Live Updates: Biden, Irish Prime Minister to Hold Talks on March 17 to Discuss COVID-19

BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) – The number of people vaccinated against the coronavirus in Ecuador has surpassed 100,000, President Lenin Moreno said.

"Today, a year after the start of the fight against COVID-19, we are vaccinating people. The number of those vaccinated in the country has already surpassed 100,000," Moreno wrote on his Twitter page on late Friday.

Ecuador has already reached agreements on the deliveries of vaccines against the coronavirus with the companies of Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac, as well as the COVAX international distribution initiative.

The country with a population of more than 17 million people is going to vaccinate about 2 million citizens by May 20.

The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. To date, more than 119.02 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 2.63 million fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Ecuador has confirmed about 300,000 COVID-19 cases so far, with over 16,000 fatalities.

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – Mexico has used more than 4 million doses of different COVID-19 vaccines as part of the vaccination campaign, the national Ministry of Health said.

"More than 4 million doses of vaccines have been used in Mexico since the start of the vaccination campaign on December 24," Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on late Friday.

The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. To date, more than 119.02 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 2.63 million fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Mexico has confirmed more than 2.15 million COVID-19 cases so far, with over 193,000 fatalities.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US Judge Lora Livingston has allowed the Texas city of Austin to defy Governor Greg Abbott's order that terminated the statewide mask mandate, Mayor Steve Adler said in a statement.

"Austin's mask rules will remain in effect for the next two weeks," Adler said on Friday. "We return to court March 26. No matter what happens then, we will continue to be guided by doctors and data. Masking works."

Earlier on Friday, Judge Livingston did not approve Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's request for a temporary restraining order on Austin's mask mandate. The judge scheduled a second court hearing on March 26 to further address the matter because the city of Austin did not have adequate time to prepare for the legal challenge.

Paxton filed a lawsuit against the city of Austin after Mayor Adler and Travis County Judge Andy Brown refused to comply with Abbott's executive order to lift the mask mandate by Wednesday afternoon.

Abbott's executive order also allowed all businesses in Texas to operate at 100 percent without any coronavirus-related health measures. However, the governor's order includes a provision that would require public-health measures to be reinstated if the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Texas counties reach dangerous levels that threaten hospital space.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Joe Biden will hold a virtual meeting with Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin to discuss a range of issues on March 17, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

"On Wednesday, March 17, President Joe Biden will host Micheal Martin, Taoiseach of Ireland, for a virtual bilateral meeting. They will reaffirm the deep, historic partnership and extraordinary people-to-people ties between the United States and Ireland. They will also discuss combatting COVID-19, addressing global challenges, increasing our shared prosperity, and supporting political and economic stability in Northern Ireland," Psaki said on Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) said it had authorized the use of the coronavirus vaccine developed by the Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) pharmaceutical division, Janssen-Cilag.

On Thursday, the European Medicines Agency approved the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for use in the European market. A day later, the World Health Organization recommended the drug for emergency use.

"AIFA has authorized the Janssen Johnson & Johnson vaccine to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among people aged over 18 years, in line with the instructions of the European Medicines Agency (EMA)," AIFA said on late Friday in a statement.

The agency agreed with the EMA conclusions on the efficiency of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) - Brazil’s Health Ministry signed a deal on Friday to import 10 million doses of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine from Russia in the second quarter.

"The Health Ministry signed a contract today to receive 10 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, which will be imported from Russia by the Brazilian laboratory Uniao Quimica," the authority tweeted.

The Brazilian drug regulator Anvisa has not yet approved the vaccine for emergency use.

Drugmaker Uniao Quimica expects to import 400,000 doses by the end of April, 2 million doses in May and 7.6 million in June. It has also offered to produce the drug at two plants in Brazil. The ministry will weigh this proposal in the coming weeks.

Sixty-five percent of all Americans over the age of 65 have already been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients told a press conference on Friday.

"On Inauguration Day [January 20], only 8 percent of Americans over age 65 were vaccinated. Today, that number is nearly 65 percent," Zients said. "That number is important because 80 percent of COVID-19 deaths have been (aged) 65 or over."

