May 7 coronavirus news

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon gives the State of the State address at the state Capitol in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on March 2, 2021.

Wyoming is the latest state to prohibit state government agencies from asking people whether they have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

Under a directive signed Friday by Gov. Mark Gordon, the state boards and agencies are ordered to “provide full access to state spaces and state services, regardless of a constituent’s COVID-19 vaccination status.”

“Vaccine passport programs have the potential to politicize a decision that should not be politicized,” Gordon said in a written statement. The news release notes that the governor has been vaccinated, and encourages the residents of his state to voluntarily be vaccinated.

Unlike a similar order signed by the governor of Florida, the Wyoming directive is only mandatory for the state government. However, it says local governments and private businesses “are encouraged” to follow Gordon’s directive.

People who take common over-the-counter drugs such as ibuprofen or aspirin don’t risk getting sicker from Covid-19, according to a study from researchers at the University of Edinburgh.

When the Covid-19 pandemic began, there was concern that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) could cause more severe disease or even raise the risk of death in Covid-19 patients, particularly those with rheumatological disease. The French health ministry issued recommendations that physicians should use acetaminophen instead.

However, subsequent research with evidence from community studies, administrative data, and small studies did not support fears that hospitalized Covid-19 patients fared worse on NSAIDs. 

Now this new study, published Friday in the journal Lancet Rheumatology, helps to settle doubts about the effect of NSAIDs on Covid-19 severity. 

In the largest study to date on NSAIDs and Covid-19, the researchers enrolled 78,674 patients across 255 health facilities in England, Scotland, and Wales. The evidence was drawn from patients with a confirmed positive or suspected Covid-19 case between Jan. 17 and Aug. 20, 2020.

Just under 6% of them had taken NSAIDs prior to hospital admission. Compared with a similarly sized group of patients who had not taken NSAIDs before going to the hospital, the researchers found that neither patient group was more severe than the other at the time of hospital admission. For example, 30.4% of those who had taken NSAIDs died compared with 31.3% of those who did not.

And their outcomes were similar throughout their hospital stays as well. Use of NSAIDs was not associated with worse in-hospital mortality, critical care admission, requirement for ventilation, requirement for oxygen, or acute kidney injury.

That means that patients who rely on NSAIDs to relieve conditions such as gout, arthritis, bone pain, and menstrual pain wouldn’t have to worry about the drugs worsening a case of Covid-19.

“In conclusion, policy makers should consider reviewing issued advice around NSAID prescribing and COVID-19 severity,” the researchers wrote.

However, though NSAIDs may not harm Covid-19 patients, the evidence doesn’t lean toward the drugs helping either.

“Although use of NSAIDs could, in theory, be beneficial in patients with COVID-19, we did not identify any evidence to support this,” the researchers wrote.

Refrigerated morgue trailers believed to be holding the bodies of people who died of Covid-19 are seen at South Brooklyn Marine Terminal on November 23, 2020 in New York City.

The bodies of New York City coronavirus victims are still being stored in refrigerated trailers converted into makeshift morgues during the height of the pandemic one year ago, according to the medical examiner’s office.

The long-term temporary morgue at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal holding 750 bodies — not all victims of Covid-19 — is a reminder of the crush of coronavirus fatalities that overwhelmed city hospitals, mortuaries and funeral homes last spring.

In early April 2020, more than 800 coronavirus deaths were reported in a single day in New York City. During the week of April 5, an average of 566 were dying every day in the city, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Long term storage was created at the height of the pandemic to ensure that families could lay their loved ones to rest as they see fit,” said Mark Desire, a spokesperson for the Office of Chief Medical Examiner.

In late March 2020, refrigerated trailers also served as makeshift morgues outside city hospitals amid the surging death count in the epicenter of the nation’s coronavirus pandemic.

Read more here.

An employee works behind the food counter at the Griffith & Feil pharmacy on January 14, in Kenova, West Virginia.

West Virginia’s statewide indoor face covering requirement will be lifted on June 20, according to a release from Gov. Jim Justice’s office. 

“Naturally, it will still be your choice, when you’re in public, whether you want to have a mask on or not,” the governor added. “But the mandate will be lifted.”

However Justice emphasized that the indoor mask mandate will still remain in effect until June 20, requiring all West Virginians age nine and older to wear a face covering at all times inside all indoor public places, regardless of whether they are able to maintain proper social distance.

