April 23 coronavirus news

Vaccinations with Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine may resume immediately, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Friday.

The CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration lifted their recommendation for pausing use of the company’s Janssen vaccine after CDC advisers recommended it.

“With these actions, the administration of Johnson and Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine can resume immediately,” Walensky added.

Certain women under the age of 50 may have a small risk of developing a rare blood clotting syndrome, Walensky said.

“There is likely an association but the risk is very low,” Walensky said.

A nurse prepares Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine doses on March 25, in Los Angeles, California.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration said they had lifted their recommend pause on use of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine Friday.

The agencies recommended the pause April 13 after learning of six cases of a rare blood clotting syndrome among women who had recently received the vaccine. Earlier Friday, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended lifting the pause.

The CDC said it now has collected reports of 15 such cases, all in women and 13 of them in women under 50.

New research suggests that quicker and more comprehensive monitoring for asymptomatic Covid-19 infection in children – such as testing in school – paired with vaccination of adults, may lower new infections in children to levels similar to vaccination.

In the study published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open on Friday, researchers modeled testing scenarios using Census data.?People age 16 and older are now eligible to receive Covid-19 vaccines in the United States; so far, no vaccines are authorized for people younger than 16.

Study authors found that quickly identifying and contact tracing children to identify “silent infections” of Covid-19, where the disease is either presymptomatic or asymptomatic, combined with vaccination of 40-60% adults could significantly reduce the amount of disease.

In a different scenario, where silent infections remained undetected, researchers estimated that children would need an 81% vaccination rate, in addition to 40% of adults being vaccinated, in order to achieve a similar infection rate.

Researchers found that under conditions where vaccinations are only available for adults, even?by identifying as few as 1 in 10 infections in children and isolating them within two days of infection, or 1 in 7 infections and isolating within 3 days after, the overall attack rate could be reduced to less than 5%.

According to study authors, these results can provide a map for continuing to reduce Covid-19 spread while waiting on Covid-19 vaccines to be authorized for use in children.?

A healthcare worker loads a syringe with the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine on March 26, in Buffalo, West Virginia.?

Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted Friday to recommend resuming use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine.

Members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices agreed the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks from rare blood clots linked with the vaccine.

The language of the vote said: “The Janssen Covid-19 vaccine is recommended for persons 18 years of age and older in the U.S. population under the FDA’s emergency use authorization.”

More context: The US Food and Drug Administration will update the label for the vaccine, indicating that women under the age of 50 should be aware of the risk of blood clots from the vaccine.

Earlier, Johnson & Johnson officials said they had agreed to updated language for the label.

CDC Director?Dr. Rochelle Walensky will sign off and then the US Food and Drug Administration will prepare an amended emergency use authorization for the vaccine, Dr. Amanda Cohn, ACIP’s executive secretary, said at the meeting earlier.

“We are awaiting and anticipate that the FDA will be putting out a new, a newly approved EUA language,” Cohn said. “And additionally, we will be taking the input from today, along with this language that FDA will publish and both FDA and CDC will have communication materials and education materials including infographics, patient fact sheets.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau receives a dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in Ottawa, Canada, on Friday, April 23.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received his first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine Friday as the country’s Covid-19 case count rises to record levels.

Trudeau went to a local pharmacy with his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, where they both received the vaccine, Trudeau saying he was “very excited” and gave a thumbs up when it was done.?

Trudeau was also told after the vaccination that his second dose was not yet scheduled, and he would receive an email notice to schedule a follow-up shot. Canada’s vaccine rollout has suffered from supply issues and most second doses are being delayed by up to four months.?

Some context: About an hour after Trudeau received his vaccine, Canada’s expert advisory panel updated its guidance on AstraZeneca, saying it should be offered to all Canadians 30 or older. It had previously recommended it be administered only to those 55 or older although some provinces have already administered doses to those 40 and older.?

The panel also indicated that mRNA vaccines, either Pfizer or Moderna, should be “preferentially offered” and that a complete series of the AstraZeneca vaccine should be used if an individual does not wish to wait for an mRNA vaccine.?

Currently in most Canadian provinces, people aged 55 and younger have not yet been prioritized for an mRNA vaccine unless they are essential workers or they qualify in other categories like caregivers.?

The news on vaccines came as Canada released new modeling on the impact of new infections in the weeks to come.?

Daily case counts, hospitalizations and ICU admissions continue to increase as well as evidence that there is a troubling increase in mortality, now up more than 17% in the last week alone, according to Canada’s public health agency.?

Officials also said Friday that extensive restrictions and lockdowns across the country seem that have stalled the growth of the pandemic, although new daily case counts have perhaps plateaued at very high levels.?

National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell?has modified the league’s Covid-19 protocols?due to the reduced risk of infection for vaccinated players.

Goodell outlined the amended protocols in a memo sent to all?NFL?teams on Friday.?A source provided a copy of the memo to CNN.?

The NFL said that fully vaccinated team personnel will only be tested for Covid-19 once a week instead of daily tests. Last season, every personnel member was tested for the virus daily.

The memo also says that all fully vaccinated players and staff members will not need to quarantine if they come in close contact with an infected person.

Earlier this month: League spokesperson Brian McCarthy told CNN that the?NFL?will strongly encourage players to take the vaccine, but it will not be required.

The NFL Draft is scheduled to start on April 29 and conclude on May 1, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are considering four choices for changing the agency’s recommendation on Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine, including label changes or a complete end to its use.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is holding an emergency meeting and is expected to vote later Friday on recommendations.

At issue: The vaccine has been linked to 15 cases of a rare blood clotting condition called?thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, all among women. Three have died.

It’s a tricky question because all but two cases have been in women under the age of 50, and no cases have been reported among men since the vaccine has been in general use, although the CDC says it’s unlikely the risk is zero among men.?

CDC staff laid out several possible scenarios, all of which show that while resuming vaccination would result in more cases of blood clots, adding the J&J shot to the mix of available vaccines would save lives and keep people out of the hospital.

The committee’s four possible choices are:

Earlier, Johnson & Johnson officials said they had agreed with the FDA on new wording to add to the label saying the risk of blood clots is plausible and warning of the risks.

A dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is prepared at an event put on by the Thornton Fire Department on March 6 in Thornton, Colorado.

Resuming use of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine would save hundreds of lives and result in at most a?few dozen cases of rare blood clots, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis shows.

CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is holding an emergency meeting to discuss potential changes to guidance for who should get the vaccine.

CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration have paused use of the vaccine while they investigate the risk of a rare blood clotting syndrome called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS. The CDC has reports of 15 cases, all in women, and 13 of them in women under the age of 50. Three have died.

The CDC’s Dr. Sara Oliver presented the results of several models laying out what might happen if the vaccine is used again, including with restrictions on use in certain groups. The CDC took into consideration deaths from coronavirus and the likelihood that people would get vaccinated more quickly if the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was in the mix.

If the vaccine were restricted to people over the age of 50, three TTS cases could be expected, but between 40 and 250 Covid-19 deaths would be prevented, and as many as 1,000 people would not need treatment in the ICU.?

For every million doses of vaccine given to women ages 18 to 49, 13 TTS cases can be expected, Oliver said. But 12 deaths from Covid-19 would be prevented and 127 ICU admissions would be prevented among those women if they had access to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

?The CDC did not consider a gender-based restriction, Oliver said, because it would be too hard to explain – even though the risk of blood clots appears to be very low among men.

“There are also benefits beyond efficacy. This vaccine is able to be shipped and stored at refrigerator temperatures, and as a single dose series, which may make it easier to reach some disproportionately affected groups,” Oliver said.

“We note that the benefits of vaccination apply to the whole population over a six month period and result from both direct and indirect effects,” she added.

Otto Delcid is inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine by nurse Nicole Colon at the UMass Memorial Health Care COVID-19 Vaccination Center in the Mercantile Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, on April 22.

The United States added more than 3.3 million Covid-19 vaccine shots to its cumulative tally?Friday, according to data?from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.?

This is the largest single-day increase reported this week, but still leaves the United States short of the?daily average peak?reached?in early April.?

The seven-day average of new Covid-19 shots reported administered continued to fall,?and now sits at 2,862,758. This is the second?consecutive?day this average has been under 3 million. The United States has not seen a seven-day average for vaccination below 3 million?for?two days in a row?since April 2.

The average pace of new shots reported administered has been greater than 3 million shots per day for most of April, reaching a peak of nearly 3.4 million shots per day on April 13.??

By the numbers: More than 200 million Covid-19 vaccine shots have been reported administered since President Biden took office, reaching a threshold the administration had set for Biden’s 100th?day in office about a week early.

About 41% of the US population – over 137 million people – have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, and about 28% of the population – more than 90 million people – are fully vaccinated, CDC data shows.?

Note: Data published by the CDC may be delayed, and doses may not have been given on the day reported.?

Members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices have started discussions about what updated recommendation they may have for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

A vote is expected following the deliberations.

A syringe is filled with a dose of the Johnson & Johnson Janssen Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination site inside Reuther Hall at Forty Acres on March 13 in Delano, California.

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to revised language on the label of its Janssen coronavirus vaccine that warns of the danger of blood clots, a company official told US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisers on Friday.

CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is holding an emergency meeting to discuss potential changes to guidance for who should get the vaccine.

CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration have paused use of the vaccine while they investigate the risk of a rare blood clotting syndrome.

Johnson & Johnson Chief Medical Officer?Dr. Joanne Waldstreicher said the company had worked out revised label language with the FDA.

“To that end, here is the language from our label that we have agreed upon with the FDA regarding thrombosis with thrombocytopenia.”

The revised language refers to blood clots in the brain combined with a blood clotting abnormality called thrombocytopenia. “Reports of adverse events following use of the Janssen Covid-19 vaccine … suggest an increased risk of thrombosis,” it reads, and says the relationship between the vaccine and the clots is “plausible.”

“In addition to the description of the event, health care professionals are alerted in the fact sheet to the signs and symptoms of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia in individuals who receive the COVID vaccine from Janssen,” Waldstreicher said.

“It also states that symptoms began approximately one to two weeks following vaccination, and that most people were females, aged 18 through 49, and that some cases have been fatal. Health care professionals are also directed to the published American Society of Hematology considerations, relevant to the diagnosis and treatment. In addition, the patient’s fact sheet contains a clear warning and instruction. J&J strongly supports this enhanced labeling.”

ACIP will vote later Friday on whether to change recommendations.

Doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine are prepared at a clinic on March 25 in Los Angeles.

A Johnson & Johnson official argued Friday the company’s coronavirus vaccine is valuable to both the US and the world, saying it protects against variants and is easy to distribute.

The benefit of a one-shot vaccine is “critical,” Dr. Mathai Mammen, global head of Janssen Research and Development, told a meeting of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisers.?

Plus, it’s easily stored at regular refrigerator temperatures for three months – as opposed to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which must be stored frozen.

Some context: ACIP is meeting to discuss whether to change guidance for J&J’s Janssen vaccine.

The CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration recommended pausing its use after six reported cases of women who developed a rare blood clotting syndrome called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, after receiving Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine in the United States. Now the CDC says it has learned of 15 cases, including three deaths.

That total does not include one man who experienced clots after taking the vaccine as part of the clinical trial in the fall. That case was not included in the?CDC’s analysis?of cases seen after the vaccine was authorized and distributed to the public.?

Mammen said clinical trials have shown the Janssen vaccine offers protection quickly – within a week of the single dose. Plus, he said, it protects against concerning variants, including?the B.1.351 variant that is now dominant in South Africa. The company’s data showed the vaccine had 82% efficacy in South Africa.?

Workers bury a coffin at the Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on April 17.

The Brazilian state of Sao Paulo on Friday reported a 23.6% decrease in weekly deaths from Covid-19, after eight weeks of rising death numbers.?

The weekly average of?Covid-19?deaths in Sao Paulo state is 621, compared to 813 deaths during the previous period.?The average number of cases dropped 14.3%, from 14,921 to 12,784 infected.

Starting on Saturday, restaurants, beauty salons, cinemas, gyms, and other recreational establishments will be able to reopen with attendance restrictions in Sao Paulo state.

