Covid-19 has killed more than 3.1M people and infected over 149M others globally. Here are all the coronavirus-related developments for April 28:
Wednesday, April 28:
India's total deaths pass 200,000 mark
India has reported a record rise in deaths from Covid-19 over the last 24 hours, taking its total fatalities past the 200,000 mark, while overall daily cases rose by a record 360,960.
With 3,293 new deaths, India's total number of fatalities now stands at 201,187, and the overall number of cases are now nearly at 18 million, according to health ministry data.
Over 3,000 daily deaths reported in Brazil
Brazil registered 3,086 deaths and more than 72,000 cases in the past 24 hours.
The country's death toll from the virus rose to 395,022.
The Health Ministry confirmed 72,140 new infections, taking the overall count to more than 14.44 million.
Nearly 13 million patients have recovered in Brazil, which has been the epicentre of the pandemic in Latin America.
Brazil's health regulator rejects Sputnik V vaccine
Brazil's health regulator cited safety concerns while rejecting several states' requests to import almost 30 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, prompting criticism from the Russian government.
The five-person board of the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency unanimously decided that consistent and trustworthy data required was lacking for approval of the requests from 10 states, according to a statement. Another four states and two cities have also sought authorisation to import the vaccine.
The agency, known as Anvisa, said there were faults in all clinical studies of the vaccine’s development, as well as absent or insufficient data.
The agency statement said that analysis indicated that the adenovirus on which the vaccine is based has the capacity to replicate, which could cause sickness or death, particularly among those with low immunity or respiratory problems. The Russian fund overseeing the vaccine's marketing globally denied the claim.
White House considering intellectual property waiver for vaccines
The White House is considering options for maximising global production and supply of vaccines at the lowest cost, including backing a proposed waiver of intellectual property rights, but no decision has been made, press secretary Jen Psaki said.
"There are a lot of different ways to do that. Right now, that's one of the ways, but we have to assess what makes the most sense," Psaki said, adding that US officials were studying whether it would be more effective to boost existing manufacturing of the vaccines in the United States.
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai had not made a recommendation on the issue, and President Joe Biden had not made a decision, she said.US lawmakers and nonprofit groups are heaping pressure on the Biden administration to back the temporary patent waiver to help poor countries contain the pandemic as India and other countries battle a massive surge in cases.
The US and several other countries have thus far blocked negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) about a proposal led by India and South Africa that would waive the IP rights of pharmaceutical companies to allow developing countries to produce vaccines.
US CDC: No link between heart inflammation and vaccines
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not found a link between heart inflammation and vaccines, the agency's Director Rochelle Walensky said.
"We have not seen a signal and we've actually looked intentionally for the signal in the over 200 million doses we've given," Walensky said in a press briefing.
She said the CDC is in touch with the US Department of Defense over its investigation of 14 cases of heart inflammation or myocarditis among people who were vaccinated through the military's health services.
"It is a different demographic than we normally see and we will be working with DOD to understand what is happening in those 14 cases," Walensky said.
The US vaccination programme targeted older Americans first, and the concerns over myocarditis are in younger vaccinated people.
At least 17.9 million people in the US under the age of 30 have received one shot, according to CDC data.
Canada reports first death from AstraZeneca vaccine
Canada's Quebec reported the country's first death of a patient from a rare blood clot condition after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Canada has reported at least five cases of blood clots following immunisation with the vaccine, but public health officials maintain the benefits of the AstraZeneca shot outweigh the potential risks.
Quebec Public Health Director Horacio Arruda told reporters the death of the patient due to thrombosis will not change the province's vaccination strategy.
The rare complication, which some regulators including Health Canada are calling Vaccine-Induced Prothrombotic Immune Thrombocytopenia, involves blood clots accompanied by a low count of platelets, cells in the blood that help it to clot.
Among the first cases of the extremely rare condition identified in those who received the AstraZeneca shot in Europe, 40% died.
Health Canada has said the risk associated with the condition is likely to fall with increased awareness and early treatment, and use of the vaccine in much of Europe an d elsewhere has resumed after a regulatory review.
Quebec Health Minister Christian Dube said the province has vaccinated about 400,000 people with the AstraZeneca shot.
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(With input from news agency language)
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