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Brazil’s death toll is the second highest after the U.S., which has recorded more than 556,000 deaths.
While Brazil has a population two-thirds the size of the U.S., experts say the country could surpass the U.S. record for weekly average coronavirus deaths by next week, which peaked at 3,285 in January during the winter surge in January, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, the U.S. this week reported the lowest number of COVID-19 deaths in more than a year as vaccine efforts make progress, with just 222 deaths reported Sunday. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19 percent of the total U.S. population has been fully vaccinated with 32 percent receiving at least one dose of a two-dose vaccine.
German government calls for a short country-wide lockdown
From CNN s Fred Pleitgen in Vienna
The German government is calling for a short country-wide lockdown to try and curb the spread of Covid-19.
“Every call for a short, unified, lockdown is correct,” Ulrike Demmer, the spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, confirmed on Wednesday.
“The variety of the current measures are not contributing to safety or to acceptance,” she added, highlighting the importance of a common federal approach.
Demmer went on to say the current situation was unsustainable, with too much pressure on German healthcare. “We need a stable incidence rate below 100,” she concluded.
AP
A man looks at the camera as he eats a meal donated by the Leao Xlll Foundation amid the covid-19 pandemic in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
AP
A woman receives a plate of food donated by the Leao Xlll Foundation amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, April 7, 2021.
AP
People wait in line for a meal donated by the Leao Xlll Foundation amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, April 7, 2021.
AP
A worker digs more graves at the Vila Formosa cemetery amid the covid-19 pandemic in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Wednesday, April 7, 2021.
AP
Workers use small bulldozers to dig more graves amid the covid-19 pandemic at the Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Wednesday, April 7, 2021.
Russia to supply 150,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine to Pakistan
From CNN’s Sophia Saifi in Islamabad
A health worker holds a dose of Russia s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in Karachi, Pakistan, on April 2. Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has announced that Russia will “soon” be supplying Pakistan with 150,000 doses of the Russian developed Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine.
Lavrov is currently visiting Pakistan on an official tour, his first to the country in 9 years.
Pakistan’s private sector has already purchased 50,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine which are currently being sold commercially.
Pakistan has recorded more than 700,000 cases of Covid-19 and more than 15,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has shrugged off criticisms that he is genocidal in his opposition to COVID-19 restrictions, as the nation recorded its deadliest 24 hours of the pandemic so far. Brazil smashed its previous daily record with 4,195 COVID-19 fatalities, health ministry data Tuesday showed marking the highest death count in the world for that 24-hour period, according to Johns Hopkins University. The new figures pushed Brazil s total pandemic death toll to almost 337,000. Additionally, nearly 87,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported across the country, raising the total tally of infections to 13,100,580, according to the health ministry. Bolsonaro, who has continued to downplay the seriousness of his country s health crisis, brushed off claims he was to blame for the country s spiraling death toll. The President has repeatedly opposed lockdowns and restrictive measures, and criticized governors and mayors with insulting language for implementing them.