Coronavirus live news: 168m children worldwide have missed school for a year; Brazil reports record deaths | World news

Dolly Parton has been inoculated with the Covid-19 vaccine that she helped to fund.

The nation music star, 75, broke into tune whereas getting the Moderna jab and tailored certainly one of her best-known ballads.

To the tune of Jolene, she sang: “Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, I’m begging of you, please don’t hesitate. Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, as a result of when you’re useless, then that’s a bit too late.”

Parton was credited with serving to fund the Moderna vaccine after donating $1m (£716,000) to Vanderbilt College medical centre in Nashville, Tennessee:

Joe Biden has mentioned that the US expects to have sufficient coronavirus vaccines for all adults by the top of Could, two months sooner than anticipated, as his administration introduced that the drugmaker Merck would assist produce Johnson & Johnson’s newly authorized shot.

With the bolstered provide, Biden additionally introduced he can be utilizing the powers of the federal authorities to direct all states to prioritize vaccinating academics and mentioned the federal authorities would supply the doses instantly by its pharmacy program.

He challenged states to manage at the very least one dose of the vaccine to all educators by the top of March as a part of his administration’s efforts to reopen extra faculties throughout the nation.

“We’re now on observe to have sufficient vaccine provide for each grownup in America by the top of Could,” mentioned Biden.

The president described the partnership between the 2 drug corporations as a “main step ahead” in increasing vaccine entry to each American, and likened the partnership to the spirit of nationwide cooperation in the course of the second world warfare:

Brazil on Tuesday posted a nationwide single-day record for Covid deaths with 1,641 folks dying from the illness, based on Well being Ministry knowledge.

That surpassed the earlier single-day excessive of 1,595 Covid deaths recorded in late July 2020, as Brazil faces a new peak in coronavirus instances and the hospital system is pushed to the brink of collapse.

Greater than 257,000 folks have died of Covid in Brazil, based on the official depend, making it the deadliest outbreak after that of the USA.

Roughly 10.6 million folks have been contaminated for the reason that pandemic started, based on the Well being Ministry, with 59,925 new instances reported on Tuesday.

Brazilian state governors mentioned on Tuesday they’d be a part of collectively to purchase Covid vaccines and bypass the federal authorities, which has been sluggish to roll out its vaccine program.

Worldwide, greater than 168 million children have had their faculties utterly shut for virtually a 12 months, based on UNICEF, as a consequence of coronavirus lockdowns.

One in seven children – 214 million – have missed greater than three-quarters of in-person studying.

Here’s what else the research discovered:

• Two thirds of nations that have remained largely closed are in Latin America and the Caribbean, affecting practically 98 million
• Of the 14 nations, Panama has saved faculties closed for probably the most days, adopted by El Salvador, Bangladesh, and Bolivia.

Unicef explains the affect of school closures which, they are saying:

Have devastating penalties for children’s studying and wellbeing. Probably the most weak children and people unable to entry distant studying are at an elevated danger of by no means returning to the classroom, and even being pressured into baby marriage or baby labor.”

Hey and welcome to in the present day’s live protection of the coronavirus pandemic.

My identify is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the newest developments for the subsequent few hours.

Our high line this morning: A staggering 168m children worldwide have had their faculties closed for the previous 12 months because of the coronavirus pandemic, based on Unicef. We’ll have extra on this quickly.

Listed here are the opposite key latest developments:

• Italy’s authorities on Tuesday ordered the closure of all faculties in areas hardest hit by Covid-19 and prolonged curbs already in place on companies and motion till after Easter amid worries over the extremely contagious UK variant.
• Turkey added a additional 11,837 new coronavirus instances to its tally on Tuesday, well being ministry knowledge confirmed – the nation’s highest every day determine since 7 January.
• Tunisia has detected its first instances of the extra transmissible variant of the coronavirus first found within the UK, the nation’s well being ministry mentioned on Tuesday in a assertion reported by Reuters.
• German chancellor Angela Merkel needs to start enjoyable coronavirus restrictions from subsequent week, a draft doc seen by AFP reveals, hoping that strengthened numbers of speedy antigen exams and vaccines will enable the nation to unlock.
• Venezuela has obtained 500,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine President Nicolas Maduro mentioned, in addition to protecting materials for healthcare employees.
• Nigeria’s first Covid-19 vaccines, Oxford/AstraZeneca pictures from the worldwide Covax scheme, landed within the capital metropolis Abuja in the present day, Reuters reports.
• The uptake of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine in France stood at 24% as of 28 February, a well being ministry official mentioned on Tuesday, effectively beneath the nation’s goal of between 80 and 85%.
• Spain will purchase 17m extra doses of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine as a part of a new deal negotiated by the European Union, authorities spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero mentioned on Tuesday.
• American pharmaceutical Merck & Co Inc will assist manufacture Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot Covid-19 vaccine in an settlement as a consequence of be introduced on Tuesday by President Joe Biden, a White Home official mentioned on Tuesday.
• Greek officers have introduced plans to develop the general public well being system’s capability to confess Covid-19 sufferers following an emergency assembly chaired by prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.