Iran bans flights from India and Pakistan over latest COVID-19 surge

Oriana Gonzalez
·1 min read

Iran on Saturday banned all flights to and from India and Pakistan to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Islamic Republic News Agency reports.

Details: Mohammad Hassan Zibakhsh, a spokesperson for Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization told IRNA that the ban will be effective starting at midnight. Zibakhsh said there are now flight restrictions to and from 41 countries.

Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free

  • Canada also banned flights from both countries on Friday.

Catch up quick: India is currently facing the world's worst coronavirus surge. This week, the nation set a new record for the world's highest number of cases reported in a single day.

Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free.

Recommended Stories

  • Zanzibar halts fishing as storm Jobo approaches Tanzania

    Jobo is downgraded from a cyclone but heavy rains, strong winds and possible floods are forecast.

  • AP Photos: Vaccines offer hope amid new wave in Argentina

    Carmela Corleto kept a strict quarantine for more than a year to avoid catching the new coronavirus, replacing the company of family and friends with books, crossword puzzles and soap operas. Then, she had to wait several months to get vaccinated because of a shortage of shots in Argentina. The 71-year-old finally got her first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday just as Argentina is going through a strong new wave of the pandemic with an average of 26,000 new daily cases.

  • Merkel urges Germans to accept 'tough' virus restrictions

    Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Germans to accept nationwide pandemic restrictions that took effect at midnight, resulting in a 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew and further limits on personal contacts and access to nonessential stores in regions with high infections. Germany’s disease control agency on Friday reported 23,392 newly confirmed cases and 286 more deaths from COVID-19. Since the start of the pandemic, Germany has recorded almost 3.3 million cases and 81,444 deaths.

  • Israel airstrikes hit Gaza after rocket attacks, clashes intensify in Jerusalem

    The United Nations said it was working with all parties to deescalate tensions.

  • Canada bans flights from India, Pakistan for 30 days; pregnant women with COVID at higher risk of death, study says: Live updates

    India sets a global record for new infections as the world's second-most populous country endures a deadly coronavirus surge. Latest COVID-19 news.

  • Key moments in closing arguments of Chauvin trial

    After nearly three weeks of testimony including heart-wrenching bystander statements and technical medical information, attorneys in Derek Chauvin's murder trial presented their closing arguments. Prosecutors played to emotion as they sketched moments from George Floyd’s life and described his struggle under Chauvin's knee. Defense attorney Eric Nelson tried to raise doubts about Floyd’s cause of death, and to portray Chauvin as a “reasonable officer.”

  • Hospitals in India facing oxygen shortage amid world's worst COVID-19 surge

    Hospitals in New Delhi are pleading on social media for the government to provide more oxygen tanks and other medical supplies as India battles the world's worst coronavirus surge, AP reported on Friday.Driving the news: The country reported 314,835 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, setting a record for the world's highest single-day number of new cases for the second straight day. Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for freeWhile 2.7 million vaccine doses are administered daily, less than 10% of the population have gotten their first shot, AP noted.India has reported more than 16 million coronavirus cases and over 186,000 deaths since the pandemic began, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.The big picture: "Understaffed hospitals are overflowing with patients. Medical oxygen is in short supply. Intensive care units are full. Nearly all ventilators are in use, and the dead are piling up at crematoriums and graveyards," AP reported.Some people are being turned away from hospitals, which have been overrun with cases amid shortages in oxygen and other vital supplies, per Reuters. Meanwhile, the government has started running special trains to deliver oxygen tanks to meet the shortages in healthcare facilities. A fire in an ICU unit at a hospital on the outskirts of Mumbai early Friday killed 13 coronavirus patients, per AP. What they're saying: "We have surplus oxygen at plants which are far off from places where it is needed right now. Trucking oxygen is a challenge from these plants,” Saket Tiku, president of the All India Industrial Gases Manufacturers Association, told AP. “We have ramped up the production as oxygen consumption is rising through the roof. But we have limitations and the biggest challenge right now is transporting it to where it's urgently needed. ”Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free.