Last week, shopping malls were able to open at 25% capacity, as well as religious events. The curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. local time has yet to be lifted.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Sao Paulo state has registered at least 2,793,750 cases and 90,810 deaths from the novel coronavirus, according to the state’s health ministry.

So far, patients with a rare and dangerous blood clotting syndrome linked with Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine have started showing symptoms one to two weeks after getting the vaccine, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expert said Friday.

And symptoms are similar to those seen among people?who experienced blood clots after getting?AstraZeneca’s vaccine?in Europe and the UK, the CDC’s Dr. Tom Shimabukuro told a meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

The CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration recommended pausing the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six reported cases of women who developed a rare blood clotting syndrome called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States.?Now 15 cases have been reported, Shimabukuro said – all of them among women.

During the clinical trial of the vaccine last fall, one man experienced clots 21 days after taking the vaccine, according to J&J.?That was case was previously presented to CDC, but was not included in the?agency’s analysis?of cases seen after the vaccine was authorized and distributed to the public.?

“So to sum up, TTS is rare but clinically serious and potentially life threatening adverse event that has been observed in association with the Janssen Covid-19 vaccine,” Shimabukuro said.

“Symptom onset appears to occur at least several days after vaccination, typically around one to two weeks after vaccination,” he added.

“The clinical features of TTS following the Janssen Covid-19 vaccine appear similar to what is being observed following the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in Europe. It is important to recognize TTS early and initiate appropriate treatment.”

The main danger is using a common blood thinner called heparin. Other blood thinners are safe to use, and experts are also recommending use of an immune product called IVIG to restore the balance of blood-clotting cells.

“We will certainly continue our enhanced surveillance for this,” Shimabukuro said.

ACIP is expected to vote on any changes to its guidance for J&J’s vaccine later Friday. If ACIP recommends changes to the vaccine label – such as a warning, or changes to who it recommends should get the vaccine – CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky will sign off and then the FDA will have to make any label changes.?

The US has more than nine million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine ready to be administered if federal health officials lift their recommended pause of the one-shot vaccine, CNN has learned.?

President?Biden’s coronavirus adviser Jeff Zients told CNN there are more than nine million doses that have already been distributed to states, tribes, territories and federal channels that are ready to go depending on the conclusion reached by the?independent vaccine advisory panel Friday.

If the pause lifts, it’s still unclear how soon those shots will start going into arms, including whether it could take hours or days.?Dr. Rochelle?Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,?will have to approve the recommendation reached by the independent panel.?

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street in London on April 21.

The United Kingdom is looking at what can be done to help India with the Covid-19 pandemic, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters on Friday.?

On Friday, India reported the world’s highest daily rate of Covid-19 for the second day in a row, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health, as Delhi hospitals call for emergency oxygen supplies amid shortages.

Pharmacist Fedelis Onyimba prepares to administer a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine dose at First Baptist Church of Highland Park on March 18 in Landover, Maryland.

No blood clots have been associated with coronavirus vaccines made by Moderna or Pfizer, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expert said Friday.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is meeting to discuss whether to change guidance for J&J’s Janssen vaccine. The CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration recommended pausing its use after six reported cases of women who developed a rare blood clotting syndrome called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, after receiving Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine in the United States. But no cases have been firmly linked with other vaccines used in the US.?

Shimabukuro told ACIP that 2.7 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine and 2.5 million doses of Moderna’s?vaccine?had been?included in CDC’s Vaccine Safety Database?as of April 17.?He said 10 cases of a rare type of brain blood clot called CVST were reported afterward but five were ruled out because of the medical histories of the patients, and five more were ruled out because patients did not develop a low level of platelets. It’s the combination of blood clots and low platelet counts that is linked with the vaccines.

ACIP is expected to vote on any changes to its guidance for J&J’s vaccine later Friday. If ACIP recommends changes to the vaccine label — such as a warning, or changes to who it recommends should get the vaccine — CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky will sign off and then the FDA will have to make any label changes.

A Premise Health healthcare worker loads a syringe with the Covid-19 Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine on March 26 in Buffalo, West Virginia.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said?Friday the risk-benefit analysis of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine considers who would prefer the single-dose vaccine or wouldn’t otherwise have access to one of the two-dose vaccines currently authorized in the United States.?

The?CDC?has been working hard over the last week to determine if there have been any additional cases of blood clots among those people who have received the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, Walensky said.?

The J&J vaccine rollout has been on pause since April 13, after a small number of people experienced blood clots after taking the shot.?

Walensky said the agency’s analysis will be presented during the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting currently underway.

A vial of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is seen at a medical center on March 20 in Bridport, England.

European Medicines Agency officials said at a news conference on Friday that the benefits of the?AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risks, and that?they will continue to review “very rare cases” of blood clots.

“Importantly, the data show that the benefits of vaccination increased with age and increasing levels of infection in the community,” said Dr. Peter Arlett,?head of Pharmacovigilance and Epidemiology Department at the European Medicines Agency.

Arlett also said the European Medicines Agency is stepping back from reporting the numbers on blood clots, as the agency wants to contextualize the numbers and the risk.

Earlier this month, the EMA said?a particular combination of unusual blood clots with low blood platelet counts should be listed as a side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but stopped short of recommending its use be limited. The agency previously said the positive benefits of?AstraZeneca’s vaccine outweigh the risks.?

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control Prevention, speaks during a White House Covid-19 briefing on April 23.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control Prevention, said Friday that the CDC recommends that pregnant people get the Covid-19 vaccine.

Her comment follows a new study that found no safety concerns among a large group of pregnant people who received the vaccine in their third trimester, and no safety concerns for their babies.

The CDC vaccine guidelines online have not been updated. They currently say that pregnant women may receive a Covid-19 vaccine when one is available, and getting vaccinated is a personal choice, but do not say the vaccine is recommended. CNN reached out to the CDC for further clarification.?

On Wednesday, the New England Journal of Medicine published preliminary findings from CDC scientists that determined that the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna do not appear to pose any serious risk during pregnancy. Last month, another study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found mRNA Covid-19 vaccines are effective in pregnant and lactating women, and they can pass protective antibodies to newborns.?

