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Joe Biden addresses an event on vaccinations. Photograph: Oliver Contreras/EPA
Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that all US adults would be eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine by 19 April, even as he warned that the nation was still in a “life-and-death race” against the virus.
Pairing optimism with caution, the president touted the administration’s success in accelerating the pace of the vaccination effort, including the milestone of administering a record 4m doses in a single day. But that progress, he said, is threatened by the rise in coronavirus cases in many states across the US as dangerous variants spread and some officials loosen public health restrictions.
“We aren’t at the finish line. We still have a lot of work to do,” Biden said in remarks at the White House on Tuesday. “We’re still in a life-and-death race against this virus.”
Brazil’s coronavirus catastrophe has deepened further after more than 4,000 daily deaths were reported for the first time since the outbreak began in February last year.
At least 4,195 people were reported to have died on Tuesday taking Brazil’s total death toll – the world’s second highest after the US – to nearly 337,000.
Its health ministry also reported 86,979 new infections. Experts fear a record 100,000 Brazilians could lose their lives this month alone if nothing is done.
“It’s a nuclear reactor that has set off a chain reaction and is out of control. It’s a biological Fukushima,” Miguel Nicolelis, a Brazilian doctor and professor at Duke University who is closely tracking the virus, told Reuters.
Despite the growing crisis, Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, continues to resist the idea of a lockdown and is still downplaying the epidemic. “In which country aren’t people dying?” he shrugged last week.
Brazil, which has 212 million citizens compared to the 328 million in the US, is expected to overtake the US weekly average for daily deaths in the coming days. According to Reuters, the US average peaked at 3,285 in January.
The Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in central London. Both opposition MPs and Conservative backbenchers fear vaccine passports may be needed for people to visit pubs, shops or other mass-events. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA
Ministers’ plans for Covid status certificates to help ease the UK out of lockdown risk descending into chaos after hospitality groups joined opposition parties and Conservative MPs in opposing the idea.
In a demonstration of the strength of feeling among dozens of Tories, backbencher Steve Baker said forcing people to show an app-based pass to go to shops, pubs or other crowded public places would create a “miserable dystopia of Checkpoint Britain”.
Labour plans to vote against the plans, calling them “discriminatory” and saying the party would in particular oppose the idea of passes being needed to go to most shops, a possibility spelled out in an official review of the idea published this week.
Brazil’s economy minister has said the country will be “back to business” in two to three months as the country’s vaccination programme continues.
Paulo Guedes told an online event that he expects a “decisive move” on a stalled trade deal between the EU and Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, according to Reuters.
“We think that probably two, three months from now Brazil could be back to business. Of course, probably economic activity will take a drop but it will be much, much less than the drop we suffered last year … and much, much shorter,” he said.
Guedes went on to say the country’s mass vaccination programme was the country’s most important fiscal policy. “It is the one that has most return in terms of economic results – to preserve people’s health and guarantee a safe return to the workforce.”
A comedy club has pulled out of a UK pilot to see how venues can operate safely amid the pandemic, as it said the government failed to clarify whether it would involve vaccine passports.
The Hot Water Comedy club in Liverpool said it was subject to an online “hate campaign” after suggestions it was working with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on Covid status certification.
The venue has cancelled the event, which was set to take place on 16 April in front of an audience of up to 300 people.
“The reason for us backing out is the Government wasn’t clear about the Covid passports,” club co-owner Binty Blair told PA Media. “The problem is we don’t know what we signed up for.”
US cruise firm Norwegian Cruise Line said it will resume trips from late July for travellers who have been fully vaccinated.
AFP reports that the operator will gradually begin to restart its cruises from 25 July, after more than a year’s suspension due to the pandemic.
It has promised “medical-grade” air filtration and increased hygiene measures and medical services. As well as requiring vaccines for crew and passengers, there will also be regular testing to stop outbreaks.
Mexico’s president hit out at criticism of the country’s Covid vaccination effort on Tuesday, Associated Press reports.
He said it was the work of conservative opponents or “elderly people who go grumbling because they don’t like to be vaccinated”.
Despite successes, such as the jabs being free, there have been problems with the country’s vaccine rollout. The quality of clinics has been criticised and at one, in the northern state of Coahuila, an 84-year-old man suffered a heart attack and three fainted after queueing outside for three hours.
Meanwhile those in wealthier neighbourhoods offer the opposite; short queues, well-tested vaccines and the chance to queue in the shade.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said one incident at the weekend in Mexico City, where a healthcare worker was filmed jabbing at an elderly man’s arm with an empty syringe before withdrawing it, was a smear.
