COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 30 April

1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 150.5 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 3.16 million. More than 1.09 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

Brazil on Thursday registered 3,001 new COVID-19 deaths, taking its total since the pandemic began to 401,186 fatalities. It is the second country to pass 400,000 COVID-19 deaths, after the United States.

Britain has announced it will host a summit in 2022 to raise money for vaccine research and development. It said the summit with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) would support the body's goal of cutting the development time for new vaccines to 100 days in future pandemics.

Costa Rica will close non-essential businesses, including restaurants and bars, across the centre of the country for the next week due to a sharp increase in new cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations, the government said on Thursday.

The United States has administered 237,360,493 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Thursday morning and distributed 305,478,495 doses, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

Argentina has frozen the price of medicinal oxygen for 90 days and directed liquid oxygen producers in the country to give priority to the health system due to a spike in COVID-19 cases, the government said on Thursday.

A second wave of infections has hit the country, pushing its number of deaths from the virus to over 60,000 as the government tightens lockdown measures. Argentina, with a population of about 45 million, has had 2.92 million cases of COVID-19 so far.

2. Vaccination centres close in Mumbai as India posts another record rise in COVID-19

All vaccination centres in India’s financial capital of Mumbai were shut for three days starting Friday due to a shortage of vaccines, said authorities, as the country posted another record daily rise in coronavirus cases.

India reported 386,452 new cases on Friday, while deaths from COVID-19 jumped by 3,498 over the past 24 hours, according to health ministry data. This brings the total number of cases to over 18.7 million, with deaths surpassing 208,000

However, medical experts believe actual COVID-19 numbers in the world’s second-most populous nation may be five to 10 times greater than the official tally.

India is the world's biggest producer of vaccines but does not have enough stockpiles to keep up with the second deadly COVID-19 wave, despite the government planning to vaccinate all adults starting 1 May. Only about 9% of India's 1.4 billion people have received a vaccine dose since January.

3. World to spend $157 billion on COVID-19 vaccines through 2025 – report

Total global spending on COVID-19 vaccines is projected to reach $157 billion by 2025, driven by mass vaccination programmes underway and "booster shots" expected every two years, according to a report by US health data company IQVIA Holdings Inc released on Thursday.

IQVIA, which provides data and analytics for the healthcare industry, said it expects the first wave of COVID-19 vaccinations to reach about 70% of the world's population by the end of 2022. Booster shots are likely to follow initial vaccinations every two years, the report said, based on current data on the duration of effect of the vaccines.

Vaccine spending is expected to be highest this year at $54 billion with massive vaccination campaigns underway around the world. It is expected to decrease after that eventually to $11 billion in 2025, as increased competition and vaccine volumes drive down prices, said Murray Aitken, a senior vice president at IQVIA.