Coronavirus live news: EU may not renew AstraZeneca contract; New Delhi to impose six day lockdown

The United States has expanded its vaccine eligibility to everyone aged 16 years and above, the country’s health agency said on Monday in a statement reported by Reuters.

People over 15 living with underlying medical conditions should be among those offered the vaccine first, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

Most US states have already expanded their rollouts to people in this cohort, with Alaska being the first state to lower statewide eligibility to 16.

Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Chile continue to lead the global vaccine rollout per capita, followed by Bahrain and the UK.

Israel has administered 119.32 doses per 100 people, while the UAE stands at 97.37. Chile has given 68.84 doses for every 100 people.

A Hungarian cake shop is selling a range of Covid-19 vaccine-themed sweets as light-hearted antidote to angst over the different types of vaccines being rolled out in the country, Reuters reports.

The Sulyan family’s patisserie in the small town of Veresegyhaz, northeast of Budapest, has created a range of mousses topped with decorative syringes: citrus yellow for AstraZeneca and a slightly darker yellow for Sinopharm, matcha green for Pfizer, orange for Sputnik V and a vivid blue for Moderna.

The pastry shop is selling the jokey desert range as Hungarians are debating the comparative merits of each jab, although people are not given a choice about which shot they receive.

“Here people have a choice, there is no registration, there are no side-effects,” said confectioner Katalin Benko at the Sulyan patisserie, adding that they did not mean to campaign for or against vaccination or in favour of one shot or another.

“Anyone can try these as the only possible side-effect would be a little smile on their face,” she said.

In what appears to be a very literal reading of forming a coronavirus bubble, a Belgian artist has been walking around Brussels encased in a “portable oasis” in the form of a mini-greenhouse resting on his shoulders.

Alain Verschueren, who is also a social worker, said he came up with the idea 15 years ago after being inspired by Tunisia’s oases, Reuters reports. With face coverings mandatory in Brussels, the artist decided to take his invention to the streets.

“It was about creating a bubble in which I could lock myself in, to cut myself off a world that I found too dull, too noisy or smelly,” Verschueren, 61, said, adding that he has asthma and finds breathing within his contraption more comfortable than wearing a face mask.

“As time went by, I noticed that people were coming up to me and talking to me. This isolation became much more a way of connecting,” he said.

Many Indians are blasting prime minister Narendra Modi for holding rallies while coronavirus cases surge, leaving hospital beds and medical oxygen in short supply, AFP reports.

Amid a worsening crisis that has seen bodies pile up in crematoriums, hashtags including #ResignModi and #SuperSpreaderModi have trended on Twitter over the last two days.

India is currently recording more new coronavirus infections than any other country as the pandemic’s second wave batters the world’s second-most populous country.

Despite the worsening situation, Modi and his ministers have been campaigning heavily ahead of state elections in West Bengal.

“You hold rallies as people head to funerals,” Akhilesh Jha, the data head of the federal Department of Science & Technology, wrote in Hindi on LinkedIn.

“People will hold you accountable, you keep doing your rallies.”

The US drugs regulator has asked Emergent BioSolutions Inc to stop manufacturing vaccines at its plant in Baltimore after the factory produced millions of ruined doses earlier this month, Reuters reports.

The Food and Drug Administration’s request is the latest setback for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the use of which has been suspended while regulators review potential links to rare blood clots.

At the beginning of April, the plant, which produces both AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson shots and was run by Emergent BioSolutions, ruined 15 million Johnson & Johnson doses after the two vaccines’ ingredients were mixed.

Following the incident, the government had placed Johnson & Johnson in charge of the facility and stopped AstraZeneca from using the plant.

Austria will not use Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine until the European Medicines Agency approves it, chancellor Sebastian Kurz has said in comments reported by Reuters.

The country has been in negotiations with Russia to buy 1m vaccine doses, but an order is yet to be announced.

Kurz had until recently avoided clarifying whether the country would wait for approval from European regulator, or, like Hungary, introduce the jab without the green light from the EMA.

Hungary is the only EU country to have administered the vaccine, though Slovakia has also ordered doses.

“We hope it will quickly be approved by EMA as every extra vaccine dose helps us save lives,” Kurz said in a statement, adding that the government had agreed to make the order.

Slovakia has started reopening parts of its economy, with hairdressers, pools and zoos among those to welcome their first customers in months on Monday, AFP reports.

Emerging from its worst wave of the pandemic, the nation of 5.5 million also opened churches, libraries, and some shops, although indoor dining remains banned.

Negative Covid-19 tests are required to enter building including shops and churches.

Slovaks are also now permitted to take outdoor trips away from their home districts.

Greece has removed its quarantine requirement for travellers coming from the European Union, the UK, the USA, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Serbia and Israel, according to media reports.

Instead of quarantining upon arrival, travellers will have to show documentation proving they have been fully vaccinated or proof of a negative PCR test administered 72 hours before landing in Greece.