  • 'Out of control': India experiencing massive covid surge

    India reported a global record of more than 314,000 new infections Thursday, with the country’s health care system ‘breaking,’ per Sky News.

  • Algerian author Said Djabelkhir sentenced to jail for offending Islam

    Said Djabelkhir is out on bail and says he will appeal against his three-year prison sentence.

  • The big Pentagon internet mystery now partially solved

    A very strange thing happened on the internet the day President Joe Biden was sworn in. A shadowy company residing at a shared workspace above a Florida bank announced to the world’s computer networks that it was now managing a colossal, previously idle chunk of the internet owned by the U.S. Department of Defense. It’s also more than twice the size of the internet space actually used by the Pentagon.

  • Owner of Florida mansion calls police when wedding party turns up without booking

    ‘They keep harassing me, calling me. They say they’re having wedding here and it’s God’s message,’ property owner tells 911 dispatcher

  • Vaccines Made at Troubled Baltimore Plant Were Shipped to Canada and Mexico

    WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said Friday that it did not know that a Baltimore factory had discarded millions of possibly contaminated doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine when President Joe Biden last month released the company to ship vaccines manufactured there to Mexico and Canada. Canadian and Mexican officials said Friday that they had assurances from AstraZeneca that the millions of doses they received were safe. Some of the doses have been distributed to the public in both countries, the officials said. Biden administration officials said they had not vouched for the quality of the AstraZeneca vaccine doses made at the Baltimore plant, leaving the decision on whether to use them to the company and the Canadians and Mexicans themselves. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times The administration, however, did inform the two countries of another episode of possible contamination, involving a similar vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson, that occurred more recently at the same Baltimore plant. Vaccine production at the plant, operated by Emergent BioSolutions, has been halted. Up to 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine needed to be discarded because of the contamination fears. This week, inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration said Emergent had failed to fully investigate the episode, and they also found fault with the plant’s disinfection practices, size and design, handling of raw materials and training of workers. The FDA has informed regulators in other countries about its findings, according to an FDA spokesperson who also said the agency was “providing additional information as requested” and would “continue to work closely with its international partners.” The spokesperson said that products not authorized for use in this country, like the AstraZeneca vaccine, “may nonetheless be exported if certain conditions are met,” but would not specify what those were. Other administration officials, noting that AstraZeneca had not applied for emergency authorization of its vaccine in the United States, said it was up to the company and regulators in Canada and Mexico to determine whether the exports and the manufacturing facility were safe. As news of the Emergent plant’s troubles rippled across Canada and Mexico, leaders of both countries sought to reassure their citizens about the vaccines manufactured by the company. Shortly before he headed to a drugstore Friday to receive a shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said he was confident that supplies sent by the United States were safe. “We have confirmed that the doses received from the United States a number of weeks ago are not, have not been subjected to the challenges that have come up currently in the Baltimore plant,” Trudeau said at a news conference. “There is absolutely no danger of that for Canadians.” In Mexico, a senior government official said AstraZeneca had provided documentation indicating that the doses had passed quality tests and were not affected by issues at the Emergent factory. “We are sure that the product that was applied to Mexican people was a safe, quality product,” Mexico’s