France reports more than 37,000 new coronavirus cases – latest updates

Sunday, March 28, 2021

France sees more than 37,000 new coronavirus cases

France has recorded 37,014 new coronavirus cases compared with 42,619 the previous day, government data showed.

That took the total number of cases reported in France since the start of the pandemic to 4,545,589, according to the data, the fifth-highest tally in the world.

Total deaths in French hospitals linked to the virus reached 68,597, up 131 from the previous day, the data showed.

UAE, China launch project to produce Sinopharm vaccine

The United Arab Emirates and China have announced a venture to produce the Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine in the Gulf nation, state media reported.

The UAE's Group 42 and China's CNBG "have launched a joint project... to initiate the first Covid-19 vaccine production line in the UAE", said official Emirati news agency Wam.

It did not specify when commercial production will begin.  

The UAE's foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan, said the project adds "value to the international efforts being made in the face of the Covid-19 crisis, which has been taking a toll on everyday lives across the world."

The UAE, made up of seven emirates including the capital Abu Dhabi and freewheeling Dubai, began mass inoculations in December after approving vaccines made by Chinese firm Sinopharm and US drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. 

Turkey's daily Covid-19 tally tops 29,000

Turkey has reported over 29,000 new coronavirus cases, pushing its overall tally above 3.2 million.

As many as 29,058 infections, including 1,305 symptomatic patients, were confirmed in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.

With 153 more fatalities, the nationwide Covid-19 death toll has reached 31,076.

At least 17,164 more patients won the battle against the disease, taking the number of recoveries past 2.95 million.

More than 37.87 million coronavirus tests have been conducted in Turkey to date, with 220,109 more done over the past day.

Italy reports 297 deaths and 19,611 new cases

Italy has reported 297 coronavirus-related deaths against 380 the day before, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 19,611 from 23,839.

Some 272,630 coronavirus tests were carried out in the space of 24 hours, compared with a previous 357,154, the Health Ministry said.

Slovenia reimposes restrictions

Slovenia, which had eased some of its coronavirus restrictions in February, said they will be re-imposed until mid-April in view of the deteriorating situation in some neighbouring countries.

"We're in a race against time," Prime Minister Janez Jansa said as he announces the closure of shops selling non-essential items, as well as cultural and religious venues, a ban on public gatherings and limits on travel between April 1 and 12.

Pakistan to get 1M more vaccine doses from China

Pakistan will receive another batch of over a million Covid-19 vaccine doses from China next week, the country's top health official said.

Dr. Faisal Sultan, the prime minister’s adviser on health, said in a tweet that the country has placed orders for the purchase of 1 million and 60,000 doses of Sinopharm and CanSino vaccines from China respectively, which will be received within a few days.

Several million additional doses are in the pipeline and will be delivered in April, he added.

No crowds at Holy Week ceremonies amid pandemic

Pope Francis is celebrating solemn Holy Week ceremonies for a second straight year without the usual throngs of pilgrims and tourists, kept away by pandemic safety concerns and travel restrictions.

Francis traditionally leads a Palm Sunday procession through St. Peter’s Square and then celebrates an outdoor Mass for tens of thousands of faithful.

But Francis led a Palm Sunday service this year inside St. Peter’s Basilica just as he did last spring. 

That was just weeks after the outbreak erupted in Italy, which was the first country in the West to be hit by the pandemic.

Saudi Arabia daily cases climb back above 500

Daily cases in Saudi Arabia have risen above 500 for the first time since October and the health ministry on Saturday blamed the increase on gatherings and laxity in complying with preventive measures such as social distancing.

The Gulf state recorded 510 new infections on Friday and 502 on Saturday to take its total tally to 387,794 cases with 6,643 deaths. More than 200 of the cases were in the capital Riyadh.

The kingdom had seen daily infections fall to below 100 in January from a peak of more than 4,000 in June.

Albania starts mass vaccinations before tourist season

Albania started a mass inoculation campaign Sunday ahead of the summer tourism season after acquiring 192,000 doses of Sinovac earlier this week.

Hundreds of people age 70 and above gathered at Tirana’s main Skanderbeg Square to get a jab in two big tents.