DC Health Nurse Manager Ashley Hennigan fills a syringe with a dose of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine during a walk-up clinic at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' outdoor Reach area on May 6 in Washington, DC.

Two weeks after a pause on the use of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine was lifted, the vaccine accounts for a very small share of doses administered and the current pace of administration lags significantly from the pace before the pause, CDC data shows. 

The US Food and Drug Administration and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted the pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after investigating cases of extremely rare blood clotting events after vaccination.

The vaccine is again in use in people age 18 and older, now with an added warning.

Over the past seven days, the J&J vaccine accounted for just about 3.5% of total doses administered and about 9% of people added to the total population with at least one dose of vaccine, according to the latest data published by the CDC on Friday. 

Only about 509,000 doses of the J&J vaccine have been reported administered in the past week, down 79% from before the pause, when about 2.5 million doses of the J&J vaccine were reported administered in a week in mid-April.

The pace of vaccinations has generally slowed, but less than half as much in that same timeframe – about 38% overall. 

More than 150 million people in the United States have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, but less than 9 million of those people have received the J&J vaccine, CDC data shows. 

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its explanations Friday on how coronavirus is transmitted, stressing that inhalation is one of the main ways the virus is spread and placing less emphasis on the risk of picking it up from surfaces.

The changes to the CDC website are in line with the agency’s gradual de-emphasis of the need to keep surfaces clean and more toward the idea that the virus spreads through the air – either to be breathed in, to get into the eyes or to settle onto surfaces that people later touch.

“This is not new guidance. This is the beginning of how, perhaps, guidance will begin to evolve,”  Dr. John Brooks, chief medical officer for the CDC’s Covid-19 response, told CNN.

It doesn’t change what people need to do, but might help the public better understand how the virus spreads, Brooks said. Guidance remains the same – wear a mask when near other people or inside and sharing air with others, keep a distance from others when possible and wash hands frequently.

CDC also updated its science brief on mask use to counter fears about the safety of wearing masks. “Research supports that mask wearing has no significant adverse health effects for wearers,” it said.

Masks don’t just filter the air, Brooks pointed out. “Wearing a mask covers your mucus membranes. It is more difficult to touch your mouth when a mask is over it,” he noted.

Scientists who had been lobbying for the changes had both praise and criticism.

“I’m really happy with a whole lot of this stuff. I think it’s an important and major step forward,” Dr. Donald Milton, who studies how viruses are transmitted at the University of Maryland, told CNN.

But Milton signed a letter Friday along with four other experts on aerosols to say the CDC needs to do and say more.

They want CDC to push for better ventilation in places such as meatpacking facilities where air is recirculated, and to emphasize the importance of face masks known as respirators, including N95 respirators, in places where people are forced to breathe recycled air.

“I don’t disagree,” Brooks said in response. “I would stay tuned. This is an issue we are concerned about.”

A man holds his emotional support dog, named 'Rhea,' as he receives a dose of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine during a walk-up clinic at the Kennedy Center's outdoor Reach area on May 6 in Washington, DC.

More than a third of the US population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to data published Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Nearly 111 million people are fully vaccinated – accounting for 33.4% of the total US population – and more than 150 million people – about 45% of the population – has received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine. 

Overall, 254,779,333 total doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered, about 78% of the 327,124,625 total doses delivered. 

About 2.8 million more doses have been reported administered since Thursday, for a seven-day average of about 2.1 million doses per day. 

Note: Data published by the CDC may be delayed, and doses may not have been given on the day reported. 

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will examine the differences between its own Covid-19 death estimates and estimates from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluations, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a briefing Friday. 

The IHME at the University of Washington released an analysis on Thursday that found Covid-19 had caused about 6.9 million deaths around the world, more than double the number officially reported. The institute’s analysis compared countries’ excess death rate against expected death rates, and said most of the underreporting is unintentional.

The United States has reported more deaths than any other country, and the updated IHME analysis estimates the actual number of Covid-19 deaths in the US to be more than 905,000 — about 58% higher than the reported count of about 574,000, and about 30% more than the CDC’s current excess death estimate.

Compared to other countries, underreporting in the United States was said to be “not bad.”

“Regardless, I think we need to understand that the death toll of this disease has been attributable directly from Covid as well as the collateral damage I would say, what has happened from Covid-19.”

France will impose a compulsory 10-day quarantine restriction on travelers from Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, according to an update on the French Interior Ministry website on Friday.

