The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines

Giant posters of the Canucks players are seen at the entrance of Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, April 5.

The National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks will return to play on Sunday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the league announced on Friday.

The game is scheduled to be played at 7 p.m. ET in Vancouver’s Rogers Arena.

The league had originally scheduled the Canucks to play the Edmonton Oilers on Friday, the team’s first game since March 24, but delayed the return on Thursday after comments made by Canucks forward J.T. Miller following a Covid-19 outbreak in which at least 21 Canucks players tested positive for the virus.

“We try to talk about the number one priority being the player’s health and their families’ safety, and it’s almost impossible to do what they’ve asked us to do here on our return,” Miller said to reporters on Wednesday.

Canucks general manager Jim Benning said on Friday that every player will have to pass a medical evaluation before returning to the ice. 

British researchers said Friday they will launch a year-long study to deliberately infect people who have recovered from Covid-19 to study whether people become infected a second time and to see if there are particular immune responses that protect them.

The so-called challenge trial will be conducted under carefully controlled conditions, with treatments on-hand in case one of the volunteers becomes ill, the team at the University of Oxford said.

The first phase of the study, starting this month, will find the lowest dose of virus that can infect half of coronavirus survivors without causing symptoms. Then all 64 volunteers will be infected with that dose. Their immune responses will be studied.

Any volunteers who develop symptoms will be treated with Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment and quarantined until they are at no risk of infecting others.

The US Food and Drug Administration said Friday it has revoked it emergency authorization of Eli Lilly’s Covid-19 monoclonal antibody treatment bamlanivimab when used on its own.

The treatments use lab-made antibodies created specifically to target an infection. The FDA authorized the use of bamlanivimab to treat patients who had mild-to-moderate forms of Covid-19. An ongoing analysis of the treatment, found that on its own, it does not work well against some of the variants.

Bamlanivimab may still be used in combination with Lilly’s other monoclonal antibody etesevimab. The Regeneron antibody treatment is also still authorized for us by the FDA. The dual antibody treatments are still effective against the circulating variants.

The FDA is still urging people to get these treatments if they have a mild-to-moderate form of Covid-19 and meet the criteria of the authorization.

Months after the first Covid-19 vaccinations in Latin America, the pandemic is still dangerously resurging in some areas.

CNN’s Stefano Pozzebon was live in Bogota, reporting on Latin Americas’s daunting Covid-19 challenges.

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

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices needs to continue compiling data before issuing further guidance on Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, a committee member said on CNN Friday. 

“There are still a fair number of people in the United States who have been vaccinated in the last two weeks,” he said. “We’ve seen these reactions within two weeks, so it doesn’t sound like a very long time, but we’ll have a fair amount of data in just those nine or ten days.”

Javier Morena receives his first dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at the Jewish Community Center, a pop up vaccine clinic, on April 16 in New York City.

More than 202 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine has been administered in the United States, according to data published Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

About 185 million of those doses have been reported administered since President Biden took office, with a goal to reach 200 million doses administered under his administration by his 100th day in office. To reach that goal, the total doses administered would be about 218 million doses since vaccinations began.

The CDC reported that 202,282,923 total doses have been administered, about 78% of the 258,502,815 doses delivered. 

That’s nearly 4 million more doses reported administered since yesterday, for a seven-day average of about 3.3 million doses per day. 

Overall, about 38.5% of the US population – nearly 128 million people – has received at least one dose of vaccine, and about 24% of the US population – nearly 81 million people — is fully vaccinated, CDC data shows. 

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

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

In a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists at Janssen, the vaccine arm of Johnson & Johnson, say there isn’t enough evidence to show the company’s Covid-19 vaccine causes rare blood clots and they are “working closely with experts and regulators to assess the data, and we support the open communication of this information to health care professionals and the public.”

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration recommended a pause in the use of the vaccine based on six cases of rare blood clots in the brain along with a low number of blood-clotting cells known as platelets

The scientists explain that J&J previously paused the late-stage trial of the vaccine after a single case of this rare condition. In that case, it determined there was “no clear causality” and the safety monitoring board agreed that the trial could continue. 

