Concerns Mount About Japan’s Covid Situation As Olympics Nears Start Line

CNN: With Tokyo Olympics Nearing, Japan Considers Extending Coronavirus State Of Emergency 
Japan's government will decide Friday whether to extend a state of emergency across much of the country, nearly two months before the planned start of the delayed Tokyo Summer Olympics. The country reintroduced emergency measures in April as it grappled with a fourth wave of coronavirus cases -- one that has yet to diminish. (Kobayashi, Nishiyama and Jozuka, 5/27)

CNN: Tokyo Olympics: US Health Experts Say Current Plans Not Informed By 'Best Scientific Evidence' 
With less than two months until the Tokyo Olympics begin, a group of US public health experts are among the latest to warn that pushing forward with the rescheduled 2020 Games puts athletes -- and the public -- at risk amid the pandemic. The experts, including Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy among other scientists, call for "urgent action" to assess the Covid-19 risks associated with the Games and the additional measures that could be put in place to mitigate those risks. (Howard, 5/26)

AP: Physician Warns Tokyo Olympics Could Spread Variants
A physician representing a Japanese medical body warned Thursday that holding the postponed Tokyo Olympics in two months could lead to the spread of variants of the coronavirus. Dr. Naoto Ueyama, chairman of the Japan Doctors Union, said the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government had underestimated the risks of bringing 15,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes into the country, joined by tens of thousands of officials, judges, media and broadcasters from more than 200 countries and territories. (Wade, 5/27)

AP: Taiwan Struggles With Testing Backlog Amid Largest Outbreak
Facing Taiwan’s largest outbreak of the pandemic and looking for rapid virus test kits, the mayor of the island’s capital did what anyone might do: He Googled it. “If you don’t know, and you try to know something, please check Google,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je quipped. Praised for its success at keeping the virus away for more than a year, Taiwan had until May recorded just 1,128 cases and 12 deaths. But the number of locally transmitted cases started growing this month and it soon became clear that the central government was ill prepared not only to contain the virus, but to even detect it on a large scale due to a lack of investment in rapid testing. (Wu, 5/27)

Axios: Former Boris Johnson Aide Gives Scathing Testimony On U.K.'s Early COVID Response 
Dominic Cummings, the former chief strategist to U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, delivered bombshell testimony Wednesday on the British government's early response to the coronavirus, apologizing for falling "disastrously short" in a way that cost thousands of lives. Cummings, a controversial figure known as the architect behind the Brexit campaign, has become one of Johnson's most troublesome critics since resigning from government after a bitter power struggle last year. (Basu, 5/26)

AP: EU Seeks Big Penalties In Suit Over AstraZeneca Deliveries
The European Union took on vaccine producer AstraZeneca in a Brussels court on Wednesday and accused the drugmaker of acting in bad faith by providing shots to other nations when it had promised them for fast delivery to the EU’s 27 member countries. During an emergency hearing, the EU asked for the shipment of missing doses to the region and accused AstraZeneca of postponing deliveries so the Anglo-Swedish company could service others, and Britain in particular. AstraZeneca lawyers denied any wrongdoing and said the pharmaceutical firm has always done its best to fulfill delivery commitments. (Petrequin, 5/26)

Reuters: UK Health Minister To Face Parliament After COVID Lies Claim
British health minister Matt Hancock will face a grilling from lawmakers on Thursday after the prime minister's former chief aide accused him of lying and said he should have been sacked for repeated failings over the COVID-19 pandemic. Dominic Cummings, who was Prime Minister Boris Johnson's right hand man until late last year, delivered a withering attack on his former boss and Hancock during seven hours of testimony before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, saying their ineptitude led to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths. (5/27)

Reuters: India Scraps Local Trials For COVID Shots To Fast-Track Imports As It Battles Second Wave
India on Thursday scrapped local trials for “well-established” foreign coronavirus vaccines to fast-track imports as it battles a devastating second wave of the pandemic that has killed tens of thousands of people. India recorded its highest COVID-19 death toll since the pandemic began last year in May, accounting for just over a third of the overall total. India has been inoculating its people with the AstraZeneca vaccine produced locally at the Serum Institute, Covaxin made by local firm Bharat Biotech, and has begun rolling out Russia's Sputnik V. (Arora and Ravikumar, 5/27)

CNBC: Russia Covid Vaccines Won't Be Compulsory Putin Says Amid Skepticism
Russia will not make Covid vaccines compulsory for its citizens, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, adding that people should see the necessity of immunization on their own. Some officials in Russia had proposed making vaccination mandatory, but Putin said Wednesday that the controversial measure would be “counterproductive.” (Ellyatt, 5/27)