Clinical trials of the vaccines did not include pregnant people so there was limited data on the safety of vaccination in pregnant people and babies.?Scientists intend to follow up with the pregnant people in the study to assess the long-term safety of the vaccine during pregnancy.

A dose of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine is prepared on April 7 in New York City.

Both the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines appear to be setting off rare blood clotting events in a few people who get them, a top expert told vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Friday.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization practices is meeting to discuss whether to change guidance for J&J’s Janssen vaccine. The CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration recommended pausing its use after six reported cases of women who developed a rare blood clotting syndrome after receiving J&J’s vaccine in the United States.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is not yet authorized for use in the United States, but use of the vaccine resumed in many countries in Europe after UK and European health authorities said the benefits outweighed the risks. Both vaccines use a common cold virus called an adenovirus to deliver genetic material to stimulate an immune response.

“It’s unclear what causes this to develop,” he added.

“The incidence —?and this is based on the European experience, and the United Kingdom experience — is anywhere from one case per 100,000 to one in 250,000 of vaccine recipients,” Streiff said.

“Median onset of the symptoms after vaccination is about nine to 10 days,” he said, although in Europe some cases appeared 24 days after vaccination.

Most cases have been among women and people as old as 77 have been affected.

Streiff said he did not think it was possible to screen patients for risk factors for the blood clotting syndrome. “I don’t think we can just focus on oral contraceptive users and obese patients,” he said.

But he said awareness has helped patients get quick treatment. “Recognition that this syndrome exists is helping to improve outcomes,” Streiff said.

ACIP is expected to vote on any changes later Friday. If ACIP recommends changes to the vaccine label – such as a warning, or changes to who it recommends should get the vaccine — CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky will sign off and then the FDA will have to make any label changes.

Members of the military inoculate people with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at the Esperanza Community Vaccination Center in Philadelphia on April 9.

Pennsylvania has fully vaccinated more than 3 million of its residents, with first doses having been administered to over 45% of the population, its health department said.

That said, the state’s current 14-day average of new cases continues to increase, but is still below what it was at the height of the spring peak in May 2020.

Pennsylvania began receiving Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccine shipments in December. The state also got a shipment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on March 1, but “shipments to Pennsylvania providers are currently paused out of an abundance of caution,” according to a news release from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

A worker places fans by beds in a stadium, which has been converted into a quarantine centre for Covid-19 coronavirus patients with mild symptoms, in Kolkata on April 21.

As India grapples with a devastating second wave of Covid-19 cases, the government’s top scientific adviser says while they saw the signs of a next surge, “the?scale and the intensity of it?was not clear.”

He added that India loosened restrictions “before we should have.”

As soaring demand overwhelms the health care infrastructure, VijayRaghavan, who is also a co-chair of India’s Covid-19 vaccine task force, admitted that PPE, ventilators, vaccines and hospital set ups need to be “scaled up enormously.”

Families and hospitals are raising the alarm on acute shortage of oxygen supply for days and VijayRaghavan emphasized that the government is making all the effort to address it.

“Oxygen availability has been?pushed over the last few days,?both in terms of diverting?manufacturing, importing,?distribution and looking at?local availability.?This hopefully will start seeing?results soon,” he said Friday.

However, he admitted that the intensity of the second wave has rendered any amount of ramping up of health care capacity since the first wave “not yet sufficient.”

In the face of this massive public health crisis, escalating vaccine production and rollout remains important not just for India but for the world, he told CNN. However, it’s not just India’s responsibility to manufacture but also other countries’ responsibility to supply ingredients, such as the United States.

Once that happens, India can build up its capacity to fulfill its own needs as well as the world’s, he said.

India reported 332,730 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, the highest number of daily cases globally for the second day in a row. This brings India’s total to more than 16 million cases, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health. The country has added more than 1 million cases in four days.

Watch:

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03:51 - Source: cnn

White House Covid-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said during Friday’s coronavirus briefing that the federal government expects daily vaccination rates to “moderate and fluctuate” during the next stage of the US vaccination program.

Speaking about the areas of focus during the next phase of the vaccination program, Zients said the US “will continue to vaccinate millions of Americans each day.” But he added that vaccinating remaining populations of Americans will “take time and focus.”

CNN previously reported that the seven-day average of new Covid-19 doses reported administered has dropped below 3 million shots per day for the first time in more than two weeks, according to data published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The average pace of new doses reported administered has been greater than 3 million shots per day for most of April, reaching a peak of nearly 3.4 million shots per day on April 13.

A new study published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found people?with mild?or asymptomatic forms?of Covid-19 can have long-term medical problems.

According to the study, nearly 70% of patients who hadn’t been hospitalized for Covid-19 needed to go back to the doctor 28 to 180 days after their initial diagnosis, according to medical records of adults enrolled in an integrated health system in Georgia.

Scientists analyzed the records of more than 3,000 patients and found that the people who were most likely to need to go back to the doctor were those who were ages 65 or older, women, Black adults and people who had three or more underlying health conditions — although, 60% of those who had some ongoing medical problem were people who had no underlying health conditions.

The most common new diagnoses were a cough, shortness of breath, chest or throat pain and fatigue which may suggest these patients had lingering Covid-19 symptoms, while more than one in three of these patients also sought out new specialists for problems with their skin, mental health issues, stomach and heart problems, the study said.

More about this study: A limitation of the study was that it could not pinpoint if this need for new care was related to a long Covid-19 issue, or if the patient had missed an appointment during the stay-at-home orders.

It was unclear if the number of patient visits was higher for recovering Covid-19 patients than it was for patients who did not have Covid-19. A large study published Thursday in the journal Nature did find that people who had Covid-19 seem to face a much greater risk of needing medical care in the six months after their diagnosis.

“Clinicians and health care systems should be aware of the possibility of medical encounters related to a previous diagnosis of COVID-19 beyond the acute illness,” the study said.

Japan has declared a targeted state of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka and two other prefectures in an attempt to halt a surge in coronavirus cases, just three months before the Tokyo Olympics.

CNN international correspondent Selina Wang has the latest from Osaka and answers’ questions about the measure.

