(Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:
Quad nation leaders to announce financing to boost India vaccine output
Leaders of the Quad group of countries plan to announce at their first meeting on Friday financing agreements to support an increase in manufacturing capacity for coronavirus vaccines in India, a senior U.S administration official told Reuters.
The aim of the initiative by the Quad, which groups the United States, India, Japan and Australia, would be to reduce manufacturing backlogs, speed vaccination, and defeat some coronavirus mutations, the official said.
Big Indian state scales down vaccinations, citing shortage
The Indian state of Rajasthan said on Tuesday it had started limiting COVID-19 vaccinations to its major hospitals due to a shortage of doses, despite an assurance from the federal government that supplies were adequate. The federal government said after a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s principal secretary that there was no shortage of vaccine doses in the country and that there should be no stockpiling or hoarding by any state.
India, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, is donating or selling vaccines to more than three dozen countries, drawing some criticism for not expanding its own immunisation campaign further.
No foreign spectators at Tokyo Olympics, sources say
Japan has decided to stage this summer’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics without overseas spectators due to public concern about COVID-19, two government sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.
Kyodo News, which reported the decision on Tuesday, said the opening ceremony of the torch relay on March 25 would also take place without spectators. Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto has said she wants a decision made before the start of the torch relay on whether to allow overseas spectators.
J&J ‘under stress’ to meet EU 2nd-quarter vaccine supply goal – source
Johnson & Johnson has told the European Union it is facing supply issues that may complicate plans to deliver 55 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the bloc in the second quarter of the year, an EU official told Reuters.
EU countries raised questions earlier in the year about J&J’s production network and contract with the EU, which would require it to send vaccines made at its Dutch factory to the United States for bottling before being shipped back to the EU.
(Compiled by Karishma Singh)
