May 1 coronavirus news

Fans look on during the second inning of the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 29, in Baltimore. 

After the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines for fully vaccinated individuals, gray areas remain. Medical experts answered viewer questions on CNN to clear up any confusion.

Q: If I’ve been vaccinated, is it safe to attend an event at a sports arena with 100% capacity?

A: Not right now, Dr. Peter Hotez said, but it may be much safer by the summer.

“If you really feel compelled to go to a sporting event right now even if you are vaccinated, given that there are going to be a lot of people surrounding you that [might be] still infected with Covid, you definitely want to wear a mask,” said Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

Q: Is it OK to attend a wedding if I’ve been vaccinated? 

A: Look at local Covid-19 transmission rates, according to Dr. Celine Gounder.

“When you are outdoors, at the very least, you need to be wearing a mask, and when you’re indoors for that wedding reception or ceremony, you need to be doubling up masks and social distancing,” said Gounder, an infectious disease specialist.

Q: Is it safe for my teen to go to prom?

A: Gounder said it is very important for prom participants to be wearing masks. 

“I would still be concerned, because it is going to be hard to maintain six feet apart, especially with that prom date. … I would prefer to see the 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds getting vaccinated before celebrating that,” Gounder said.

Q: How do you address a family member who has not been vaccinated and wants to be in the company of everybody else on Mother’s Day?

A: Set boundaries and use “I statements” if you feel uncomfortable, according to psychiatrist Dr. Kali Cyrus, such as “I would feel horrible if you came and got sick from one of us if you’re not vaccinated” or “I would feel horrible if you came and our mother got sick.”

If they love you, they should understand that, Cyrus said.  

Health workers install oxygen cylinders for Covid-19 patients at a makeshift hospital in New Delhi on April 30.

India should consider a temporary shutdown to handle its devastating Covid-19 surge, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.

“One of the things to be considered is to temporarily shut down – I mean literally lock down – so that you wind up not having more spread,” Fauci said Friday in an interview with The Indian Express. 

India reported over 400,000 Covid-19 cases in a single day Friday, breaking a global record.

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, compared the situation in India to a war. He said the country needs to focus on its immediate needs, like getting oxygen, supplies and personal protective equipment. 

“But also, one of the immediate things to do is to essentially call [for] a shutdown of the country,” he said.

A medical expert said she is unsure if the US will ever reach herd immunity in the fight against Covid-19, and said that officials need to target a specific group of Americans for vaccinations right now.

“So that’s why getting to herd immunity now as much as possible is really important, and because we don’t have the incentives in place … I don’t know that we’ll get there,” said Wen, a former Baltimore City health commissioner.

According to a CNN poll, about a quarter of adult Americans said they will not try to get a coronavirus vaccine. In the poll, 55% of adults say they have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while 45% have not.

Wen said she sees three buckets of people who have not yet gotten vaccinated: those completely opposed to all vaccines, those who have not yet been able to get a shot, and those who are still hesitant to receive it.

The US should be targeting those who actually want the vaccine but have not been able to receive it yet for a variety of reasons, including work or family responsibilities.

There is also a “big middle” of people who have specific concerns about vaccines.

“We need to address these concerns, ideally by people in their community who change their minds” and show how their lives have gotten back to relative normalcy after being vaccinated, Wen said.

“Just like people did the vaccine selfie, I think we need to have selfies of people now going to bars and restaurants with other vaccinated people to show what a return to 2019 pre-pandemic life could really look like,” she added.

Watch:

Thoroughbred racehorses compete in a turf race at Churchill Downs on April 30 ahead of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville.

The Kentucky Derby is back — but the race has limited attendance to about 40,000-50,000 spectators.

Derby-goers get their temperature checked and receive a goodie bag with hand sanitizer and other items when they arrive, and they need to wear a mask when not sipping on mint juleps, according to CNN’s Evan McMorris-Santoro.

Fancy hat-clad fans of the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby said they were excited and felt safe ahead of the race.

“I didn’t feel nervous at all, especially in our seats and everything. Everyone is pretty spaced out, and the mask mandate and everything, everybody is wearing masks. … I’ve been feeling pretty safe here,” Megan Henson added.

The record crowd was 170,000 in 2015.

