Headlines
• EC issues legal proceedings against AZ over delays
• India records highest ever one-day tally of cases of any country
• Tokyo cancels annual motor show
• Italy is to start relaxing restrictions on Monday
• Covax only delivered 20% of vaccine targets
World news
• India has reported 314,835 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours – the highest one-day tally recorded anywhere in the world.
• The European Commission has initiated a legal case against AstraZeneca over its failure to meet delivery and contractual agreements for its vaccine.
• The European Commission has said it will not take up an option to buy 100m additional doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine. The Commission has ordered 300m doses and the option was to bring the total to 400m.
• More surge testing is under way in England after the discovery of another case of the South African variant. Households are being tested in Birmingham's Alum Rock, Glebe Farm and Tile Cross areas, says the Department of Health and Social Care.
• The leading cause of death in March was dementia and Alzheimer's disease in England, accounting for 10.1% of all deaths registered in March, and ischaemic heart diseases in Wales (11.8% of all deaths). Covid-19 accounted for 9.2% of all deaths.
• The global vaccine-sharing initiative Covax has so far delivered about 20% of the Oxford/AstraZeneca doses it estimated would arrive in countries by May.
• The Brit Awards will go ahead with a live audience next month, as part of the government's research into how live events might work after the pandemic.
• Driving tests are resuming in England and Wales. Most centres are currently booked up until August, with a backlog of around 420,000 tests because of the pandemic.
• Greece will allow restaurants, bars and cafes to serve outdoors from 3 May. Schools will reopen the following Monday and domestic travel will open up on 15 May.
• The European Centre for Disease Control has recommended that member states can consider relaxing mask and social distancing rules in some settings. Link
• Italy is to relax restrictions on Monday. The 22:00 curfew will stay but a colour-code system will return. Bars and restaurants can serve people outdoors in yellow and white regions, and travel for work or health in orange and red regions will be allowed. A green pass will enable travel for people who have been vaccinated, have recovered, or have a negative test.
• The organisers of the Tokyo Olympics have reported the first coronavirus infection linked to the torch relay through Japan. The opening ceremony for the Olympics is to take place on 23 July.
• Fake doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been sold in Mexico and Poland, the US drugmaker and an official say. The fake vaccines have been selling for as much as $2,500.
• Germany wants to buy 30m doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, the premier of the state of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer has said.
• New figures show that as of February, NHS Wales had 549,353 on waiting lists – a 19% rise in a year. Almost 218,000 had been waiting more than 36 weeks for treatment.
• 203,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine have arrived in Syria's capital, Damascus, as part of the WHO-backed global Covax initiative.
• French-Austrian vaccine developer Valneva today announced that it had launched a Phase 3 trial of its candidate vaccine.
• Australia is to reduce the number of its citizens able to return from India and other red-zone countries. The restrictions will result in a 30% reduction in direct flights from India to Sydney.
• Pfizer has said it has committed to make its vaccine available for deployment in India. The company said it had offered India a not-for-profit price for its vaccine for the government’s immunisation programme.
• Some hospitals in New Delhi have run out of oxygen.
• Tokyo has announced it will not host its motor show in October-November this year. The chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Akio Toyoda, said the group felt it was difficult to provide a safe environment amid surging cases.
• The top 36 football clubs in Germany will be required to enter compulsory quarantine training camps for the last two match days of the Bundesliga season.
