COVID Live Updates: UK PM Johnson Says He Will 'Definitely' Have AstraZeneca Vaccine in Near Future

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - One in four remote workers in the United States prefer to remain in that mode after the pandemic is over, a Gallup poll revealed.

"A quarter of all US workers (26%) would now ideally prefer to continue working remotely, if given a choice, when society fully reopens," a press release accompanying the poll said Wednesday.

78 percent of US workers say they perform their job differently in order to avoid exposure to the coronavirus with 41 percent who say it is not hard and 37 percent who say the opposite.

As regards preparedness to work in new conditions, the poll results show that today less than a half of US workers strongly agree they are prepared to do their job with this number being 54 percent for those aged 55 and older.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The number of cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Jordan has exceeded 500,000, the kingdom's Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The ministry said that over the past day, a record 9,535 cases of infection had been identified in Jordan, and another 56 patients had died.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Brazil has increased by record 90,303 to 11,693,838 within the past 24 hours, the national Ministry of Health said on late Wednesday.

The death toll has risen by 2,648 to 284,775 people within the same period of time.

More than 10.28 million patients have recovered since the start of the outbreak.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - A new generation of vaccines for COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses will likely target mucosal surfaces in the nose and elsewhere in the respiratory system, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci said in a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

"This will be the second and third generation vaccine and there’s research already going on that we are supporting at the NIH [National Institutes of Health] level," Fauci told a US House Energy and Commerce subcommittee.

Future inoculations against respiratory viruses could likely be administered with nasal sprays such as the flu mist or even taken orally, Fauci said.

Fauci pointed out that new inoculation methods most likely will not be available until after the present pandemic is under control, but could be used in future pandemics and possibly on COVID-19 if the virus lingers for "the next year or so."

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Treatments of COVID-19 victims in minority communities with monoclonal antibodies will expand with a $150 million investment announced by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Wednesday.

“This new effort will speed assistance to hard-hit communities to increase administration of monoclonal antibody treatments to prevent hospitalizations and deaths,” HHS said in a press release. “Assistance may include additional staffing, infusion center capacity in traditional and non-traditional health care settings, and equipment to administer the intravenous infusion treatments.”

The initiative reflects a Biden administration commitment to “health equity” and is based on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finding that COVID-19 is “affecting underserved communities and ethnic minorities disproportionately, largely due to poverty and uneven access to health care,” HHS said.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The Biden administration has so far disbursed $242 billion of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan for the COVID-19, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

"As announced last week, Economic Impact Payments are rolling out in tranches to millions of Americans in the coming weeks," the Treasury said. "In total, this first batch included approximately 90 million payments, which are valued at more than $242 billion. The first batch of payments were mostly sent by direct deposit, which some recipients started receiving this past weekend."

US schools will receive more than $120 billion to facilitate reopenings and mitigate the impact of the pandemic, the Education Department said in a release on Wednesday.

"The Department announced the allocation that each SEA [State Educational Agency] will receive under the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) Fund, totaling $122 billion in relief for K-12 schools", the release said on Wednesday.

The Education Department said the ARP ESSER funds can be used to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 by purchasing protective equipment and obtaining additional space for social distancing in classrooms.

The release also added that the current announcement coincides with the Health Department's unveiling of about $10 billion in funding for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention screening testing of teachers, staff and students in schools.

The American Rescue Plan was signed into law by President Joe Biden on 11 March including funds to be allocated to schools of elementary, secondary, and higher education.

The Federal Reserve kept up on Wednesday with its pledge to buy more assets to support the pandemic-hit US economy as it left interest rates unchanged at near zero.

"The Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent", the Fed said in a statement issued after the conclusion of its two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting, the first for the year.

The central bank added that it will continue to increase its holdings of Treasury securities by at least $80 billion per month and of agency mortgage-backed securities by at least $40 billion per month "until substantial further progress has been made toward the Committee’s maximum employment and price stability goals".

The COVAX facility delivered 660,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines to Uzbekistan, United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday.

"In Uzbekistan, our team there says the first batch of 660,000 doses of the vaccine arrived today via COVAX", Dujarric said.

The shipment represents about a third of more than 2.2 million doses scheduled to be delivered to the Central Asian country under the COVAX distribution plan.

