Coronavirus live news: India reports over 200,000 cases for seventh straight day; Japan mulls new restrictions | World news

Japan’s government is considering a state of emergency for Tokyo and Osaka as new Covid case numbers surge, broadcaster NHK reported on Wednesday, a move that would enable prefectural authorities to impose curbs to try to stop infections spreading.
With thousands of new cases resulting from highly infectious strains of the virus, the government is expected to declare the state of emergency this week for the capital and Osaka prefecture, as well as the latter’s neighbouring Hyogo prefecture, a number of domestic media outlets reported.
Reuters: Japan has so far avoided the kind of explosive spread of the pandemic that has plagued many Western countries, with total cases so far at about 540,000 and a death toll of 9,707. But the latest rise in infections has stoked alarm, coming just three months before the planned start of the Tokyo Olympics and amid a sluggish vaccination roll-out.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is preparing to request an emergency period be declared from 29 April to 9 May, encompassing Japan’s annual ‘Golden Week’ holiday period, the Mainichi newspaper reported.

Osaka, the epicentre of a fourth wave of the pandemic, requested a renewed state of emergency on Tuesday, looking to cancel or postpone all major events to restrict the movement of people. Quasi-emergency measures were already imposed in 10 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, including the Tokyo and Osaka areas.

The government of Kyoto prefecture in western Japan is also preparing to request an emergency declaration, the Jiji news service reported. If enacted in all four regions, the emergency measures would cover close to a quarter of Japan’s population of 126 million.

Indian authorities scrambled to shore up supplies of medical oxygen to hospitals in the capital, Delhi, on Wednesday as a fast-spreading second wave of coronavirus stretched medical infrastructure to breaking point, officials and doctors said. Tuesday marked the seventh day in a row of more than 200,000 cases a day.

India, the world’s second most populous country, is reporting the world’s highest number of new daily cases and is approaching a peak of about 297,000 cases in one day that the US hit in January.

Delhi’s government issued a call for help on social media, saying major government hospitals only had enough oxygen to last eight to 24 hours while some private ones had enough for just four or five hours:

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

Japan’s government is considering a state of emergency for Tokyo and Osaka as new Covid case numbers surge, broadcaster NHK reported on Wednesday, a move that would enable the giant cities to impose curbs to try to stop infections spreading.

Indian authorities are scrambling shore up supplies of medical oxygen to hospitals in the capital, Delhi, as cases nationally soar above 200,000 for seventh straight day.

Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:

• The European Medicines Agency has stated that the overall benefits of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine outweigh any risks after eight cases of unusual blood clots, including one death, were reported in the US out of 7 million people vaccinated.
• The EU drug regulator also said a warning about very rare blood clots should be added to label of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after finding a “possible link” between the shot and the clots.
• The Netherlands will resume its use of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine from Wednesday, Dutch health minister Hugo de Jonge has announced following the European drug regulator’s statement earlier on Tuesday.
• Spanish health officials have rejected a proposal to widen the interval between first and second vaccine doses, Reuters reports, citing an announcement on Cadena Ser radio on Tuesday.
• Yemen started its vaccine rollout on Tuesday, with government-held areas in the war-torn country administering the first doses three weeks after initial supplies arrived.
• The US has warned against travel to India, where cases are rising to staggering levels and a new coronavirus variant has been detected.
• Authorities will impose a strict lockdown this week on India’s western state of Maharashtra, the worst-hit state in India’s latest coronavirus wave, Reuters reports two senior ministers as saying.
• Sweden will give people under 65 who have had an initial AstraZeneca vaccine dose a different vaccine for the second dose, the country’s health agency said on Tuesday.