Watch:

About 598,882 Americans will have died from coronavirus by August 1, according to the latest projection from an influential coronavirus model released by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. 

That figure is down from last week’s report, when IHME estimated there would be at least 602,723 cumulative deaths on August 1.

The new projection accounts for scaled-up Covid-19 vaccine distribution over the next 90 days and the continued spread of the B.1.1.7 virus variant in the US. Under that scenario, daily deaths are expected to decline through August 1.

In a worst-case scenario, with reduced mask use and increased mobility, the model projects 617,711 American deaths by August 1. If universal mask use was adopted in the US, the model projects 593,938 deaths by that time.

The team noted that virus transmission is currently increasing in 11 states – down from 34 when it released the last projection – highlighting Oregon, in particular.

The CDC said Tuesday that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks during certain outdoor activities.

The IHME team said US policy should focus on sustaining mask use until transmission falls, reducing risk of local transmission of the B.1.617 virus variant first identified in India and increasing vaccine confidence.

“Looking ahead to the winter of 2021, the level of vaccination achieved and preventing the circulation of highly transmissible escape variants will be critical to avoid a further surge,” the team said.

Police officers patrol a street with closed shops during a lockdown in New Delhi on April 20.

India’s union territory of Delhi has extended its lockdown a second time for another week amid an ongoing surge in Covid-19 cases and shortages of beds and oxygen at hospitals.

The national capital will continue to stay under lockdown until May 10, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted. 

The initial lockdown, announced by Kejriwal on April 19, was due to end on April 26.

Delhi is facing an unprecedented second wave during which local hospitals have struggled to provide basic oxygen supply to critically ill patients. 

Delhi reported 27,047 cases Friday evening, including 375 deaths.

The aid shipment from France to India left from Paris on Saturday.

A plane carrying the first shipment of medical aid from France to India departed from Paris on Saturday.

“There is only one solution to fight the virus: solidarity and cooperation,” Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, a junior minister in the French Foreign Ministry, told journalists while the aid was being loaded onto the aircraft.

“Hundreds of people contributed to the operation, this is the beautiful thing about it, it shows the solidarity from a lot of French people,” Lemoyne added.

The shipment includes eight high-capacity oxygen generators, each providing yearlong oxygen for 250 beds, liquid oxygen for 2,000 patients for five days, plus 28 ventilators and equipment for Intensive Care Units, the French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain said on Twitter earlier this week.

The cargo included oxygen generators as well as ventilators.

The oxygen generators — produced by French company Novair — will “enable hospitals to produce their own oxygen and, crucially, means they won’t have to buy their oxygen anymore,” Novair International Director Jean-Pierre Berlioz said.

“We have built these eight units in a record time, a real feat,” Berlioz said, adding that “this will save lives, so we are incredibly proud of it.”

He said the generators will be operational in India within a few days.

Additionally, liquid oxygen containers will be filled by a French company in Qatar and be sent to India by boat in the coming days, according to Lemoyne.

An ambulance carrying Covid-19 patients is at a hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 26.

A new wave of Covid-19 infections has struck Nepal, causing shortages of hospital beds in 22 districts, health officials said on Saturday.

According to Nepal’s Health Emergency Operation Center, the rate of infections has increased “beyond the control of the health system” among 22 districts, most of which are at India-Nepal border.

On Thursday, Nepali authorities have imposed a two-week lockdown in capital city Kathmandu in efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19. 

Authorities have also urged Nepali citizens not to travel internationally or domestically. 

Nepal reported 5,657 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, edging closer to the daily record of 5,743 in October 2020.

The country also reported 33 deaths on Friday, according to John Hopkins University.

India has received 150,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine as the country grapples with a brutal second wave of the pandemic, the government said Saturday.

Arindam Bagchi, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, said the doses, delivered to Hyderabad, would be the first of millions to be sent to India.

“Deeply value support from long-standing friend Russia. Over a decade of India-Russia special & privileged strategic partnership,” Bagchi said in the tweet.

India’s drug regulator, the Drugs Controller General of India, approved the Sputnik V vaccine for use last month.

“As [Russia and India] continue dedicated joint efforts to combat the Covid-19, this move is especially important to support the Indian Government’s endeavors to mitigate deadly 2nd wave & save lives,” the Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay Kudashev said in a tweet.