This brings the number of countries subject to a travel quarantine in France to 12.

France now imposes a mandatory 10-day quarantine to travelers coming from: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, India, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

Travelers coming from the French department of Guiana are also subject to a mandatory 10-day quarantine.

French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal on Wednesday announced that new countries would soon be added to the quarantine list because France “cannot take the risk of new variants lightly.”

At least 25 people have been killed in Colombia following protests fueled by frustration over Covid-19’s crushing economic pain and exacerbated by a heavy-handed police response.

The upheaval has reached 247 cities and towns, according to Colombia Interior Minister Daniel Palacios.

CNN correspondent Polo Sandoval reports on the latest from Bogota and answers viewers’ questions. Watch:

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President Biden said the economy will “continue to improve” after the release of April’s jobs report, which showed the US added way fewer jobs than expected.

The US economy added only 266,000 jobs in April, while economists predicted America would add 1 million jobs. It was the slowest improvement for jobs since January.

Biden said that his American Rescue Plan will play out for a whole year, and the US is on the right track.

“We can’t let up. This jobs report makes that clear. We’ve got too much work to do,” he said.  

“We’re still digging our way out of a very deep hole we were put in” from the pandemic, Biden added.

President Biden claimed Friday’s disappointing jobs report shows the economy is moving in the right direction, but that it’s also “clear we have a long way to go.”

In his first remarks since Friday’s Job report, Biden said he wanted to put the report in “perspective” and said that his American Rescue Plan was designed to help the country in a year, “not 60 days.”

“We never thought after the first 60 days that everything would be fine. Today there’s more evidence that our economy is moving in the right direction. But it’s clear we have a long way to go.”

Biden added, “to state the obvious we have work to do.”

The President did say that today’s report is a “rebuttal” to the argument that Americans don’t want to return to work adding, “I know some employers are having trouble filling jobs, but this report shows there’s a much bigger problem.”

Biden took the opportunity to tout his American Rescue Plan saying that the report “underscores” that “we’re still digging out of an economic collapse.”

Syringes filled with doses of the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine during a mass vaccination campaign in Skopje, Macedonia on May 6.

The World Health Organization on Friday authorized China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use.

Tedros said this is another vaccine that can be purchased by COVAX, the initiative to provide equitable global access to Covid-19 vaccines, and gives countries confidence to expedite their own regulatory approvals and imports.

WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) reviewed the available data and recommended the vaccine for adults age 18 and older with a two-dose schedule, Tedros said. 

WHO has also given emergency use authorization to vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech, Astrazeneca-SK Bio, Serum Institute of India, Janssen and Moderna.

US President Joe Biden pauses as he speaks about the April jobs report in the East Room of the White House on May 7.

President Biden is delivering remarks on the US economy and pandemic recovery following the release of this morning’s April jobs report which showed far less jobs were added last month than expected.

“I want to put today’s jobs report in perspective, and, look, we came to office, we knew we were facing a once in a century pandemic and a once in a generation economic crisis, and we knew this wouldn’t be a sprint, it would be a marathon,” Biden said from the White House. “Quite frankly we’re moving more rapidly than I thought we would.”

The President said the jobs report “underscores” how important the American Rescue Plan that passed in March is to the country’s recovery.

The US economy added only 266,000 jobs in April on the anniversary of the worst job loss for any month on record. That was way less than forecasts of economists, who had predicted America would add 1 million jobs last month.

The unemployment rate rose to 6.1% in April, up from 6% a month earlier, as more people returned to the labor force to look actively for work, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. The March jobs numbers were also revised down to 770,000 from 916,000 reported initially.

It was the slowest improvement for jobs since January. Experts predicted that the vaccine rollout and the reopening of the economy would jolt hiring.

The number of people traveling by air just hit a new peak of the pandemic, suggesting an early start to a summer travel rebound.

The Transportation Security Administration says it screened 1.64 million people at airport security checkpoints on Thursday, ousting the previous pandemic record set on Sunday.

The new number is a more than 7% jump over the previous Thursday and more than seven times greater than the same day a year ago, TSA data show.

This weekend could see even larger numbers: TSA typically records its busiest day of the week on Sundays.  

The US Travel Association says 72% of Americans will make at least one trip this summer, a number close to projections from before the pandemic struck.

“We find going into summer, 75% to 80% of Americans say they’re planning on taking a trip away from home,” Roger Dow of the US Travel Association, told CNN. “This summer is going be the comeback for travel.” 