The spokesman said the the World Health Organisation has helped to provide training to health workers in the country for the vaccination rollout.

Czech hospitals are treating 9,401 people for COVID-19, the highest number seen since the start of the outbreak, the Health Ministry said Wednesday.

"Updated Monday data puts the number of hospitalized people at 9,401. It is the largest figure reported since the start of the pandemic", a statement read.

Of those, 2,045 patients are on mechanical ventilation. Further 13,934 people tested positive for the virus in the past day. The number of people being treated for COVID-19 rose to 188,012.

The central European nation began mass vaccination in December. A tenth of its 10 million strong population has been inoculated at least once, the majority of those vaccinated are over 80 years old.

Earlier in the day, Palestinian health ministry spokesman Kamal al-Shakhra said that 38,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and another 24,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine would be delivered to the Palestinian Authority from 17-18 March.

The vaccine rollout will begin on Sunday, the spokesman added, noting that the AstraZeneca vaccine will be stored until there is a scientific conclusion on its suitability by the World Health Organisation. The vaccine's use was halted in several countries worldwide after reports on several cases of post-inoculation side effects such as thrombosis. The matter is under investigation by the European Medicines Agency.

In February, the UAE sent 20,000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine to the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, more than 60,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were delivered to the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday in a first shipment organised by the COVAX facility, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing.

Russia has decided that vaccination of the country's Olympic team prior to the Games will be voluntary and that the Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA) is working on the issue together with the athletic federations, Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin said on Wednesday.

"We have decided on voluntary vaccination for the Russian team's athletes. FMBA experts are working [on it] together with the federations. For us, this situation is the main challenge ahead of the Olympics", Matytsin told reporters.

Originally scheduled for 2020, the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo were postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are currently planned to take place from July 23 to 8 August. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has reiterated that vaccination is not required for competing in the games.

"The Government's Vaccines Task Force have now notified us there will be a significant reduction in weekly supply available from manufacturers beginning in week commencing 29 March, meaning volumes for first doses will be significantly constrained," a letter sent around the state-run health service said on Wednesday.

"They now currently predict this will continue for a four-week period, as a result of reductions in national inbound vaccines supply".

The Supreme Court of Israel on Wednesday ruled that the government's decision to limit the amount of Israelis allowed to enter the country daily over the coronavirus pandemic violated the country's Basic Law.

Earlier in March, the government allowed Israeli citizens and permanent residents to enter the country, as part of measures to exit the nationwide lockdown but limited the total number of these people to 3,000 per day. The measure is set to expire on 20 March.

"The limitations on arrivals or departures are in violation of the Basic Law", the judges said, as cited by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

The court barred the authorities from extending the limitations beyond its expiration.

Israel lifted its third coronavirus lockdown on 7 February but kept many restrictions in place in a bid to avert the import of new variants of the virus.

Earlier this week, Israel resumed flights with all countries, but the Ben Gurion airport is allowed to receive only up to 3,000 people per day.

Florida tax preparer Leonel Rivero has been charged with COVID-19 fraud scheme to obtain 118 relief loans under the US government's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the Department of Justice said in a release in Wednesday.

"According to the allegations in the information, Leonel Rivero, 35, of Miami, owned a tax-preparation business and submitted approximately 118 fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of himself and his accomplices. Combined, the 118 PPP loan applications sought more than $2.3 million in PPP loans", the release said.

The Justice Department said in the release that Rivero and his conspirators obtained about $975,582 in PPP loans by falsifying the applicant’s prior-year income and expenses and submitting false tax forms.

If convicted, Rivero faces a prison term of up to 20 years, the release said.

Earlier this month, the US government charged four persons in Los Angeles, California, for their alleged participation in a conspiracy to commit fraud with COVID-19 relief funds in the amount of $21.9 million.

Russia is developing a draft vaccination certificate in Russian and English languages for people who received Russia-made COVID-19 vaccines, the Foreign Ministry told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"The Russian Foreign Ministry is taking part in interdepartmental work to agree on the issue of issuing certificates to persons who have been vaccinated to prevent a new coronavirus infection with Russian vaccines, as well as the international recognition of these documents", the ministry said.

The Foreign Ministry added that the Health Ministry is in charge of implementing these tasks.

