March 3 coronavirus news

By Zamira Rahim, Kareem Khadder, Hannah Strange and Jessie Yeung, CNN

Updated 0717 GMT (1517 HKT) March 4, 2021

2 Posts

Sort by

4:00 a.m. ET, March 3, 2021

Brazil records highest daily number of Covid-19 deaths

From CNN's Marcia Reverdosa in Sao Paulo and Tatiana Arias in Atlanta

Workers wearing protective suits walk past the graves of Covid-19 victims at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida cemetery in Manaus, Brazil, on February 25. Michael Dantas/AFP/Getty Images

Brazil reported 1,641 Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday -- the highest single-day total of the pandemic, according to data from the country’s Health Ministry.

The country has now recorded a total of 10,646,926 cases and 257,361 deaths, according to official data.

Brazil has the second highest death toll worldwide, following the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Amid the crippling figures and an alarming lack of Covid-19 vaccines, Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourão defended the government’s position against a national lockdown to help curve the spread of the deadly virus.

Mourão said the country is “not a dictatorship,” and that the best way to fight the pandemic is to accelerate the vaccination rollout, which is “going well.”

Brazil has vaccinated a little over 3% of its population, and 19 of its 26 states have an ICU occupation of over 80%, according to Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a Brazilian Ministry of Health research institution.

Read more about the situation in Brazil's hospitals:

Brazil's hospitals reach breaking point as health minister blames new coronavirus variants

4:01 a.m. ET, March 3, 2021

Italy closes schools in worst-hit areas amid concerns over new variants

From CNN’s Nicola Ruotolo in Rome

A closed school is seen in Brescia, Italy, on March 1. Stefano Nicoli/NurPhoto/Getty Images

The Italian government has ordered all schools in the country’s worst-hit coronavirus hotspots to close from March 6 until April 6.

“As we know, the British variant has a particular ability to affect the younger population,” Health Minister Roberto Speranza said at a news briefing on Tuesday.
“This has led us to determine that in red zones, all schools will move to distance learning, as well as in areas where the infection rate across seven days is equal to or greater than 250 per 100,000 inhabitants."

Italy continues to classify regions under a color-coded system (white, yellow, orange and red), with measures adjusted to reflect infection levels in the region. Red zones are the most stringent classification of coronavirus restrictions in the country, with severe limitations on movement.

According to Speranza, the coronavirus variant first identified in the UK has now “become prevalent” in Italy, while cases of the variants first identified in Brazil and South Africa have also been confirmed in the country.