(Reuters) -Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:
India sets record for new COVID cases
India recorded the world’s highest daily tally of 314,835 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday as a second wave of the pandemic raised new fears about the ability of crumbling health services to cope.
Health officials across northern and western India including the capital, New Delhi, said they were in crisis, with most hospitals full and running out of oxygen.
Some doctors were advising patients to stay at home, while a crematorium in the eastern city of Muzaffarpur said it was being overwhelmed with bodies and grieving families had to wait their turn.
Singapore quarantines over 1,100 migrant workers
Singapore is quarantining more than 1,100 migrant workers after about a dozen COVID-19 cases were found in a dormitory and was investigating the possibility of re-infections among those who had recovered from the virus.
The bulk of Singapore’s more than 60,000 cases occurred in dormitories that house tens of thousands of mainly South Asian low-wage workers, triggering lockdowns of the premises last year.
U.S. adds 116 countries to its ‘Do Not Travel’ list
The U.S. State Department has added at least 116 countries this week to its “Level Four: Do Not Travel” advisory list, putting the UK, Canada, France, Israel, Mexico, Germany and others on the list, citing a “very high level of COVID-19.”
On Monday, the State Department said it would boost the number of countries receiving its highest advisory rating to about 80% of countries worldwide.
Before Tuesday, the State Department listed 34 out of about 200 countries as “Do Not Travel.” The State Department now lists 150 countries at Level Four.
EU preparing case against AstraZeneca
The European Commission is working on legal proceedings against AstraZeneca after the drugmaker cut COVID-19 vaccine deliveries to the European Union, according to sources familiar with the matter.
An EU official involved in talks with vaccine makers told Reuters on Thursday that a story by Politico on the matter was correct. “EU states have to decide if they (will) participate. It is about fulfilment of deliveries by the end of the second quarter.”
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker has been under fire in the trading bloc for cutting supplies several times to levels much lower than promised, and potential legal action had been discussed previously.
Tokyo Motor Show cancelled
Tokyo will not host its motor show this year, organizers said on Thursday, underscoring Japan’s struggle to contain both a resurgent outbreak and the widening economic fall-out.
The cancellation comes as the government is expected to issue a third state of emergency for Tokyo and a number of other prefectures that could last for about two weeks, according to media reports.
The halting of the auto show, a marquee event of the country’s most important industry, is also likely to raise more questions about the government’s insistence that the delayed Tokyo Olympics will go ahead this summer.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes; editing by John Stonestreet)