Liri Bizhiti, 76, one of those waiting in line, was happy to receive the vaccine after a year of isolation, and on the same day as her husband.

EU's Breton sees similar summer tourist season to last year

European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said that he hopes Europe will have a summer tourist season "comparable to last year", supported by mass vaccination.

Breton, who heads the EU executive's vaccine task force, reiterated on RTL radio and TV channel LCI that the EU should deliver enough Covid-19 vaccines by mid-July to allow the bloc to reach collective immunity. 

Philippines Catholics brave virus threat to celebrate Palm Sunday

Dozens of Catholics in the Philippines braved the threat of the virus to attend a mass outside the Baclaran Church in Manila to celebrate Palm Sunday, marking the beginning of the Holy Week.

Wearing face masks and observing physical distancing to protect themselves, they waved their palm fronds as the priest sprinkled holy water on them.

"I hope and pray this pandemic will end. I hope our (living) conditions will get better, especially since there are a growing number of people going hungry," Stephane Silva said after attending mass. 

Some hauliers arriving in England to face tests

Lorry drivers arriving in England from outside Britain and Ireland for more than two days will need to take PCR tests in a bid to tackle the spread of any future variants, transport minister Grant Shapps said on Sunday.

Affected hauliers will need to take a test within 48 hours and one every 72 hours thereafter as part of the new rules.

"This is to ensure we keep track of any future coronavirus variants of concern," Shapps wrote on Twitter.

Venezuelan opposition leader tests positive

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said that he has tested positive and has mild symptoms.

Guaido said on his Twitter account that he is in isolation and expressed concern about the number of infections in the country.

"I want to express my solidarity with the thousands of Venezuelans suffering during the pandemic," Guaido wrote on Twitter. "Today we all have a relative or acquaintance affected by Covid-19."

UK has planned for second vaccine doses 

Britain has planned to ensure second doses are administered on time, culture minister Oliver Dowden said on Sunday amid concerns over supplies due to friction with the European Union.

"In all of our planning, we have factored in getting that second dose of the vaccine," he told Sky News.

When asked about a Mail on Sunday newspaper report that the Moderna vaccine would be deployed in Britain for the first time in mid-April, Dowden said: "We do expect Moderna to come later this month."

Sinopharm needs trial results to decide if vaccine needs booster shot

China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) will need to assess results from overseas Phase III clinical trials to decide whether its two-shot vaccine should be followed by a booster shot, a company executive said.

Regulators and vaccine developers are looking at whether booster doses are necessary amid concerns that emerging variants of the new coronavirus might weaken protection of vaccines designed against older strains.

"The preliminary results so far showed that the booster vaccination can effectively increase the neutralizing antibody titer and antibody persistence, and also effectively improve the vaccine's ability to resist mutations," Zhang Yuntao, vice president at China National Biotec Group (CNBG), an affiliate of Sinopharm, said on Sunday.

EU countries tighten measures amid third wave

An upsurge in new cases is forcing governments across Europe into new, damaging lockdowns that threaten to delay a much hoped-for return to growth, economists say.

The plan was that mass vaccination programmes would turn the tide on the pandemic, allowing locked-down consumers free rein after months penned up at home.

Instead the virus has embarked on a third wave which is proving more difficult to bring under control. 

French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the European Union would have to do more and beef up its already massive $885 billion virus recovery fund as a result.

The EU had made a major effort after the first wave last year, Macron said, but "following the second and third waves... we will no doubt have to add to our response".

Italy's tourist gems fight to stay afloat

Just over a year into the pandemic, Venice remains a ghost town. Portofino, a colourful playground for the jet-set on the Ligurian coast, and Varenna on the shores of Lake Como are also deserted.

The virus has taken a heavy toll on tourism in Italy, the world's fifth-most visited destination -- and with a third wave now under way, there is no obvious end in sight.

The collapse in the number of tourists to Italy was jaw-dropping last year, with only 25.5 million foreign visitors spending at least one night in the peninsula, versus 65 million in 2019 -- a drop of more than 60 percent.

That corresponded to revenue of only $20.6 billion, $31,74 billion less than the prior year, according to new figures from the Bank of Italy. 

