A woman with protective face mask waits in front of store with the lettering "Happy Easter" in Berlin on March 24, 2021. (PHOTO / AFP)
LONDON / BRASILIA BERLIN / SANTIAGO / PARIS / BOGOTA / MOSCOW / MEXICO CITY / VALLETTA / ROME / CARACAS / STOCKHOLM / QUITO / HAVANA / LJUBLJANA / RABAT / ALGIERS / ADDIS ABABA / LISBON – Chancellor Angela Merkel faced growing criticism on Monday for failing to spell out a plan to reverse rising coronavirus infections in Germany and blaming uncooperative state premiers for an increasingly chaotic management of the crisis.
The clock is ticking for Germany to reverse soaring infections which, according to its top public health official, could jump to 100,000 a day from 20,000 now.
Germany stepped up lockdown measures in December to contain a second wave of infections, which has now turned into a third wave although with fewer deaths.
Merkel raised the possibility during a broadcast interview on Sunday of amending the Infection Protection Act to oblige Germany's 16 states, which wield power over health and security issues, to implement certain measures.
Merkel on Sunday pressed Germany's states to step up efforts to curb rapidly rising coronavirus infections, and threatened to assert federal control over measures to stem the pandemic.
Merkel expressed dissatisfaction that some states were choosing not to halt a gradual reopening of the economy even as the number of infections per 100,000 people over seven days had risen over 100 – a measure she and regional leaders had agreed on in early March.
On Sunday, the incidence of the virus per 100,000 rose to 130 from 104 a week ago.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 9,872 to 2,782,273, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday. The reported death toll rose by 43 to 75,913.
As of Sunday, 10.3 percent of the population had received at least a first shot, far behind rates in other countries like Israel, the United States and Britain.
Merkel said that if states did not start implementing measures with appropriate seriousness in the "very foreseeable future", she would have to consider what steps could be taken on a nationwide basis.
A professional paramedic receives a dose of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, March 26, 2021. (THEMBA HADEBE / AP)
J&J
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) will supply up to 220 million doses of its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine to African Union's (AU) 55 member states from the third quarter of 2021, the drugmaker said on Monday.
J&J, through its unit Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, entered into a deal with the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), which could order an additional 180 million doses, for a combined total of up to 400 million doses through 2022.
We need to immunize at least 60 percent of our population in order to get rid of the virus from our continent. The J&J agreement enables us to move towards achieving this target.
John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
The deal comes after months of negotiations with the AU, which announced a provisional agreement in January to buy 270 million doses of vaccines from three drugmakers: J&J, AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech.
"We need to immunize at least 60 percent of our population in order to get rid of the virus from our continent. The J&J agreement enables us to move towards achieving this target," said John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
Most of the supplies will be produced by Aspen Pharma in South Africa, AVAT said in a statement.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded in Africa reached 4,178,590 as of Sunday evening, according to the Africa CDC.
The death toll stood at 111,784, the Africa CDC said, adding that a total of 3,743,004 people across the continent have recovered from the disease.
Global tally
Coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 127.2 million while the global death toll topped 2.78 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Algeria
Algeria on Sunday reported 86 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the North African country to 116,836.
The death toll rose to 3,080 after three more fatalities were added, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
Another 74 patients have recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries in the country to 91,267, according to the statement.
Brazil
Brazil recorded 1,656 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 44,326 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, the health ministry said on Sunday, taking the total case count above 12.5 million.
Brazil's official death toll now stands at 312,206, according to ministry data.
Protesters took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro on Sunday in response to restrictions curbing crowds on beaches, restaurants and bars, even as daily deaths and new infections reach the highest point of the nation’s outbreak.
In another development, the country's health regulator Anvisa said it has suspended the deadline for analyzing a request for the emergency use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.
In a statement on its website, Anvisa said that Uniao Quimica, the company that will manufacture the shots in Brazil, did not present the necessary documentation.
Chile
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said on Sunday he will ask Congress to postpone the election of an assembly to write a new constitution for the country from April 11 until May 16, due to a rise in coronavirus cases.
