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April 24 coronavirus news

By Fernando Alfonso III, CNN

Updated 0702 GMT (1502 HKT) April 26, 2021
5 Posts
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2:23 p.m. ET, April 24, 2021

More than 225 million Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in US, according to CDC data

From CNN's Lauren Mascarenhas

United States National Guard members administer the Covid-19 vaccine in Los Angeles on April 8.
United States National Guard members administer the Covid-19 vaccine in Los Angeles on April 8. Al Seib/The Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

More than 225 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the US, according to data published Saturday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC reported 225,640,460 doses administered, nearly 78% of the 290,685,655 doses distributed. 

That’s 3,318,230 reported doses administered since Friday, for a seven-day average of 2,824,078 doses per day. 

More than 138 million people have now received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine and more than 93 million have been fully vaccinated.

To note: Data published by the CDC may be delayed, and doses may not have been given on the day reported. 

12:35 p.m. ET, April 24, 2021

Toronto pharmacist celebrates dispensing 1,000th dose of Covid-19 vaccine

From CNN's David Williams

Kyro Maseh, the owner of Lawlor Pharmasave in Toronto celebrated with staff and volunteers on Wednesday after administering their 1,000th dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

They rang a bell and set off mini-confetti cannons to mark the occasion.

Maseh shouted, "One thousand shots," and his staff replied "Covid Gone!"

He said they do a smaller celebration every time he finishes a 10 dose vial of the vaccine.

"Vaccines are something to celebrate," he told CNN, adding that 1,000 shots equals 1,000 people who probably won't have to go to the intensive care unit because of their efforts.

Maseh said they've been administering the vaccine for about four weeks and that they are vaccinating between 40 and 90 people a day depending on the supply.

Watch:

8:42 a.m. ET, April 24, 2021

First case of Indian Covid-19 variant found in Switzerland

From CNN’s Arnaud Siad

A first case of the B.1.617 coronavirus variant first identified in India has been found in Switzerland, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) announced on Saturday.

“The first case of the Indian Covid-19 variant has been found in Switzerland. It was a passenger that was in transit at the airport," the office said in a tweet. "The adding of India on the list of risk countries is currently being evaluated."

The B.1.617 variant includes a number of mutations. The Indian Health Ministry has said that such mutations increase infectivity and aids in escaping immune response.

According to FOPH, the B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the United Kingdom is currently the most widespread in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, with 16,922 confirmed cases according to the latest official figures on Friday.

  

7:33 a.m. ET, April 24, 2021

India breaks global Covid-19 case record for third day running

From CNN’s Swati Gupta

A health care worker collects a swab sample at a Covid-19 testing center in Mumbai, India, on April 22.
A health care worker collects a swab sample at a Covid-19 testing center in Mumbai, India, on April 22. Satish Bate/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

India on Saturday reported 346,786 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total to more than 16.6 million cases in the country, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health.

The death toll for the past 24-hours hit 2,624, which was also a daily record for the country.  

Saturday’s tally represents the highest number of cases recorded in a single day anywhere in the world, according to a CNN tally of figures from John Hopkins University. It is the third day running that India has broken the record.

Before that, the global highest was 300,310 cases recorded in the US on Jan. 2.

India has recorded a total of 16,610,481 cases as of Saturday, including 189,544 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

7:26 a.m. ET, April 24, 2021

CDC and FDA lift pause on Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine

From CNN's Maggie Fox

The Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine is in Orlando on April 10.
The Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine is in Orlando on April 10. Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration said they had lifted their recommend pause on use of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine Friday.

The agencies recommended the pause April 13 after learning of six cases of a rare blood clotting syndrome among women who had recently received the vaccine.

Earlier Friday, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended lifting the pause.

“During the pause, medical and scientific teams at the FDA and CDC examined available data to assess the risk of thrombosis involving the cerebral venous sinuses, or CVST (large blood vessels in the brain), and other sites in the body (including but not limited to the large blood vessels of the abdomen and the veins of the legs) along with thrombocytopenia, or low blood platelet counts,” the agencies said in a joint statement. "The teams at FDA and CDC also conducted extensive outreach to providers and clinicians to ensure they were made aware of the potential for these adverse events and could properly manage and recognize these events due to the unique treatment required for these blood clots and low platelets, also known as thrombosis-thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS).”

The CDC said it now has collected reports of 15 such cases, all in women and 13 of them in women under 50.