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 India's richest state prepares for lockdown
India's new coronavirus infections reached a record on Wednesday, as
crowds of pilgrims gathered for a religious festival despite oxygen
shortages at some hospitals and strict curbs in other areas.
The country reported 184,372 cases in the last 24 hours, health
ministry data showed, taking total infections to 13.9 million.
Deaths rose by 1,027, for a toll of 172,085.
The rise in cases comes as India's richest state, Maharashtra, the
epicentre of the national second wave, is due to enter a full
lockdown at midnight local time until the end of April to contain
the spread.
Thailand reports daily record cases
Thailand reported on Wednesday 1,335 new COVID-19 cases, the biggest
daily rise since the start of the pandemic and the third record rise
this week, as the Southeast Asian country struggles with a new wave
of infections.
The spike in cases comes as Thais celebrate the Songkran new year
holidays and authorities have urged people to avoid unnecessary
travel and reduce gatherings to help limit the outbreak, which
includes the highly transmissible variant first identified in
Britain.
"The period after Songkran is a critical time to control the
outbreak, if not we could see 10,000 to 20,000 cases per day,"
senior health official Opas Karnkawinpong said.
U.S. pauses use of J&J vaccine
U.S. federal health agencies on Tuesday recommended pausing use of
Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine for at least a few days after
six women under age 50 developed rare blood clots after receiving
the shot, dealing a fresh setback to efforts to tackle the pandemic.
Johnson & Johnson said it would delay roll-out of the vaccine to
Europe, a week after regulators there said they were reviewing rare
blood clots in four recipients of the shot in the United States.
South Africa also suspended use of J&J's vaccine.
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The White House said appointments to receive the
J&J shot were being rescheduled across the
country to the other two authorized vaccines.
UK trial on switching vaccines adds Moderna and
Novavax
A UK study into using different COVID-19
vaccines in two-dose inoculations is being
expanded to include shots made by Moderna and
Novavax, researchers said on Wednesday.
The trial, known as the Com-Cov study, was first
launched in February to look at whether giving a
first dose of one type of shot, and a second
dose of another, elicits an immune response that
is as good as using two doses of the same
vaccine.
The idea, said Matthew Snape, the Oxford
University professor leading the trial, "is to
explore whether the multiple COVID-19 vaccines
that are available can be used more flexibly".
Dutch PM extends lockdown
The Dutch government on Tuesday extended most
pandemic lockdown restrictions including a night
curfew as Prime Minister Mark Rutte cited rising
infection rates and hospitals near capacity.
"We have to see daily hospitalizations falling,
then we'll be over the peak of the third wave,"
Rutte said at a press conference in The Hague.
He said hopes that some measures could be eased
on April 21 had proved illusory and they must
remain in place until April 28 at the earliest.
Current measures in the Netherlands, which has
seen 1.3 million coronavirus cases and more than
16,700 deaths, include the first nighttime
curfew since World War Two and a ban on public
gatherings of more than two people.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes; Editing by Giles
Elgood)
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