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 India
reported a record 412,262 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday and a
record 3,980 daily deaths, as a second wave of infections swamps the
health system and spreads from cities into the vast countryside.
COVID-19 infections in the world's second most populous nation have
surged past 21 million, with a death toll of 230,168, health
ministry data show.
Government modelling had forecast a peak in second wave infections
by Wednesday.
U.S. backs giving poorer countries access to vaccine patents
President Joe Biden on Wednesday threw his support behind waiving
intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, bowing to
mounting pressure from Democratic lawmakers and more than 100 other
countries, but angering pharmaceutical companies.
Biden voiced his support for a waiver - a sharp reversal of the
previous U.S. position - in remarks to reporters, followed swiftly
by a statement from his top trade negotiator, Katherine Tai, who
backed negotiations at the World Trade Organization.
“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances
of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures," Tai said.
Tokyo set to seek extension of emergency
Japan's capital will seek to extend until May 31 its state of
emergency aimed at curbing infections, Governor Yuriko Koike said on
Thursday, a move that could spark more questions about its ability
to host the Olympics.
Japan had hoped a "short and powerful" emergency would contain a
fourth wave just under three months before Tokyo is set to host the
Olympic Games from July 23.
While the measure now running from April 25 until Tuesday has not
damped a surge of new infections, continuing it until May 31 leaves
a margin of less than two months before the Games, already postponed
by a year.
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Australian case spurs return of masks, travel bans
Australian officials reinstated social distancing measures in Sydney
as New Zealand partially suspended the pair's "travel bubble" on
Thursday, amid fears an Indian variant case of COVID-19 could spur a
significant outbreak.
The swift action was taken a day after a 50-year-old man became the
first reported local transmission case in New South Wales state in
more than a month, with the source of his infection baffling health
officials.
Further testing determined the man was infected with a variant first
detected in India and genomic sequencing had linked the case to a
returned traveller from the United States, but there was no clear
transmission path between the two people.
Maldives imposes night curfew
Maldives will begin a night-time curfew from Thursday to control a
doubling of daily coronavirus infections that was fuelled by crowds
at a local election and family gatherings during the ongoing Muslim
fasting month of Ramadan.
The Health Protection Agency announced the curfew on Wednesday after
government data showed daily cases grew to 734 from 318 a week ago.
Most of the cases reported on Wednesday were in the crowded capital
Male.
Restrictions have been placed on movement between islands, although
there are no curbs on tourists headed to private island resorts if
they can produce a negative COVID-19 test.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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