India ‘Overwhelmed’ By Covid; UK Starts Unlocking

Reuters: India, Overwhelmed By COVID Surge, Fast-Tracks Approval For Foreign Vaccines
India is to fast-track emergency approvals for COVID-19 vaccines that have been authorised by Western countries and Japan, paving the way for possible imports of Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Novavax and Moderna shots. The move, which will drop the need for companies to do small, local safety trials for their vaccines before seeking emergency approval, came following the world’s biggest surge in cases in the country this month. (Pal and Das, 4/13)

AP: India Reels Amid Virus Surge, Affecting World Vaccine Supply
The Indian city of Pune is running out of ventilators as gasping coronavirus patients crowd its hospitals. Social media is full of people searching for beds, while relatives throng pharmacies looking for antiviral medicines that hospitals ran out of long ago. The surge, which can be seen across India, is particularly alarming because the country is a major vaccine producer and a critical supplier to the U.N.-backed COVAX initiative. That program aims to bring shots to some of the world’s poorest countries. Already the rise in cases has forced India to focus on satisfying its domestic demand — and delay deliveries to COVAX and elsewhere, including the United Kingdom and Canada. (Saaliq and Ghosal, 4/13)

Reuters: Cipla Doubles Remdesivir Production To Meet 'Unprecedented' Demand
India’s Cipla Ltd has doubled production of COVID-19 medication remdesivir to help meet “unprecedented demand” as the country battles a massive second wave of infections, the drugmaker said on Tuesday. India has overtaken Brazil as the world’s second-worst coronavirus-hit country after the United States, having administered about 107 million vaccine doses among a population of 1.4 billion. On Sunday, the country banned the export of anti-viral drug remdesivir and its active pharmaceutical ingredients to deal with crippling shortages of the medication in many parts. (Ravikumar, 4/13)

The New York Times: Britain Rejoices And Asks: Are Lockdowns Finally Finished?
In China it was fengcheng. In Spain it was el confinamiento. In France it was le confinement. In Britain it was known as lockdown, plain and simple — but it had the distinction of being one of the longest and most stringent in the world. On Monday, that finally began drawing to an end. After months of coronavirus restrictions that encroached on almost every aspect of daily life, the English celebrated a hopeful new chapter, many of them in what seemed the most fitting way possible: with a pint at a pub. (Santora, Specia and Nagourney, 4/12)

Axios: Brits Flock To Pubs For First Time In Months As U.K. Lockdown Eases 
People in England are enjoying some semblance of normalcy — and pouring their first pints in public — after COVID-19 restrictions eased at midnight Monday, allowing non-essential locations like salons, gyms and pubs to reopen for the first time since January. Britain's partial reopening has come amid one of the world's most successful vaccination campaigns, sharply curbing a COVID-19 outbreak that has killed more people than in any other country in Europe. (Allassan, 4/12)

AP: The Latest: Britain Meets Target On Jabs For Over-50s
Britain says it has hit its target of giving at least one dose of vaccine to everyone over 50 and others in groups at highest risk from the coronavirus by mid-April. The government says everyone in those groups has been offered a jab, and about 95% of eligible people have received a shot. More than 32 million people, over 60% of adults, have had a first shot and almost 15% of people in the U.K. have had both doses. On Tuesday the vaccination drive was expanded to people aged 45-49, the start of the second phase of the inoculation campaign. (4/13)

Reuters: England To Start Using Moderna Jab On Tuesday
England will start using the Moderna vaccine on Tuesday, which will be used at over 20 sites this week as the third shot that is available in Britain for COVID-19. Health officials started using the Moderna jab in Wales last week and had said it would be rolled out across the rest of the United Kingdom in the coming days. (4/13)

NPR: Germany Is Expected To Centralize Its COVID-19 Response. Some Fear It May Be Too Late 
This week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is making good on a veiled threat she issued two weeks ago to centralize pandemic management. Amid growing calls for Merkel to take control of the situation and bypass the country's 16 state leaders, Germany's parliament is expected to pass a measure this month that will allow her finally to take charge of the country's COVID-19 response. As the third wave of infection rages, some worry it may already be too late. Hospitals in Germany warn they're about to run out of intensive care beds, even as state leaders continue to relax coronavirus restrictions. (Nicholson, 4/12)

AP: WHO Urges Pause In Market Sale Of Captured Live Wild Animals
The United Nations’ health agency on Tuesday urged countries to suspend the sale of live animals captured from the wild in food markets as an emergency measure, saying wild animals are a leading source of emerging infectious diseases like the coronavirus. The World Health Organization, backed by key partners, issued new guidance saying that animals — particularly wild animals — “are the source of more than 70 percent of all emerging infectious diseases in humans, many of which are caused by novel viruses.” (4/13)

Stat: Europe Tries To Lower Drug Prices With Small Doses Of Transparency
For countries in Europe, negotiating a deal with a pharma company over drug prices is the equivalent of a David and Goliath matchup. Payers have little leverage to push back against prices and terms set by pharma companies, causing many to accept demands for confidentiality in exchange for a discount. Increasingly, though, some European governments are calling for an end to the secrecy in a bid to rein in drug prices. (Davis Pluss, 4/13)

Reuters: Japan To Release Contaminated Fukushima Water Into Sea After Treatment
Japan will release more than 1 million tonnes of contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear station into the sea, the government said on Tuesday, a move opposed by neighbours including China, which called it “extremely irresponsible.” The first release of water will take place in about two years, giving plant operator Tokyo Electric Power time to begin filtering the water to remove harmful isotopes, build infrastructure and acquire regulatory approval. (Obayahsi and Sheldrick, 4/13)