Covid-19 unlikely to be ever eradicated, warns Prof Chris Whitty – as it happened

We are closing this blog now. You can keep up to date with all our coronavirus coverage here.

Here is a quick recap of all the major Covid updates from around the world before I hand off to my colleague:

• Denmark has eased more Covid restrictions with a “corona pass.” Gyms, theatres and cinemas opened on Thursday as part of the country’s Covid-19 relaxation programme.
• Support for vaccine patent waivers grows across the globe despite Germany’s opposition.
• England’s chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty has said that Covid-19 is unlikely ever to be eradicated, and the outlook for the pandemic remains “pretty bleak” in the medium term.
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned of a new wave of Covid-19 infections in Africa due to delayed vaccine supplies, a slow rollout and new variants.
• The United States has administered 251,973,752 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the country and distributed 324,610,185 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday.
• Brazil registers 73,380 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases above the 15 million mark.

I hope you all have a good day/evening!

Brazil registers 73,380 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases above the 15 million mark. The Latin American country also recorded 2,550 deaths in the last 24 hours, making the official death toll 416,949.

The United States has administered 251,973,752 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the country and distributed 324,610,185 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday.

The CDC tally includes two-dose vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, as well as Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine.

The figures are up from the 249,566,820 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by Wednesday out of 321,549,335 doses delivered.

The agency said 149,462,265 people had received at least one dose while 108,926,627 people are fully vaccinated as of Thursday.

More than a thousand migrants who hope to reach the United States were vaccinated against COVID-19 through a first-time effort made possible by a private donation of shots from a U.S. company, a shelter director said.

Around 1,200 migrants, mainly from Central America, received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in the border city of Tijuana, said Gustavo Banda, director of the Ambassadors of Jesus shelter.

Banda said: “This is positive; it is the first time it has been done. It was extremely important to vaccinate migrants because we’re a long-stay shelter where they can spend many months, even a year.”

Reuters reports

Reuters consulted several migrant shelters and did not find any other cases of migrants receiving vaccines.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is dealing with a growing humanitarian crisis as more people reach the U.S. border. Authorities in Mexico, the United States and Central America have tightened border restrictions in recent months.

Mexico’s government, which has already received doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine from the United States to supplement its vaccine campaign, has said it may ask for U.S. help in vaccinating people along their shared border.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris are due to explore ways of tackling undocumented immigration in talks on Friday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned of a new wave of Covid-19 infections in Africa due to delayed vaccine supplies, a slow rollout and new variants.

The UN agency said the continent had to catch up with the rest of the world regarding vaccines rollouts as new threats emerge through new variants found in India and South Africa, AFP reports.

In a statement, it said, “The delay in the delivery of vaccine doses from the Serum Institute of India earmarked for Africa, the delay in the deployment of vaccines and the emergence of new variants means that the risk of a new wave of infections remains very high in Africa. “

While some African countries had been exemplary in deploying vaccines, the WHO said, it added that despite this, only just under “half of the 37 million doses received in Africa have been administered so far”.

Africa now accounts for only one per cent of vaccine doses administered globally - down from two per cent a few weeks ago, as other regions’ rollouts progress much faster.

According to the WHO, the vaccination rate in Africa is the worlds lowest. Globally an average of 150 vaccine doses per 1,000 people have been administered, but in sub-Saharan Africa, it is hardly eight doses per 1,000.

This is from Sky’s Ed Conway on England’s decreasing levels of positive Covid-19 cases.

England’s chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty has said that Covid-19 is unlikely ever to be eradicated, and the outlook for the pandemic remains “pretty bleak” in the medium term, at a Royal Society online event, PA reports.

Prof Whitty said:

“In the medium term, the outlook still looks pretty bleak around the world.

I would really reiterate that until we have got a situation where we have induced immunity in those who are most vulnerable everywhere in the world, we will continue to see really significant morbidity and mortality from this virus.”

He added that while time and science “was on our side”, the virus was not “going to go away”.

In the long term, I do expect that this will become a much milder, chronic disease overall, probably with seasonal peaks, and from time to time there will be enough of an antigenic shift that actually we have another problem to which we have to respond in due course.”

6 May 202115.35 EDT

Nicola Davis

The Guardian has learned that clusters of the Indian variants of Covid-19 have been found across England, including in care homes, amid growing fears about the speed they are spreading in communities.

While the latest update of case numbers of these variants was due to be published on Thursday, leaked emails seen by the Guardian show the announcement was delayed until at least Friday because of the local elections.

The documents also suggest officials from Public Health England are poised to escalate one of the variants to one “of concern”.

Scientists have been assessing three closely related variants first detected in India and since found in the UK because they may have mutations that help the virus to evade the body’s immune responses and be more transmissible due to their spike protein mutations.

All three of the variants – known as B16171, B16172 and B16173 – have been designated “under investigation” by Public Health England.

According to internal documents from PHE, dated to 5 May and seen by the Guardian, the assessment of the ongoing risk to public health from B16172 is “high”.

More on the exclusive here:

Support for vaccine patent waivers grow as deaths in India hit new records.

While Spain’s government said on Thursday that the proposal to waive patents on coronavirus vaccines signals the “way forward”, it will not be enough to guarantee supplies for developing countries.

In a statement, it said that such a suspension of intellectual property rights will take time to be approved. Still, in the meantime, pharmaceutical companies should be flexible in granting voluntary licences.

National capitals including Paris, Rome and Vienna, and World Trade Organisation chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala supported the future of patent waiving. While Russian President Vladimir Putin also said he supported the idea of a patent waiver, as Russia registered a single-dose virus jab called Sputnik Light.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the announcement as “a monumental moment in the fight against Covid-19.” As the African Union’s health watchdog praised it as a ‘remarkable expression of leadership,’ AFP reports.

My colleague has more on what the patent waivers mean for the world here:

Mexico has reported 2,846 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 166 deaths, bringing the total of cases in the country to 2,358,831 and fatalities to 218,173, according to health ministry data.

Denmark has eased more Covid restrictions with a “corona pass”. Gyms, theatres and cinemas opened on Thursday as part of the country’s Covid-19 relaxation programme.

Danes will need to confirm that with the corona pass they have either tested negative in the past 72 hours, been vaccinated or recently recovered from Covid-19.

AFP reports:

I don’t mind showing the corona pass at all. I think it’s very good; you feel safe while everything is reopening,’ 22-year-old student Ottilia told AFP as she stopped to buy tickets for an upcoming show at the Falkoner cinema in central Copenhagen.

“I’m very excited; I have missed going to the cinema. I’m looking forward to seeing a movie on a big screen again,” project manager Stina, who had arrived with a group of few friends to watch a new Danish movie, said.

Launched in early March, as zoos reopened, the use of the pass has been a requirement for each new stage of Denmark’s reopening.

“It’s a major success because it has combined the reopening of the economy and has boosted testing,” said Lars Ramme, the heaad of tourism at the Danish Chamber of Commerce.

Bars, cafes and restaurants have been using it since 21 April.