"The development of a draft certificate of vaccination in Russian and English for persons vaccinated with Russian vaccines is ongoing. Further international negotiations on free border crossing on the basis of this certificate will follow", the ministry said.

The ministry also said that, at the same time, work is underway in the World Health Organisation to create "technical specifications for an international digital certificate of vaccinations."

"Russian experts participate in this [work]. The Russian Foreign Ministry, in turn, supports this work", the ministry added.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is confident that the 2021 Champions League final in Istanbul will take place with spectators present at matches, the ESPN broadcaster reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

Although some games of the last 16 of the competition were played at neutral venues, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Union of European Football Associations is hopeful that the later stage of the tournament will take place as usual on a home and away basis, according to the US sports channel.

The UEFA is hoping that as the vaccination campaign in Europe is gathering steam, a small number of fans will be allowed to view the final game, which is scheduled to take place in Istanbul on 29 May.

Last year's final between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain took place in Lisbon at an empty stadium.

India has to take quick and decisive steps to put a stop to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic amid a surge of confirmed cases in Maharashtra and Punjab regions, the country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday.

According to the prime minister, 70 districts of the country reported a 150 percent increase in COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks.

"If we do not stop the pandemic right now, it can lead to a nationwide outbreak. We must put an immediate stop to the emerging second peak and take big decisive steps", Modi stated during a video call with chief ministers.

He urged local authorities to scale up RT-PCR testing in smaller cities and keep it over 70 percent overall, as well as to step up vaccination efforts while avoiding vaccine wastage. Modi also warned about the potential spread of the pandemic in the countryside.

"This is food for thought — why some districts have lower testing and vaccination rates. I believe these times are a good test of our management abilities. Our confidence should not turn into overconfidence. Our success should not turn into negligence", Modi stressed.

To respond to the emerging crisis, district authorities are allowed to create micro-containment zones wherever necessary, prime minister noted.

The most affected districts currently are Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Out of over 28,900 confirmed new cases reported in the country over the past 24 hours, Maharashtra accounts for 61.8 percent, or 17,800 cases, Indian Ministry of Health said.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - The European Union will seek mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccine certificates with third countries, a source from the EU told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday.

The European Commission has proposed to introduce 450 million coronavirus passes for its residents by summer to allow them free travel across all 27 member states.

"Indicators of laboratory and X-ray tests are gradually returning to normal and cause no concern for the medical team supervising their treatment. Bashar and Asma Assad are getting better", the presidential press office said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Philippine Department of Health on Wednesday ruled out vaccination as the cause of a health worker's death, saying the patient came down with COVID-19.

"The death was caused by COVID-19 itself, not by the COVID-19 vaccine. COVID-19 vaccines cannot cause COVID-19", a statement read.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Japan is planning to lift the COVID-19 state of emergency in the Greater Tokyo area on Sunday as planned, Kyodo reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga plans to meet with government ministers, including Health minister Norihisa Tamura, on Wednesday evening to discuss the issue, the news agency continued.

"Over the past day, 8,998 coronavirus cases were confirmed across 85 Russian regions, including 1,018 cases (11.3 percent) without clinical symptoms", the coronavirus response centre said, adding that the cumulative case count has now reached 4,418,436, with the rate of increase at 0.2 percent.

"It seems premature to launch an inquiry when the pandemic is still all around us", Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Kwasi Kwarteng told Sky News.

"We take a risk when we make plans [to open borders] amid a changing situation, but we keep track of sanitary data. We say with confidence that we have plans to open the borders with Russia on 14 May, we confirm this", Minister of Tourism Harry Theocharis said in an interview with Sputnik.

"If nothing changes and cases continue to rise, then the possibility of a more widespread lockdown is strong", Health Secretary Francisco Duque told the news channel ANC, also expressing hope it could be averted in the coming days.

ROME (Sputnik) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the suspension of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine by a number of European states, and indicated that their countries were ready to continue using the vaccine shortly after, the Chigi government palace said in a statement.

"This is a temporary precautionary measure, which will last until 18 March, pending the announcement of the results of additional tests by the EMA. The preliminary statements from the EMA are encouraging," the statement said.

"In case of a positive outcome," Italy and France are ready to quickly return to the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the two leaders indicated.