April 18 coronavirus news

By Fernando Alfonso III, CNN

Updated 0724 GMT (1524 HKT) April 19, 2021
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11:19 a.m. ET, April 18, 2021

Fauci expects a decision on Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine by Friday 

From CNN's Naomi Thomas

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on April 18.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on April 18. CNN

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN on Sunday that he expects a decision to be made about the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine by Friday. 

“I don't want to get ahead of the CDC and the FDA and the advisory committee, but I would imagine that what we will say is that it would come back and it would come back in some sort of either warning or restriction," he said.

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss recommendations for the J&J vaccine.

The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration recommended pausing the use of the J&J Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday over six reported cases or “a rare and severe type of blood clot” reported in the US.

However, Fauci said pausing was the prudent thing to do, saying “you want to make sure that you have all the information that you need.”

He compared the J&J clotting reports to that of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, which is authorized in much of Europe and has had similar reports of clotting. He noted the AstraZeneca vaccine reports “went beyond just women, there's some with some men involved. There was also a great display of the ages.”

“I hope that we don't see anything extended beyond Friday. We need to get Friday some decision one way or the other," Fauci said. 

The ACIP committee originally held an emergency meeting on Wednesday last week but delayed voting on a recommendation until this coming Friday. 

 

7:32 a.m. ET, April 18, 2021

India's record rise in daily Covid-19 cases continues

A health worker collects nasal swab samples at a Covid-19 testing center in Hyderabad, India, on April 12.
A health worker collects nasal swab samples at a Covid-19 testing center in Hyderabad, India, on April 12. Mahesh Kumar A./AP

India on Sunday reported 261,500 new cases of Covid-19, the fourth consecutive day of more than 200,000 infections and the highest since the start of the pandemic, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health. 

The health ministry also reported 1,501 new deaths, the highest in almost 10 months.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a special meeting Sunday to deal with the ongoing health crisis brought on by the second wave, asking officials to stick with testing, tracking and treatment. 

Indian states have been facing a shortage of oxygen across hospitals, and Modi asked for the installation of 162 oxygen plants across the country to be sped up, according to a press release issued by the Prime Minister’s office.

Some context: The latest spike in cases has resulted in Modi appealing to pilgrims and religious groups celebrating the month-long Kumbh Mela festival to disband and carry out the necessary rituals symbolically instead of physically congregating in the state of Uttarakhand. 

"Now Kumbh should be carried out symbolically amid the ongoing corona crisis," Modi tweeted on Saturday.

India’s Haridwar district, where the festival is taking place, has reported a total of 5,505 cases since the start of the festival on April 1.

India hit the 13 million mark on April 9 and added a further one million cases in less than a week, surpassing 14 million cases on Thursday. As of Sunday, India has reported a total of 14,788,109 cases of coronavirus and 177,150 deaths, according to the Indian Ministry of Health.