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09:56 - Source: cnn

Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are meeting now to discuss how to move forward with Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen coronavirus vaccine.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is?scheduled to meet?until to 5 p.m. ET Friday and to vote on updated recommendations for use of the vaccine and whether it’s likely to be linked to a rare blood clotting syndrome they are calling thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS).

Other groups have called it vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia or VITT, but ACIP is sticking with more neutral language that doesn’t presume vaccines are causing the condition.

It’s characterized by a rare type of blood clot in the brain — and possibly other large blood clots — along with a low number of blood clotting cells called platelets. Some blood specialists have said they believe it’s caused by an unusual immune reaction that targets platelets, causing them to glob together into clots.

ACIP will hear about any additional cases reported since their last meeting earlier in the month. The cases of six women who suffered TTS, including one who died, prompted CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration to recommend a pause in giving the vaccine. ACIP members said they needed?more time and more information?before deciding on whether and how to change recommendations for giving the vaccine.

The CDC and US Food and Drug Administration recommended a pause on use of the J&J coronavirus vaccine last week following the six reported US cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot. The cases were among more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered in the United States.

Read more about today’s meeting here.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during the opening session of the virtual US Leaders Summit on Climate from the Downing Street Briefing Room in central London on April 22.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday the UK is getting control of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We’re getting through this. There’s no question that things are better than they were,” Johnson said to broadcasters, adding that he thought the next stage of reopening would proceed as planned on May 17, with all restrictions hopefully lifted on June 21.

According to data from the John Hopkins University, the UK reported 2,728 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, a drastic change from early January when the country reported more than 68,000 cases.

A worker arranges medical oxygen cylinders to transport to hospitals for the Covid-19 coronavirus treatment in a facility on the outskirts of Hyderabad on April 23.

As India struggles with an acute shortage of oxygen supply, the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) will airlift and import 23 mobile oxygen generation plants and containers from Germany, according to a statement released from the Ministry of Defense.

These plants will be deployed in AFMS hospitals that are catering to Covid-19 patients and are expected to arrive in India within a week, it added.

These easily portable plants have a capacity to produce 40 liters of oxygen per minute and 2,400 liters an hour.

In this March 3 photo, a pharmacist holds a vial of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine at a hospital in Bay Shore, New York.

A subcommittee of vaccine advisers to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will recommend Friday that the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine continue to be used in the United States, an expert familiar with the situation said Friday.?

?The source required anonymity because the subcommittee’s deliberations have not yet been made public.??

Thursday afternoon, the Covid-19 Vaccine Working Group, a subcommittee of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, met to discuss the fate of the J&J vaccine. The vaccine’s rollout has been on pause since April 13, after a small number of people experienced blood clots after taking the shot.?

The full committee is scheduled to meet from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Friday to consider what recommendation to make to the CDC. Typically, the agency accepts the recommendations of this committee, which is made up of outside experts.?

Late in the afternoon?on Thursday, the subcommittee was still debating whether to??recommend?a??warning on the vaccine??or,?in addition, it could also?suggest?that people under a certain age not take the shot.??

The blood clot cases?that led to the pause were all in people under the age of 48.?Six women experienced blood clots within 6 to 13 days after taking the shot, according to the CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration. One man experienced clots 21 days after taking the vaccine during the clinical trial last fall, according to J&J.?

The expert said there have been more cases since then, but declined to give a number.?

Oregon?health officials said Thursday they and the CDC are looking into the death of a woman in her 50s who had the rare type of blood clot after receiving the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine.?

The Texas Department of Health also reported Thursday that a woman had been hospitalized with blood clots after the vaccine.?

The expert said there was no pressure on the advisory subcommittee to make a recommendation one way or the other about the J&J vaccine.?

“There was no hint that the CDC was trying to guide the committee. The committee was truly independent,” the expert said. “I was impressed this was done straight on and totally professionally. I have been in meetings where it is clear what the CDC leadership wants, and there was no hint of that yesterday.”?

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote Thursday in the New York Times that the world’s wealthiest countries face “a test of character” in vaccine distribution.

In an opinion piece, Tedros criticized vaccine nationalism for undercutting the mission of the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative at WHO, saying that some countries have placed orders for their entire population several times over while leaving the rest of the world “exactly where they are.”

“We have all the tools to tame this pandemic everywhere in a matter of months. It comes down to a simple choice: to share or not to share. Whether or not we do is not a test of science, financial muscle or industrial prowess; it’s a test of character,” he wrote.

Vials of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine are produced at a Recipharm plant in Monts, France, on April 22.

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said on Friday that the company is working to get a Covid-19 booster shot to address coronavirus variants authorized by late summer or early fall.?

Bancel called coronavirus variants “my biggest worry,” and said Moderna is working on different strategies for its vaccine to address them, including a vaccine that would address the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa.?

The preclinical data looks very encouraging, Bancel said, and the clinical data should come as early as May.?

They are also looking at increasing capacity for next year, he added.?

A medical worker prepares a syringe with a dose of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine at the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399 union hall vaccination site in Chicago, Illinois, on April 6.

Dr. Peter Marks, head of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, said on Thursday that the FDA is prepared to move as quickly as it can on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is meeting Friday to discuss J&J’s Covid-19 vaccine, after a pause in its rollout due to a small number of cases of rare blood clotting.

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins speaks during a public vaccination event in Washington, DC, on March 16.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said on “Good Morning America” Friday that the pause on the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine has allowed a greater understanding about the risk of rare blood clots and how to treat them.?

The US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is meeting today to discuss the J&J vaccine.?

A package of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine is seen at a health center in Los Angeles, California, on April 15.

Vaccine advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meet today at 11 a.m. ET to make recommendations for use of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine after it was put on hold to investigate a potential link to serious blood clots.

The CDC and US Food and Drug Administration recommended a pause on use of the J&J coronavirus vaccine last week following six reported US cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot. The cases were among more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered in the United States.

Here are some key things to know about today’s meeting:

What the panel is investigating: The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met on April 14, but members said they needed more information about the J&J vaccine and the blood clot cases. They are investigating whether there are more cases and whether other types of blood clots might be associated with the vaccine. The pause was also intended to give experts time to inform doctors about how to look for and treat these clots.

