Covid-19 cases shoot past 150 million mark
The global tally of Covid-19 infections crossed 150 million on Friday, according to an AFP count, with numbers soaring recently due to a relentless second wave in India. A total of 150.3 million cases have been declared since the coronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan, China in December 2019, according to the news agency’s tally.
Worldwide, the number of new daily Covid-19 infections has more than doubled since mid-February. After January, the figure had slowed to a little over 350,000 a day. It is now up to 821,000 per day. The explosion in infections has been blamed in part on new strains of the virus.
400,000 deaths in Brazil
Brazil on Thursday became the second country to top 400,000 Covid-19 deaths, losing another 100,000 lives in just one month, as some health experts warn there may be gruesome days ahead when the southern hemisphere enters winter.
April was Brazil’s deadliest month of the pandemic, with thousands of people losing their lives daily at crowded hospitals.
The country’s health ministry registered more than 4,000 deaths on two days early in the month, and its seven-day average topped out at above 3,100.
That figure has tilted downwards in the last two weeks to less than 2,400 deaths per day, though on Thursday the health ministry announced another 3,001 deaths, taking Brazil’s total to 401,186.
They are apprehensive of another wave of the disease, like those seen in some European nations, due to a premature resumption of activity in states and cities combined with slow vaccination roll-out.
AZ jab sales hit $275mn
British pharma giant AstraZeneca said its Covid-19 vaccine generated $275 million in sales in the first quarter. This is the first time that the company has disclosed figures from sales of one of the world’s leading vaccines, which it sells on a not-forprofit basis. AstraZeneca has delivered about 68 million doses of the vaccine.
Liverpool experiment
Meanwhile, the English city of Liverpool was scheduled to hold Britain’s first mass dance event in over a year without any coronavirus restrictions at all on Friday and Saturday.
It is being held as part of a mass gatherings trial. Nightlife promoter Circus will host 6,000 individuals in the first UK event of its kind in 14 months.