No One In England Died From Covid On Sunday; Country OKs Hug-Giving

Bloomberg: England Reports Zero Covid Deaths For First Time In 14 Months
England reported no deaths from Covid-19 in its latest daily update, a milestone that highlights the effectiveness of the U.K.’s vaccine program in stopping the spread of the disease. Sunday was the first day without any recorded deaths in England since the pandemic took hold in March of last year. More than 112,000 people have died since then, with the first wave in Spring 2020 followed later in the year by the emergence of a highly transmissible U.K. variant of the coronavirus. (Callanan, 5/11)

AP: Hugs To Be Allowed In England As Part Of Lockdown Easing
In less than a week, people in England will be able to give friends and family a hug for the first time since restrictions were put in place in March last year at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed Monday that he has given the go-ahead for that much-missed human contact from May 17 as part of the next round of lockdown easing following a sharp fall in new coronavirus infections. Other easing measures included the reopening of pubs and restaurants indoors as well as cinemas and hotels, and allowing two households to meet up inside a home. (Pylas, 5/10)

Reuters: EU Says Willing To Give AstraZeneca More Time For Vaccine Deliveries 
The European Union is willing to see its COVID-19 vaccine contract with AstraZeneca fulfilled three months later than agreed, providing the company delivers 120 million doses by the end of June, a lawyer representing the bloc said on Tuesday. The lawyer was speaking in a Belgian court as proceedings in a second legal case brought by the European Commission against AstraZeneca over its delayed delivery of vaccines got underway. (Guarascio, 5/11)

AP: Clock Is Ticking For EU Vaccine Certificates As Summer Looms
As strict lockdowns are loosened across Europe and many EU citizens dream about holidays in the sun, the 27-nation bloc has yet to agree on how to quickly implement a virus certificate scheme to boost summer travel and tourism. European affairs ministers gathered Tuesday in Brussels to assess progress in discussions with European lawmakers. A deal between the Parliament and EU countries is required in May to ensure the system will be up and running by the end of June, but several sticking points remain. (Petrequin, 5/11)

CBS News: Distracted Nurse Gives Woman 6 Doses Of COVID Vaccine In A Single Shot 
A 23-year-old Italian woman who was mistakenly given six doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine all at once was released from a hospital on Monday without having suffered any apparent adverse reactions, local health authorities said. The incident occurred on Sunday morning at the Noa Hospital in Massa, in Tuscany.   (Matranga, 5/10)

In other global covid news —

Bloomberg: New Outbreaks Threaten Status Of Places That Had Virus Contained
Taiwan and Singapore are reimposing pandemic restrictions as the return of a small number of virus cases challenges what have been some of the most successful places at containing and snuffing out Covid-19. In Taiwan, indoor gatherings will be limited to fewer than 100 people and outdoor events capped at 500 for the next four weeks, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control said in a statement Tuesday. It’s the first time the island has tightened anti-Covid measures since it began easing curbs mid-last year, and comes after the government reported seven new cases in the community and four in travelers from overseas. (Wang and Ellis, 5/11)

Bloomberg: Seychelles, Most-Vaccinated Nation, Says Active Covid Cases Surge
Seychelles, which has vaccinated more of its population against Covid-19 than any other country, saw active cases more than double in the week to May 7, raising concerns that inoculation is not helping turn the tide in some places. The World Health Organization said vaccine failure couldn’t be determined without a detailed assessment and that it was working on evaluating the situation. Kate O’Brien, director of the the WHO’s department of immunization, vaccines and biologicals, told a briefing Monday that the body was in direct communication with Seychelles and that a detailed assessment was needed looking at factors like strains of the virus and the severity of cases. (Sguazzin and Bhuckory, 5/10)

NPR: Brazilian President Allocates More Than $1 Billion To Produce COVID-19 Vaccines
Brazil, one of the worst-hit countries in the world by the pandemic, is directing more than $1 billion toward the production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, the country's far-right president announced Monday, Reuters reported. President Jair Bolsonaro, who has criticized lockdown measures and has told Brazilians to "stop whining" about the deadly virus, said about $1.05 billion will be spent on the inoculation effort. The announcement comes amid an investigation into Bolsonaro's role in his government's handling of the coronavirus crisis, which has killed more than 421,000 people to date — the second highest number of fatalities in the world. (Romo, 5/11)

AP: Hong Kong Won't Mandate Vaccine For Foreign Domestic Workers
Hong Kong officials dropped a plan to mandate foreign domestic workers be vaccinated against the coronavirus, after hearing international criticism the move would be discriminatory. Most of Hong Kong’s approximately 370,000 domestic workers come from Indonesia and the Philippines, both severely impacted by the pandemic. (5/11)

AP: Vaccine Deserts: Some Countries Have No COVID-19 Jabs At All
At the small hospital where Dr. Oumaima Djarma works in Chad’s capital, there are no debates over which coronavirus vaccine is the best. There are simply no vaccines at all. Not even for the doctors and nurses like her, who care for COVID-19 patients in Chad, one of the least-developed nations in the world where about one third of the country is engulfed by the Sahara desert. (Larson, 5/9)

AP: Czechs Light Nearly 30,000 Candles To Honor COVID-19 Victims 
Czechs lit nearly 30,000 candles at Prague Castle, the seat of the presidency, on Monday evening to pay their respects to the pandemic’s victims. The hard-hit European Union nation of 10.7 million people has registered at least 29,711 virus-related deaths. (Janicek, 5/10)

In other developments from China and the Netherlands —

The New York Times: China's Census Shows Population Barely Grew In 10 Years As Births Plummet 
Only 12 million babies were born in China last year, according to Ning Jizhe, the head of China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the fourth year in a row that births have fallen in the country. That makes it the lowest official number of births since 1961, when a widespread famine caused by Communist Party policies killed millions of people, and only 11.8 million babies were born. (Wee, 5/10)

Stat: Dutch Advisory Group Says Novartis Should Cut Zolgensma Price By Half
In a challenge to Novartis (NVS), a Dutch advisory body has recommended that the government not cover the cost of the Zolgensma gene therapy unless the company cuts the price in half and agrees that it will not get paid without a so-called pay-for-performance arrangement. The National Health Care Institute, known as Zorginstituut Nederland, explained in a statement that Zolgensma, which is used to treat a type of spinal muscular atrophy that is generally fatal in children, is a “promising drug. But the results of the research do not yet show that convincingly and do not justify the high price that the manufacturer asks for it.” (Silverman, 5/10)