Raphael Stevens

A Covid-19 coronavirus patient breathes with the help of oxygen provided by a Gurdwara, a place of worship for Sikhs, under a tent installed along the roadside in Ghaziabad on May 6, 2021.Prakash Singh | AFP | Getty ImagesIndia once again reported a record number of cases and fatalities on Thursday as it faces a devastating second wave of Covid-19 infections that has pushed its health-care system to the brink of collapse.Health ministry data showed there were 412,262 new reported cases of infections over a 24-hour period, pushing the total tally to over 21 million — days after crossing the 20 million mark on Tuesday.India also reported its highest daily death toll, with 3,980 fatalities. But media reports suggest that the death rate is being underreported.Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is facing criticism for allowing large crowds to gather for election rallies and religious festivals earlier this year as well as for failing to anticipate or prepare for a second wave.India’s oxygen crisisCases started rising in February but the second wave accelerated in April. The resurgence overwhelmed hospitals which are struggling with bed shortages as well as a limited supply of oxygen and medicines to treat patients. The international community has pledged to send medical aid in the form of oxygen cylinders, concentrators and other medical supplies. Some of those aid shipments have started arriving in India, according to reports.The situation, however, has not eased because the number of cases is moving up as is the severity of those cases, according to Abhay Soi, chairman and managing director of Max Healthcare, which has hospitals in Delhi, Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttarakhand.”That means essentially the requirement for oxygen (is) also moving up,” he said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia.””Typically an ICU requires two-and-a-half to three times the amount of oxygen a ward or a patient in a bed requires. So, as criticality moves up, as mortality moves up, you are going to see the requirement of oxygen also move up,” he said.Soi explained that Max Healthcare conducts about 4,000 RT-PCR tests in the Delhi area per day and about a week ago, those Covid-19 tests had a positivity rate of over 50%, which has since come down to about 31%.”So what you are going to see right now is people who were infected about seven, eight days ago, coming into hospitals,” he said, adding these patients need a host of medicines and support, including oxygen.Courts step inOn Wednesday, India’s Supreme Court ordered the central government to present a comprehensive plan by Thursday outlining steps it will take to meet medical oxygen requirements for hospitals in Delhi, including sources of supply and transport provisions. The country’s top court also stayed a contempt notice issued by the High Court of Delhi on May 4 to the central government for not complying with its orders to supply sufficient oxygen to hospitals in Delhi.India’s Covid crisisRead CNBC’s latest coverage of India’s battle with the coronavirus pandemic:India accounts for 1 in 3 new Covid cases being recorded. Here is its second wave in 5 chartsIndia’s worsening Covid crisis could spiral into a problem for the worldIndia is the home of the world’s biggest producer of Covid vaccines. But it’s facing a major internal shortageIndia’s economy will likely contract this quarter as Covid cases soar, economists warnDelhi high court justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli noted on Tuesday that hospitals and nursing homes have had to reduce the number of beds offered because they are unable to service their existing capacities due to a shortage of medical oxygen.The National Capital Territory of Delhi, which includes India’s capital New Delhi, is one of several areas that saw a rapid surge in cases, forcing the local government to step up restrictions to try and break the chain of transmission.Logistics issueIndia has sufficient oxygen available, but the main issue lies around logistics, according to Siddharth Jain, director of Inox Air Products, one of India’s prominent industrial and medical gases manufacturers.Jain told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Wednesday that the country’s oxygen manufacturers have stepped up production by more than 30% in recent weeks. He said over 9,000 tons of oxygen is available in India per day while consumption of medical oxygen is slightly higher than 7,500 tons.”There certainly is plenty of oxygen available. It’s just that we have to get the logistics right. It’s available in parts of India, which are far away from the parts of consumption,” Jain said. He explained that most of India’s oxygen production happens in the Western and Eastern states, some of which are relatively less densely populated and therefore do not require as much oxygen.”Delhi is certainly the capital of India, but the oxygen requirement is across the nation,” he said, pointing out that there are challenges in moving oxygen from one part of India to another.Max Healthcare’s Soi, however, said that while logistics have improved, there are still some gaps that need to be filled.For its part, the Indian government has stepped up efforts to streamline the supply of oxygen in the country. It set up two medical oxygen plants in New Delhi within a week and has allocated funds to install 500 such plants across India within the next three months. More