The country has seen a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections since the end of Southern Hemisphere summer vacation season last month.
The Ministry of Health on Sunday reported 7,326 new cases and 101 more deaths, bringing the tally to 977,243 with 22,754 deaths.
The number of active cases stood at 41,767 while the total number of recoveries stood at 912,058.
According to Health Minister Enrique Paris, cases have risen 11 percent in the last week and 32 percent in the last 14 days, and intensive care unit occupancy in the nation's hospitals has hit 95 percent.
Colombia
Colombia registered 7,139 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking its infection tally to 2,382,730, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection said on Sunday.
The country also reported 165 more deaths, raising the death toll to 62,955, said the ministry.
According to the ministry, a total of 1,726,924 people have been vaccinated in the South American country, 176,068 of whom have received both jabs.
Meanwhile, Colombian health authorities have detected four coronavirus infections in three shelters in Arauquita set up for refugees who have fled clashes between the military and illegal armed groups in Venezuela, the local mayor said on Sunday.
READ MORE: Vaccine nationalism keep world's poorest waiting for shots
Cuba
Cuban health authorities reported on Sunday 919 new COVID-19 cases and one more death.
The national director of hygiene and epidemiology at the Ministry of Public Health, Francisco Duran, said that the new figures brought the overall tally and toll to 72,503 and 415, respectively.
Havana continued to be the epicenter of the disease in the country, with a case incidence rate of 313.6 per 100,000 inhabitants, causing authorities to continue to enforce restrictive sanitary measures in the area.
Duran said that 27 COVID-19 patients were in critical condition and 38 were in serious condition, adding that another 802 people were discharged from the hospital on Sunday.
Ecuador
The Ecuadoran Ministry of Health reported 1,783 new COVID-19 cases and 38 more on Sunday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 324,482 and the death toll to 11,872.
The ministry also reported another 21 deaths that were probably caused by the disease, bringing the total to 4,866.
According to the ministry, a total of 281,684 patients have recovered from the disease, while 554 people were currently hospitalized.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia expects to received a consignment of 300,000 doses of the China-backed Sinopharm vaccines on March 30, according to Health Minister Lia Tadesse. “It is a government-to-government donation,” she said by text message. The Sinopharm vaccine can be transported and stored at normal refrigerated temperatures, making it a candidate for the developing world. © 2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Ethiopia’s health ministry said the country’s COVID-19 tally rose to 200,563 as of Sunday evening as 1,769 new cases were registered in the past 24 hours.
The death toll went up by 17 to 2,801, while the total number of recoveries increased by 1,087 to 154,323, said the ministry.
EU
The European Union will block AstraZeneca exports if the company fails to deliver the doses bought by the region on time, according to Thierry Breton, the EU commissioner in charge of fixing the bloc’s vaccination drive.
AstraZeneca has met about 30 percent of its commitment to deliver 70 million doses to the EU in the second quarter, Breton said on RTL radio Sunday.“As long as AstraZeneca doesn’t make good on its obligations, everything that’s produced on European soil is distributed to Europeans,” he said.
Meanwhile, Breton said he hoped Europe will have a summer tourist season this year, supported by a ramp-up in its COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
Breton reiterated that the EU should deliver 420 million doses of vaccines by mid-July, enough to allow the bloc to reach collective immunity.
The planned introduction of a common EU vaccine certificate in June would support the resumption of travel, he added.
Meanwhile, an European mobile app to be launched in June will be able to prove a user’s immunity, French Secretary of State for European Affairs Clement Beaune said in a Sud Radio interview. The app will show the user is either vaccinated, has tested negative or has the antibodies after getting the virus, Beaune explained.
France
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday that health conditions were worsening during a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in France and “all options are on the table” to protect the public.
Le Maire also told France Info radio that France should avoid adopting stricter COVID-19 restriction measures for as long as it could, and ruled out changing the list of shops and businesses that have been allowed to stay open.
France on Sunday recorded a further rise in the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units to a new high for this year, health ministry data showed, as doctors warned a third wave of infections could soon overwhelm hospitals.