In its surveillance since the vaccine has been authorized for use in the United States, the company found six cases of this condition among the 7.2 million vaccines that had been administered. The cases occurred seven to 14 days after vaccination.

The scientists say the rare clots – cerebral venous sinus thrombosis – occurred within the range of what is expected, but they note that incidence of these clots with low platelets is unknown and considered to be “extremely low” by the FDA and CDC.

While these blood clots have happened after use of the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines, and the vaccines use similar platforms – an adenoviral vector – the scientists suggest the platforms are different and may have different effects. AstraZeneca’s is derived from a chimp and J&J’s comes from a human. 

“More evidence is needed to clarify the observation of thrombotic thrombocytopenia in persons receiving a vaccine against Covid-19,” the letter said.

Shops are seen on March 8 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The Brazilian state of Sao Paulo announced on Friday that it is entering a transitional phase from the current level of restrictive measures to a more relaxed phase, starting Sunday. 

The easing of restrictive measures, put in place to control the Covid-19 spread in Brazil’s most populous state, will allow the reopening of shops and religious celebrations.

The vice governor, Rodrigo Garcia, said during a news conference on Friday that restrictive measures will be relaxed further starting April 24, when restaurants, beauty salons and gyms will be allowed to reopen. Bars will remain closed. 

According to Garcia, the decrease of Covid-19 patients with severe condition in public and private hospitals in Sao Paulo in April allows the easing of the restrictions.

On April 1, Sao Paulo state registered at least 13,074 Covid-19 patients in intensive care units, with a 92.3% occupancy rate. On April 15, there were about 11,756 Covid-19 patients and an ICU occupancy rate of 85.3%. 

Daniel Soranz, Rio de Janeiro’s health secretary, said at a news conference on Friday that authorities in the city will maintain the current level of restrictions, which include the closure of beaches and parks, but allow bars and restaurants to be open until 9 p.m. local time.

A nurse prepares the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at the West Wales General Hospital in Carmarthen, Wales, on April 7.

Pregnant women “of any age” in the United Kingdom will be offered either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna Covid-19 vaccines in a new advice published on Friday by UK’s vaccine advisers.

The updated guidance reads: “Although clinical trials on the use of COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy are not advanced, the available data do not indicate any harm to pregnancy. JCVI [The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation] has therefore advised that women who are pregnant should be offered vaccination at the same time as non-pregnant women, based on their age and clinical risk group.”

The guidance further states that “there is now extensive post-marketing experience of the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in the USA with no safety signals so far. These vaccines are therefore the preferred vaccines to offer to pregnant women.”

“Pregnant women who commenced vaccination with AstraZeneca, however, are advised to complete with the same vaccine,” the guidance adds.

West Virginia officials have identified the first case of the P.1 Covid-19 variant, first identified in Brazil, in Berkeley County, Gov. Jim Justice announced during a briefing on Friday.

West Virginia currently has 129 breakthrough cases of Covid-19, said Dr. Ayne Amjad, the state’s health officer and public health commissioner.

Breakthrough cases are those cases that occur in people who get infected with Covid-19 at least two weeks after they received the full cycle of the vaccine.

The state is also reporting two cases of the variant first identified in South Africa, and 365 cases of the variant first detected in the UK. Dr. Clay Marsh, the state’s coronavirus czar, said the state also has 174 cases from the variant first identified in California.

Note: These numbers were released by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, coronavirus czar Dr. Clay Marsh, and the West Virginia state health officer, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi speaks during a news conference in Rome on April 16.

Italy will see a gradual easing of Covid-19 restrictions starting April 26, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said in a news conference on Friday.

Students will attend classes at school in person in all yellow and orange zones, while students in red zones will partially follow classes online. Outdoor activities will be allowed to operate, such as restaurants and outdoor theaters.

Italy continues to classify regions under a color-coded system — white, yellow, orange and red — with measures adjusted to reflect infection levels in the region. Red zones are the most stringent classification of coronavirus restrictions in Italy, with severe limitations on movement. 

