March 25 coronavirus news

French President Emmanuel Macron has admitted failures in the country's vaccination campaign and vowed to accelerate the rollout, days after the government was forced to impose new coronavirus restrictions to contain a surge of Covid-19 sweeping the country.

“We weren’t fast enough, strong enough on it,” Macron told Greek television channel ERT Wednesday, in a rare admission of failure regarding Europe’s vaccination efforts. 

“We didn’t shoot for the stars as much as others. I think that should be a lesson for all of us. We were wrong to lack ambition, to lack the madness, to say, ‘It’s possible, let’s do it’,” Macron said.

“You can give that to the Americans, as early as the summer of 2020 they said: let’s pull out all the stops and do it. They had more ambition than us,” he said in the interview, “We didn’t think [the production of a vaccine] would happen that quickly.”

He added, “Everybody, all the experts said: Never in the history of mankind was a vaccine developed in less than a year.”

On Tuesday, the French president declared the vaccination campaign a “national priority,” promising to put the rollout at the heart of the country's Covid-19 battle.

As of Monday, 9.3% of the total French population had been partially vaccinated, according to Our World in Data. 

Last week, French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced new coronavirus restrictions in 16 regions, including the greater Paris and Nice areas, as the country attempts to contain a third wave of infections.

Outdoor social gatherings of more than six people are now illegal in France, as part of efforts to contain the country’s Covid-19 outbreak, an interior ministry spokeswoman told CNN Thursday.

France’s interior minister Gerald Darmanin told police chiefs Wednesday to “be strict” with the rule of six, particularly in the 16 regions that are under lockdown lite, according to the spokeswoman. 

The new measures, which went into effect Friday at midnight, will last at least four weeks but are less restrictive than measures imposed in March and November of last year.

It took only 10 days from start to finish, from the time 28-year-old Graciane da Silva got sick to the time she died.

She was alone when she passed away in a Rio de Janeiro Hospital -- her mom, Maria da Penha da Silva Siqueira, thinks about that often.

"It never crossed our mind that it would happen to her," said da Silva Siqueira. "It was too fast. This virus does not let us say goodbye."

Da Silva, who left behind a 4-year-old son, died of Covid-19 in June of last year. At the time, hers was a slightly more unusual death.

During the first part of Brazil's struggle with the coronavirus, it was the elderly who made up the majority of those who were getting sick and dying from Covid-19.

But since the new year, Brazil has descended into its worst days of this pandemic so far. Daily death and case numbers have shattered previous records.

Brazil reached the grim milestone of more than 300,000 Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday, a day after recoding more than 3,000 fatalities -- its deadliest day of the pandemic so far, health ministry data shows.

In response to the mounting death toll, Brazil's health ministry has moved the goalposts for recording fatalities.

"After a record number of deaths registered on Monday, the Ministry of Health changed the criteria for the registration of deaths due to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in the Sivep Gripe system yesterday, causing the addition of deaths by Covid-19 in the state of Sao Paulo to plummet today," Sao Paulo’s government said Wednesday on their official website.

Amid the surge, a worrying pattern has emerged -- more young people seem to be getting severely ill and dying from Covid-19, doctors tell CNN.

The question is why: Is a new variant infecting more young people and making them sicker? Are young people behaving in ways that make them more likely to become infected? Could it be some combination of both?

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India has discovered a new "double mutant" variant of Covid-19, as the country struggles to contain a spike in cases that's raising fears of a second wave.

A "double mutant" variant is a virus strain that carries two mutations. It's not yet clear how many infections have been linked to this double mutant variant, or whether the strain is any more dangerous, but the ministry said "such mutations confer immune escape and increased infectivity."

According to the ministry, the number of known cases linked to the double mutation was not high enough to explain the current nationwide surge in infections,

India recorded 53,476 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday -- the highest single-day rise in five months. The last time the daily count was this high was October 23, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Ministry of Health.

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The United States has surpassed 30 million cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally.

As of 3 a.m. Eastern Time, at least 30,009,773 Covid-19 infections and 545,237 virus-related deaths have been reported in the US, per JHU.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.    

Vaccines: At least 169,223,125 vaccine doses have been distributed and at least 107,060,274 total doses administered, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine website. 

At least 85,472,166 people have received at least one dose of the vaccine and at least 46,365,515 people are now fully vaccinated, the website shows. 

CNN is tracking US cases here.

Drug giant AstraZeneca updated its data on how well its coronavirus vaccine works, saying late Wednesday the vaccine showed 76% efficacy against symptomatic coronavirus disease and 100% efficacy against severe or critical disease or the need for hospitalization.

The vaccine was 85% effective in preventing symptoms in volunteers 65 and older, the company said.

The numbers are not terribly different from data the company released in a statement Monday. On Monday, AstraZeneca said its Covid-19 vaccine showed 79% efficacy against symptomatic disease and 100% efficacy against severe disease and hospitalization.

As with Monday's data, the company has released them via news release and not in a peer-reviewed report or as a formal submission for US Food and Drug Administration review.

Concerns raised in US: On Tuesday, the independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) that reviews data from multiple Covid-19 vaccine candidates expressed concern over AstraZeneca's announcements on its latest findings, and, unusually, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases publicly announced those concerns.

Read the full story:

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New AstraZeneca report says vaccine was 76% effective in preventing Covid-19 symptoms

Five states have expanded coronavirus vaccine eligibility to anyone age 16 and older, and at least 22 more plan to open up to people 16 and older by the end of April.

Alaska opened up vaccinations to anyone 16 and older on March 9, Mississippi on March 16, West Virginia expanded on March 22, and Utah and state-run sites in certain Arizona counties opened on March 24. People aged 16 and older in Oklahoma can get vaccinated through the Chickasaw Nation’s vaccination program, but not yet through the state’s program.

As of Wednesday, Louisiana, Iowa and Washington are the latest states to announce plans to expand coronavirus vaccine eligibility to anyone 16 and older, announcing on Wednesday they will expand vaccinations in late March, early April and May, respectively.

For all states currently vaccinating anyone 16 and older, people ages 16 or 17 can only receive a Pfizer vaccine, as it is the only option authorized for use in that population so far. Moderna’s and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines are authorized for use in adults 18 and older.

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As some states open Covid-19 vaccines to all, many are still weeks away