There were 4,872 ICU patients being treated for COVID-19, up from 4,791 on Saturday, the data showed. That was close to a mid-November peak during France's second wave of the virus though well below a high of about 7,000 in April last year.
The overall number of COVID-19 patients in hospital rose to 27,712 from 27,259.
The country also recorded 37,014 new cases compared with 42,619 the previous day, pushing the tally to 4,545,589, data showed.
Total deaths in French hospitals linked to the virus reached 68,597, on Sunday, up 131 from the previous day, the data showed.
This photo shows a discarded used face mask on the square in front of the Old Opera in Frankfurt, Germany, March 29, 2021. (MICHAEL PROBST / AP)
Hungary
Doctors in Hungary, which currently has the world’s highest Covid-19 death rate, have rebuked the government over a plan to ease virus-related curbs as early as next week.
Hungary has had an average of 175.3 virus deaths per million people in the past seven days and coronavirus-related fatalities recorded since the start of the pandemic exceeded 20,000, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Italy
Italy reported 297 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday against 380 the day before, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 19,611 from 23,839.
To date, Italy has registered 107,933 deaths linked to COVID-19 and 3.53 million cases.
New cases in the country remain stable as some regions, including the one around Rome, are set to slightly ease restrictions starting Tuesday.
Deputy Health Minister Pierpaolo Sileri said the slower rate of increase in new infections shows that tight restrictions introduced by Mario Draghi’s government are showing the first results.
The number of patients in hospital with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 28,701 on Sunday, slightly up from 28,621 a day earlier.
There were 217 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 264 on Saturday. The total number of intensive care patients rose by 44 to 3,679.
Malta
Malta limited the number of people who can meet in public spaces to two on Sunday as it seeks to prevent a surge of COVID-19 cases over Easter.
Prime Minister Robert Abela said measures introduced earlier in March, including the closing of schools and restaurants, had proven effective, but although the number of new cases has been going down, this was not the time to ease restrictions.
He said fines for those disobeying the rule were being raised to 300 euros (US$353.88) per person from 100 euros.
Abela also said that all travellers to Malta will, from Monday, be required to produce a negative test result for the virus taken not more than 72 hours before departure. People who turn up without a test result will be tested on arrival. Those who refuse, or test positive, will be put in quarantine.
The health ministry on Sunday reported 67 new cases, and the lowest number of active cases this year stood at 1,402.
Health Minister Chris Fearne said in a tweet on Saturday that 30 percent of Malta’s adult population had received a first jab of the vaccine and between 12 percent and 13 percent had received the second one, putting Malta at the head of vaccinations in the European Union.
Family members watch as a worker seals a tomb of a relative who died of COVID-19 complications, on a wall of the Municipal Pantheon of Nezahualcoyotl, State of Mexico, on March 26, 2021, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. (ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AFP)
Mexico
Mexico's death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is likely at least 60 percent higher than the confirmed number, putting it in excess of 300,000, according to government data.
Updated figures on excess mortality in a table published by Mexico's health ministry showed that by the end of the sixth week of this year, 294,287 fatalities "associated with COVID-19" had been registered on death certificates in Mexico.
That was 61.4 percent higher than the confirmed death toll of 182,301 given as a comparison in the same table.
That figure did not coincide precisely with a specific day from the health ministry's daily bulletins, but more than 25,000 COVID-19-related deaths have been reported since mid-February.
Mexico on Sunday reported 1,783 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 194 more fatalities, bringing the country’s total to 2,226,550 infections and 201,623 deaths, according to health ministry data.
Morocco
Morocco's COVID-19 tally rose to 494,659 on Sunday after 301 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours.
The death toll remained 8,798, according to a statement by the Ministry of Health.
The total number of recoveries increased by 268 to 482,352, the ministry said, adding that there were 427 people in intensive care units.
So far, a total of 4,302,183 people have received one COVID-19 shot, of whom 3,332,292 people have received both jabs.
Workers load a shipment of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccines at Skopje's International Airport in Skopje, North Macedonia, March 28, 2021. (TOMISLAV GEORGIEV / XINHUA)
North Macedonia
The first batch of 24,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine arrived at the Skopje International Airport on Sunday, Health Minister Venko Filipce said.
