Coronavirus live news: India deaths in record rise; Japan mulls longer lockdown – reports

India has released $6.7 billion in cheap financing for vaccine makers, hospitals and other health firms, to counter the devastating coronavirus surge gripping the country.

Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das also vowed to deploy “unconventional” measures if the crisis worsens. “The devastating speed with which the virus affects different regions of the country has to be matched by swift and wide-ranging actions,” Das said.

He spoke as India announced a record 3,780 deaths in 24 hours as well as 382,000 new cases.

Agence France-Presse report that the new measures – making it easier for banks to give cheap loans to hospitals, oxygen manufacturers and even patients – aim to improve access to emergency health care, he said. The central bank will also give some general business borrowers more time to repay loans to help underpin the economy, Das said.

“The immediate objective is to preserve human life and restore livelihoods through all means possible,” he added. Experts have warned that case numbers will keep rising until the end of May and could reach 500,000 new infections a day.

On 22 June 1918, the Manchester Guardian reported that a flu epidemic was moving through the British Isles. It was noted to be ‘by any means a common form of influenza’. Eventually, it took the lives of more than 50 million people around the world.

In a special episode of our Science Weekly podcast to mark the Guardian’s 200th anniversary, Nicola Davis looks back on the 1918 flu pandemic and how it was reported at the time. Speaking to science journalist Laura Spinney, and ex-chief reporter at the Observer and science historian Dr Mark Honigsbaum, Nicola asks about the similarities and differences to our experiences with Covid-19, and what we can learn for future pandemics.

You can listen to it here…

From one Martin to another, this is Martin Belam in London picking up the blog for the next few hours. Reuters have a quick blast on real world data from South Korea about the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines.

Data by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) showed that in people over 60 the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was 89.7% effective in preventing infection at least two weeks after a first dose was given, while the AstraZeneca shot was 86.0% effective.

Its analysis is based on more than 3.5 million people in South Korea aged 60 and older for two months from 26 February and included 521,133 people who received a first dose of either shot. There were 1,237 Covid-19 cases in the data and only 29 were from the vaccinated group, the KDCA said.

“It is shown that both vaccines provide a high protection against the disease after the first dose. People should get full vaccinations according to recommended schedule, as the protection rate will go up further after a second dose,” it said.

“Around 95% of people who died from the coronavirus in our country were senior citizens aged 60 or older, and the vaccines will sharply lower risks for those people,” health ministry official Yoon Tae-ho told a briefing.

The findings come as South Korea seeks to drum up participation in its immunisation drive after reports about potential safety issues discouraged some people from getting vaccinated.

The birth rate in the United States has seen its biggest fall for nearly 50 years, according to government data, with the economic uncertainty of the pandemic believed to have contributed to a fall in pregnancies.

A study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the rate of births per woman fell to 1.6 last year, which is well below the 2.1 required for a generation to replace itself.

The rate has been trending downwards for more than 10 years but it is thought that anxiety about the economic impact of Covid has contributed to the biggest fall in the birth rate since the early 1960s.

You can read the full story on one of the possible long-term impacts of the pandemic here:

On a lighter note, a town in Japan has used Covid relief funds to pay for a statue of a giant squid.

The creatures are considered a delicacy in Noto on Japan’s west coast and local officials believe the 13-metre long sculpture will boost tourism in the region.

Cricketers from around the world who travelled to take part in the Indian Premier League face a battle to return home after the competition was suspended amid the country’s worsening Covid crisis.

Three of the eleven English players in the league – Chris Woakes, Sam Billings and Tom Curran – have booked flights home but will have to quarantine on their arrival in Lndon. Others may have to wait longer, while Australian players face beiung stuck in limbo because their government has banned anyone travelling between the two countries. Test stars Pat Cummings and Steve Smith are among those starnded in India.

Meanwhile, the blame game has begun in India over whether the IPL, the world’s richest competition, should ever have gone ahead at all given the rise in cases since the new year.

Anand Vasu, a cricket writer based in Bangalore, argues that cricket chiefs ignored warninsg that their “bio-bubble” system would not work.

Deaths in India from Covid rose by a record 3,780 in the past 24 hours, health ministry data showed, while daily infections rose by 382,315.

It comes a day after India followed the United States by passing 20 million infections as the virus continues to squeeze the world’s second-most populous nation in its grip.

Prime minister Narendra Modi’s government has been widely criticised for not acting sooner to suppress the second wave of the virus amid a severe shortage of hospital beds, oxyden and ventilators to treat the disease.

Religious festivals and political rallies have attracted tens of thousands of people in super spreader events. India’s opposition has called for a nationwide lockdown, but the government is reluctant to impose a shutdown for fear of the economic fallout.

New South Wales, the largest state in Australia, has recorded its first Covid case for a month, health officials said.

It is understood that the case, a man in his 50s living in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, has not travelled overseas in recent times and he does not work in a hotel quarantine, border or health role.

The source of the infection is being investigated urgently and contact tracing is underway.

Tokyo could be be placed under extended lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus less than three months before the city hosts the Olympic Games, according to local media reports.

The Japanese capital and other cities including Osaka and Kyoto were placed into emergency lockdown on 25 April and were expected to emerge from restrictions next Tuesday, 11 May.

But Yomiuri newspaper reports today that it could be extended when the prime minister Yoshihide Suga meets key ministers today.

The total number of Covid-19 deaths in Japan recently passed 10,000 – the highest in the region – while media reports said the number of people with severe Covid-19 symptoms reached a record 1,050 at the weekend.

Good morning/afternoon/evening wherever you are. I’m Martin Farrer and welcome to our live coverage of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Here are some of the main developments from the the past few hours to get you up to speed with what is going on:

• Japan is considering extending the lockdown currently in place in Tokyo and other cities, according to Japanese media. The capital city is under a 17-day state of emergency until next Tuesday along with along with Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo. But prime minister Yoshihide Suga will meet ministers today to discuss an extension, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.
• The rightwing, anti-lockdown leader of Spain’s Madrid region has won a snap election dominated by the coronavirus pandemic. Isabel Díaz Ayuso has won popularity as Madrid became one of the few large European cities in Europe that has kept bars, restaurants and theatres open since the national lockdown ended in June 2020.
• The G7 will try to agree a plan to send more vaccine supplies to poorer countries as foreign ministers wrap up three days of talks in London today. Measures could include exporting surplus doses and increasing production.
• Australia’s prime minister said the country’s controversial “pause” on flights to India is working, with case numbers in its quarantine holding centre falling. Scott Morrison’s comments came as the UN said the ban raised “serious human rights” issues. The policy revents Australians returning home from India, enforced with the threat of fines and even jail time.
• Surge testing is not being carried out in England for coronavirus variants first detected in India, despite the government claiming it would be deployed, the Guardian has learned.
• Brazil’s president ignored warnings that his Covid response would lead to a disaster, a parliamentary inquiry has heard. A former health minister said Jair Bolsonaro had understood that ignoring scientific advice could cause death on an “enormous scale”.
• The birth rate in the United States has seen its biggest fall for nearly 50 years, according to government data to be published on Wednesday, with the economic uncertainty of the pandemic believed to have contributed to a fall in pregnancies.
• Hong Kong will lift its ban on flights from the UK and Ireland this week, if the local coronavirus situation and other “relevant overseas places” does not change, our correspondent in Taiwan.