“There are only two explanations: either that was in effect an error, or that it was a set-up intended to damage us, and I don’t rule that out, because of the coverage it received.”
The US has given 168,592,075 jabs to people as of Tuesday morning, Reuters reports.
The tally is an increase of more than a million compared to 5 April, as the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has now distributed 219,194,215 jabs, including Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines.
Shoppers will be finally able to try on jeans, bras, suits and other items of clothing requiring the perfect fit in England from Monday when several high street chains reopen changing rooms for the first time in a year.
John Lewis, H&M and River Island will be reopening at least some of their fitting rooms when fashion stores open their doors next week as part of the next stage in the loosening of government coronavirus lockdown guidelines.
Next said it was undecided whether to reopen its fitting rooms while both Marks & Spencer and Primark have both said they will not do so next week. M&S, however, said that shoppers would be able to book appointments for “no contact” bra fitting in stores, where a member of staff will not measure customers but advise them on how to measure themselves.
In-person teaching has been cancelled in Toronto, Canada from Wednesday as Covid-19 cases rise in Ontario province.
Earlier, prime minister Justin Trudeau said the country was in the grip of a “very serious” third wave. Ontario entered a limited lockdown on Saturday, but officials have called for stronger measures. Its 247,000 pupils will have to return to remote lessons as infections continue to mount.
“Around the world, countries are facing a very serious third wave of this pandemic,” Trudeau told a news conference according to Reuters. “And right now, so is Canada.”
A member of the UK government’s scientific advisory body has encouraged people to continue getting the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, after a trial in children was paused while regulators investigate links with rare blood clots.
Sage member Prof Calum Semple told Channel 4 News: “This has been done out of exceptional caution and the big story still is that for a middle-aged, slightly overweight man, such as myself, my risk of death is one in 13,000 – the risk of this rare clot, which might not even be associated with the vaccine, is probably one in a million.
“So I’m still going to say it’s better to get the vaccine than not get the vaccine and we can pause and take time to carefully consider the value for children because they’re not at risk of death from Covid,” PA Media reported.
He added: “If you’ve been called for the vaccine then you’re in an age group that is very likely to benefit from the vaccine. So the bottom line is if you’ve been called for the vaccine I would urge you to take the vaccine.”
Students on campus at SOAS, London. Photograph: Richard Wayman/Alamy Stock Photo
University leaders said it was deeply unfair that students could get haircuts or work in pubs next week but still had no idea when their campuses would reopen, as the government announced that school pupils in England will be expected to wear masks until the middle of May.
They are angry at the government’s failure to include higher education in its latest coronavirus roadmap updates, saying they have had no guidance about when campuses in England can fully reopen.
While Boris Johnson confirmed that non-essential shops would reopen to customers from Monday, there was no mention in the prime minister’s briefing of how soon universities would be able to welcome back the bulk of their students to access libraries or seminars in person.
UK prime minister Boris Johnson faces a battle to introduce domestic vaccine passports after running into fierce cross-party opposition.
PA reports:
A government review into “Covid status certification” found they could “potentially play a role” in settings such as theatres, nightclubs and mass events, and might also be used in pubs and restaurants to reduce social distancing restrictions.
The prospect of having to show a certificate to access shops or bars has outraged members of the Covid Recovery Group (CRG) of Conservatives, while Labour hit out at the “discriminatory” and “poorly thought-through” proposals.
The use of certificates – which would include vaccination status, test results or evidence of someone having contracted and recovered from Covid-19 – is opposed by at least 40 Conservative MPs.
With Labour’s opposition also hardening, the Government would face difficulties in getting the measures through the Commons if Mr Johnson pushed them to a vote.
Ministers have ruled out bringing in certification for either the April 12 or May 17 stages of the road map but the documents – either in paper form or on an NHS app – could be introduced later this year.
Mr Johnson suggested that vaccination passports for overseas travel were “going to be a fact of life” because a lot of countries were looking at the possibility.
That’s all from me for today, I’m now going to hand over to my colleague Harry Taylor.
A vaccine trial into the safety and efficacy of the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine in children has been paused while the UK medicines regulator investigates a possible link to rare blood clots in adults who had the jab.
A spokesperson from Oxford university said in a statement:
Whilst there are no safety concerns in the paediatric clinical trial, we await additional information from the MHRA on its review of rare cases of thrombosis/thrombocytopaenia that have been reported in adults, before giving any further vaccinations in the trial.
Parents and children should continue to attend all scheduled visits and can contact the trial sites if they have any questions.”
Oxford is waiting for more information from the UK’s regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, before restarting the study, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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