Filipce, who welcomed the shipment at the airport together with representatives of foreign embassies in the country, announced that around 20,000 elderly people over the age of 70 who suffer from chronic diseases will be inoculated first.
Filipce thanked foreign representatives for the assistance provided in the transport of the vaccines, which are part of COVAX, a global vaccine equity mechanism.
According to Filipce, the vaccines will first be stored in the capital city of Skopje and later will be distributed across the country.
The minister said that an additional shipment of 76,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines is expected to arrive in the country through the COVAX mechanism by the end of April.
According to the health ministry, North Macedonia has so far recorded 126,230 confirmed cases, 104,345 recoveries and 3,642 fatalities.
Portugal
Portugal on Monday extended a suspension of flights to and from Britain and Brazil until April 15, with only humanitarian and repatriation flights allowed, the interior ministry said in a statement.
The country, which has so far reported 16,837 COVID-19 deaths and 820,407 cases, suspended flights to and from Brazil and the UK in January to prevent the spread of COVID-19 variants.
Passengers allowed to return to Portugal from Britain or from Brazil, as well as from South Africa, must present a negative test taken a maximum of 72 hours before departure and quarantine for 14 days.
The ministry added passengers from other countries where the infection rate was equal or higher than 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants would have to isolate for 14 days upon arrival.
Russia
Russia reported 8,711 new cases on Monday, including 1,612 in Moscow, pushing the national tally to 4,528,543 since the pandemic began.
The government coronavirus taskforce said that 293 deaths had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 98,033.
President Vladimir Putin said he expected Russia to reach herd immunity to coronavirus and lift pandemic-related restrictions by the end of summer, the Interfax news agency reported on Sunday, citing his televised comments.
If mass vaccination continues at the current pace, about 70 percent of adults in Russia will get the jab by the end of summer, thus reaching the threshold of herd immunity, Putin told a local TV program.
Putin, who got vaccinated this week with a Russian-made vaccine, also said the only side effects he experienced were slight pain in his muscles the next morning and an uncomfortable feeling in the site of the injection. Putin did not reveal which of three Russian vaccines he had taken, saying only the doctor who inoculated him knows that.
Russia's health ministry has received a formal application to register the one-shot Sputnik-Light version of its COVID-19 vaccine for use, the TASS news agency reported on Monday.
Russia said last week that it had completed clinical trials for the slimmed-down vaccine, which it has cast as a possible temporary solution to help countries with high infection rates make the vaccine go further.
Moscow has said that its two-dose Sputnik V vaccine will remain the main version used in Russia.
In another development, Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund and China's Shenzhen Yuanxing Gene-tech have agreed to produce over 60 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 in China, RDIF said on Monday.
RDIF, which is marketing Sputnik V globally, said that commercial production was due to start in May.
Serbia
Thousands of people from across the Balkans traveled to Serbia this weekend to get their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine as access to the shots in their homelands remains scarce.
As many as 22,000 people made the trip on Saturday and Sunday to Serbia, the nation with the fastest inoculation campaign in mainland Europe. Most visitors got AstraZeneca shots after being given the choice of a Western-made vaccine so they may more easily qualify for future vaccine passports.
The iniative included some 8,500 doses given to entrepreneurs from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania to help local and regional companies stay afloat in the pandemic, said Marko Cadez, the head of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, who proposed the drive.
“It’s crucial to save your partners — we’re all connected in the region,” he said by phone on Monday. “All our companies have very interconnected supply chains. They really depend a lot on each other. You can’t carry on producing anything if your partners have to shut down” because of infections, he said.
Serbia has imported more than 2.8 million vaccines for its 7 million people after President Aleksandar Vucic negotiated direct deals with multiple manufacturers, including China’s Sinopharm, Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Russian drug makers. The government also sent several thousand vaccines to neighbors as a donation earlier this year.
Slovenia
The Slovenian government has decided to step up its border restrictions from Monday ahead of an 11-day COVID-19 lockdown over Easter.