Eight people, including one doctor, died at a hospital in the Indian capital of New Delhi on Saturday afternoon after the facility ran out of medical oxygen. 

Speaking to CNN, Dr. SCL Gupta, the medical director of Batra Hospital, said staff had been messaging government authorities, warning them the hospital only had four to five hours of oxygen left.

At around 1:30 p.m. local time, with minutes left, they were running on oxygen brought in by the families of patients while emergency reserves were used for ICU patients.

Out of a total of 326 patients, 300 are hospitalized with Covid-19. More than 200 require oxygen support, Gupta added.

According to CNN affiliate News 18, the hospital received emergency oxygen supply from the Delhi government after facing a similar situation a week ago.

Gupta, who has been a doctor for 45 years, told CNN he had “never seen anything like this.”

Delhi hospitals have been facing a severe oxygen shortage as the number of Covid-19 cases continue to rise.

A total of 27,047 cases were recorded along with 375 deaths, according to a bulletin issued by the local health department on Friday evening.

Delhi has reported more than 20,000 cases every day for the past nine days. The total number of cases stands at 1,149,333, including 16,147 deaths.

Clubbers return to the dance floor on April 30 at a warehouse in Liverpool, United Kingdom.

Huge crowds of partygoers descended on a club in Liverpool on Friday, no masks or social distancing in sight.

They were there for fun – but also in the name of science.

Liverpool’s director of public health Matt Ashton told the BBC on Saturday that the event gave a “glimpse of what we think the future might hold.”

Ashton said it was “wonderful” to see the looks on people’s faces as they attended the event in the English city of Liverpool without coronavirus restrictions.

Ashton stressed the event was held as a scientific experiment and the attendees would now have to return to following coronavirus restrictions and anyone who does test positive would need to self-isolate as normal. 

“We have to deal with Covid still as if it is still around because it is, even if it is at low levels, so we have to be cautious in our approach,” Ashton said. 

Ashton added pilot events like the rave experiment is crucial in opening up the economy and getting back to normal.   

In the hills of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina's war dead are marked in row after row of uniform white graves.

In the hills above Sarajevo, thousands of uniform white headstones line the slopes, marking the graves of just some of the victims of the Bosnian War.

They’re a constant reminder of the bloody conflict in the early 1990s that claimed the lives of around 100,000 people.

This city, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was besieged for almost four years and 11,000 people died in Sarajevo alone.

Now the city is fighting a very different kind of war.

In recent months, the Covid-19 pandemic here has taken lives at a pace not seen since the siege of almost three decades ago. Between March 1 and April 28, 698 people have died of coronavirus in the city, according to the Canton of Sarajevo government – with an average daily toll of 13 and 10 in those respective months.

Read the full story here.

The United States has fully vaccinated more than 100 million people against Covid-19, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – a milestone that comes with optimism about the future.

“I think we can confidently say the worst is behind us,” the Dean of Brown University School of Public Health Dr. Ashish Jha said Friday on “Good Morning America.” “We will not see the kinds of sufferings and death that we have seen over the holidays. I think we are in a much better shape heading forward.”

The only thing that could threaten the outlook, he said, was the spread of coronavirus variants, making the push to increase vaccinations even more critical.

CLEVELAND, MISSISSIPPI - APRIL 28: Vaccine doses are prepared as prisoners at the Bolivar County Correctional Facility receive a Covid-19 vaccination administered by medical workers with Delta Health Center on April 28, 2021 in Cleveland, Mississippi. The prisoners, part of a population particularly vulnerable to Covid-19, are given a choice between the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the Moderna. So far, an estimated 23 percent of Mississippians are fully vaccinated, and the Mississippi State Department of Health has reported a total of 334 new cases as of April 27. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Related article 100 million fully vaccinated people are helping the US reopen. But many millions more are needed

A health worker wearing protective gear works on the nasal swab samples of election counting agents at Siliguri college counting center in Siliguri on April 30.

India’s state of West Bengal has announced a series of new restrictions amid a rise in Covid-19 cases, banning all social, cultural, entertainment and academic gatherings.

A notice issued by the government on Friday ordered shopping complexes, beauty parlors, spas, cinemas, gyms and sports facilities to remain shut. Markets are only allowed to operate for five hours a day from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Restaurants will also remain closed with home deliveries allowed. 

