Here are some significant developments:
- President Biden criticized governors’ decision to lift mask mandates as “the last thing we need” and “Neanderthal thinking.” Speaking on Fox News on Thursday, Texas Gov. Abbott said: “People in Texas will continue to wear a mask even though there’s not a state mandate. We’re just in a situation now where government mandates are not needed because Texans do know the best practices.”
- Britain and several other countries announced that existing vaccines modified to target the new variants will not be subject to lengthy clinical trials. The Food and Drug Administration issued similar guidelines to vaccine makers last month.
- The vast majority of global coronavirus deaths occurred in nations with high levels of obesity, according to a new report linking overweight populations with more severe covid-related illness and mortality.
- A coronavirus resurgence across Europe has ended a six-week decline in new cases on the continent, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.
- Since it began, the pandemic has killed 517,000 people in the United States, and while 15.9 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine dose, the numbers of new infections have halted their steady decline.
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