RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:
Brazil deaths on track to pass worst of U.S. wave
Brazil’s brutal surge in COVID-19 deaths will soon surpass the worst of a record January wave in the United States, scientists forecast, with fatalities climbing for the first time above 4,000 in a day on Tuesday as the outbreak overwhelms hospitals.
Brazil’s overall death toll trails only the U.S. outbreak, with nearly 337,000 killed, according to Health Ministry data, compared with more than 555,000 dead in the United States.
But with Brazil’s healthcare system at the breaking point, the country could exceed total U.S. deaths, despite having a population two-thirds that of the United States, two experts told Reuters.
India posts record cases
India’s second wave of infections continued to swell as it reported a record 115,736 new cases on Wednesday, a 13-fold increase in just over two months.
The federal government has asked states to decide on local curbs to control the spread of the virus, but has so far refused to impose any national lockdown after the last one in 2020 devastated its economy.
The total number of cases since the first recorded infection in India just over a year ago now stands at 12.8 million, making it the third worst hit country after the United States and Brazil.
Japan’s Osaka cancels Olympic torch run
Japan’s western region of Osaka on Wednesday cancelled Olympic torch events scheduled across the prefecture, as record infections prompted its government to declare a medical emergency.
Health authorities fear a virus variant is unleashing a fourth wave of infections just 107 days before the Tokyo Olympics begin, with a vaccination drive still at an early stage.
The prefecture reported 878 new infections on Wednesday, a second-straight day of record numbers. Severe cases have filled about 70% of hospital beds in the region.
UK begins rollout of Moderna vaccine
Britain begins rolling out Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday in Wales and expects to be using it in the rest of the United Kingdom in the coming days in a boost to the country’s health system after supplies of shots started to slow.
Moderna will become the third vaccine to be used in Britain after the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer jabs and comes as the supply of shots from Astra starts to slow due to manufacturing issues including at a site in India.
The United Kingdom has vaccinated 31.6 million people with a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine – and administered 5.5 million second doses. It will soon have vaccinated half of its total population.
A third of survivors suffer neurological or mental disorders
One in three COVID-19 survivors in a study of more than 230,000 mostly American patients were diagnosed with a brain or psychiatric disorder within six months, suggesting the pandemic could lead to a wave of mental and neurological problems, scientists said on Tuesday.
Researchers who conducted the analysis said it was not clear how the virus was linked to psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression, but that these were the most common diagnoses among the 14 disorders they looked at.
Post-COVID cases of stroke, dementia and other neurological disorders were rarer, the researchers said, but were still significant.
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