India added 366,161 more cases on Monday, lower than the 400,000-odd numbers it reported Sunday. Numbers on Monday typically tend to be lower than usual because of a dip in testing across the country during the weekend. The data tends to rebound starting Wednesday. India also reported 3,754 deaths Monday, taking the total death toll in the country to 246,116.
More than two thirds of states are shut if assessed by their contribution to national output, analysts at Jefferies calculated last week. Tamil Nadu, which houses foreign manufacturers including BMW and Dell, will also close from Monday, while Delhi extended its lockdown for another week. The restrictions had been set to end Monday after being extended several times already.
India is testing and vaccinating its citizens at a lower rate compared with recent months. Cases have risen 3.6 times in the last one month and deaths 6.3 times, while testing has increased only 1.5 times and daily vaccine doses fallen 38 percent, Bhramar Mukherjee, a professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan, wrote on Twitter.
Key developments:
Thailand death toll tops 400
Deaths in Thailand from Covid-19 surpassed 400 on Monday. A 25-week pregnant Thai woman became the first person in the country to be diagnosed with the Indian variant of the virus.
The nation’s Covid-19 panel will hold a meeting to discuss measures to tackle the Indian variant, according to Apisamai Srirangsan, a Covid-19 center spokesman. There were 1,630 new infections and 22 deaths, which took the total infections and fatalities to 85,005 and 421, respectively. More than half of the total infections and deaths are from a new outbreak that began in April.
BioNTech to build vaccine facility in Singapore
The German vaccine developer selected the city-state as its Southeast Asia headquarters and first Asia-Pacific hub. BioNTech’s manufacturing site will support global supply of mRNA-based vaccines, the company said in a statement. The plan is a boon for Singapore’s long-term strategy to build out next-generation sectors of its economy, including biopharmaceuticals.
Dubai business activity improves
Business activity in Dubai rose to the highest level since late 2019 after a rebound in tourism and a fast distribution of coronavirus vaccines.
The private sector, excluding oil, grew for a fifth-straight month in April, according to IHS Markit. Its Purchasing Managers’ Index for the Middle East’s main business hub rose to 53.5 from 51 in March, staying above the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction and signaling significant economic expansion.
BioNTech’s China venture
Shanghai Fosun said on Sunday it will set up a 50:50 joint venture with BioNTech to produce mRNA Covid-19 vaccine in China. Both companies have committed up to $100 million investment through cash, production facilities and technologies. Fosun will set up a production facility capable of making 1 billion doses of the vaccine, according to the company’s filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The Shanghai-based drug company struck a deal in March 2020 to license and develop the Covid shot in the Greater China region that includes Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, while Pfizer Inc. later agreed to co-develop and commercialize it in the rest of the world. The vaccine is now being reviewed by Chinese drug regulator. Fosun Pharmaceutical shares rose as much as 23 percent in Hong Kong.
Virus causing spread of fungal infection
Coronavirus is causing the spread of a deadly fungal infection called mucormycosis across the western state of Maharashtra, the Times of India reported. Hospitals in Mumbai, which are treating dozens of such patients, are facing a shortage of anti-fungal medicines. The infection can also lead to blindness. The fungal infection usually sets in two to three weeks after treatment for Covid and was mostly found in patients who already suffer from diabetes and then got affected by Covid-19.
Bolsonaro leads Mother’s Day parade maskless
A maskless President Jair Bolsonaro led a Mother’s Day motorcycle parade on Sunday as Brazil added almost 39,000 Covid-19 cases. Deaths increased by 1,024 to 422,340 in the latest daily count, according to Health Ministry data.
The ministry will begin distributing 1.12 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine Monday. The latest batch brings Brazil’s distribution to about 75.4 million doses and more than 46.8 million shots administered.
England set to allow indoor mixing
Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that the next stage of lockdown easing in England will go ahead on May 17 as planned, as the Covid-19 infection rate reaches its lowest level since September.
People will be allowed to stay overnight with friends or relations, and indoor hospitality will be reopened. The government said last week limited international travel will also resume then.
US hospitalizations reach seven-month low
The share of US hospital beds occupied by Covid-19 patients fell to 5.37 percent, the lowest since Oct. 5, according to the US Department of Health & Human Services.
Michigan had the biggest percentage of beds occupied by Covid patients at 13.3 percent followed by Maryland at 10.8 percent, according to the latest HHS data, which reflect the situation on Thursday. Florida had 3,504 hospitalized Covid patients, the most of any state, followed by Texas with 3,080.
Iran sets vaccination goal
President Hassan Rouhani said some 13 million people in Iran, about 15 percent of the population, will be vaccinated against the coronavirus by July 22, as the country tries to combat the Middle East’s worst outbreak.
Rouhani said he expects all people in high-risk groups to receive at least their first dose by that date, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported, adding that two domestically developed shots will be ready for mass use by June.
Third of UK adults dully vaccinated
More than a third of the United Kingdom’s adult population is now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and two-thirds of adults have received a first shot. The UK has now administered more than 53 million doses of coronavirus vaccines. The success of the vaccine rollout, coupled with strict lockdown measures that are now being eased, has led to a plunge in new cases and deaths. Health authorities on Sunday reported just two daily deaths from the virus in all of the UK.
Fauci says US deaths undercounted
There’s “no doubt” the US has undercounted its number of deaths from Covid-19, which now stand at over 581,000, President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser said.
But Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that a University of Washington analysis published May 6 that the true toll is probably over 900,000 is “a bit more than I would have thought.” Bloomberg News
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