Dr. William Schaffner, a non-voting ACIP member and infectious diseases professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told CNN that the committee delayed making a decision because there will likely be more reports of blood clots connected to the vaccine, and members need to understand the demographics of those cases.

What could happen next: ACIP could recommend that use of the vaccine resume with no changes, or the committee could recommend that the US stop using the J&J vaccine altogether.

Schaffner said it’s more likely that ACIP will recommend that use of the vaccine resume with a warning about possible adverse effects — and potentially, advice to the highest-risk populations to steer clear of this vaccine altogether.

Potential impacts on US vaccine supply: President Biden and other officials have said whatever decision is made about the Covid-19 vaccine, it will not hinder the vaccination effort in the US.

The FDA requested Monday that manufacturing of the J&J vaccine be paused at a Baltimore Emergent BioSolutions facility while it conducts an investigation into contamination that affected at least one batch of J&J’s vaccine.

CDC director Rochelle Walensky said that while the CDC conducts a risk-benefit analysis of the J&J vaccine, the agency has reached out to more than 10,000 providers to inform them about what to watch out for, in case other people experience similar adverse events.

A health worker administers a dose of the BioNTech/Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic in Derby, England, on March 31.

Studies have shown that?several?vaccines are highly effective in preventing people getting seriously ill from Covid-19. Now, early results from a survey in the UK show two?commonly used?vaccines?also significantly reduce the number of people getting infected in the first place.?

A single shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines reduces Covid-19 infections by 65%, while two doses?cuts?out 70% of infections, according to the Covid-19 Infection Survey, coordinated by the University of Oxford, the UK Office of National Statistics and the Department for Health and Social Care.?

The numbers are particularly promising for the prevention of symptomatic infections. Some 74% were reduced with just one shot, and 90% with two. And vaccination was just as effective in people in the vulnerable over-75 age group as it was in younger people.?

Two studies highlighting the results were published Friday as pre-prints and have not been peer-reviewed. They analyzed 1.6 million test results from nose and throat swabs taken from more than 373,000 people between?December?and?the start of April.?

But experts advise people to continue with Covid-19 prevention measures, as some infections will still be transmitted – particularly when large numbers of the population have had just one dose in a two-dose regimen or haven’t been vaccinated at all.

Sarah Walker, Chief Investigator and Academic Lead for the?Covid-19 Infection Survey from the University of Oxford,?said that because vaccines weren’t 100% effective, they wouldn’t reduce infections to zero – but they could get numbers to a level where they are controllable.

“There is a difference between an acute crisis and an ongoing underlying chronic problem – in infectious diseases, we talk about a disease becoming endemic, meaning it is always there and you just have to deal with it, like malaria in sub-Saharan Africa,” Walker told CNN.

“Every infection provides the opportunity for the virus to mutate into a new variant that the vaccines are less effective against, so it is on a knife edge,” Walker said, adding: “We need as many people to get vaccinated and reduce the virus levels to as low as possible.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pictured addressing a public meeting in Sivasagar district of India's Assam state in January.

In the face of a massive public health crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stayed largely silent on the fierce second wave of Covid-19 until recent weeks. In intermittent statements throughout April, he acknowledged?the “alarming”?rise in cases, but was slow to take containment measures besides ordering states to increase testing and tracking, and asking the public to stay vigilant.

It wasn’t until Tuesday that Modi finally emphasized the urgency of the situation, but by then, India’s outbreak was already the world’s biggest in terms of absolute daily numbers. Nearly 28% of all new cases worldwide in the past week have come from India, according to the World Health Organization.

Experts and health care workers say the second wave advanced so rapidly because the public let its guard down after the first wave subsided. This complacency was exacerbated by government officials, like Modi and his health minister, celebrating the country’s apparent recovery. Leaders allowed a massive weeks-long Hindu pilgrimage to proceed with millions of attendees traveling across numerous states.

The anger has also been heightened this time by Modi flying out to hold political rallies with thousands in attendance for the upcoming elections in four states and one union territory.

As cases skyrocketed, several of the competing parties stepped back from the campaign trail. Modi’s party announced it would also limit its rallies to “small public gatherings,” – with a cap of 500 people.

This week, Modi canceled his campaign trip to West Bengal to instead attend high-level Covid meetings.

But Modi and the BJP’s rallies throughout March and April, and their late action, undermine his message to the public for greater vigilance, said Harsh Mander, writer and human rights activist.

“There’s a blaming on ordinary people,” he told CNN. “But what we have seen is that the prime minister has actually gathered large masses of people, none of them wearing masks and keeping any kind of distancing in political gatherings.”

Read the full story here:

A mass cremation of victims who died due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is seen at a crematorium ground in New Delhi, India, April 22, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Related article As bodies pile up, India's leaders face rising public anger over second Covid-19 wave

CNN’s Aditi Sangal and Esha Mitra contributed to this report.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, second from right, declares a state of emergency for Tokyo and three other prefectures during the government task force meeting on COVID-19 measures in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday, April 23.

Four prefectures in Japan will go into a state of emergency starting Sunday,?Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said in a cabinet meeting Friday.

Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures will be under a state of emergency through until May 11,?much shorter than previous orders which lasted 7 and 10 weeks.

Japan is in the midst of a fourth wave and there are elevated restrictions currently across 10 prefectures – mainly covering Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas.

Under the state of emergency, large commercial spaces like shopping malls will be barred from operating, except to provide essential items and services.?Establishments that serve alcohol will be asked to close and dry establishments are to close from 8 p.m. or face a fine.

A worker prepares to fill oxygen cylinders for hospital treatment of Covid-19 patients, at a factory in Peshawar, Pakistan, on April 12.

Pakistan is going to be calling in its army to help the police in “enforcing” Covid-19 guidelines in the country, Prime Minister Imran Khan said in a televised address to the nation on Friday.

Khan said he doesn’t want to lock down the country “to save the livelihoods of the poorest in the country” but due to “a very few number” of people following coronavirus safety guidelines, there could soon be a situation where there will be “no other option” than to enforce a lockdown.?

