Biden’s new plan; variants dominate in minnesota: virus update

By Divya, 8.48am ET-U.S. President Joe Biden announced a plan to work with churches, colleges, businesses and celebrities to boost coronavirus inoculations. Variants now make up 85% of present cases in Minnesota.Israel has found a probable link between the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine and cases of heart inflammation in young men. The European Union passed 250 million vaccinations and is on track to reach its target of inoculating 70% of adults in July, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated that Britain remains on course to lift restrictions this month, but he urged caution. Germany is exploring ways to prevent a potential new wave after the summer, and it will probably need to buy Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, officials said.Key Developments:Global Tracker: Cases top 171.3 million; deaths pass 3.68 millionVaccine Tracker: More than 1.98 billion doses givenWeary seafarers come ashore in the U.S. for J&J shotsMelbourne learns to go hard and early with lockdowns: ChartSummer camps reopen to a stampede of stressed-out U.S. parentsLab leak theory’s revival risks upending any U.S.-China detenteVariants Make Up Most Cases in Minnesota (4:38 p.m. NY)The number of new cases is dropping in Minnesota, but an estimated 85% of have been traced to emerging variants of the virus, which have also sent a higher percentage of people to hospitals, said Kris Ehresmann, Minnesota Department of Health infectious disease director.Viruses constantly change through mutation and new variants of the virus that causes Covid-19 that were first identified in Brazil, India, U.K. and other countries are now spreading within the state, but not through exposure to travelers, Ehresmann said.“What we’ve been seeing is less evidence of international travel and more evidence that these variants are now circulating within the communities” of the state, Ehresmann said.Minnesota’s statewide case rate is currently 9.7 new daily cases per 100,000 residents, the lowest since July 2020, she said.Brazil Expects Fewer Shots, Globo Says (4:28 p.m. NY)Brazil’s Health Ministry said it expects to receive 39.8 million doses of vaccines in June, 3.9 million fewer than it had forecast, O Globo reported, without saying how it got the information.Until last week, the federal government expected to receive about 43.8 million vaccines in June.The estimated delivery of CoronaVac fell to 5 million doses from 6 million previously, while the forecast for AstraZeneca/Oxford shots was reduced to 18 million from 20.9 million.South Africa Monitoring Positivity Rate (4:12 p.m. NY)South Africa’s Department of Health said the positivity rate of Covid-19 tests has risen to 12.7% and the country had 5,782 new confirmed infections over the last 24 hours.“We will be monitoring this increase in positivity rate to see if it sustains,” the department said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the surge in cases was highest in Gauteng province, the country’s commercial hub.South Africa has vaccinated just over 1.1 million of its 60 million people.Source- Bloomberg