Zients said an average of 2.2 million people were receiving coronavirus vaccinatinos per day across the United States.

"By the end of May, we expect to have enough vaccine shots available for all adults in this country. ... We will continue to prioritize getting all Americans vaccinated as quickly as possible," he said.

More than 64 million people in the United States had received at least one dose of the vaccine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky told the briefing. The pandemic continues to generate 50,000 to 55,000 new cases per day with an average of 1,500 virus-related deaths per day, she said.

France has approved Johnson & Johnson's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine for use in the country, BFM television reported on Friday, citing the French health regulator.

AstraZeneca will again scale back COVID-19 vaccine supply to the European Union, with only 30 million doses to be delivered by the end of March, media reported Friday.

The UK-Swedish pharma company was threatened with legal action over a shortage of vaccines in January. It eventually agreed to deliver 40 million doses by the end of the quarter, down from the contracted target of 80 to 100 million.

However, an EU document dated March 10 showed that even the reduced delivery target will not be met, according to Politico. The delivery of 180 million doses expected in the next quarter is reportedly also in doubt.

The EU Internal Market Commissioner, Thierry Breton, said that he saw "efforts, but not ‘best efforts’. That’s not good enough yet for AstraZeneca to meet its Q1 obligations."

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the coronavirus vaccine from Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) pharmaceutical division, Janssen-Cilag, for emergency use.

"The World Health Organization (WHO) today listed the COVID-19 vaccine Ad26.COV2.S, developed by Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), for emergency use in all countries and for COVAX roll-out. The decision comes on the back of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorization, which was announced yesterday," the statement says.

Johnson & Johnson's vaccine is the first single-dose vaccine recommended for emergency use. According to the WHO, extensive data from large-scale clinical trials provided by the company also show that the vaccine is effective for the elderly.

The German health minister urged the nation on Friday not to blow concerns over the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine out of proportion, saying there was no proof it caused blood clots.

"We must find a balance between being cautious and alarmist," Jens Spahn told the weekly news conference on COVID-19 response.

Several EU countries have suspended the use of AstraZeneca on Thursday after Austria said it was probing death of a vaccinated woman from multiple thromboses. There has also been a rise in cancelled vaccination appointments across Germany.

"We take the reports very seriously and review them urgently," Spahn said, adding that German and other drug regulators in the EU found no "obvious correlation between thrombosis events and the administration of the shot."

The World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency have both backed the UK-Swedish vaccine, saying the benefits of its use outweighed the risks.

Poland expects the peak of the third COVID-19 wave to occur in late March or early April, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Friday.

"Experts’ analysis lets us say that we will reach the peak of the third wave in late March or early April," Morawiecki said.

He added that new restrictions are possible.

According to official data, Poland registered more than 1.8 million COVID-19 cases and 46,724 patients died. Warsaw has imposed a lockdown, closing restaurants, bars and cafes that can only work for take-out. At the same time, sports facilities and hotels are still open for visitors. Public gatherings are limited to five people.

Japan has detected a new coronavirus mutation that differs from UK, South African and Brazilian variants and has presumably been spreading for some time in the Philippines, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) said on Friday.

"In positive coronavirus samples taken on 25 February from a person who arrived on a flight from the Philippines, a strain of lineage B.1.1.28 with E484K and N501Y mutations was detected," the NIID reported.

The E484K mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is common to the South African and Brazilian variants. The N501Y mutation is present not only in these two strains, but also in the UK one, and causes concern over it being more contagious.

In addition, the sample had the P681H mutation, which is "associated with increased contagiousness," the Japanese institute added.

The Philippines reported 34 cases with E484K and N501Y mutations on 2 March. According to the NIID, it is so far unclear how widely this variant has spread in the Philippines and whether this is due to the recent increase in coronavirus infections in the country. This variant, however, is likely to have been circulating there for some time, since it has been detected both inside the country and in travelers, the institute added.

The Azerbaijani Health Ministry told Sputnik on Friday that it authorized the use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19.

"The Russia-produced Sputnik V vaccine was approved for use by the Azerbaijani Health Ministry. The vaccine will be delivered to Azerbaijan in the near future," the ministry said.