Demonstration against virus law in Denmark

Hundreds gathered in central Copenhagen to protest against a controversial virus law and Denmark's plan to create so called "corona passports".

Marching through the streets, the crowd of mostly younger people, lit fireworks during a march which an AFP correspondent at the scene described as mostly peaceful.

Police told the Ekstrabladet newspaper that some 600 people had gathered and one person was arrested for throwing firecrackers towards police officers.

Night curfew in India's Maharashtra state

Authorities in India's western state of Maharashtra imposed night curfews to tackle a record surge in cases with the financial capital Mumbai reporting 6,123 new cases, the highest single-day spike since March last year.

"We are seeing a higher Covid positive rate in high-rise residential buildings than in slums...to stop the spread only essential services will be allowed," said Kishor Pednekar, the mayor of Mumbai adding that hotels, pubs and shopping mall s must observe the night curfew rules.

India recorded 62,714 cases of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday, the highest single-day tally since mid-October last year.

Initial investigation shows no 'obvious systemic factors' of BioNTech vaccines

Hong Kong's government said an initial investigation by Germany's BioNTech and Fosun Industrial into its coronavirus vaccine did not show any "obvious systemic factors" during packaging after use of the vaccine was suspended in the city and neighbouring Macau this week.

Authorities on Wednesday halted the use of a vaccine developed by BioNTech citing defective packaging, triggering confusion in inoculation centres across the city.

The suspension came as the Asian financial hub has faced a sluggish take-up of vaccines due to dwindling confidence in China's Sinovac vaccine and fears of adverse reactions.

Panama to impose temporary ban on travelers from South America

Panama's government said it would from next week temporarily suspend the entry of people to the country who have been in South America in the previous 15 days after local health authorities detected a case of the Brazilian strain.

The health ministry said the restrictions would apply from Wednesday, March 31, and that afterwards only Panamanian citizens or residents would be allowed into the country.

Police blocks nurses’ march in Morocco

Police here in the capital blocked a march by nurses who demanded changes in promotion procedures.

Demonstrators took to the streets after a call by the National Nurses Coordination, who wanted protesters to march to the parliamentary building.

But police blocked the march at Bab-el Had square.

Nurses have demanded amendments to a law that regulates the profession and does not allow two-year degree holders to be promoted, according to a statement by the group.

Brazil coronavirus death toll tops 310K

Brazil has recorded 85,948 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours and 3,438 deaths.

Brazil has registered nearly 12.5 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 310,550, according to ministry data. 

Facebook freezes Venezuela leader's page over misinformation

Facebook has said that it is "freezing" Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's page for a month after repeated violations of the platform's rules against Covid-19 misinformation.

The social media giant has faced criticism over the spread of virus-related false information on its network, and has said it is ramping up efforts to fight back.

A Facebook spokesperson said that Maduro's page would remain visible but closed to new posts, saying, "Due to repeated violations of our rules, we are also freezing the page for 30 days, during which it will be read-only."

The spokesperson said Facebook had removed a video from Maduro's page "for violating our policies against misinformation about Covid-19 that is likely to put people at risk for harm."

It said the administrators of Maduro's account had previously been warned.

Panama to impose temporary ban on travelers from South America

Panama's government will temporarily suspend the entry of people to the country who have been in South America in the previous 15 days after local health authorities detected a case of the Brazilian strain of Covid-19.

The health ministry said the restrictions would apply from Wednesday, March 31, and that afterwards only Panamanian citizens or residents would be allowed into the country.

Between Sunday and Wednesday, all people arriving in Panama from South America, or who have been there in the previous 15 days, would have to do a test before registering with migration authorities, the ministry said.

Australia's Queensland state virus cluster grows to three

Australia's Queensland state has reported one new coronavirus case linked to the highly contagious B117 UK mutant strain, but officials said a wider lockdown was not yet needed yet.

The newly diagnosed man is a close contact of the first case in an emerging cluster, a landscaper who tested positive on Thursday, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said at a news conference. A third person tested positive on Saturday.

Authorities urged residents to maintain social distancing and get tested, saying it was not the time to relax because the infected people had circulated in the community.