Coronavirus live news: India reports world record cases for second day; Japan to declare emergency measures | World news

Australia has received just 70% of the vaccine doses the government expected to have on hand by mid-April, according to a Guardian Australia analysis.

In a presentation published online on 14 March, the government included monthly forecasts for Australia’s expected vaccine supply, accounting for the disruptions to overseas supply that had already occurred leading up to that point.

Based on these forecasts, and figures cited by the health minister, Greg Hunt, for the number of doses received from domestic and international suppliers, there is a shortfall of about 1.8m vaccine doses:

Japan’s government is to declare virus states of emergencies in Tokyo and three other regions on Friday, exactly three months before the Olympic opening ceremony, as new infections surge, AFP reports.

The measures will be stricter than Japan’s last state of emergency, imposed in parts of the country from January, but still fall short of the harsh lockdowns seen in some parts of the world.

“We have a strong sense of crisis,” Japan’s minister for virus response Yasutoshi Nishimura said Friday.

The measures will ask businesses serving alcohol to shut or stop serving alcohol between April 25 to May 11, and also shutter major commercial facilities such as shopping malls and department stores.

An official declaration of the emergency is expected later Friday – with the measure expected to cover Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo regions initially.

Previous emergencies have been expanded to other areas after being announced, and experts say the term may be extended if the spread of the virus continues.

“We will take strong, brief and focused emergency measures,” said top government spokesman Katsunobu Kato, calling restaurants “key points of infection” after an expert advisory panel endorsed the proposal.

The measure will coincide with the annual Golden Week holiday, Japan’s busiest travel period. It could involve cutting some train and bus services to discourage movement.

India recorded the world’s highest daily tally of coronavirus cases for a second day in a row on Friday, while daily deaths from Covid also jumped by a record.

With 332,730 new cases, India’s total caseload has now passed 16 million. Deaths rose by 2,263 to reach a total of 186,920, according to health ministry data.

As many as six hospitals in the Indian capital, Delhi, had completely exhausted their oxygen supplies by Thursday evening, as another unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases overwhelmed health systems in major cities.

Hospital staff posted emergency alerts on social media and signs outside their wards warning that they desperately needed more oxygen to treat patients. Fortis Healthcare, a major provider, posted an SOS appeal on Twitter on Thursday night, writing: “Fortis Hospital in #Haryana has only 45 minutes of oxygen left” and urging the authorities to allow an oxygen tanker from Bhiwadi, south of the capital, to reach its hospital.

As infections have pushed hospitals to breaking point, some areas have been accused of blocking tankers of oxygen from reaching neighbouring states:

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

You can get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

India recorded the world’s highest daily tally of coronavirus cases for a second day in a row on Friday, while daily deaths from Covid also jumped by a record.

With 332,730 new cases, India’s total caseload has now passed 16 million. Deaths rose by 2,263 to reach a total of 186,920, according to health ministry data.

Meanwhile in Japan, the government is to declare virus states of emergencies in Tokyo and three other regions on Friday, exactly three months before the Olympic opening ceremony, as new infections surge.

The measures will be stricter than Japan’s last state of emergency, imposed in parts of the country from January, but still fall short of the harsh lockdowns seen in some parts of the world.

Here are the other key recent developments: