(Bloomberg) Russia reported 13,510 new Covid-19 cases in the past day, the highest since Feb. 15. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said earlier the capital was opening more hospital beds to cope with the spike, but he insisted a new lockdown was unnecessary. Executives from the U.K. hospitality industry warned Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak that a delay to the country’s planned reopening on June 21 could lead to “a wave of business.
(Bloomberg) Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines intended for South Africa remain suspended following a U.S. ruling that ingredients for the country’s doses may have been contaminated during production in a plant in Baltimore. Saudi Arabia will only allow nationals and residents to attend the annual Hajj for the second year in a row to contain the spread of the coronavirus and its variants inside the kingdom. Executives from the U.K..
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed his Chinese counterpart in a phone call Friday to allow a new expert-led study into the origins of Covid-19. But China’s top diplomat called theories that the virus leaked from a Wuhan lab absurd, according to readouts from both sides.