Students wait for 15 minutes in an observation area after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine inside Boston Colleges Conte Forum in Boston on April 26.

Some states have already reached the Biden administration’s new goal to reach 70% of adults with at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine by July 4, while others aren’t much more than halfway there, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

So far, three states – all in New England – have already vaccinated more than 70% of adult residents with at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine:

Four others are close, with at least two-thirds of adults with at least one dose:

However, 12 states – largely concentrated in the South – have vaccinated less than half of adult residents with at least one dose, half of which have vaccinated less than 45% of adults:

Nationwide, about 57% of adults have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine and about 42% are fully vaccinated, CDC data shows.

A nurse prepares a syringe with the Covid-19 vaccine as residents are vaccinated in Drammen, Norway, on January 21.

Norway will introduce vaccine certificates in early June which will be suitable for domestic use, while the final version – scheduled for the end of June – will allow international travel, the Norwegian health authority has said.

The Norway health authorities have confirmed that people already vaccinated are currently labelled as “protected” and are “no longer advised against making unnecessary travels in Norway.”

People who are considered “protected” are allowed to gather among themselves indoors without social distancing, the Norway health authorities confirmed. Socializing with unprotected people is also allowed, as long as good distance of at least one meter is respected.

“In public, such as when using public transport, the advice and rules regarding distance, number of people that can meet at public events, hygiene and the use of face masks are unchanged for protected persons,” the press office added. 

Over 26% of Norway’s population have received a first dose and more than 7% have received two doses, according to Norwegian Institute of Public Health data. 

The US economy added only 266,000 jobs in April at the anniversary of the worst job loss for any month on record.

This was far less than forecasts of economists, who had predicted America would add 1 million jobs last month.

The unemployment rate rose to 6.1% in April, up from 6% a month earlier.

It was the slowest improvement for jobs since January. Experts predicted that the vaccine rollout and the reopening of the economy would jolt hiring. But the April jobs number show that the road to recovery from the pandemic remains bumpy. 

The job market isn’t just snapping back to what it was before Covid-19. The dislocations across different industries and worker demographics has been too big to recover from while Covid-19 continues to infect tens of thousands of people every day.

Lower-income earners, women, Hispanic and Black workers bore the brunt of the pandemic layoffs and millions remain out of work. Yet some industries can’t find workers. That may seem contradictory, but the job market is changing, leaving many workers permanently out of a job.

The hospitality, leisure and travel industries are still rebuilding after shuttering completely last year. Meanwhile, factories and manufacturers have trouble finding specialized and even entry-level workers as employees worry that those jobs could be sent overseas or replaced by robots.

Empty tables and chairs are cordoned off outside a downtown restaurant during the lockdown in Chemnitz, Germany on May 6.

Germany’s third wave of the coronavirus pandemic appears to be coming to an end, the German health minister said Friday.

The country’s social distancing measures as well as the accelerating vaccination campaign were contributing factors for this trend, Spahn added.

Germany’s infection rate has fallen to under 126 cases per 100,000 residents in seven days, he said.

The incidence rate of coronavirus infections was falling across all age groups, Lothar Wieler, the head of Germany’s infectious disease agency Robert Koch Institute.

“The current development with decreasing infection numbers, slowly decreasing numbers of Covid patients in the intensive care units and the accelerating vaccination campaign is very positive and it gives hope that we will control the pandemic soon,” he said.

Meanwhile, a new legislation in Germany will come into force this weekend, allowing more freedoms for the fully vaccinated and those who have recovered from Covid-19.

These groups will no longer need a negative test if they want to go shopping, to the hairdresser or visit a botanical garden. Vaccinated people will also be allowed to meet in private without restrictions. Quarantining after traveling abroad will not be mandatory if fully inoculated, with a few regional exceptions.

The government said it is not about granting privileges but reinstating constitutional rights, however, the regulation’s opponents fear that it may create a two-class society.

Following a shaky start, Germany has sped up its vaccination program. Nearly 31% people have received a first dose of coronavirus vaccine and nearly 9% are fully vaccinated, the Robert Koch Institute said.

Earlier this week, Spahn said that the government is working to provide a digital vaccination card to those who have been inoculated by the end of June at the latest.   

Wood is brought in for the cremation of Covid-19 victims at Sector 94 crematorium, on May 4 in Noida, India.