Only pharmacies and grocery stores have been exempted from the restrictions.

The new rules were announced one day after the state concluded voting for its state assembly elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party held several rallies with thousands in attendance between March and April, despite India’s worsening Covid-19 crisis.

Polling opened on March 27 with the last phase taking place on Thursday. All votes will be counted on May 2, when the results will also be announced.

Earlier this week, India’s Election Commission banned all victory processions during the day of and after the counting of votes. It also ordered all polling officials and candidates to provide negative Covid-19 test reports or to have had both doses of Covid-19 vaccine ahead of May 2.

Votes will also be counted in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam as well as the union territory of Puducherry, where legislative elections have also recently taken place.

West Bengal reported 17,411 new cases on Friday, bringing the state total to 828,366 cases since the pandemic began.

A health worker inoculates a woman with Sinopharm, a coronavirus vaccine, in Lahore, Pakistan on April 28.

Pakistan is drastically reducing the number of international flights allowed in the country in order to slow down the spread of the coronavirus, the National Command and Operation Centre on Coronavirus (NCOC) announced Saturday.

The NCOC said 80% of incoming international flights between May 5 and May 20 will be cancelled, with inbound air traffic operating at 20% capacity.

The decision was made “in view of prevailing global and regional disease trends” and considers the “current disease situation in the country,” according to the statement.

According to the Ministry of Health, Pakistan currently has 90,553 actives cases of Covid-19 with 146 deaths recorded in the past 24 hours.

Overall, Pakistan has reported more than 820,000 coronavirus cases, including more than 17,000 deaths.

The reduction in flights will mitigate “extreme stress on the critical care system,” NCOC said.

Anyone arriving into Pakistan will need a negative PCR test that is at most 72 hours old and all negative cases will undergo 10 days self-quarantine at home. 

The revised air travel plan will be effective at midnight May 4 and reassessed on May 18.

A registered nurse administers a dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine on April 17, in Gardena, California.

People who have recovered from coronavirus infections get a big boost of extra immunity from one dose of Pfizer’s vaccine, British researchers reported Friday.

The extra boost comes from immune cells that don’t develop at the same rate after natural infection – and it gives good protection against some of the worrying variants circulating, the researchers reported in the journal Science.

People who have not been infected need both doses of the vaccine to see the same boost, they found.

The team led by Dr. Rosemary Boyton of Imperial College London analyzed blood samples from health care workers at various stages. Some had been infected with coronavirus and recovered, while others had not.

The team looked for both antibodies and immune calls called T cells, which attack invaders, and B cells, which help produce new antibodies over time. They checked these immune responses after vaccination, and tested their blood samples against variants of the virus such as B.1.1.7, first seen in Britain, and B.1.351, first seen in South Africa.

These variants have worrying mutations in the virus’s spike protein, used to enter the cells it infects. B.1.351, especially, evades the human immune response and appears also to evade some of the immune response elicited by vaccines.

“After one dose, individuals with prior infection showed enhanced T cell immunity, antibody secreting memory B cell response to spike and neutralizing antibodies effective against B.1.1.7 and B.1.351,” the team wrote. They found 96% of their volunteers who had been infected already produced T cells that homed in on the virus after getting one dose of vaccine, compared to 70% of people who had not been infected and who had received just one dose of vaccine.

“By comparison, healthcare workers receiving one vaccine dose without prior infection showed reduced immunity against variants,” they said. Each person’s individual genetic makeup affected this response, they found.

Adding a second dose of vaccine to people who had been infected did not add to the immune response. Two doses have been found to greatly boost the immune response of people who have not had coronavirus. The team said their research supported the argument that coronavirus survivors only need one dose of vaccine to enjoy full immunity.

Workers in a government hospital in Quezon city on April 27.

A quarter of the population of the Philippines has been living under some form of lockdown restrictions for more than 140 days since March last year. 

More than 25.7 million people living in Manila and neighboring metropolitan areas have been subject to lockdown rules, which lasted for a total of 143 days over four different periods, official statistics show. 

The latest lockdown rules, which were imposed in mid-April, are expected to be lifted on May 14. 