coronavirus czar, Hugo López-Gatell, said at a briefing Friday night. The Biden administration’s acknowledgment that it had been unaware of the discarding of the lots of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which The New York Times reported occurred between October and January, underscores concerns about the government’s oversight of a key contractor in the federal response to the pandemic. U.S. officials bet on Emergent to manufacture both the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines even as a series of audits identified serious quality shortcomings at the plant. The FDA has still not cleared the Emergent plant to release doses of either vaccine in the United States and has not indicated when, or whether, it will do so. While AstraZeneca’s vaccine is not authorized for use in the United States, tens of millions of doses of it have been sitting idly at manufacturing plants. The White House said last month that the federal government, which committed last year to buying 300 million doses from AstraZeneca, intended to “loan” 2.5 million doses to Mexico and 1.5 million doses to Canada. U.S. officials say the two countries were eager for the doses and have since expressed interest in getting more, especially because of a recent drop in supplies from India, another major supplier of vaccine. Canadian officials, however, said Friday that the nation’s own regulators were reviewing the recent FDA report on its inspection of the Baltimore facility, which “will inform whether additional measures are required to ensure the safety of future supply.” Emergent is a longtime government contractor that has virtually cornered a lucrative market in federal spending on biodefense. The Times reported last month that sales of its anthrax vaccines to the Strategic National Stockpile accounted for nearly half of the stockpile’s half-billion-dollar annual budget throughout most of the last decade, leaving the federal government with less money to buy supplies needed in a pandemic. The government awarded the company a $163 million contract in 2012 to ready the Baltimore facility to mass-produce vaccines in response to a pandemic. In June, the Trump administration awarded the company a $628 million contract, mostly to reserve space at the Baltimore plant. But The Times earlier this month documented a string of problems at the plant, many of which were known to federal officials. Shortly after the contract was awarded to Emergent in June, a top federal pandemic official warned that the Baltimore plant lacked enough trained staff members and had a record of problems with quality control. A copy of the official’s assessment cited “key risks” in relying on Emergent to handle the production of the vaccines. The Times also reported that Emergent had discarded AstraZeneca’s vaccine — five lots in all, each the equivalent of 2 million to 3 million doses — because of contamination or suspected contamination, according to internal logs, a government official and a former company supervisor. A senior federal health official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said Friday that the White House and senior leaders at the Department of Health and Human Services learned of the discarded AstraZeneca lots only after the Times report. Last month, the Times reported that workers at the Emergent plant in Baltimore had conflated ingredients of the two vaccines, ruining up to 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Federal officials ordered major changes to the plant after those revelations. The Biden administration ordered Emergent to stop making the AstraZeneca vaccine, and put Johnson & Johnson in charge of running the facility. In a statement late Thursday, AstraZeneca said that the doses delivered to Mexico and Canada “met the stringent requirements we are required to follow,” and that “required safety tests and quality control measures” were conducted at each step of the production process and before the batches were released. In the statement, which was reported earlier by CBS News, AstraZeneca said, “The quality information from the manufacturing plants involved was properly submitted to the relevant regulatory agencies in each country to support authorization and approval of shipments from this supply chain.” This article originally appeared in The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company

