination efforts should provide collective immunity in the country by September, Interfax reports.
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South Africa
South Africa’s health ministry said on Saturday it had detected the first four cases of a new coronavirus variant that emerged in India and was responsible for a surge of infections and deaths in the Asian country.
Testing had also picked up 11 cases of the variant B.1.1.7 first detected in the UK, the health ministry said in a statement.
“The Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa confirmed today that two variants of concern, other than the B.1.351 already dominating in South Africa, have been detected,” Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.
The four positive cases were detected in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, and all had a history of travel to India, which on Saturday recorded its highest ever single-day COVID-19 death toll of 4,187 fatalities.
Of the 11 people infected with the UK variant, eight were found in the Western Cape, Mkhize said, adding that the B.1.1.7 strain was detected in community samples and that this suggested community transmission had already set in.
Spain
Exhilarated Spaniards danced in streets, chanted “freedom” and partied on beaches overnight as a COVID-19 curfew ended across most of the nation.
In scenes akin to New Year's Eve celebrations, hundreds of mainly young people gathered in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square to applaud the clock striking midnight while in Barcelona revellers headed to the beach with drinks in hand.
Police in Barcelona had the strange task of moving people on after the last curfew began at 10 pm, only to let them back at midnight when it ended for good.
Some people wore masks but there was scant social distancing as friends kissed, hugged, danced and sang.