Kiev hospitals are more full than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, Vitaliy Klitschko, the mayor of Ukraine’s capital, said on Friday.

“The number of hospitalized patients is rising. Today the capital’s hospitals have the biggest number of ill people since the pandemic started, including those who are in a serious condition and need oxygen therapy. I can say the situation is quite worrying,” Klitschko said during the briefing broadcasted by the Kiev administration.

The mayor said that 2,548 people, including 14 children and 689 in serious condition, are undergoing treatment for COVID-19 in Kiev hospitals, with 57 percent of beds occupied.

According to Ukraine’s health ministry, the country has registered about 1.4 million COVID cases, from which more than 1.2 million people have recovered and 27,915 died.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has discussed COVID-19 vaccination with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and offered him assistance in the rollout.

After the EU regulator started a review of Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V last week, Plenkovic said that his country has already requested necessary documents from the vaccine developer and will decide on whether to buy it in line with recommendations of national and EU regulators. He added that his country in general is "more than ready" to order the Russian-made shots.

"Good meeting with Prime Minister @AndrejPlenkovic. We discussed vaccination; @EU_Commission ready to support [Croatia] in the rollout," von der Leyen tweeted.

She also noted that the Adriatic nation will be a major beneficiary of the bloc’s COVID-19 recovery package and stressed the need for the country to come up with a "robust" investment and reform plan.

In addition, the top EU official reaffirmed support for Croatia on the path toward the adoption of the euro and accession to the Schengen zone.

South Korea renewed its suspension of flights with the United Kingdom due to the new variant of COVID-19 virus, the Embassy of South Korea in London said Friday

The measure was initially imposed last December and repeatedly extended since.

“The Government of the Republic of Korea has announced that direct flights from the UK to South Korea are temporarily suspended until 1 April 2021”, the embassy said in its statement.

The embassy also said its suspension of visas issuance will remain in place.

All people arriving in South Korea from the UK are expected to undergo the enhanced screenings and have negative PCR test no older than 72 hours.

The more contagious UK COVID-19 variant, called VUI-202012/01, was found last December. It has been linked to a higher incidence of infection rates in the UK and other countries. The discovery prompted numerous countries to halt flights to and from the UK.

Italy is going to tighten coronavirus restrictions from 15 March and introduce the toughest nationwide lockdown for Easter holidays, national media reported, citing the draft of a decree that is supposed to be adopted later on Friday.

The Italian cabinet is currently meeting to decide on new COVID-19 measures. The decree is expected to come into force on Monday and last until 6 April.

In "orange zones," visits to private houses will be allowed only for two persons not living there, and only within the single municipality, La Stampa reported, citing the draft. The curfew from 10:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m., which has been in place for months, will remain.

For Easter holidays, from 3-5 April, the whole country — except for "white" regions — will be a "red zone."

At the moment, only Sardinia is considered to be a "white zone."

The "red zone" for Easter holidays would mean that people would be banned from leaving home for any reasons other than emergency, grocery shopping or health issues.

The same restrictions were in place in Italy during Christmas holidays.

The benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 outweigh negative data on it, therefore it is recommended to continue using it despite some EU nations' decision to halt the use of the vaccine, World Health Organization (WHO) spokeswoman Margaret Harris said on Friday.

The European Medicines Agency's risk assessment commission believes the benefit of the vaccine still outweighs risks,b and the vaccine should be used in parallel with the investigation into the cause of thrombosis, Harris said at a briefing. The WHO's Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety is studying signals and will provide an update later, the spokeswoman added.

Harris stressed that Denmark, Iceland and Norway decided to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as a precautionary measure. In addition, they halted the use of just separate vaccine batches, the WHO spokeswoman continued.

According to Harris, the cause and effect of the thrombosis cases is currently being carefully studied, as it is not yet clear whether such a reaction could be expected and how it is related to this particular vaccine.

As of 9 March, 268 million doses of various vaccines have been distributed globally, and according to the WHO, no country has yet reported any vaccine-related deaths, Harris added.

Romania is pausing inoculations from the ABV2856 AstraZeneca vaccine batch whose use was banned in Italy over reports of serious adverse events, the national COVID-19 vaccination committee has said.

