The latestAs India suffers through a calamitous coronavirus surge, the number of deaths looks to be even worse than officials are letting on. A Washington Post analysis of crematorium statistics in three cities found that the fatalities released by authorities appeared to represent just a fraction of all covid-19 deaths. The magnitude of that finding is amplified by the fact that India's official statistics are already shattering global records for daily infections. New data from Qatar suggests that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is effective against coronavirus variants, including one first found in South Africa that can evade parts of the body's immune response. The shots are 75 percent effective at blocking that variant and 90 percent effective at preventing infections caused by the variant first detected in the United Kingdom, according to the study. The inoculation was particularly protective against severe or fatal cases of covid-19. Good news for the summer: The pandemic could be at least temporarily under control in the United States by July if most people get vaccinated and keep taking precautions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new paper. “The results remind us that we have the path out of this, and models, once projecting really grim news, now offer reasons to be quite hopeful for what the summer may bring,” said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. Nations are feeling hopeful about the possibility of getting more vaccine supply after U.S. officials agreed to temporarily waive intellectual property rights on recipes for the shots. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai also said officials in Washington are continuing conversations to make those waivers last for the rest of the pandemic — although the U.S. does not seem to have coordinated with its allies. Europe's vaccination campaign is speeding up as supply there increases. E.U. officials are now administering about the same number of daily doses per capita as the U.S., but their totals are increasing while U.S. numbers are trending down. The turnaround has been credited to Pfizer-BioNTech's increased vaccine production. Other important news A Sydney man who scoured Australia's largest city for grilling supplies while infected with the coronavirus has caused new restrictions to be implemented after a month without community transmission. U.S. unemployment claims declined to their lowest level since the pandemic began for the fourth straight week as the economic recovery gains traction. A JetBlue passenger was hit with more than $32,000 in federal fines for refusing to wear a mask, throwing food and an empty alcohol bottle, and yelling obscenities at crew members. Federal health and housing officials have teamed up to administer coronavirus vaccines and tests in public housing and homeless shelters as they seek to ease access to the shots. The Seychelles, the world's most vaccinated country, is experiencing an unprecedented surge of the virus. Here's why. | 
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