Crematoriums in India are reporting wood shortages for funeral pyres as they struggle to deal with the deluge of bodies. 

Cremations start before dawn as workers clear out the embers from the night before, CNN’s Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward reports from Varanasi, one of the holiest cities in the country.

The government has been criticized for its response to the crisis and for undercounting death numbers.

The city’s main crematorium has been so overwhelmed that it has set up a makeshift one on the banks of the Ganges river. In the two hours that Ward and the CNN team spent there, seven bodies were brought in. 

A wood merchant says demand is four times higher than usual and that their three main suppliers ran out of wood. 

Ward told CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta that the lockdowns in India’s cities are not comparable to those seen in New York or London. 

“In Varanasi, for example, markets can be open every day until about 11:00 a.m. and the streets are busy during those hours. There was also a wedding in our hotel last night,” she said. 

Watch Ward’s reporting:

Pfizer/BioNTech has initiated its application to the US Food and Drug Administration for full FDA approval of its Covid-19 vaccine for people ages 16 and older, the companies said Friday.

This is the first Covid-19 vaccine in the United States to be assessed for full approval from the FDA. 

Pfizer’s mRNA two-shot vaccine is currently being used in the US under emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA. The companies say 170 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed across the US to date.

To apply, the FDA requires vaccine manufacturers submit data on manufacturing processes, facilities, and additional information that demonstrates that the vaccine can be produced reliably and consistently. They are also required to submit all pre-clinical and clinical trial data. 

Pfizer/BioNTech will submit that information to the FDA over the next few weeks on a rolling basis. Once all the required information is submitted, a goal date will be set for a decision by the FDA. Pfizer/BioNTech has requested priority review, which asks the FDA to take action within 6 months, compared to the 10 months designated under standard review.

Read the full story here.

People under the age of 40 in the UK will be given an alternative vaccine to AstraZeneca when possible, authorities said Friday, following reports of 242 cases of a very rare blood clotting condition in the country.

The decision by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) follows an April decision to offer a preference of vaccines to people under age 30, as the condition appears to affect younger adults.

In its updated advice the JCVI has determined that people aged 30-39 “should be preferentially offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca vaccine when possible and as long as there is no delay to getting the vaccine,” Prof Wei Shen Lim of JCVI said in a press conference.

“The benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 continue to outweigh the risks for the vast majority of people,” he said, adding the benefit is “more finely balanced for young people and that evidence should be taken into consideration.”

“The chances of a younger person becoming seriously ill with COVID-19 get smaller as infection rates increasingly come under control in the UK.”

In a statement Public Health England said: “Up to 28 April 2021, the MHRA had received 242 reports of blood clotting cases in people who also had low levels of platelets in the UK, following the use of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. These numbers are very small compared to the millions of people who have received the vaccine. The overall incidence of case reports of thromboembolic events with low platelets after first or unknown doses was 10.5 per million doses.”

The majority of these extremely rare events occurred after the first dose, it adds. People who have already had a first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine should receive a second dose of the same jab, irrespective of age, except for the very small number of people who experienced blood clots with low platelet counts from their first vaccination.

Delhi, Goa and Lakshwadeep are among the worst affected states and union territories in India. They are all reporting more than one new Covid-19 case per 1,000 people per day. That’s 10 times the global average of one in 10,000.

Here’s what’s going on and where.

The positivity rate of Covid-19 cases in the Indian state of Goa has risen to 51.4%, Goa’s health minister, Vishwajit P. Rane, told CNN, linking a spike in infections to holidaymakers and lax Covid restrictions.

The state, famous with tourists for its beaches, reported 3,869 new cases on Thursday, and is one of many parts of the country struggling to slow down a devastating second wave of the virus. Goa’s total number of cases stands at 108,267, including 1,501 deaths.

Rane attributed the spike to a combination of lax restrictions and an influx of domestic tourists from the start of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in November up until February.

“As you are aware, there were no restrictions of any kind and that is something we should have looked into at that point of time,” he told CNN.

“Goa was one of the most favored destinations and people used to come and we found that people were not following the SOPs and protocols.”

He added:

“Everybody was taking things for granted. No one was following social distancing. Masks are something that you cannot do away with. I’ve also said (on Twitter) that super-spreader events should be stopped … Sometimes you feel if things had been implemented at that point of time, we would not have had this situation.”

Authorities are now “seriously considering” a lockdown, Rane said.

