May 11 coronavirus news

By Brad Lendon, Melissa Macaya, Melissa Mahtani, James Griffiths, Mike Hayes and Veronica Rocha, CNN

Updated 0007 GMT (0807 HKT) May 12, 2021
2 Posts
Sort byDropdown arrow
10:30 a.m. ET, May 11, 2021

India records 329,942 new cases as total tally edges towards 23 million

From CNN’s Manveena Suri in Delhi

A health care worker collects swab samples in Mumbai, India on May 6.
A health care worker collects swab samples in Mumbai, India on May 6. Satish Bate/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

India recorded 329,942 cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total to 22,992,517, according to figures released by the Health Ministry.

This is the second day in a row that the number of new daily cases reported has been below 400,000. India had previously recorded four consecutive days of over 400,000 cases. 

The country also reported 3,876 deaths Tuesday. Since April 28, the daily number of deaths has exceeded 3,000, with the total death toll at 249,992. 

India is the second-worst affected country after the United States with 32.7 million cases and ahead of Brazil, which has the third-highest number of cases at 15.2 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.

To date, 172,633,761 vaccine doses have been administered in India. With 37,159,467 people having received their second dose, around 2.85% of India’s 1.3 billion-strong population is fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry said this week.

2:20 a.m. ET, May 11, 2021

EU to hit AstraZeneca with second lawsuit over Covid-19 vaccine delivery 

From CNN’s Arnaud Siad 

Boxes of AstraZeneca vaccines are seen in cold storage in Oss, Netherlands on April 6.
Boxes of AstraZeneca vaccines are seen in cold storage in Oss, Netherlands on April 6. Rob Engelaar/ANP/AFP/Getty Images

The European Commission will take further legal action against AstraZeneca over delayed shipments of its Covid-19 vaccines on Tuesday, an EU spokesperson said in a statement on Monday. 

Stefan De Keersmaecker, European Commission spokesperson for health, food safety and transport, said: “The second lawsuit concerns the merits of the case: on the basis of the provisions of the Advance Purchase Agreement [APA], the Commission requests the Court to adjudicate whether AstraZeneca has violated the APA.” 

“Tomorrow, the introductory hearing will take place. The Court is expected to fix the deadlines for the submission of trial briefs and hearings,” he added. 

On April 26, the EU announced it was suing AstraZeneca over an alleged breach of its vaccine supply contract, a dramatic escalation of a months-long dispute over delivery delays that hampered the rollout of shots across the continent. 

The 27 nations of the European Union had ordered 300 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from the British-Swedish drugmaker to be delivered by the end of June, with an option to purchase an additional 100 million. But deliveries of the vaccine repeatedly fell short, sparking a bitter public fight over the terms of the contract. 

In his statement on Monday, De Keersmaecker said that the first case was an emergency injunction while the second is a lawsuit on the merits of the case.  

Regarding that first lawsuit, he said, “Given the urgent need of vaccine doses to continue the vaccination in the Member States, the Commission asked the court to require the company to deliver a sufficient number of doses. The court will only make a preliminary assessment of the case and assess whether there is an emergency to deliver doses. The hearing in this case will take place on 26 May.” 

He said the objective of the commission is the same through both lawsuits, that is, “ensuring, through legal actions, the delivery of a sufficient number of doses for the European citizens.”