During the 143 days of lockdown, only certain people were allowed to leave their homes, while children and senior citizens were generally not permitted to go out unless necessary. 

On the 75 days of the strictest lockdown, only essential businesses and industries were allowed to operate. People were required to show passes to visit supermarkets, and only some public transport was provided. 

The Philippine Statistics Authority estimated the country has a population of just over 100 million – meaning a quarter of its population has been subject to these restrictions.

As of Friday, the country has reported 1,037,460 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 17,234 related deaths, according to the Philippine Department of Health. 

Damaged equipment and furniture are seen in the burnt interior of a hospital treating coronavirus patients, after a deadly fire, in India's western Gujarat state, May 1, in this still image obtained from video.

Eighteen people are dead after a fire broke out at a Covid-19 hospital ward in India’s Gujarat state in the early hours of Saturday.

The fire broke out in the intensive care unit of the Welfare Hospital in the western state’s Bharuch district, according to Dr. MD Modiya, a senior district official.

According to Modiya, 16 of the dead were patients. Two were staff members.

Nearly 60 patients were in the hospital at the time of the fire, which broke out around 1 a.m. local time, he said. The remaining patients have been moved to nearby hospitals.

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined but initial investigations suggest a short circuit, according to Dr Modiya.

In a tweet on Saturday, Gujarat’s chief minister, Vijay Rupani, said two senior officers from the Indian Administrative Service have been dispatched to Bharuch to investigate the fire. The state government will open a judicial inquiry into the fire, he added.

In an earlier post, Rupani offered his condolences to the patients and staff at Welfare Hospital and offered $5,398 in compensation to the families of each of the victims.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also tweeted his condolences.

“Pained by the loss of lives due to a fire at a hospital in Bharuch,” he said. “Condolences to the bereaved families.”

A staff tapes a notice at a vaccination center in Mumbai on April 20.

India’s southern states Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have become the latest to postpone Saturday’s planned national Covid-19 vaccination rollout, citing shortages of shots. 

As of Saturday, everyone over the age of 18 is eligible for vaccination in India. 

On Friday, Telangana’s Director of Public Health, Dr. G. Srinavasa Rao, tweeted that the state wouldn’t be vaccinating people over the weekend as it hadn’t received doses.

In neighboring Andhra Pradesh, officials have acknowledged that it was not “practically possible” to start vaccinating those over the age 18 due to limited stocks.

“If we need to fulfil the commitment to the former age group batch, it is definitely going to take all of May,” Anil Kumar Singhal, Andhra Pradesh’s Principal Health Secretary, told reporters on Friday.

At least seven states and territories are facing shortages that are impacting the planned vaccine rollout.

Although some are run by opposition party governments, they also include Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, both populous states run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

But not all Indian states are facing issues.

Kerala, where India’s first case of coronavirus was detected in January 2020, has said its vaccination drive will continue.

The state’s chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, tweeted Wednesday that it had purchased an additional 10 million doses for the next three months. Those requiring their second dose will be prioritized and that Kerala’s “vaccination drive will go ahead, uninterrupted,” he added.

A health worker collects a nasal swab sample at Siliguri college in Siliguri, India, on April 30.

India on Saturday reported 401,993 new coronavirus cases for the previous 24 hours – the first time the country has surpassed 400,000 cases in a single day.

That brings the country’s total Covid-19 caseload to more than 19 million since the pandemic began, and marks the 10th consecutive day of more than 300,000 daily cases, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health. It’s the first time any country has recorded more than 400,000 cases in a single day.

India also reported another 3,523 related deaths, taking its total death toll to 211,853. It is the fourth day in a row the daily number of deaths has exceeded 3,000. 

As of Friday evening local time, 154,854,096 vaccine doses had been administered. A total of 27,889,889 people had received their second doses – equal to 2.1% of India’s population of 1.3 billion people, according to a health ministry news release.

India launched its vaccination drive on January 16, and expanded the program to everyone above the age of 18 on Saturday.

Australia has threatened to jail anyone entering the country from India – including its own citizens.

Anyone who has been in India over the past 14 days will be shut out of Australia as of Monday, according to a Health Ministry statement released Saturday.

If they enter, they face a possible penalty of up to five years in prison under Australia’s Bio Security Act. 

There are about 9,000 Australian citizens in India registered as wanting to return to Australia, according to the federal government.

