India hits daily COVID vaccination record, as free shots opened to all adults

India recorded its highest-ever daily vaccination count on Monday as it opened up free shots to all adults.

The progress with inoculations came on International Yoga Day, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailing the practice's "protective" properties against the coronavirus.

The country's vaccination drive had significantly slowed in recent months due to a shortage of jabs and hesitancy, even as it battled a vicious surge in cases in April and May that overwhelmed the healthcare system in many places.

Case numbers have since fallen sharply and the authorities have again relaxed many restrictions, sparking fears of another wave.

The government had expanded the vaccine roll-out to include all adults aged below 45 on May 1, but states and private hospitals had to procure and buy the shots themselves for the younger age group, leading to confusion and shortages.

But New Delhi later changed tack, announcing it would procure 75 percent of vaccine supplies and distribute them to states so they could inoculate people for free.

The health ministry reported that a record 7.8 million jabs were administered on Monday, in contrast with an average of three million shots a day in recent weeks.

"Today's record-breaking vaccination numbers are gladdening. The vaccine remains our strongest weapon to fight COVID-19... Well done India!" Modi tweeted.

The country has administered 280 million shots in total, but barely four percent of people are fully vaccinated. The government aims to inoculate all of India's almost 1.1 billion adults by the end of the year.

"The vaccination drive is expected to pick up speed now... the daily vaccination has picked up over the last week and is expected to strengthen further," community health expert Rajib Dasgupta told AFP.

"However, both existing inequities as well as hesitancy merit deeper attention to make this a success." 

- Yoga push -

The free roll-out came as Modi marked the annual Yoga Day with an early-morning address to the nation, saying the practice had again proved itself to be a source of "inner strength".

"When I speak to frontline warriors, they tell me that they have adopted yoga as a protective shield in their fight against coronavirus. Doctors have strengthened themselves with yoga and also used yoga to treat their patients," the Indian leader said.

Public parks were re-opened in Delhi on Monday, but the number of events for Yoga Day was cut back around the country for the second year running because of the pandemic.

Yoga Day -- proposed by Modi and adopted by the United Nations in 2014 -- is observed mostly in India, but also worldwide on the Northern Hemisphere's longest day.

Throughout the pandemic, India's government has touted yoga and herbal medicines -- sales of which have boomed -- to protect and give relief to people infected with the virus.

But evidence is scant and the claims have faced pushback from India's doctors, who wore black armbands last month to protest Baba Ramdev, a guru with ties to the Modi administration who has said yoga can cure Covid-19.

India is the world's second most infected nation with nearly 30 million coronavirus cases and more than 388,000 deaths, although experts say the actual toll could be much higher due to underreporting.

Authorities said late Monday that the Amarnath Yatra -- an annual Hindu pilgrimage to a cave shrine in Kashmir that draws some 300,000 participants -- would be cancelled for the second straight year due to the pandemic.

Agence France-Presse

Biden: Biggest vaccine donation 'supercharges' battle against coronavirus

CARBIS BAY, England—U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday that a donation of 500 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to the world's poorest countries would supercharge the battle with the virus and comes with "no strings attached."

Biden, speaking alongside Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla in the English seaside resort of Carbis Bay ahead of a G7 summit, thanked other leaders for recognizing their responsibility to vaccinate the world.

"The United States is providing these half billion doses with no strings attached. No strings attached," Biden said. "Our vaccine donations don't include pressure for favors, or potential concessions. We're doing this to save lives."

Biden, keen to burnish his multilateral credentials on his first foreign trip as leader, cast the donation as a bold move that showed America recognized its responsibility to the world and to its own citizens.

"America will be the arsenal of vaccines in our fight against COVID-19, just as America was the arsenal of democracy during World War Two," Biden said.

The largest ever vaccine donation by a single country will cost the United States $3.5 billion but will spur further donations from other G7 leaders - including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

G7 leaders want to vaccinate the world by the end of 2022 to try to halt the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 3.9 million people, devastated the global economy and upended the normal lives of billions of people.

Vaccination efforts so far are heavily correlated with wealth: the United States, Europe, Israel and Bahrain are far ahead of other countries. A total of 2.2 billion people have been vaccinated so far out of a world population of nearly 8 billion, based on Johns Hopkins University data.

'SAVE LIVES'

U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have agreed to supply the U.S. with the vaccines, delivering 200 million doses in 2021 and 300 million doses in the first half of 2022.

The shots, which will be produced at Pfizer's U.S. sites, will be supplied at a not-for-profit price. Around 100 countries will get the shots.

Pfizer CEO Bourla said the eyes of the world were on the leaders of rich nations to see if they would act to solve the COVID-19 crisis and share with poorer nations.

"This announcement with the U.S. government gets us closer to our goal and significantly enhances our ability to save even more lives across the globe," he said.

While such a large donation of vaccines was welcomed by many, there were immediately calls for the richest nations of the world to open up more of their giant hoards of vaccines.

Anti-poverty campaign group Oxfam called for more to be done to increase global production of vaccines.

"Surely, these 500 million vaccine doses are welcome as they will help more than 250 million people, but that’s still a drop in the bucket compared to the need across the world," said Niko Lusiani, Oxfam America’s vaccine lead.

"We need a transformation toward more distributed vaccine manufacturing so that qualified producers worldwide can produce billions more low-cost doses on their own terms, without intellectual property constraints," he said in a statement.

Another issue, especially in some poor countries, is the infrastructure for transporting the vaccines which often have to be stored at very cold temperatures.

IP WAIVER

Biden has also backed calls for a waiver of some vaccine intellectual property rights but there is no international consensus yet on how to proceed.