A number of European countries have suspended vaccination with the AstraZeneca drug either from specific batches or in its entirety as a precaution after reports of severe side-effects, including blood clots. While the investigation is underway, the European Medicines Agency says there is currently no indication that the reported negative effects were caused by the vaccination.

Concerns center around ABV5300 and ABV2856 batches. Romania received no vaccines from the former batch, but has 4,257 remaining doses from the ABV2856 batch. Media reported that two Italians died after receiving shots from the ABV2856 batch.

"As a precaution, it has been decided to temporarily withdraw the remaining doses [of the ABV2856 batch] pending the completion of the European Medicines Agency assessment," the Romanian committee said late on Thursday.

It noted that the use of other AstraZeneca vaccine batches would continue in Romania.

The Japanese government intends to introduce a daily limit on the number of people arriving in the country, including Japanese nationals and foreigners, to 2,000 to control the possible spread of new coronavirus strains and ensure the effectiveness of current related restrictions, Transport Minister Kazuyoshi Akaba said.

"Currently, to implement reliable quarantine measures, a limit will be imposed on the number of people entering the country, including Japanese citizens and returning foreigners, in the amount of 2,000 people per day," Akaba was quoted as saying by the NHK broadcaster.

Besides, the minister noted that the government called on airlines to introduce a limit on the numbers of passengers on international flights arriving in Japan.

The media outlet reported that several companies, including Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, have already voiced their intention to comply with the authorities' request, by reducing the numbers of passengers on international flights to 3,400 people per week.

Japan introduced a ban on issuing new visas to citizens of all countries in late December 2020 in an effort to prevent the spread of UK-linked coronavirus mutation. Besides, the government extended a state of emergency in several prefectures as a part of the strategy to contain COVID-19.

Restrictions on the entry of foreigners are expected to remain in effect for some time even after the emergency regime in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area is lifted. Notably, the latter has recently been extended until 21 March.

However, according to media reports, Japan has mulled the option of allowing entry for foreign sportsmen participating in the Summer Olympic Games, later this month to take part in the qualifying competitions scheduled for April.

Originally scheduled for 2020, the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo was postponed until 2021 due to the pandemic. They are currently planned to take place from 23 July to 8 August.

Russia registered 9,794 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, up from 9,270 the day before, taking the overall tally to 4,370,617, the coronavirus response centre said on Friday.

"Over the past day, 9,794 coronavirus cases were confirmed across 85 Russian regions, including 1,280 cases (13.1 percent) without clinical symptoms," the centre said, adding that the cumulative case count has now reached 4,370,617, with the rate of increase at 0.22 percent.

Moscow confirmed 1,610 new coronavirus cases over the given period, up from 1,281 the day before. The Russian capital was followed by St. Petersburg with 957 new cases, down from 961 the day before, and the Moscow Region with 476 new cases, up from 358 on Thursday.

The response centre reported 486 COVID-19 fatalities, up from 459 the day before, raising the country's death toll to 91,220.

Total recoveries increased by 13,496 over the given period, down from 14,006 the day before, and reached 3,973,029.

India has confirmed 23,285 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, with the total number of those infected having reached 11,308,846, the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Friday.

The death toll from the disease has reached 158,306 people, with 117 new fatalities being recorded over the past day. More than 10.95 million people have recovered in India since the start of the outbreak.

A day earlier, the country confirmed 22,854 new coronavirus cases, with 126 fatalities.

India comes second in terms of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, following the United States, with more than 29.28 million COVID-19 patients.

The inoculation of Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha and other cabinet members with the AstraZeneca/Oxford coronavirus vaccine was postponed indefinitely over reports about severe adverse effects detected in European countries, Apichat Wachiraphan, the head of health ministry's Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute, said on Friday.

"The vaccination of Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha and cabinet members was postponed due to the Danish health ministry's information on probable side effects caused by the drug, in particular, cases of blood clots in the blood vessels. In Denmark, the use of the drug is suspended pending clarification of the exact causes of side effects," the official said at a briefing.

The announcement came 40 minutes before the scheduled vaccination of the prime minister and cabinet members.