A woman wearing mask as a precaution against Covid-19 stands in a crowded area near India Gate, in New Delhi on March 19, 2021 as coronavirus cases continue to increase across India.Money Sharma | AFP | Getty ImagesIndia’s Covid-19 cases spiked in April to daily record highs, and experts warn the country’s worsening health crisis could scuttle efforts to end the global pandemic.The South Asian country — home to around 1.4 billion people or 18% of the world’s population — accounted for 46% of new Covid cases globally in the past week, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. One in every four deaths in the past week came from India, the UN health agency said.India has reported more than 300,000 new cases daily in the last two weeks, and overtook Brazil in April to become the second-worst infected country in the world. Cumulatively, coronavirus infections in India reached around 20.67 million with more than 226,000 deaths, according to health ministry data on Wednesday. Several studies of India’s data, however, found that cases were likely severely underreported.There are already signs that India’s outbreak is spilling over to other countries. Its neighbors Nepal and Sri Lanka have also reported increases in infections, while other regional economies including Hong Kong and Singapore have seen imported Covid cases from India.Here’s how India’s coronavirus crisis could spiral into a wider global problem.Potential new Covid variantsProlonged large outbreaks in any country could increase the possibility of new variants of Covid-19, health experts warned. Some of the variants could evade immune responses trigged by vaccines and previous infections, they said.”Here’s the bottom line: We know when there are large outbreaks, that variants arise. And so far our vaccines are holding up okay, we’re seeing a few breakthrough infections but not much,” Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith.””But India is a big country and if there are large outbreaks there, of course we’re gonna all worry about more variants which will be bad for Indians and of course, it will spread around the world,” he added.India first detected the B.1.617 variant — also dubbed the “double mutant” — in October last year. The variant has since been reported in at least 17 countries including the U.S., the U.K. and Singapore.WHO has classified the B.1.617 as a variant of interest, which suggests the mutated strain could be more contagious, more deadly, as well as more resistant to current vaccines and treatments. The organization said more studies are needed to understand the significance of the variant.Global vaccine supply at riskIndia is a major vaccine manufacturer, but the health crisis at home has led authorities to halt exports of Covid-19 vaccines as the country prioritizes its domestic needs.The Serum Institute of India (SII) — the country’s main producer — has the rights to produce the Covid vaccine co-developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. Some of its production is slated for Covax, the global initiative to supply poor countries with Covid vaccines.   India’s Covid crisisRead CNBC’s latest coverage of India’s battle with the coronavirus pandemic:India accounts for 1 in 3 new Covid cases being recorded. Here is its second wave in 5 chartsIndia’s worsening Covid crisis could spiral into a problem for the worldIndia is the home of the world’s biggest producer of Covid vaccines. But it’s facing a major internal shortageIndia’s economy will likely contract this quarter as Covid cases soar, economists warnDeveloping countries are lagging advanced nations in securing vaccine supplies in what the WHO has described as a “shocking imbalance” in distribution.A delay in vaccine exports by India could therefore leave lower-income countries vulnerable to fresh outbreaks of the coronavirus.Threat to global economyIndia is the world’s sixth largest economy and a major contributor to global growth.Some economists have downgraded their growth forecasts for India. But they remained optimistic about the economy’s outlook for the year given that restrictions to curb the virus spread have been more targeted compared to the strict nationwide lockdown last year.The International Monetary Fund last month said it expects India’s economy to grow 12.5% in the fiscal year ending March 2022, after shrinking 8% in the prior fiscal year.Still, the renewed outbreak in India has led several