Travellers were previously required to quarantine for seven days.

It comes despite a surge in infection levels in recent weeks, with dozens of deaths and more than 1,500 new cases each day.

Portugal began its latest phase of relaxing restrictions on Monday, reopening shopping centres, secondary schools and universities as well as allowing indoor dining, AFP reports.

This is the third of four phases through which the country will exit lockdown. Last month, primary schools were reopened, followed by outdoor hospitality.

The final phase – which will include the resumption of public outdoor events – will begin in two weeks’ time, if the situation improves, the government said on Monday.

Portugal has administered 2.5m vaccine doses, including 650,000 second shots, to its 10 million people. Following the rollout and a two-month lockdown, the number of cases stands at around 500 a day, compared with a peak of nearly 13,000 at the end of January.

• Thierry Breton, the European commissioner responsible for the bloc’s vaccine supply, has said the EU may not renew its contract with AstraZeneca because of persistent shortfalls in the Anglo-Swedish company’s deliveries.
• India’s capital New Delhi will be under a strict lockdown for six days starting tonight. The announcement has come from the city’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, who added that the healthcare system was at a breaking point because of the worsening Covid-19 outbreak.
• Reports say that India is set to accept the Serum Institute of India’s (SII) request for a grant of 30bn rupees ($400m) to boost its capacity to make the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
• British prime minister Boris Johnson has cancelled a planned trip to India next week over Covid concerns.
• Spain’s health ministry is considering delaying second doses of some coronavirus vaccines for under 80-year-olds to maximise the number of people who have received at least one injection.
• A Greek cargo ship sailing from Egypt has been quarantined in Crete after a sailor was found dead and 10 others tested positive for coronavirus.
• Thailand reported 1,390 new coronavirus cases today, slowing slightly after a run of record daily highs. A third of the country’s cases have been recorded this month alone.
• Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund has said today it has agreed with Hualan Biological Bacterin to produce more than 100m doses of the Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 in China.
• And after a year of closed borders, Wellington airport in New Zealand was filled with emotional reunions as hundreds of travellers touched down on the first day of quarantine-free travel from Australia.

That’s your lot from me today. I’ll be back tomorrow. Clea Skopeliti will be here shortly to cover global coronavirus news, or you can follow the latest UK covid news with Andrew Sparrow over here.

India is set to accept the Serum Institute of India’s (SII) request for a grant of 30 billion rupees ($400 million) to boost its capacity to make the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, a government source with knowledge of the matter has told Reuters.

SII, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, had sought the funds to increase its monthly capacity to more than 100 million doses by the end of May, from up to 70 million currently.

“We are clear that we will give whatever support is necessary for development and boosting availability of vaccines in the country,” the source said yesterday.

As coronavirus infections overwhelm the country, the government is struggling to meet demand for vaccine doses. It has now fast-tracked imports and is also trying to expand production of its only domestically developed shot, Covaxin. Another source close to the company told Reuters late last week SII was expecting the money to come through.

Reuters have picked up this story from the Spanish press. They say that Spain’s health ministry is considering delaying second doses of some coronavirus vaccines for under 80-year-olds to maximise the number of people who have received at least one injection. El Mundo newspaper reported it this morning, citing an official document.

Under the proposal, patients would receive a second shot of vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna after eight weeks rather than the current three, El Mundo said.

The ministry has not given any official comment on the story yet.

Jessica Glenza brings us this from the US today – Fear that Johnson & Johnson pause could heighten vaccine hesitancy in US:

Among authorities in rural, conservative and vaccine-hesitant states, the hope is the Johnson & Johnson pause will be as brief as possible, while also allowing for a thorough investigation and communication of findings.

The White House has argued the pause will not substantially impact national vaccine distribution rate because it represented the minority of doses. Nevertheless, the impact could be marked for the health departments and people who hope to rely on this specific vaccine.

The US will likely move to resume Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine this coming week, possibly with restrictions or broader warnings after reports of some very rare blood clot cases, the government’s top infectious diseases expert said Sunday.

Dr Anthony Fauci said he expects a decision when advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) meet Friday to discuss the pause in J&J’s single-dose vaccine. “I would be very surprised if we don’t have a resumption in some form by Friday,” he said.

The vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen is the most recently authorized vaccine. Initially, public health officials were concerned people would need convincing to use this latest vaccine. Janssen’s trial results, while not comparable to those from Moderna and Pfizer, at first glance appear to show a lower efficacy rate. All vaccines are highly effective at preventing Covid-19 hospitalization and death.

But to the surprise of many, people asked for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by name. People concerned about safety saw it as more traditional technology. And, unlike Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines, it was also one-and-done, and has a less onerous profile for common flu-like side effects.

For people who worried about the novelty of mRNA vaccines, who would have trouble getting a day off work to get vaccinated or recover, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine held significant advantages.

Read more of Jessica Glenza’s report here: Fear that Johnson & Johnson pause could heighten vaccine hesitancy in US