  • Putin: 'Unfriendly' embassies may face Russian hiring bans

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree allowing the country to limit the number of Russians employed at embassies of countries determined to be unfriendly, or to ban their employment entirely. The measure, announced by the Kremlin on Friday, comes amid a flurry of expulsions of Russian diplomats from the United States and European countries and Moscow’s retaliatory expulsions. It would affect not only those countries’ embassies, but consular offices and offices of state institutions.

  • India Covid: Families appeal for help in Delhi's oxygen shortage

    People in Delhi resort to social media and desperate phone calls to try to find oxygen for Covid patients.

  • Ex-White House aide reveals 'inside story' of what happened when Trump claimed injecting disinfectant could cure COVID-19

    Olivia Troye, who served on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, shared how then-President Donald Trump veered off-course in a press briefing.

  • DMX’s casket carried through Brooklyn on a monster truck as bikers join memorial for rap icon

    Streets closed and lanes restricted to facilitate ceremonial journey across New York City

  • You Now Have Zero Excuses for Not Watching the Oscar Nominees

    David Lee/NetflixThis is a preview of our pop culture newsletter The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, written by senior entertainment reporter Kevin Fallon. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox each week, sign up for it here.This Week:Cher and her lonely elephant is all of us.Why aren’t you dummies watching the Oscar nominees?Nothing on TV is better than Top Chef.A TV moment I’ll never stop thinking about.Whoopi Goldberg, now presiding over my conscience.Why Are You Still Not Watching the Oscar Nominees? Sometimes, even a Pavlovian response can make you sound like an idiot.This year, like every year, it has been brought up in conversations with many people I know, people who follow me on social media, and just people in general that the Oscars are coming up—this Sunday, in fact. It’s a big deal! It’s the Oscars! Even now!And this year, like every year, these people have proudly—smugly even, like it’s something to brag about—interjected something along the lines of “Who cares? I haven’t seen any of the movies anyway.”Sometimes this in protest of the idea that the nominated films are too niche and don’t appeal to a mainstream moviegoer. That has historically been a fair criticism. Often, they’re either limited-release films or still only in theaters in the lead-up to Oscar night, and it’s not possible for the average movie fan to see them.But that’s just not true this year. Because you can. For the first time in my lifetime, you can see pretty much every nominee right now before the Oscars—and have been able to for weeks, in some cases for months.If availability and accessibility have always been your gripe, why are you still not watching them?Nomadland, which is likely to win everything? It’s on Hulu, and so is Andra Day’s Best Actress-nominated performance in The United States vs. Billie Holiday and the sensational Best International Feature and Best Director nominee Another Round.The Trial of the Chicago 7, Mank, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Hillbilly Elegy, and Pieces of a Woman, all up for a slew of Best Picture and acting prizes, are all on Netflix. But instead you’re all watching (pulls up Netflix’s current Top 10 list), a film I have never heard of called Synchronic and Melissa McCarthy’s least funny movie in years, Thunder Force.If you have Prime Video, free with your Amazon Prime account, you can watch multi-nominees Sound of Metal, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, and One Night in Miami.And whereas some late-qualifying theatrical indie releases used to be impossible to see unless you lived in New York or Los Angeles, Judas and the Black Messiah, The Father, Minari, and Promising Young Woman are available to rent on Video on Demand from your own home. Sure, some people may not want to pay $19.99 to watch Anthony Hopkins in the throes of dementia, but the option is actually there! Handout I say this because, anecdotally, the same people who seem curious about this year’s Oscar nominees have still been reverting to the old scoff, “Well, I haven’t seen them…” It’s one thing to not be interested in watching these films—a totally fine and separate issue—and I’m not arguing one way or another on whether the Oscars still matter. (Though it certainly makes the case for the latter when the average American movie fan can watch every nominated movie from their home and still won’t do it.)This is the crankiest “Well, actually…” rant I’ve ever done about something I don’t really care that much about. But to all those who keep telling me you haven’t “been able” to watch this year’s Oscar nominees: “Well, actually,” you can.It’s a little disappointing, too. It could have been fun for, at least once, the majority of people to have seen the films and be invested in the races, instead of just watching one actress from a movie you’ll never see beat another. That said, you still have time! Stream some contenders. Just not Mank. Please God, never watch Mank.I Would Die for Everyone on Top ChefAn unfortunate emotional consequence of my inexplicable instinct to watch every single cooking competition series on TV is the surprising (or, let’s face it, not) frequency with which I end up crying.A restaurant owner on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives sharing a particularly moving saga about their journey to America as they demonstrate how they make their locally famous pierogies? Tears. A child on Kids Baking Championship can’t control their feelings