countries to tighten travel restrictions — and that’s bad news for airlines, airports as well as other businesses that depend on the travel industry, said Uma Kambhampati, an economics professor at the University of Reading in the U.K.Meanwhile, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has warned that the health crisis in India could drag down the U.S. economy, reported Reuters. That’s because many U.S. companies hire millions of Indian workers to run their back-office operations, according to the report.”Given all these issues, and the humanitarian crisis unfolding, it has become imperative for the world to act quickly to help India – whether such help is requested or not,” Kambhampati said in a report published on The Conversation, a not-for-profit website that carries commentaries by academics and researchers.Correction: This story has been updated to accurately reflect that the World Health Organization said India accounted for 46% of new Covid cases globally in the past week. Due to an editing error, an earlier version of the story misrepresented the time frame. More

For some homebound travelers yearning for a vacation, the question isn’t whether to book a vacation this year, but when. Enthusiasm for travel is at its highest point in a year, with 87% of American travelers expected to take a trip this summer, according to a survey conducted last week by travel market research company Destination Analysts.But is the summer the best time to travel this year, or is it prudent to wait? Medical professionals present several scenarios of how the rest of 2021 may play out.   1. A summer of low infection ratesDr. Sharon Nachman, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, said she expects this summer to have lower infection rates than the winter.”When I add in the idea that kids 12 and older will also have access to vaccines this summer, the risk to families will continue to drop, allowing for more activities and with lower risk … to all,” she said.Dr. Anne Rimoin, a professor of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, said she thinks there is “a real chance at a summer with much lower rates of disease, however, it means we all have to pull together and do our part” by getting vaccinated, wearing masks, social distancing and practicing hand hygiene.Vaccinations are important for safe summer travel, said UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s Dr. Anne Rimoin, though she noted they are “no guarantee” against infection.Tetra Images/TGI | Tetra images | Getty ImagesAs to whether traveling is safe this summer, she said it depends on two factors: vaccinations and variants.”It all depends upon how many vaccines we get in arms,” Rimoin said. “The variants are more contagious, so … those that are not vaccinated are more easily infected.”2. A good summer and a ‘mild fall’Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in April that he expects infection rates to be “really low” in the United States this summer, which will likely result in “a relatively mild fall.”After that, things may change, he said.We’re going to have to do things differently as we get into the winter.Scott GottliebFormer FDA commissioner”I think we should be thinking about the late winter,” he said. “I think the overall death and disease from Covid, hopefully, will be diminished, but there’s a chance that it’s going to start to spread again.”Gottlieb said Covid-19 will “transition this year … from more of a pandemic strain to a seasonal strain.” This, however, could change if variants that can “pierce” prior immunity or vaccines develop, though he noted that “right now we don’t see that on the horizon.””I don’t think we’re going to be having holiday parties in the back room of a crowded restaurant on December 20th,” he said. “I think that we’re going to have to do things differently as we get into the winter.””But I think that’s going to be a fact of life going forward for a number of years anyway,” said Gottlieb.  3. Flare-ups and outbreaksDr. Charles Bailey, medical director for infection prevention at Providence St. Joseph Hospital and Providence Mission Hospital, does not view this summer as a safe period for travel before infections return in the fall because he expects outbreaks to continue throughout the year.He said he anticipates the majority of the United States will continue on a path to normalcy, while areas experience “episodic disease flare-ups — local and regional ‘hotspots’ — of Covid activity through the remainder of 2021 and into early 2022.”  