Covid-19 Pandemic: Updates and live news from March 21, 2021

Photographer: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

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As more people receive the Covid-19 vaccine in Australia and around the world, authorities may consider reducing quarantine requirements and allowing travelers to isolate themselves at home.

However, coronavirus infections remain difficult to control in other parts of the world, such as Brazil, where deaths have risen for four weeks in a row. In the United States, New York announced its first case of the virus variant that caused the outbreak.

A report by scientists, to be released this week, will say that China’s thriving wildlife trade is the most likely source of the coronavirus that changed the world last year.

Main developments:

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Australia may review quarantine measures (8:58 am HK)

Brendan Murphy, secretary of the Department of Health, said that while quarantine requirements were reduced taking into account the first step is to reduce national restrictions, while ensuring that state borders are not closed.

“We could think, for example, of reducing the length of quarantine, much more in domestic quarantine, especially for vaccinated people,” Murphy told Sky News’s Agenda Sunday program. “Our risk tolerance will change during the second half of this year.”

Still, Australia’s implementation of the Covid-19 vaccine has been hampered by torrential rains and floods, which have evacuated residents of the New South Wales coast (including parts of Sydney). The government has already faced criticism for poor organization and a slower-than-expected start in its vaccine deployment.

Duke University facilitates blockade (8:14 am HK)

Duke University will facilitated a permanence order on Sunday that it imposed on all undergraduate students on March 14 after a serious outbreak related to events at brotherhoods and brotherhoods.

In a letter to students Saturday at Durham, North Carolina school, he said the number of new cases had dropped, though he gave no details. The week before the shutdown, the university reported a total of 231 cases, nearly as many as last semester. With the softening, college students on campus can return to classes and leave their dorms, but were asked not to leave campus.

NCAA Cancellation (8:06 am HK)

Positive tests for Covid-19 at Virginia Commonwealth University are forcing the Western-ranked team to drop out of the NCAA basketball tournament, the New York Times reported.

Although the organizers went ahead with the tournament, even as the infection figures increased, adopting protocols, the abandonment of a team was the worst case for the sports body, which will win 850 million dollars in television revenue from the tournament, the newspaper said.

Brazil cases increase for fifth week (7:30 am HK)

Brazil surpassed half a million weekly cases for the second time in a row, with a weekly limit set by daily death and infection records.

The largest country in Latin America added about 79,000 cases, bringing the total from seven days to Saturday to 510,901, the fifth consecutive week with an increase. During the previous rise, weekly cases reached a maximum of 379,000 in early January, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

Weekly deaths rose by nearly 3,000 to a record 15,650, the highest since the pandemic began. With nearly 12 million cases and about 292,000 deaths, Brazil is just behind the United States in both cases.

Covid Origin report may signal wildlife (7:10 am HK)

Scientists following the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic believe they have identified a possible source of transmission: China’s thriving wildlife trade.

The long-awaited findings of experts convened by the World Health Organization and the Chinese government are expected to draw parallels with the 2002 generation of severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS, a coronavirus transmitted by bats spread by owls. which killed 800 people. The path taken by SARS-CoV-2, as the new coronavirus is known, before it emerged in central China in December 2019 remains a mystery, although researchers say it can be solved.

Miami Beach gets spring break (5:05 pm in New York)

Miami Beach imposed a curfew at 8 p.m., and other restrictions to curb what officials said was an overwhelming overcrowding during the U.S. spring break. The curfew will last a minimum of 72 hours and will be applied to the main avenues with bars, restaurants and nightclubs. Previously, the city established a curfew at midnight.

Mayor Dan Gelber said at a press conference that the crowds seemed larger than in previous years because there were fewer places open for spring break due to the Covid-19 and cheap air fares.

“There are too many times when we hope something horrible doesn’t happen,” he said. “We can’t stand it as a community.”

NY reports first case of Brazil variant (16:40 pm NY)

The first case of the most transmissible variant of coronavirus first found in Brazil has been reported in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. The patient is from Brooklyn, who is over 90 and has no travel history, he said.

The variant contributes to feeding a renewed outbreak in Brazil. In the U.S., 48 cases of variant P.1 are known in 15 jurisdictions, with 21 cases in Florida alone, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

France wants full Astra supply (3:20 pm NY)

France supports the EU’s threat to use the tools available to deliver the planned deliveries of the AstraZeneca vaccine, EU Foreign Minister Clement Beaune told BFM TV, although he warned that any lawsuit can take months.

While the EU exports vaccines to the UK, European officials suspect that some vaccines manufactured in the UK initially intended to be delivered to the EU remain in the UK

He also said that the approval of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in Europe could take place in April or May. In France, about 9% of the population has received at least one shot and 3.6% have received both injections.

Florida exceeds 2 million cases (14:56 pm in New York)

Florida approved 2 million cases on Saturday, the third state to do so after California and Texas. New cases have been declining recently after a sharp drop after a wave of holidays. On Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would open the requirements for the vaccine to anyone 50 years of age or older starting Monday.

Protests against the blockade arrive in Europe (14:20 pm in New York)

Anti-slip protests were held in Germany, Britain, Austria, Finland, Romania and Switzerland on Saturday, the Associated Press reported. Demonstrations were also reported in Sweden’s three largest cities.

More than 20,000 people challenged the judicial ban on protesting in the German central city of Kassel, the German news agency DPA reported. Some protesters attacked officers and several journalists, DPA said.

At least 33 people were arrested in central London, mainly for breach of Covid restrictions, metropolitan police said on Twitter. Protests around Piccadilly Circus were bigger than police had expected, the BBC said.

Brazil says it is discussing vaccines with the US (1:55 pm NY)

Brazil is negotiating “the import of surplus vaccines available in the United States“He tweeted to the Foreign Ministry on Saturday. The Biden administration said earlier this week that it plans to send about 4 million doses of AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine to neighboring Mexico and Canada. .

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at the time that the U.S. government had about 7 million available doses of the vaccine, which has not yet been approved for use in the United States. “With the importance of helping to stop the spread in other countries, we are assessing how we can lend doses,” he said, adding that the loans were not “fully completed.”

Brazil’s outbreak has worsened dramatically and broke records in most cases and deaths earlier this week.

Mumbai moves to mandatory tests (10:31 am NY)