because they’re so upset they overbaked their cake? Devastated. After an episode of Chopped featuring cafeteria ladies from rural schools, I had to take a long, moody walk along the river, listening to Joni Mitchell as I stared off and contemplated humanity. via Twitter This is all to say there is a low bar, yet I’m still shocked by how poignant and fun the new season of Top Chef has been.In its 18th season, the series is still the gold standard—and most exciting—culinary competition on TV. That’s no small feat considering how reliably other veteran reality shows (from American Idol to Dancing With the Stars) have belly-flopped into the deep end in desperate attempts to maintain relevancy and buzz.Top Chef has locked away the bells and whistles reality TV has been flailing to grab in recent years. Instead, it has enriched each new season with more culture and connections between emotion and food, and leaning into its own legacy as the genre’s classiest show.The most recent, Portland-set season spotlights the plight of chefs and restaurant workers during COVID. Their devastation and anxiety, but also their relief and joy to be able to prove themselves and cook again, pulses through every episode.Chefs are candid about how hard the shutdown hit their psyches, several talking openly about the alcohol dependencies they developed. But they’re also cooking with more passion than I’ve ever seen in the series; it’s clear just how high the stakes are. The season is a sharp reminder of all that’s been lost, but also how much we have to return to when this is over.The biggest compliment to the kind of show that Top Chef has built over the years is how naturally these conversations fit into it. And not just COVID. There are conversations about Black Lives Matter—at the time of filming, protests are happening just outside the set—and how overdue American food culture is to embrace the African diaspora’s influence, the wonderful theme of last week’s episode. At a time when reality TV seems more content than ever to being background noise, Top Chef demands that you pay attention.That’s in stark contrast to the other reality series I’m hooked on right now: Bravo’s Below Deck franchise. The best part of these shows is how absolutely, truly, very little you have to pay attention to anything that’s going on and still reap enjoyment from them. I caught up on Below Deck: Sailing Yacht this week, and every single time someone mentioned a character's name, I had no idea who they were talking about. Yet I had just happily watched three consecutive episodes.All of this is to say, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and been moved by this Top Chef season thus far. It’s still only a few episodes in, but I’m already sad for when it’s going to be time to pack up our knives and go.I Will Be Telling My Grandkids About This Bernadette Peters MomentIf you don’t watch Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist on NBC, you are missing a gem of a series. It is one of the most bizarre things on TV at the moment in every glorious way, as it careens through shattering heartbreak and broad comedy, all while singing and dancing to popular songs. Handout The most recent episode featured Bernadette Peters drunkenly singing and dancing to Sia’s “Cheap Thrills.” The Broadway veteran, spritely as ever, tipsily skips through the kitchen like Thumbelina threw back a shot of Tito’s and then decided to prance across some lily pads, pausing at one point to guzzle more red wine. Bernadette Peters belting “I ain’t got cash, I ain’t got cash, but I got you baby...” I’ve never been more delighted.It is an iconic moment of television and I will not rest until every human being alive is talking about it. (Watch it here.)Whoopi, ForeverSome decorating news: I have decided to have this photo of Whoopi Goldberg from her recent Variety cover story—in which, based on that regal facial expression, I imagine she is wordlessly saying, “Kevin, think about your choices...”—wallpapered across my wall. I need the reminder. Handout What to watch this week:A Black Lady Sketch Show: A serotonin blast of comedy when we could really use it. (Friday on HBO)The Big Shot With Bethenny Frankel: That I will follow Bethenny to the ends of the earth is my own personal cross to bear. (Sunday on HBO Max)Romeo and Juliet: Sexy Prince Charles from The Crown (Josh O’Connor) stars in a shortened, present-day take on the Shakespeare play, a Mad Libs that is most pleasing to me. (Friday on PBS)What to skip this week:Mortal Kombat: My mom wouldn’t let me play the videogames because they were too violent, so I have no attachment to this. (Friday in theaters and HBO Max)Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • Bangkok shuts parks, gyms after record daily coronavirus infections

    BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand's capital Bangkok has ordered the closure of public venues and sports premises, city official said on Saturday after the country reported a record daily rise in coronavirus cases and deaths amid a third wave of infections. The closures, effective from Monday until May 9, apply to venues including public parks, gyms, swimming pools, meeting halls, internet shops, daycares centres, sports fields, museums and libraries, said Pongsakorn Kwanmuang, a Bangkok Metropolitan Administration spokesman.

  • A North Carolina city council fired a man for 'white privilege and entitlement' after he refused to address a Black woman by her professional title

    The man, a volunteer on the zoning commission, refused a Black woman's repeated asks for him to address her as "Dr." instead of "Mrs."

  • Lawmakers, defense officials joust over next-gen ICBM plans

    The war over a next-gen ICBM flared up at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.