Coronavirus latest: Nearly 50% of US population has had at least one Covid-19 shot, says CDC
US dating apps — including Bumble, Tinder, Hinge, Match, OkCupid, BLK, Chispa, Plenty of Fish and Badoo — are including features to encourage vaccinations and help people meet people who, according to White House pandemic response chief Andy Slavitt, “have that universally attractive quality: They’ve been vaccinated against Covid-19”.
Ahead of the tourism season, Spanish and Greek islands are taking differing paths. Spain waited longer to open up to British tourists although it is pre-empting formal EU guidance. Greece is opening up earlier, vaccinating people on tourist-reliant islands and accepting visitors vaccinated with shots unapproved by the EU.
The coronavirus pandemic could be ended by the middle of next year by vaccinating 60 per cent of the world’s population at a cost of $50bn, according to the IMF. The $50bn would be made up of $35bn in grants from donor countries and $15bn from national governments. Read more in the FT’s Coronavirus Business Update.
San Francisco will try to ease an arts and culture funding gap caused by the pandemic. Normally, cultural programmes are funded through a hotel tax that was expected to bring in $60m over two years, but Covid-19 has devastated tourism. The city’s proposed budget will address that gap with a $16.2m subsidy over two years.
London’s Heathrow airport will open a dedicated terminal to process passengers arriving from high-risk “red list” countries, following criticism that queues in arrivals halls risked becoming “super-spreading” events. The UK’s busiest airport said it would start an arrivals space for red-list passengers in Terminal 3 from June 1.
The chief executive of AstraZeneca has insisted its Covid-19 vaccine has a future and hit out at the “armchair generals” behind “traumatic” attacks on the company. Pascal Soriot defended the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and offered new evidence that it could play an important role in the battle against the disease.
BHP is facing a revolt at its mining camps in Australia after a ban on late-night drinking sessions prompted a clash with workers’ unions and accusations that staff were “being treated like children”.The episode comes as iron ore prices touch records on rising demand, fuelled by the recovery of economies from Covid-19.
The international scheme many countries are relying on to get Covid-19 vaccines is scrambling to secure more doses after the Serum Institute of India said it would be unable to provide any more until the end of the year. The Covax programme was depending on SII for a third of the 2.2bn doses it hoped to distribute this year.