Goa imposed a four-day lockdown on April 29, according to CNN affiliate News18. After the lockdown lifted on May 3, non-essential business have been ordered to remain closed and political and social gatherings are also banned.

Indonesian authorities have charged a 34-year-old suspect with running a months-long illegal Covid-19 testing scam, authorities said.

The business purportedly sold thousands of unapproved test kits in recent months, according to Grand Commissioner Iskandar Fitriana Sutisna, a spoksman for the Central Java Province Police, raking in $200,000 in sales and about $70,000 in profit.

Police were tipped off to the alleged scheme by a former customer, who told authorities that he received a suspicious testing kit. Undercover officers then bought testing kits from the business that turned out not to have the proper labels – a crime under Indonesian law.

Iskandar said the investigation led them to a warehouse, where they seized 450 boxes that each contained about 25 test kits, all of which appeared to be mislabeled with four different brands. The police also found thousands of sticks for doing swab tests.

The suspected admitted he had bought the falsified goods, authorities said. He faces a maximum penalty of 15 years of imprisonment and a $140,000 fine.

This is the second suspected scam related to Covid-19 tests Indonesian authorities have revealed in recent days.

Five employees for major Indonesian pharmaceutical company Kimia Farma were arrested on April 27 for allegedly washing and repackaging rapid antigen nasal swab kits to reuse them on passengers at the Kualanamu International Airport in Medan, North Sumatra.

A woman receives her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at Ripken Baseball in Aberdeen, Maryland, on May 05.

A coronavirus forecast released Thursday by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington (IHME) projects 185 million Americans will be vaccinated against coronavirus by September, but warns vaccine hesitancy could contribute to a potential winter surge.

The IHME model projects daily deaths from Covid-19 will decline, resulting in 948,859 Americans dead from coronavirus by September. That scenario accounts for continued spread of the B.1.1.7 virus variant, the one first detected in the UK, in the US and a scale up of vaccination efforts over the next 90 days.  

The team recently changed its modeling methodology to account for underreporting of Covid-19 deaths, resulting in higher death estimates than previous forecasts.

The IHME team says it expects over 70% of Americans will receive at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of May, and 65% will be fully vaccinated by mid-June. President Joe Biden announced a plan Tuesday to administer at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine to 70% of the nation’s adult population by July 4.

There is the potential for a winter surge, the team said. It largely depends on how many more Americans get vaccinated and whether vaccines prove effective against virus variants.

The coronavirus surge in India, linked to the B.1.617 virus variant, has proven that under certain circumstances, virus transmission can “rapidly and explosively” rise, IHME notes. 

In a worst-case scenario, in which vaccinated people revert to pre-pandemic levels of mobility, the model estimates 984,950 US Covid-19 deaths by September. If 95% of Americans started wearing masks, the model projects 939,122 deaths by that time.

Deaths likely undercounted: An IHME analysis also found it’s likely that the actual death toll from Covid-19 is likely 6.9 million, more than double the 3.2 million deaths that have been officially reported.

The institute said fatalities were likely “significantly underreported in almost every country” due to a combination of factors, including varied testing capacity to confirm Covid-19 cases and deaths and deaths among older individuals that went unrecorded early in the pandemic, particularly among those in long-term care facilities in high-income countries. 

Most of the underreporting is “unintentional,” Dr. Christopher Murray, director of IHME, said in a news briefing Thursday.

The United States has reported more deaths than any other country, and the updated IHME analysis estimates the actual number of Covid-19 deaths in the US to be more than 905,000 – about 58% higher than the reported count of about 574,000. The new analysis estimates the Covid-19 death toll in the US to rise to 949,000 by September. 

At least 173 unaccompanied minors are among more than 900 vulnerable Australian citizens trapped in India by their government’s ban on arrivals from the country, authorities said.

The Australian government currently bars anyone from entering Australia if they have been in India over the past 14 days. 

The ban came into effect on May 3 and will last until May 15.

The Australian government has said it will facilitate at least three flights to repatriate Australians in India between May 15 and 31. 

Vulnerable Australians will be prioritized for those flights, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday.

There are at least 9,000 Australian citizens in India who registered with the government that they would like to return home. 

A doctor's hand is seen next to a Covid-19 patient's hand at a general hospital in Bogor, Indonesia, on January 25.

Covid-19 has killed at least 366 doctors in Indonesia since March 2020, according to the latest data the Indonesian Medical Association’s Mitigation Team released on May 3.