The new vaccine donations come on top of 80 million doses Washington has already pledged to donate by the end of June. There is also $2 billion in funding earmarked for the COVAX programme led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), the White House said.

GAVI and the WHO welcomed the initiative.

Washington is also taking steps to support local production of COVID-19 vaccines in other countries, including through its Quad initiative with Japan, India and Australia. (Reporting by Steve Holland in St. Ives, England, Andrea Shalal in Washington and Caroline Copley in Berlin; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Keith Weir; Editing by Leslie Adler, David Evans, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Giles Elgood, Jane Merriman and Marguerita Choy)

-reuters-

Get vaccinated, win cash as California offers $116.5 million in prizes

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California will offer $116.5 million in cash and gift cards to residents who get COVID-19 vaccinations before June 15, the latest — and most lucrative — incentive by U.S. states desperate to persuade laggards and vaccine-skeptics to get the injection.

The move by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is part of an effort to boost vaccinations as the state prepares to fully reopen its economy on June 15. Ten Californians who become inoculated before that date stand to win lottery-style prizes of $1.5 million apiece, while another 30 people will each win $50,000.

Beginning Thursday, the first two million Californians to become vaccinated will each win $50 gift cards for cash or groceries, the state said.

"Some Californians weren't ready to get their COVID-19 vaccine on day one, and that's OK," said Dr. Tomas Aragon, director of the California Department of Public Health. "This program is designed to encourage those who need extra support to get vaccinated and help keep California safe."

The incentives are being offered as Newsom is fighting off a recall campaign that has become a cause celebre among Republicans nationwide. It is one of many ways that Newsom plans to spend an unprecedented state budget surplus.

"Getting every eligible Californian vaccinated is how we bring our state roaring back from this pandemic," Newsom said.

Across the United States, states and private organizations have offered incentives to persuade people to become inoculated against COVID-19, which has killed nearly 3.7 people worldwide.

The incentives range from free baseball tickets and beer, to college scholarships and cash.

On Wednesday, Ohio awarded $1 million to Abbigail Bugenske, a Silverton woman who entered the state's Vax-a-Million drawing. Joseph Costello, a high school student from Inglewood, won a full-ride scholarship, including tuition, books and room and board at an Ohio public university or college. (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

-reuters-

Gaming industry worth $300 bn after pandemic surge, study shows

The value of the gaming industry has topped $300 billion following a pandemic-fueled surge, with some 2.7 billion players worldwide, a research report said Thursday.

The Accenture report said the gaming sector is worth more than the combined markets for movies and music, driven by gains in mobile gaming and an emphasis on making connections during a time of pandemic social distancing.

"The emergence of new gaming platforms and changing demographics are pushing gaming businesses away from being product-centric to becoming experience-oriented platforms," said Seth Schuler, managing director at Accenture's software and platforms industry group.

The study found the gaming industry has increased by half a billion players in the past three years, and predicts more than 400 million new gamers are expected by the end of 2023.

For the newest gamers, 60 percent are women, 30 percent are under 25 years old and one-third identify as non-white.

That contrasts with longtime gamers who were 61 percent male, and more than three-fourths white and over 25.

According to the survey, gamers are spending an average 16 hours a week playing, eight hours a week watching or participating in game streams and six hours a week interacting in game forums and communities. 

Accenture's Robin Murdoch said the sector is evolving: "We're seeing the emergence of gaming as an ecosystem of superplatforms where players can meet, communicate, watch live-streamed concerts, shop or listen to music."

The research is based on data collected via an online survey with 4,000 consumers in China, Japan, the US, and Britain, and included interviews with industry executive.

Agence France-Presse

Mass cremations begin, as India's capital faces deluge of COVID-19 deaths

NEW DELHI—Delhi resident Nitish Kumar was forced to keep his dead mother's body at home for nearly two days while he searched for space in the city's crematoriums - a sign of the deluge of death in India's capital where coronavirus cases are surging.

On Thursday Kumar cremated his mother, who died of COVID-19, in a makeshift, mass cremation facility in a parking lot adjoining a crematorium in Seemapuri in northeast Delhi.

"I ran pillar to post but every crematorium had some reason ... one said it had run out of wood," said Kumar, wearing a mask and squinting his eyes that were stinging from the smoke blowing from the burning pyres.

India recorded the world's highest daily tally of 314,835 coronavirus infections on Thursday, with the second wave of the pandemic crushing its weak health infrastructure. In Delhi alone, where hospitals are running out of medical oxygen supplies, the daily rise is over 26,000.

People losing loved ones in the Indian capital, where 306 people have died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, are turning to makeshift facilities that are undertaking mass burials and cremations as crematoriums come under pressure.

Jitender Singh Shunty who runs a non-profit medical service, the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sewa Dal, said as of Thursday afternoon 60 bodies had been cremated at the makeshift facility in the parking lot and 15 others were still waiting.

"No one in Delhi would have ever witnessed such a scene. Children who were 5 years old, 15 years old, 25 years old are being cremated. Newlyweds are being cremated. It's difficult to watch," said a teary-eyed Shunty.

Shunty, dressed in protective gear and a bright yellow turban, said last year during the peak of the first wave the maximum number of bodies he helped cremate in a single day was 18, while the average was eight to 10 a day.

On Tuesday, 78 bodies were cremated in that one place alone, he said.

Kumar said when his mother, a government healthcare worker, tested positive 10 days ago, the authorities could not find a hospital bed for her.

"The government is not doing anything. Only you can save your family. You are on your own," he said.

(Writing by Aditi Shah, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

-reuters-