A fresh series of restrictions will include closing outdoor dining and gyms and changing market opening hours. Schools up to grade 12 will remain closed until after Eid?al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in mid-May.

The announcement comes as Pakistan faces an oxygen shortage, with the national health system facing mounting pressure.

Speaking alongside Khan on Friday, Asad Umar, the head of the National Command Operation Center on coronavirus (NCOC) said that 90% of the country’s oxygen supply has now been used and that an “emergency” situation is pending.

According to the Ministry of Health, the positivity rate of infection acr has been, on average, consistently above 10 percent on average across the country and the health system is currently under pressure.?

Pakistan currently has 101,818 active cases, which is higher than the peak reached in the summer of 2020.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn takes off his face mask before addressing a press conference in Berlin, Germany, on April 23.

Germany’s new “emergency brake” rules to curb the spread of coronavirus for areas with high infection rates will come into force Saturday, Health Minister Jens Spahn said Friday.

The controversial new law gives the national government power to impose lockdowns on states for the first time, ending the patchwork of state-by-state measures.?

The federally imposed shutdown will affect almost all of Germany, with only a few municipalities having low enough levels of transmission to avoid the restrictions.

Demonstrators rally against the German government's proposed coronavirus measures in Berlin, on Wednesday, April 21.

Spahn’s announcement comes a day after the bill passed the upper house of Parliament.??

At the moment Germany’s new infection rate is 164 per 100,000 residents.

Speaking at the same press conference as Spahn, Lars Schaade, Deputy Head of Germany’s health agency the Robert Koch Institute, said that “infection numbers are still too high,” however “coronavirus case numbers do not appear to be rising as fast.”

But Spahn said Germany’s vaccination campaign is gathering pace.?

As of Friday, 18.5 million people have been vaccinated, Spahn said.

Around 22%?of Germans have now received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine and nearly 7% received their second coronavirus vaccine shot.

On Friday, Germany recorded 27,543 new coronavirus infections – a rise of 1,712 cases compared to the same day last week, according to RKI data.

The country’s coronavirus deaths stood at 265 within the last 24 hours, bringing the total tally of deaths to 81,158.

A policeman inspects a burnt-out room at the Vijay Vallabh Hospital in Virar, on the outskirts of Mumbai, after a fire broke out in the hospital's ICU, on Friday, April 23.

At least 13 patients died after a fire broke out at 3 a.m. local time in a hospital dedicated to Covid-19 patients in Virar, a city north of Mumbai in Maharashtra state, a hospital official said on Friday.

“Suddenly sparks fell from the AC (Air Conditioner) and within two minutes it was on fire,” said Dr. Dilip Shah, CEO of Vijay Vallabh hospital.

A short-circuit in an air conditioning unit of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ward caused the fire, initial reports showed, according to Maharashtra State Government Cabinet Minister Eknath Shinde, who visited the hospital Friday.

People inspect an ICU ward after a fire broke out in Vijay Vallabh Covid-19 hospital at Virar, near Mumbai, India, on Friday, April 23.

There were a total of 70 patients at the hospital – of which 17 were in the ICU.?The four surviving patients have been moved to another hospital.

“We are making arrangements to shift all patients immediately, we need to save their lives,” Minister Shinde said.

The incident comes two days after 24 Covid-19 patients died waiting for oxygen at Zakir Hussain Hospital in the Nashik district of Maharashtra after an accidental oxygen leakage, according to Suraj Mandhare, a senior Nashik district official.?

A high-level committee has been set up to probe the incident and experts are being consulted to ensure such accidents are not repeated, Maharashtra’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope told reporters Thursday.?

More than 50 vaccination centers in Mumbai are not operating on Friday due to a “limited supply of vaccine,” the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, BMC, announced on Twitter.

Another 18 sites would be functional until supplies last, it added.

The corporation released a list of vaccination sites in the city, marking those that were not functional.

Some background: As the second wave of Covid-19 cases sweeps India, this is not the first time that Mumbai has had to suspend?vaccination?drives.

India produces more than 60% of all vaccines sold globally, and is home to the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine maker. However, as vaccine shortage becomes a problem in the face of this crisis, the Indian government and SII have shifted focus to prioritizing their own citizens.

After writing on Twitter that it had less than an hour’s worth of oxygen left for its Covid-19 patients on Friday morning, Max Healthcare,?a prominent Indian hospital group, said two of its hospitals in the capital?received emergency supplies, but that they would only last two hours.

Public and health officials in New Delhi have been raising the alarm about the acute shortage of oxygen supplies at hospitals, despite the increased allocation of those supplies amid the devastating second wave of the pandemic.

Max?Healthcare?is one of the medical groups that successfully petitioned the Delhi High Court to divert oxygen supplies to hospitals on Wednesday.?The central government?has since placed a temporary ban on the use of oxygen for industrial activities and diverted the supplies for medical care.?

Sunil Saggar, CEO of the Shanti Mukand hospital in New Delhi, told local media that six private hospitals in Delhi ran out of oxygen on Thursday, including the Shanti Mukand.

A Thursday press statement from the prime minister’s office said that Indian Prime Minister?Narendra?Modi held a meeting on Thursday to review oxygen supplies, noting that the demands of 20 Indian states had been met.

The statement added that the government was able to allocate?6,822 metric tons of oxygen, when only 6,785 metric tons had been requested.

The government had been warned of the country’s oxygen shortages back in November when consumption quickly increased during the first phase of the pandemic.?

A parliamentary committee highlighted that oxygen use for medical purposes had increased from 1000 metric tons a day to 3000 metric tons during the pandemic’s previous peak.

Industrial use of oxygen counted for 6000 metric tons?before the pandemic, according to the committee’s report.

As India’s second deadly wave continues to surge, crematorium grounds in Delhi have been overwhelmed – with families turning to makeshift mass cremation sites.

The scenes underscore the severity of India’s second wave, acutely felt in the capital.

In total, Delhi has recorded a total of 956,348 cases of coronavirus and 13,193 deaths, according to the city’s health authority.

On Thursday, Delhi recorded 306 new Covid-19 deaths, according to the Delhi Health Department’s evening bulletin.?