Only Australian citizens, permanent residents and those travelling from New Zealand can enter Australia, with few exceptions.

All arrivals into the country must spend 14 days in state-managed quarantine.

A health staff prepare test-kit for guests at the Connect@Changi, billed as the world's first coronavirus-safe hotel and conference complex is pictured in Singapore on February 18.

Singapore will deny entry to visitors from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the country’s Health Ministry said in a press release on Friday.

From Sunday, long-term visa holders and short-term visitors who have traveled to or transited through those countries in the last 14 days will not be allowed entry or transit through Singapore, the Ministry said.

Starting Monday, travelers from Thailand will no longer be able to opt out of 14-day quarantine in government-designated hotels. 

Singapore banned entry from India last week following the surge of cases in India.

A health worker administers a Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine in Bidderford, Maine, on April 26.

The US should join an effort to force vaccine makers to waive intellectual property rights to coronavirus vaccines and treatments so more countries can start making them, a group of more than 300 public health experts said Friday.

The group, led by Columbia University professors Terry McGovern and Chelsea Clinton, said the so-called TRIPS waiver would allow local manufacture of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics. “Allowing countries to manufacture locally will speed access to vaccines and treatment, prevent unnecessary deaths, and facilitate a stronger, faster economic recovery,” they wrote.

“Until vaccines, testing, and treatments are accessible to everyone everywhere we risk recurring new variants, drug resistance, and greater loss of life and suffering at home and globally.”

It’s been an ongoing fight. Vaccine manufacturers have argued intellectual property rights are not the problem, but advocates note it’s not enough for companies to promise not to pursue their patent rights. 

“Unless countries cooperate and share medical technology to speed production, there simply will not be sufficient supply of vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments for many countries – particularly developing countries – to manage COVID-19. Many countries may not have access to widespread COVID-19 vaccination until as late as 2024,” they wrote.

India is experiencing the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak.

The country has had more than 18.7 million cases since the pandemic began last year. But experts fear the the real number could be up to 30 times higher.

Grieving families are struggling to keep themselves and their loved ones safe amid an overwhelmed health care system, and medical workers are stretched thin as some hospitals run out of oxygen and supplies.

The global community is rallying to help India push back against the pandemic, with countries around the world offering aid.

You can help, too. Learn about charities in the article below and click here to donate.

TOPSHOT - A health worker wearing a personal protective equipment (PPE) kit walks inside a banquet hall temporarily converted into a COVID-19 coronavirus ward in New Delhi on April 27, 2021. (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP) (Photo by MONEY SHARMA/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article The coronavirus is ravaging India. Here's how you can help

The Biden administration has confirmed the US will restrict travel from India starting Tuesday in response to the surge of coronavirus cases and variants in the country.

“On the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Administration will restrict travel from India starting immediately,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement on Friday. “The policy will be implemented in light of extraordinarily high Covid-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in India. The policy will take effect on Tuesday, May 4.”

Here are some key things to know about the policy:

The White House informed congressional offices on Friday of the move.

Read more about the announcement here.

As India’s Covid-19 crisis spreads, oxygen has become one of the country’s scarcest commodities.

In New Delhi, CNN’s Clarissa Ward met with people waiting for hours to get oxygen for their family members. It is in such short supply that the line went around the block. Some people told CNN they’d been waiting for 25 hours and still had not received oxygen.

Yet even once they get to the front of the line, there’s no guarantee they’ll get any oxygen because demand is so high, and supply is so low.

Volunteers were on hand to give water to those in line. “It’s the first time I’ve seen this situation in my lifetime,” said one volunteer. “This makes us very upset.”

India’s government says it’s trying to address the problem. It has started a program called Oxygen Express, trying to deploy liquid oxygen on India’s railways to cities that need it the most. New Delhi is not seeing the impact of those efforts yet.

On the ground, Ward said she is seeing a growing sense of anger, frustration and desperation. International aid began arriving Tuesday, with countries around the world sending oxygen cylinders, ventilators, medication and other essential supplies. But these supplies need time to be distributed and oxygen plants need to be built. For some of the hardest-hit cities, such as New Delhi, the lack of immediate help and accessible resources means the bodies will keep piling up until assistance arrives.