Facebook Inc. temporarily blocked posts containing hashtags calling on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resign, then reinstated them on Wednesday, saying the action had been taken in error.
(CNN) There is a split scenario unfolding as the world battles the pandemic.
In countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, jubilant, newly-vaccinated people hug their loved ones after a long period of separation. In India, distraught families count their dead.
Sick people are being turned away from hospitals that have run out of beds and oxygen, as the number of new cases rises to record levels each day, creating a national crisis with global repercussions.
The more the virus spreads, the more chances it has to mutate and create variants that could eventually resist current vaccines, threatening to undermine other countries progress in containing the pandemic, experts warn.
Coronavirus in India: Out of control?
The accelerated phase 3 strategy for vaccinations now makes anyone aged above 18 years eligible for a shot. People can register via an app starting Wednesday.
Previously, eligibility had been limited to Indians older than 45, as well as health care and front-line workers.
The
Times of India reported that officials in many states are concerned that they will not have enough doses to get the new vaccination drive started.
The health minister said the government was doing all it could to remove restrictions on supplying vaccines to individual states and territories. While the dreaded disease is spreading like a tsunami, it was critical to ease the controls and allow a free hand to the state governments as well as the private sector. Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we decided to ease the vaccination policy norms, Vardhan said in a blog post shared by the Health Ministry.
In our news wrap Wednesday, federal agents searched the home and office of Rudy Giuliani, former president Trump s personal lawyer, as part of a probe of his business dealings in Ukraine. A North Carolina judge blocked the release of body camera video in the fatal police shooting of Andrew Brown Jr. The U.S. Senate voted to restore regulations limiting methane emissions from oil and gas fields.
Read the Full Transcript
Judy Woodruff:
In the day s other news: The COVID crisis in India piled up huge new numbers again, passing 200,000 deaths overall.
Ali Rogin has our report.
Ali Rogin:
Manoj Garg (through translator):