Biden vows ‘independence’ from Covid amid worldwide spikes
Italy to be under lockdown during Easter weekend due to surge in cases
WASHINGTON/ROME/BRASILIA: One year after the nation was brought to a near-standstill by the coronavirus pandemic, US President Joe Biden pledged in his first prime-time address to make all adults eligible for vaccines by May 1 and raised the possibility of beginning to “mark our independence from this virus” by July 4 - when America celebrates Independence Day.
Speaking in the White House on Thursday, Biden honoured the “collective suffering” of Americans over the past year in his address and offered them a vision for a return to a modicum of normalcy this summer.
“We are bound together by the loss and the pain of the days that have gone by,” he said. “We are also bound together by the hope and the possibilities in the days in front of us.” He predicted Americans could safely gather at least in small groups for July 4 to “make this Independence Day truly special”.
But he also cautioned that this was a “goal” and attaining it depends on people’s cooperation in following public health guidelines and rolling up their sleeves to get vaccinated as soon as eligible. Only that, he said, can bring about an end to a pandemic that has killed more than 530,000 Americans and disrupted the lives of countless more.
The speech came hours after Biden signed into law a $1.9 trillion relief package that he said will help defeat the virus.
Italy will be placed under a nationwide lockdown over the
Easter weekend for the second year running, a draft decree law seen by Reuters said on Friday, underlining the struggle to stem a fresh surge in cases.
Non-essential shops will be shuttered nationwide from April 3-5. On those days, Italians will only be allowed to leave their homes for work, health or emergency reasons.
However, a number of regions including wealthy Lombardy, which is centred on Italy’s financial capital Milan, look certain to be placed under full lockdown from Monday because of the recent jump in infections and hospitalisations.
Italy saw infections rise by 10% this week compared with the week before.
Brazil, which has the world’s reported 2,233 deaths in the last 24 hours, making it the second consecutive day that fatalities have crossed 2,000, the health ministry said.