# Global COVID-19 caseload at pandemic high for second straight week, says WHO

“New deaths continue to increase for the seventh consecutive week, with over 93,000 deaths,” said the update. “The Southeast Asia Region continues to report marked increases in both case and death incidences.”

India alone accounted for more than 90% of both cases and deaths in the region, as well as 46% of global cases and 25% of global deaths reported in the past week, said the WHO.

India counted 382,315 new cases on Wednesday, according to its health ministry, and a record of 3,780 deaths. India has recorded more than 300,000 new cases a day for the last two weeks. Those numbers are widely understood represent vast undercounts given the strains on its healthcare system and shortage of tests.

Hospitals are still clamoring for vital supplies, including oxygen, and morgues and crematoria are overwhelmed by the numbers of dead. News reports have documented tragic scenes of patients dying in ambulances while waiting for ICU beds or oxygen. Western governments, including the U.S., have been flying in essential supplies.

An Indian delegation that was invited to attend a G-7 meeting of foreign ministers in London has been forced to self-isolate after two of its members tested positive for COVID-19, Reuters reported. India was among several non–G-7 countries invited to attend the event.

The nation of almost 1.4 billion has also seen its vaccination drive falter amid a shortage of supplies. So far, India has vaccinated just 2.1% of its population, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.

Don’t miss: Letter from India: ‘We live in mortal fear of COVID-19’

See now: India’s COVID-19 crisis is a ‘crime against humanity,’ says prize-winning author as nation sets new case record

President Joe Biden on Tuesday set a new goal of getting 70% of U.S. adults vaccinated with at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose by the Fourth of July, along with having 160 million adults fully vaccinated by that holiday.

“If we succeed in this effort, as we did with the last, then Americans will have taken a serious step toward returning to normal. That’s July 4,” Biden said in a brief speech at the White House. “But we’re not there yet.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine tracker is showing that as of 6 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, 147.9 million people had received at least one shot, equal to 44.5% of the population.

Some 106.2 million people are fully vaccinated, equal to 32% of the population, meaning they have received both shots of the two-dose vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc.
PFE,
-0.46%
with German partner BioNTech SE
BNTX,
-1.76%
and Moderna Inc.
MRNA,
-6.10%,
or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson
JNJ,
-0.38%
one-dose vaccine. The AstraZeneca
AZN,
+1.11%

AZN,
+0.59%
vaccine has not been authorized for use in the U.S.

Among Americans 65 and older, 38.2 million people are fully vaccinated, equal to 69.8% of that group. More than 45 million people in that age bracket have received a first jab, covering 82.9% of that population.

Don’t miss: Is herd immunity a realistic concept? Fauci calls it ‘elusive’ and ‘mystical’

The president acknowledged that it will be hard to get some groups of Americans vaccinated in the next two months. He said his administration’s focus will be on “those who need more convincing” as well as “adults who have had trouble locating a place to get a shot or who just haven’t gotten around to it.” Another focus will be children between the ages of 12 and 15 who are awaiting potential Food and Drug Administration authorization of a vaccine for their age category, according to Biden.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NBC News’ “Today” show that he expects the FDA to make that move “within several days.”

“Now that we can vaccinate those kids, it’s going to make it much, much easier to get those kids back to school without the anxiety associated with whether or not there are going to be outbreaks at that level,” said Fauci, who is also Biden’s chief medical adviser.

There was positive news from Canada, which on Wednesday became the first country to authorize the Pfizer vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.

See now: CVS banks on future gains from pediatric vaccines as hesitant adults drive recent COVID vaccination decline

In other news:

• German vaccine developer CureVac NV
CVAC,
-2.60%
said U.S. export restrictions enacted as part of the Defense Production Act are making it impossible for it to say how quickly it can ramp up supply of a COVID vaccine in Europe, Reuters reported. The company, which is aiming to submit an application for emergency-use authorization for its COVID vaccine in Europe in late May or early June, was referring to the U.S. law that gives federal agencies the power to prioritize procurement orders related to national defense, but that has also been used in natural disasters. Items in short supply include special plastic containers and nucleotides, which are the chemical building blocks that make up the genetic code in the vaccine’s active ingredient, the so-called messenger RNA. The EU has ordered up to 405 million doses of the CureVac vaccine.

