Daily Times

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

– Brazil okays vaccine imports –

Brazil‘s health regulator Anvisa issues exceptional clearance for imports of Russia’s vaccine against Covid-19, Sputnik-V, and India‘s Covaxin, while at the same time setting limits on their use. The agency had originally opposed their use because of a lack of data on them.

– Italy logs vaccinations record –

Italy logs 600,000 vaccinations Friday, the most for a single day, the authorities announce. A total of 37.06 million doses of vaccine have now been administered, and 12.7 million people have been fully vaccinated, putting Italy second only to Germany for vaccinations in Europe.

– New Delhi eases lockdown –

Markets and shopping malls in New Delhi will be allowed to partially reopen from Monday in a further easing of the Covid-19 lockdown, the chief minister says as infections fall in major Indian cities after weeks of restrictions. Delhi Metro will also resume services at 50 percent capacity, the city’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal says.

– Olympic champion queasy –

Australia‘s defending Olympic 100m freestyle champion Kyle Chalmers says the prospect of being in Japan for the Tokyo Games is a “little bit scary”. Tokyo is currently under emergency measures, less strict than blanket lockdowns.

– Over 3.7 million deaths –

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 3,714,923 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1000 GMT on Saturday. The United States is the worst-affected country with 597,001 deaths. After the US, the hardest-hit countries are Brazil with 470,842 deaths, India with 344,082 deaths, Mexico with 228,568 deaths, and Peru with 185,813 deaths. The World Health Organization estimates that the pandemic’s overall toll could be two to three times higher than official records, due to the excess mortality that is directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19.