According to a decree issued by the government on Sunday, travel to red-listed countries will be prohibited except for cross-border commuters, transit, goods and other emergency exemptions.
Except for daily cross-border commuters, who already have to get tested every seven days with a rapid antigen test, all passengers will have to show a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test made in an EU or Schengen zone country to avoid mandatory quarantine.
Slovenia on Sunday reported 640 new COVID-19 cases were logged in the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 212,679, according to data from the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ).
Sweden
Sweden's vaccine coordinator said on Sunday repeated delays of COVID-19 vaccine deliveries meant Sweden would not be able to meet the target of having all adults vaccinated by June 30.
"It will take a bit longer before everyone is fully vaccinated, but maybe five million people will be fully vaccinated by the end of the first half of the year, June 30," vaccine coordinator Richard Bergstrom told Swedish Television.
"It will take maybe a couple of weeks into July before everyone has had two shots," he said.
Sweden, with a total population of 10 million, has so far vaccinated over a million people with one dose and 450,000 people with two doses.
The country has more than 13,000 deaths from COVID-19.
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UK
England's stay-at-home lockdown order ended on Monday with people allowed to meet up outside in groups of six for the first time in nearly three months, though Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged caution due to rising coronavirus cases in Europe.
"Despite today’s easements, everyone must continue to stick to the rules, remember hands, face, space, and come forward for a vaccine when called," Johnson said on Sunday.
From Monday, up to six people, or two households, in England can meet outside whilst outdoor sporting facilities such as swimming pools, tennis and basketball courts can be used with social contact limits in place.
Johnson's remarks came as Britain reported 3,862 new cases and 19 more deaths, bringing the tally to 4,333,042 and the toll to 126,592, according to official figures released Sunday.
More than 30.1 million people, around 57 percent of all adults in Britain, have received the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.
UN
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world faces intense issues of debt sustainability because of the coronavirus crisis that have not been properly understood or addressed, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
"The response to COVID and to the financial aspects [of the crisis] has been fragmented, and geopolitical divides are not helping," Guterres told the FT.
Countries such as Brazil and South Africa had borrowed heavily from domestic lenders rather than from foreign investors, at interest rates much higher than those available to rich countries, making the dangers less visible than in previous emerging market debt crises, according to Guterres.
"They are essentially borrowing in the internal market but maturities are coming down," Guterres told FT. "This is a very bad signal."
US
The United States added 758 deaths from COVID-19 on Saturday, the fewest since Monday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and Bloomberg.
Reported new infections declined to about 63,000, the lowest in three days and a fraction of peaks of more than 300,000 daily cases late December and early January.
So far, the US has reported over 30.26 million confirmed cases and more than 549,000 deaths, according to a tally by JHU.
More than one million first doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be shipped to providers across the US state of Texas next week, local media quoted the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) on Sunday.
The department said it is allocating over 800,000 doses to 779 providers in 202 Texas counties. In addition, more than 200,000 additional first doses are expected to be available to pharmacy locations and federally-qualified health centers directly from the federal government.
This handout photo released by the Venezuelan Presidency of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro shows the president speaking during a televised message at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 28, 2021. (JHONN ZERPA / VENEZUELAN PRESIDENCY / AFP)
Venezuela
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday proposed paying for vaccines against the novel coronavirus with oil, though he provided few details about how such a scheme would work.
The crisis-stricken OPEC nation's crude exports have plummeted to their lowest levels in decades since Washington sanctioned state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela in 2019, cutting off Venezuela's exports to the United States and dissuading many other customers from buying Venezuelan oil as well.
Maduro said Venezuela was working to pay for vaccines from the World Health Organization's (WHO) COVAX mechanism through Venezuelan funds frozen in overseas accounts due to sanctions, and also through oil shipments.
"Venezuela has the oil vessels and has the customers who will buy our oil," Maduro said in a state television address. "We are ready and prepared for oil for vaccines, but we will not beg anyone."
Venezuela has received vaccine doses from allies Russia and China. The government and the opposition had been in talks with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) over Venezuela's access to vaccines through COVAX, but the government said last week it would not accept the AstraZeneca vaccine.
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