April 19 coronavirus news

By Sophie Jeong, Zamira Rahim, Aditi Sangal and Nicholas Pearce, CNN

Updated 0714 GMT (1514 HKT) April 20, 2021
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3:17 a.m. ET, April 19, 2021

India reports more than 1 million new Covid-19 cases in 5 days

From CNN's Swati Gupta and Esha Mitra in New Delhi

A health worker takes a nasal swab sample from a passenger for a Covid-19 test after arriving at a railway platform, in Mumbai, India, on April 14.
A health worker takes a nasal swab sample from a passenger for a Covid-19 test after arriving at a railway platform, in Mumbai, India, on April 14. Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images

India reported 273,810 new cases of Covid-19 on Monday, a record-high and its fifth consecutive day of more than 200,000 new infections, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Indian Ministry of Health.

The country has reported more than 1 million cases in the past five days alone.

The health ministry also reported 1,619 new deaths, the highest in almost 10 months.

As cases skyrocket, New Delhi is facing a severe shortage of Intensive Care Unit beds available for Covid-19 patients. Only 73 beds with ventilators were available in India's capital as of Sunday, according to government documents.

"Patients are getting admitted to hospitals at a fast pace. Especially for ICU beds, there is now a shortage. There are less than 100 ICU beds left across Delhi," Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said during a press conference Sunday. 

Indians have gathered en masse this month during the country's month-long Kumbh Mela festival, where hundreds of thousands of people take a dip in the River Ganges.

The massive crowds are causing concern as India struggles to contain a worrying second wave, with cases rising dramatically every day.

India has recorded a total of 15,061,919 cases of coronavirus and 178,769 deaths, according to the health ministry.

3:11 a.m. ET, April 19, 2021

Fauci expects almost all children to be eligible for Covid-19 vaccines by first quarter 2022 at the latest

From CNN's Naomi Thomas

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies at a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing in Washington, DC, on April 15.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies at a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing in Washington, DC, on April 15. Amr Alfiky/Pool/Getty Images

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he thinks children of virtually any age should be able to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by the first quarter of 2022 and that people need to continue wearing masks.  

Fauci reiterated a point he has previously made, that he would be surprised if high school kids can’t be vaccinated by the fall term. 

“I think by the time we get to the first quarter of 2022, we’ll be able to vaccinate children of virtually any age, hopefully before then, but I think that’s going to be the latest we’ll see it,” he told CNN.

Some context: Both Moderna and Pfizer are currently in trials looking at the vaccine in children 12 and younger. Pfizer has submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration for an expanded use of its vaccine for children 12-15. It is currently authorized for people 16 years of age and older.

Fauci then explained the reason why people need to continue to wear masks, even though they have gotten the vaccine. 

Firstly, he said that when a person is vaccinated their risk of getting infected dramatically diminishes and is very low.

However, there is a situation where someone can get vaccinated, have no clinical disease, but still be infected without knowing it. They can then inadvertently transmit the virus to someone who has not been vaccinated.