Pharmacist Antoun Houranieh unlocks a refrigerator and takes out a box of the Johnson & Johnson COVID -19 Janssen Vaccine to be used for the day's at home vaccinations at the US Department of Veterans Affairs' VA Boston Healthcare System's Jamaica Plain Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday. - AFP
US: The United States recorded fewer than 40,000 new daily cases of COVID-19 for the first time in five months on Thursday, a piece of promising news as countries across the globe struggle to hold off another infection surge before inoculations become widespread.
With frustration over restrictions having long weighed on populations worldwide, leaders were seeking to balance demands for easing rules while not unleashing another explosion in cases.
In the United States, the world’s hardest-hit country, the number of daily cases peaked at nearly 300,000 in early January following the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
With cases declining and vaccines rolling out, several US states have begun jettisoning mask-wearing rules -- much to the chagrin of President Joe Biden, who called the move “Neanderthal thinking.”
While his administration says its promise to vaccinate 100 million people in its first 100 days is ahead of schedule, Europe is facing heavy criticism over delays in its inoculation campaign.
The EU drug watchdog said Thursday it had started a “rolling review” of the Sputnik V shot, meaning Russian coronavirus vaccines could soon be doled out across Europe.
Moscow responded by saying it could supply doses for 50 million Europeans starting from June as the 27-nation bloc pledged to inoculate all those in need by the end of summer. The EU has already approved three vaccines, but some members have gone it alone, approving shots from Russia and China unilaterally after criticizing delays.- AFP