Mark Cameron, epidemiologist and associate professor at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine, also doesn’t see the summer as a “window of opportunity for perfectly safe travel per se” because of concerns about last summer’s surges and the possibility of variant-fueled outbreaks.He compared the current state of the pandemic to “watching the tick and the tock of an irregular clock pendulum.” “The pandemic could end with the virus circulating unpredictably, with new variants causing outbreaks or epidemics on a semi-regular basis, especially where vaccine availability is low or vaccine hesitancy is high, much like the flu does now,” said Cameron.”The moment we’re in — with vaccination rates, variant spread and Covid-19 fatigue competing with each other — is critically important in putting a lid on this virus and its growing penchant for evading our eradication efforts,” he said.4. The chance of another summer surgeWilliam Haseltine, former professor at Harvard Medical School and author of “Variants! The Shape-Shifting Challenge of COVID-19,” said there is a risk of another summer surge, and traveling during the summer will only exacerbate the problem.  “The more people choose to travel as an escape from the very real pandemic stress and fatigue, the more we risk another surge of cases this summer,” he said.Covid-19 is expected to eventually become a seasonal illness, yet it is unknown when this will occur.Marko Klaric / EyeEm | EyeEm | Getty ImagesHaseltine said many people hope warm summer weather will bring a decrease in Covid cases, due to the seasonality of other coronaviruses and influenza viruses. But as it turns out, this virus is “far less seasonal than many expected it to be,” he said. “If you look back at 2020 and the early part of 2021, you’ll see that there have been fall surges and winter surges, as one might expect, but there have also been spring surges and summer surges.”While the virus that causes Covid-19 is expected to become seasonal at some point, the UN World Meteorological Organization highlighted in a report that “there is no evidence” that this year will be different from 2020.  Read more on summer travel in the age of CovidHere’s a complete list of destinations opening to vaccinated travelersSix vaccinated medical experts reveal their summer travel plans Alaska is out, but the Caribbean is full speed ahead: What we know about cruising in 2021Dr. Supriya Narasimhan, chief of infectious diseases at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, agreed that another summer surge is possible, even in places where vaccines are being aggressively rolled out.She agreed that Covid is “less seasonal than flu” and said the factors which will affect whether another surge occurs are public compliance with masking, vaccine uptake and variants.”It is a game of cat-and-mouse with the virus mutating and the only way to stop it is to stop transmission,” she said. “We may yet hit a vaccine ‘wall’ in that people just don’t want to take it even if available.””In my opinion, we need more data to make travel decisions,” she said.Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer, genetic testing start-up Tempus, health care tech company Aetion Inc. and biotech company Illumina. He also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ and Royal Caribbean’s “Healthy Sail Panel.” More

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a White House press briefing, at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House January 21, 2021 in Washington, DC.Alex Wong | Getty ImagesPeople who have had Covid-19 and later got vaccinated may have more protection against highly contagious variants, White House chief medical officer Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday.Fauci cited a study published in late April that found that after one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, people with prior coronavirus infections had better immune responses against B.1.1.7 and B.1.351, the variants first identified in the U.K. and South Africa, compared with those who hadn’t had Covid.He cited an additional study, which was published online and not yet peer-reviewed, that found people with prior infections who were later boosted with two doses of an mRNA vaccine had “increased protection” protection against variants.The studies provide more evidence on the benefits of getting vaccinated, Fauci said.”Vaccines are highly efficacious,” Fauci said during a White House Covid briefing. “They are better than the response you get from natural infection.”CNBC Health & Science Read CNBC’s latest coverage of the Covid pandemic:India foreign minister self-isolating after Covid scare at UK’s in-person G-7 summitWhy India — the world’s biggest producer of Covid vaccines — has a major shortage of doses   Biden’s new Covid vaccination goal is for 70% of adults to have at least one shot by July 4 Pfizer scientist expects elderly, people with underlying conditions to be first to get Covid booster shotsHis comments come amid the Biden administration’s push to get 70% of U.S. adults partially vaccinated and 160 million adults fully vaccinated by the Fourth of July, a date the administration hopes will be a turning point in the pandemic.In recent weeks, the pace of individuals receiving their first vaccine doses has fallen, though U.S. health officials say they are working to