Coronavirus News Update – March 20: U.S. Hits 100 Million Doses One Month Early, AstraZeneca Shots Resumed
Trump’s Club, Mar-a-Lago, Partially Closed Due to Outbreak
The decline in new coronavirus infections in the United States is slowing and federal officials warned that the United States might be facing another surge in Covid-19 cases, just as some localities are loosening restrictions. The United States has trailed Europe by several weeks in surges, a pattern that has been consistent since the start of the pandemic.
As of Saturday, the world has recorded over 123 million Covid-19 cases since the first cases in December 2019 and as well as 2.72 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such data.
Since the start of vaccinations at the end of last year, the world has administered more than 390.2 million doses, the equivalent of 5.1 doses for every 100 people.
On Saturday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that 79.2 million people in the United States, or roughly 30.7% of the population over the age of 18, have received at least one dose, including 43 million people, or 16.7% of the same population, who have received both doses. Overall, 13% of the population has been fully vaccinated against the virus.
The White House said that the country had distributed its 100 millionth dose of coronavirus vaccine Friday, beating the original time estimate President Biden made to do so at his inauguration by one month.
Two teams of researchers, German and Norwegian, separately said they have found the likely cause behind several cases of brain blood clotting as a side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine and have put forth a possible treatment for it.
The news came as countries in Europe that had halted the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, including France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, said they had begun to distribute doses once again after the European Medicines Agency said it was safe to so.
It also came as U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson received his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday. “Getting the jab is the best thing we can do to get back to the lives we miss so much,” he said after receiving his first injection at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. Johnson had spent three nights in intensive care at that hospital last year as he suffered from a severe case of the coronavirus.
In the United Kingdom, that the royal family won’t gather for Trooping the Colour once again this year. Trooping the Colour is the Queen’s annual birthday parade and it is understood that alternate celebrations are under consideration.
Mar-a-Lago, the private club and former residence of Marjorie Merriweather Post that is now owned by Donald Trump, closed partially after staff members there tested positive for the coronavirus, according to several media reports. The closure affected the dining room and beach club, the Associated Press said. Several phone calls placed to the club’s main telephone number by a reporter went unanswered other than a recording at the beginning that said, “ This call is being recorded.”
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