• Pfizer Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine is on track to generate a whopping $26 billion in sales this year, making it the drug manufacturer’s top-selling drug and forging a new path into infectious diseases for the legacy drug company, MarketWatch’s Jaimy Lee reported. To put this in perspective, the company’s top-selling cholesterol pill, Lipitor, brought in $13 billion in annual sales at its peak, in 2006, and generated a total of $94 billion over a 15-year span, according to FiercePharma. 

See now: Young, healthy adults will be deliberately reinfected with COVID-19 to boost vaccine development

Don’t miss: What we know about COVID vaccine side effects in women

• WHO experts have “very low confidence” in data provided by the Chinese state-owned drug manufacturer Sinopharm on its COVID vaccine regarding the risk of serious side effects in some patients, Reuters reported, citing a document it said it had obtained. The document did, however, show confidence in the vaccine’s ability to prevent the disease. A spokesman said that the document on Sinopharm vaccine BBIBP-CorV was “one of many resources” on which recommendations are made, tentatively scheduled to be issued later this week. In Beijing, Sinopharm was not immediately reachable for comment.

• The Seychelles, which has fully vaccinated over 60% of its population against COVID-19, is bringing back restrictions amid a fresh rise in cases, the BBC reported. The population of the low-lying island group is nearly 100,000 people, with close to 500 new cases recorded in the three days through May 1. A third of the active cases involved people who had had two vaccine doses, the country’s news agency said. The rest had either had a single dose or were unvaccinated. By mid-April about 60% of the vaccine doses administered in the country were from Sinopharm, with the rest Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccine doses, Bloomberg reported.

• Americans who relied on conservative news outlets for their news in 2020 were more likely to believe conspiracy theories about he coronavirus, the Washington Post reported, citing a new study published in PubMed.gov. The study found that regular use of more mainstream media was linked to a decline in conspiracy beliefs. “Because belief in COVID-related conspiracy theories predicts resistance to both preventive behaviors and future vaccination for the virus, it will be critical to confront both conspiracy theories and vaccination misinformation to prevent further spread of the virus in the U.S.,” the authors wrote.

Latest tallies

The global tally for the coronavirus-borne illness rose to 154.5 million on Wednesday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, while the death toll moved above 3.2 million. More than 91 million people have recovered from COVID, the data show.

The U.S. continues to lead the world in cases and deaths by wide margins, with 32.5 million cases and 578,504 deaths, or about a fifth of the worldwide tallies.

India is second to the U.S. by cases at 20.6 million and third by fatalities at 226,188.

Brazil is third with 14.9 million cases and second by fatalities at 411,588.

Mexico has the fourth highest death toll at 217,740 and 2.4 million cases, the world’s 15th highest tally.

The U.K. has 4.4 million cases and 127,803 deaths, the fifth highest in the world and highest in Europe.

China, where the virus was first discovered late in 2019, has had 102,566 confirmed cases and 4,846 deaths, according to its official numbers, which are widely held to be massively underreported.

What’s the economy saying?

Businesses created 742,000 new jobs in April — the most in seven months — in another sign of surging U.S. growth as coronavirus cases shrink and gobs of federal stimulus course through the economy, MarketWatch’s Jeffry Bartash reported.

The increase in private-sector jobs reported by giant payroll processor ADP was the largest since September.

Many companies are trying to hire in anticipation of even faster growth in the months ahead, with many saying it’s a challenge to find the required workers. The U.S. grew 6.4% in the first quarter, and by all signs the economy is getting even stronger.

The increase in hiring fell a bit short of Wall Street’s forecast. Economists polled by Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal had estimated ADP would report 800,000 new private-sector jobs.

Read: Hiring is speeding up and jobs are coming back as the economy gains steam

The huge service side of the U.S. economy grew rapidly in April as states lifted business restrictions, companies hired more workers and consumers spent their stimulus checks.

Separately, a survey of service-oriented businesses such as retailers, restaurants and healthcare providers slipped to 62.7% last month from 63.7% in March, the Institute for Supply Management said Wednesday.

The ISM survey fell a bit short of Wall Street expectations. Economists polled by Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal had forecast the index to edge up to 64.1%.

Yet the March reading was the highest since the ISM began the survey in 1997, and any number above 60% is a sign of broad business strength.

“There was slowing growth in the services sector in April,” said Anthony Nieves, chairman of the survey. “However, the rate of expansion is still strong. Respondents’ comments indicate that pent-up demand is continuing.”

Read: Fed’s Williams says inflation to top 2% for rest of the year but decline after economy is recovered

The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.34%
and the S&P 500 
SPX,
+0.14%
were higher in afternoon trading.