The Italian prime minister said that “the government is taking a risk, a reasoned risk based on data” but the premise to this risk is that every activity that reopens observes rules scrupulously such as social distancing and wearing masks.

Speaking at the same news conference, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said “it is much more difficult to get infected” in outdoor spaces than indoors. He added the increase in vaccinations will allow the government to “schedule further openings also for indoor activities.” 

The numbers: In the past day, Italy has seen a rise in cases by at least 15,943, which brings the total number of people infected to at least 3,842,079 since the pandemic started. At least 429 people died in the last 24 hours, bringing the total death toll in Italy to at least 116,366 since the beginning of the pandemic.

According to Silvio Brusaferro, president of the Higher Health Institute, on Friday, the contagion rate in Italy is down.

A skid of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are moved on the tarmac at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Ontario, on April 3.

Moderna will be reducing the size of expected second-quarter deliveries of its Covid-19 vaccine to a number of countries, including Canada and the UK, due to supply chain issues, the company said in a statement sent to CNN on Friday. 

“Taking into account the current supply, demand, and distribution landscape, Moderna will be making adjustments to expected Q2 delivery quantities in a number of countries including Canada and the U.K.,” the company said. 

The company did not say how much this reduction would be or how quickly the dose shortfall could be fixed. Moderna said it’s working with drug substance manufacturing partner Lonza to deliver a sustained supply in the “shortest possible timeframe” and is in “close contact with all governments.”

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks during a White House Coronavirus Briefing on April 16.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she recognizes the importance of “moving quickly” on the paused Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine.

Responding to a question from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during a White House Covid-19 briefing, Walensky said that sense of urgency is why the CDC is holding two emergency meetings of its independent vaccination advisory committee. The first meeting was held this week and the next meeting is scheduled for April 23.

When the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met this week, members said it needed more data to understand potential risks of the J&J vaccine. Use of the vaccine was paused after the identification of six cases of a rare blood clots along with a low number of blood-clotting cells known as platelets. Walensky said the CDC is currently conducting a risk-benefit analysis of the J&J vaccine.

She said the CDC has also reached out to more than 10,000 providers to ensure that they know what kind of cases to look for in case other people experience these rare clotting issues after the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.  

US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy added that the pause shows that the safety system is working. More than seven million people have received the J&J vaccine and the vast majority are “just going to be fine.”

“Just remember this is your safety system working for you,” Murthy said. “If anything, I believe should increase people’s confidence that they’re being told what’s going on.”

White House Covid-19 senior adviser Andy Slavitt, front, speaks at a briefing on April 16.

The Biden administration announced it is launching another federally-run mass vaccination site in Alabama, another step toward promoting vaccine equity.

By the end of next week, Slavitt said, “We will have opened 37 mass vaccination sites in 26 states, with a combined capacity of administering a total of 125,000 shots per day.”

Earlier this week, the administration announced another new mass vaccine site in Central Point, Oregon, noting that the administration will pass its March 29 goal of adding a dozen new sites by Monday.

The new sites come as all American adults will be eligible for vaccinations by April 19.  

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks on April 16 in Berlin.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel received a first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine on Friday, her spokesperson Steffen Seibert said on twitter. 

The AstraZeneca vaccine has been controversial in Germany with many people initially refusing to take shot because of safety concerns.

In March, Germany announced it would only administer the vaccine to people ages 60 and older on the advice of the country’s vaccine committee. The move followed reports of rare blood clots in the brains of 31 people following a first dose.

##Vaccines

A person is tested for Covid-19 in Ahvaz, Iran, on March 14.

Iran’s ministry of health reported 25,261 new daily coronavirus cases on Friday. This marks the third day in a row Iran has topped 25,000 cases.

Yesterday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the country is suffering a fourth wave of coronavirus. He said the cause of this wave is the variant that was first detected in the UK, which he claimed entered Iran from Iraq. 

The new cases reported Friday bring the country’s total number of Covid-19 related cases to 2,194,133 since the beginning of the pandemic.

The country reported 328 new Covid-19 related deaths, raising the country’s death toll to 66,008. At least 4,652 patients remain hospitalized in intensive care units, a spokeswoman for the ministry of health, Sima Sadat Lari, said according to Iranian state media IRNA.