With a shortage of hospital and ICU beds, oxygen supply and testing, India’s healthcare system is buckling. Cities across the country are reporting far larger numbers of cremations and burials under coronavirus protocols than official Covid-19 death tolls,?according to crematorium and cemetery workers, media and a Reuters review of government data.

A mass cremation of victims who died from coronavirus is seen at a crematorium ground in New Delhi, on April 22.

A man performs the last rites for his wife who died of Covid-19 during a mass cremation at a crematorium in New Delhi, India on April 20.

A body waiting for cremation is seen among funeral pyres of Covid-19 victims at a ground that has been converted into a mass crematorium in New Delhi, on April 21.

Nationwide, 332,730 new cases of coronavirus were reported on Friday, bringing the total to more than 16 million cases, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health.

Relatives of a patient who died of Covid-19 mourn outside a hospital in Ahmedabad, India, on April 17.

The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in India has devastated lives and completely overwhelmed hospitals and medical resources.

A new global record: India reported 332,730 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, the highest number of daily cases globally for the second day in a row. This brings India’s total to more than 16 million cases, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health. The country has added over 1 million cases in four days.

India also reported its highest single-day death toll since the pandemic began, with 2,263 deaths Friday.?

Shortage of oxygen: At least six private hospitals in the Indian capital New Delhi ran out of oxygen Thursday, according to the city’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia. He added that supplies had not reached New Delhi, even after the central government allocated 480 metric tonnes of oxygen for the capital.

Workers prepare to fill oxygen cylinders for hospital treatment of Covid-19 patients, on the outskirts of Jabalpur, India, on April 18.

Health care infrastructure strained: As of Friday morning, there were only 25 ICU beds available in the capital, a Delhi government dashboard showed.?The Delhi High Court also revoked a government order on Thursday that required Covid-19 testing labs to provide results in less than 36 hours. The court noted that labs are “refusing and turning away people” due to this and stated that “there is no reason to now require generation of reports positively within 36 hours, particularly when the pandemic is four times larger than what it was last year.”?

A black market for medicines has emerged: With Covid-19 cases soaring in India, demand has spiked for Remdesivir. But as hospitals face shortages, black market traders are charging up to 10 times the recommended retail price for for the antiviral drug, despite no clarity on its effectiveness in treating the virus.

Vaccinations are carried out at an indoor stadium in Guwahati, India, on April 22.

Vaccinations: India has administered 135 millions doses of the Covid-19 vaccine as of Thursday, according to Indian health minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan. Currently, India is only vaccinating its health care workers, front line workers and people aged 45 and above. Starting May 1, it will open up vaccination to everyone 18 and older, which will be its biggest cohort. It is indicated that either this age group will have to get vaccines from state government or buy them from private providers.

A public notice hangs outside Shanti Mukund Hospital on April 22 in New Delhi, India.

At least six private hospitals in the Indian capital New Delhi ran out of oxygen Thursday, the city’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said in a letter to the union health minister on Thursday.

Even after the central government allocated 480 metric tonnes of oxygen for the capital on Wednesday, Delhi’s advocate informed the Delhi high court on Thursday that the supplies had still not reached the capital.?

On Thursday, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order asking states to not restrict the movement of medical oxygen and the high court also asked for a special corridor to be created for the movement of oxygen, adding that non-compliance with the orders for allocation of oxygen would result in a “grave loss of life.”

Delhi recorded 306 deaths from Covid-19 on Thursday, according to the Delhi Health Department’s evening bulletin.?Delhi has recorded a total of 956,348 cases of coronavirus and 13,193 deaths according to the Delhi Health Department on Thursday evening.

A health worker prepares a Covid-19 test sample at a testing centre in Srinagar, India on April 21.

India has reported the highest number of daily coronavirus cases globally for the second day in a row, as the country grapples with a worsening crisis.

On Friday, 332,730 new cases were recorded, bringing India’s total to more than 16 million cases, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health. The country has added over 1 million cases in four days.

India also reported its highest single-day death toll since the pandemic began, with 2,263 deaths Friday.

In the capital New Delhi, at least six private hospitals ran out of oxygen Thursday, Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said in a letter to union health ministers.

Even after the central government allocated 480 metric tons of oxygen for Delhi Wednesday, Delhi’s advocate informed the city’s high court Thursday that the supplies had still not reached the capital.

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order asking states not to restrict the movement of medical oxygen. The high court also asked for a special corridor to be created for the movement of oxygen.

As of Friday morning, there were only 25 available ICU beds in the capital, a Delhi government dashboard showed.

Later today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be chairing high-level meetings to review the Covid-19 situation in the country.

Janssen Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines that aren't being given out are seen on April 15 in Los Angeles, CA.

Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are scheduled to meet Friday to discuss how to move forward with Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen coronavirus vaccine.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is scheduled to meet from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Friday and to vote on updated recommendations for use of the vaccine and whether it is likely to be linked to a rare blood clotting syndrome called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS).

TTS is characterized by a rare type of blood clot in the brain – and possibly other large blood clots – along with a low number of blood clotting cells called platelets. Some blood specialists have said they believe it’s caused by an unusual immune reaction that targets platelets, causing them to glob together into clots.

ACIP will hear about any additional cases reported since their last meeting earlier in the month. The cases of six women who suffered TTS, including one who died, prompted CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration to recommend a pause in rolling out the vaccine.

Read the full story here:

South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety granted conditional approval for two locally developed Covid-19 self-testing kits Friday, according to a press release.

The testing kits produced by SD Biosensor and Humasis are already used in European countries including Germany, Switzerland, Holland and Austria. Users should be able to get a result within 15 minutes of testing, but the sensitivity level for the at-home kits is lower than the more widely used PCR-based testing.

The sensitivity rates of the newly approved testing kits are 90% and 89.4% for SD Biosensor and Humasis respectively, according to the Ministry statement.

The two companies will need to provide additional clinical trial test results within three months.

South Korea recorded 797 new coronavirus cases from Thursday, raising the national total of confirmed cases to 117,458, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

As of midnight Friday, more than 2 million people have received their first dose of coronavirus vaccine and 79,151?people were fully vaccinated, KDCA said.