Sixty-four doctors in Indonesia died in January after contracting coronavirus, making it the deadliest month for doctors during the pandemic.

Indonesia is the world’s fourth most-populous nation and has experienced one of the worst Covid outbreaks in Asia. More than 1.6 million cases and 46,000 deaths have been recorded since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Earlier this week, Indonesia’s Health Ministry confirmed two patients with the Covid variant B.1.617 first identified in India. The country has recorded a daily average of about 5,000 Covid-19 cases in the past week.

Authorities are concerned about the impact of the upcoming Mudik holiday, in which tens of millions of people travel to see their family in their hometowns to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan.

To halt the spread of Covid-19 during Eid festivities, the Indonesian government has banned all domestic travel from May 6 to May 17. The ban covers public and private journeys, including cars, motorcycles, buses, trains, ferries, ships and planes.

However, a poll from Indonesia’s state-run Antara news agency found that an estimated 18 million people, or 7% of the population, are still planning on traveling for the Eid al-Fitr holiday despite the travel bans.

India reported 414,188 cases of Covid-19 on Friday, a new all-time high for the number of coronavirus cases in a day, according to figures released by the India’s Health Ministry

To date, authorities have identified 21,491,598 cases in the country. Only the United States has had more.

Indian authorities also reported 3,915 another Covid-19-related deaths, making Friday the 10th day in a row the daily number of fatalities has exceeded 3,000.

At least 234,083 people have died after contracting the coronavirus in India. 

As of Thursday evening local time, authorities had administered 164,876,248 vaccine doses, the Health Ministry said. A total of 32,845,736 people in India have received both doses of the vaccine – about 2.5% of India’s 1.3 billion population.

Srinivas B.V. barely sleeps at night. His phone rings 24 hours a day with cries of help from Indians begging for oxygen supplies, ventilators, hospital beds – whatever he can provide.

Earlier this week, Srinivas and his team rushed an oxygen cylinder to the New Delhi home of a woman whose father was suffering from Covid-19. Despite their best efforts, the man died later that night. Scared, alone and Covid-positive herself, the woman had nobody to help cremate her father’s body – so Srinivas’s team arranged an ambulance and facilitated the cremation.

Srinivas’ phone rang as he spoke to CNN. It was Alok Kumar, a college professor who was frantically searching for oxygen for his Covid-positive 3-year-old son. The team rushes out the door again, an oxygen cylinder in the back of the car.

Read more about volunteers like Srinivas here:

People wait to refill their medical oxygen cylinders for the Covid-19 coronavirus patients under home quarantine at a private refill centre in New Delhi on May 4, 2021, as India's total Covid caseload soared past 20 million. (Photo by Prakash SINGH / AFP) (Photo by PRAKASH SINGH/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article The volunteer network sending oxygen to India's Covid patients

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during an address at the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Melbourne, on May 6.

Australia will allow its citizens and permanent residents to return from India as of May 15, ending a controversial entry ban on anyone who has been in India over the past 14 days.

The ban is being enforced with a possible five-year jail term, a fine of $51,000 or both. 

There are around 9,000 Australians in India who have officially informed the Australian government that they would like to return home, according to Prime Minister Scott Morrison. He said 900 of those people are classified as “vulnerable.”

While commercial flights will not resume, Morrison said the Australian federal government will put on three repatriation flights between May 15 and 31.

Only Australia citizens, permanent residents and travelers from New Zealand can enter Australia, with few exceptions. All must undergo 14 days in state quarantine on arrival.   

Around 40,000 Australians worldwide have told the government they want to return, with just over 5,000 places in quarantine available each week. 

Morrison’s government has denied criticism that banning entries from India alone was racist. The Prime Minister said Friday the entry ban “is working as it was intended to” in keeping Covid-19 out of Australia. 

Brazil’s Health Ministry reported over 73,000 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, raising the total number of cases to more than 15 million since the start of the pandemic.

The ministry also reported at least 2,550 new Covid-19 fatalities, raising the country’s death toll to at least 416,949.

While Brazil’s outbreak continues to be severe and its vaccine rollout slow, the country saw some hope on the horizon with the announcement that the government will purchase an extra 100 million Pfizer vaccine doses. The money for the acquisition was released this Thursday, and the new contract should be signed soon.

These doses are in addition to Brazil’s current contract to purchase 100 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, one of four approved for use in the country.

The first Pfizer doses arrived in Brazil last week.