Thread by @fredwalton216

1) Coronavirus live news: Finland declares state of emergency; Chinese hackers 'target Indian vaccine makers' theguardian.com/world/live/202…

2) Mexico admits its controversial covid tsar, Hugo López-Gatell, is hospitalized w/covid, after initial denials. López-Gatell has faced heavy criticism for undermining the use of face masks and carrying out insufficient testing;

3) Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday banned the government from the sweeping use of mobile phone tracking of coronavirus carriers, calling the measure a grave infraction of civil liberties;

4) Finnish gov’t declared state of emergency over rising covid cases. PM Sanna Marin last week had made an in-principle decision on declaring a state of emergency. The main reason for the decision, is that restaurants cannot be closed under the current Infectious Diseases Act;

5) Tokyo has requested Beijing to stop taking anal swab tests for Covid-19 on Japanese citizens as the procedure causes psychological pain, a gov’t spokesman said on Monday;

6) A Chinese state-backed hacking group has in recent weeks targeted the IT systems of two Indian vaccine makers whose covid shots are being used in 🇮🇳 immunization campaign, cyber intelligence firm Cyfirma told Reuters;

7) Hairdressers across Germany reopened for business Monday, after a 2 1/2 month closure, a/o cautious step as
🇩🇪 balances a desire to relax curbs w/concern about impact of more contagious covid variants.The move came after many elementary students returned to school a week ago;

8) More than 320K children returned to school in Ireland Monday, in 1st phase of staggered reopening of schools. It is the first easing of a strict LD imposed in late December, when covid cases exploded, briefly giving Ireland the world’s highest infection rate;

9) Russia on Monday reported 11,571 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 2,097 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 4,257,650. The country also reported another 333 deaths, raising the official toll to 86,455;

10) New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern has expressed frustration over rule-breaking by people implicated in the recent cluster of coronavirus cases, leading to further restrictions for Auckland;

11) The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 4,732 to 2,447,068, data from the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases showed Monday. The reported death toll rose by 60 to 70,105, the tally showed;

12) UK gov’t will start 💉 citizens over 40 against covid this month, as the 💉 campaign is weeks ahead of schedule, The Telegraph reported on Monday;

13) London may tighten border curbs, after Brazilian variant detected. The P1 variant, which was first detected in the northern Brazilian city of Manaus in December, is thought to be similar to the South African strain & responds less well to current vaccines;

14) Brazil’s Health Ministry will deliver 140M doses of covid-19 vaccines between now and the end of May, Lower House Speaker Arthur Lira said on Monday, without giving details on where they will come from;

15) The EUC will present a proposal in March on creating an EU-wide digital Covid-19 vaccination passport that may allow Europeans to travel more freely over the peak summer holiday period;

16) Ukrainian medical facilities have thrown away some unused covid-19 vaccines after doctors failed to show up for their own appointments to be vaccinated, ruling party lawmakers said on Monday;

17) Americans should be able to receive J & J covid-19 vaccine w/i the next 24 to 48 hours, its
CEO said Monday after US regulators approved it, making it the country’s third available vaccine for the novel covid;

18) In Jamaica, which won praise for containing its covid outbreak last year, patients now overflow into corridors on chairs & stretchers in some hospitals, prompting the Caribbean nation to open three emergency field hospitals;

19) President Biden isn’t currently considering sharing covid 💉 with Mexico, but is instead focused on ensuring every American is vaccinated, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday;

20) French Health Authorities said on Monday that the number of people being treated in ICUs for covid-19, was up by 52, at 3,544 (above 3.5K for 1st time since Dec 1. 🇫🇷 reported 375 new covid deaths, taking overall death toll
to 86,803;

21) Czech Rep tightened LD measures Monday, beefing up police presence to restrict movement throughout 🇨🇿, as the gov’t battles the world’s worst surge in Covid-19 infections;
22) The UK recorded the lowest daily death toll and the lowest number of new cases since October;

23) EUC to present a proposal in March on creating an
EU-wide digital covid-19 💉 passport, that may allow Europeans to travel more freely over peak summer holiday period;
24) UK covid variant is main cause of 3rd wave in Poland, the Health Minister said on Monday;

25) Austria plans to let cafe and restaurant terraces reopen this month in a further loosening of its coronavirus lockdown;
26) Israeli gov’t looks to buy a further 36M doses of 💉, in case booster shots needed later in the year;

27) China is lagging in its coronavirus vaccination rollout, but plans to inoculate 40% of its population by June;
28) Both Pfizer/BioNTech & Oxford/AstraZeneca 💉 are effective in reducing covid-19 infections among people aged 70 years & older, a new study shows;

29)Zimbabwe eased a covid LD & overnight curfew imposed in Jan today, by letting businesses to fully reopen after rate of new cases slowed last 2 weeks;
30)💉 doses in Ukraine & Japan are wasted due to 💉 skepticism among doctors & fridge failures respectively, it emerged on Mon;

31) England’s planned route out of LD, starting with the reopening of schools next week, can proceed despite 6 reported cases of a Brazilian coronavirus variant of concern, Health Minister Matt Hancock said Monday;

32) Despite recent success in securing millions of doses of covid 💉, some EU countries still struggle to 💉 people with them-specifically AZ jab. France has 1.7M AZ 💉 , only 273K distributed. Germany has seen 240K of 1.45M AZ 💉 given to date, as per @SputnikInt ;