Iran is the country hardest hit by the Covid-19 outbreak in the Middle East. 

The health ministry said 295 cities and towns have been categorized as “Red Zones” in Iran. These zones are in semi-lockdown and non-essential businesses are closed.

There are currently 77 positive cases of the new Covid-19 variant that was first detected in India in the UK, according to the latest figures from Public Health England. 

There are 73 cases in England and four in Scotland, a PHE spokesperson told CNN.

The B.1.617 variant includes a number of mutations. The Indian Health Ministry has said that such mutations increase infectivity and aids in escaping immune response. The variant has been designated a Variant Under Investigation by PHE. Enhanced contact tracing and all appropriate measures will be undertaken, it added.  

Currently, the UK variant – B.1.1.7 – is the dominant strain in the country with 209,492 confirmed cases. The percentage of people testing positive in the country however is dropping , the Office of National Statistics said on Friday.

A nurse holds an AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine vial on March 23 in Sydney.

Australia’s drug regulator linked the recent death of a 48-year-old woman to the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

The woman, who suffered from a low platelet count, died of thrombosis four days after receiving the vaccine on April 8, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said in a statement Friday.

The woman is the third Australian to have suffered an extensive thromboembolic event and thrombocytopenia (TTS) after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The other two patients are recovering in hospital, according to the TGA statement.

As of Friday, Australia has administered at least 885,000 doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine and stressed that the risk of these types of blood clots “are small.”

Last week Australia announced that people under 50 would not receive the AstraZeneca vaccine except in cases “where benefit clearly outweighs the risk for that individual’s circumstances.”

A near empty Plaza de Bolivar is seen during a reinstated lockdown in downtown Bogota, Colombia, on April 10.

Five of Colombia’s major cities have reimposed restrictions to fight a recent surge of Covid-19 cases. 

The capital, Bogota, as well as Cali, Medellin, Barranquilla and Santa Marta are implementing city-wide quarantines for several days.

Cali’s ICU occupancy is up to 91.5%, said the Public Health Secretariat on Thursday, as the mayor announced a city-wide lockdown.

Bogota declared a red alert on Wednesday, after the city’s ICU occupancy rate reached 77%. Bogota’s Mayor Claudia Lopez announced a weekend-long city-wide quarantine. saying the city is now facing a third wave of cases.

Medellin reported an ICU occupancy rate of 97% on Thursday. According to a government statement earlier this week, Medellin has the most intensive care units in the country. 

The country’s cases have been steadily increasing since March, with a total of more than 2.6 million cases and 67,000 related deaths since the pandemic began.

A health official takes a swab sample from a man to test for Covid-19 at a testing centre in Allahabad, India, on April 12.

India reported 217,353 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday, marking the country’s highest single-day case count for the third consecutive day, according to data from the Indian Ministry of Health.

The ministry also reported 1,185 additional deaths. That raises the country’s total to more than 14.2 million cases and 174,000 related deaths.

Kumbh Mela: This comes as millions of Hindus from around the country flock to the city of Haridwar in Uttarakhand state for the Kumbh Mela religious festival, the world’s largest pilgrimage.

During the festival, which lasts throughout April, huge crowds gather to hold prayers together, attend ceremonies and take holy dips in the Ganges River. At least four million people bathed in the Ganges on April 12 and April 14 combined, two auspicious dates of the festival.

Cases have spiked in Haridwar, proving experts’ worst fears that the festival poses a huge Covid risk. Since the festival began on April 1, Haridwar has reported 4,349 cases – that’s about 500 to 600 cases a day, according to the state health department. 

New restrictions: In response to the rising cases, the Uttarakhand government imposed new restrictions on Thursday, including a statewide curfew and cap on public gatherings.

The Kumbh Mela is exempted from these latest restrictions – but guidelines remain in place, including the requirement that all devotees register their health details online and provide negative Covid tests.

At least one religious group attending the festival, the Niranjani Akhada, has asked those from out of state to pull back amid the rise in cases.