Coronavirus: Latest Global Developments

Paris, April 6 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2021 ) :Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: - AstraZeneca thrombosis link - A top official in the European Medicines Agency says that there is a link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots.

- Travel bubble - New Zealand has approved quarantine-free travel with Australia, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says, completing a two-way corridor for travel between the largely Covid-free neighbours.

- N.Korea no-show - North Korea will not attend this year's Tokyo Olympics because of the pandemic, blowing the final whistle on Seoul's hopes of using the Games to restart talks with its nuclear-armed neighbour.

- Troubled tests - And in another blow to the Games, a water polo test event is cancelled because sport officials cannot enter Japan due to restrictions, reports say.

- Bogota battles - Eight million inhabitants of Bogota will be put under strict lockdown from Saturday, mayor Claudia Lopez announces as the Colombian city battles a third wave.

- Full house - The Texas Rangers baseball team play out their home opener to a packed house with a near-capacity crowd of around 40,000 fans -- the largest crowd at a US sporting event since the start of the pandemic.

- Air France boost - The EU approves a plan by the French government to inject up to four billion Euros into pandemic-hit Air France.

- Outlier state - Germans in the tiny border state of Saarland return to cafes, cinemas and cultural venues even as the rest of the country faces tighter restrictions amid rising case numbers.

- Georgia PM positive - Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says he has tested positive amid a fresh spike in cases in the Caucasus nation.

- Many may miss out - Lebanon's vaccine rollout risks marginalising refugees and migrant workers who make up a third of the crisis-hit country's population, warns Human Rights Watch.

- H&M cuts - Swedish fashion giant H&M is to lay off more than 1,000 staff in Spain who are currently on furlough due to the pandemic, a union says.

- 2.8 million dead -At least 2,862,002 people have died of Covid-19 around the world since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally from official sources.

The US is the worst-affected country with 555,615 deaths, followed by Brazil with 332,752, Mexico with 204,399, India with 165,547 and Britain with 126,862.