improve access to the shots as well as encourage more hesitant Americans to get vaccinated.Earlier Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a new report that projected Covid-19 cases would surge through May before sharply declining by July as vaccinations drive down infections.Highly contagious variants, namely the highly contagious B.1.1.7 first identified in the U.K., remain a wild card, U.S. health officials said, urging Americans to get vaccinated and practice pandemic safety measures.”We are seeing that our current vaccines are protecting against the contaminant variants circulating in the country. Simply put, the sooner we get more and more people vaccinated, the sooner we will all get back to normal,”  CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during the press briefing. More

Starship prototype rocket SN15 touches down on the company’s landing pad on May 5, 2020 in Boca Chica, Texas.SpaceXElon Musk’s SpaceX launched and then landed the latest prototype of its Starship rocket on Wednesday, in the fifth high-altitude test flight of the system.Starship prototype rocket Serial Number 15, or SN15, flew as high as 10 kilometers, or about 33,000 feet.”Starship landing nominal!” Musk tweeted after the landing. Nominal is a space industry term used to refer to when things go according to plan.SN15 marked the first Starship prototype that was not destroyed after a high-altitude test flight. While a small fire broke out at the base of the rocket after the landing, the blaze appeared contained a few minutes later.The company is developing Starship to launch cargo and people on missions to the moon and Mars.Earlier this month, NASA awarded SpaceX a nearly $3 billion contract to build a lunar variation of Starship to carry astronauts to the moon’s surface for the agency’s Artemis missions. However, while Musk’s company continues to move forward with Starship development, NASA suspended SpaceX work on the HLS program after Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Leidos’ subsidiary Dynetics each filed protests of the NASA contract award.The SN15 flight was similar to the ones SpaceX has conducted in the past six months, with the test flights of prototypes SN8, SN9, SN10 and SN11. While each of the prior rockets launched successfully and completed multiple development objectives, all four prototypes were explosively destroyed – SN8 and SN9 on impact during landing attempts, SN10 a few minutes after landing, and SN11 moments before its landing attempt.The Starship prototypes stand at about 150 feet tall, or about the size of a 15-story building, and each one is powered by three Raptor rocket engines.Built of stainless steel, it represents the early version of the rocket that Musk unveiled in 2019.Starship prototype rocket SN15 stands on the company’s launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas.SpaceXSpaceX noted in a statement on its website that SN15 features “vehicle improvements across structures, avionics and software” compared to the prior Starship prototypes.”Specifically, a new enhanced avionics suite, updated propellant architecture in the aft skirt, and a new Raptor engine design and configuration,” SpaceX said.The Federal Aviation Administration, which has an inspector at SpaceX’s facilities to observe the test flights, conducted a “mishap” investigation of the SN11 flight.Last week the FAA announced the authorization of the next three Starship launches – SN15, SN16, and SN16 – saying it will “verify that SpaceX implemented corrective actions arising from the SN11 mishap investigation.”The FAA authorized multiple launches at once “because SpaceX is making few changes to the launch vehicle and relied on the FAA’s approved methodology to calculate the risk to the public.” More

In this articlePTONPeloton announced Wednesday voluntary recalls of both its treadmill machines over safety concerns.The announcement marked a major reversal of Peloton’s initial reaction and comes after weeks of discussions with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.In a statement, Peloton apologized for not acting more quickly to resolve the issue after reports of one death and dozens of injuries.”I want to be clear, Peloton made a mistake in our initial response to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s request that we recall the Tread+,” CEO John Foley said in a statement Wednesday. “We should have engaged more productively with them from the outset. For that, I apologize.”Peloton shares closed the day down nearly 15%, hitting a low not seen since September. That wiped about $4.1 billion from Peloton’s market value.The company is advising customers who already have either the Tread or Tread+ products to immediately stop using the equipment and contact Peloton for a full refund or other qualified remedies. It added that it is working on a repair that will be offered to treadmill owners in the coming weeks.The recall affects about 125,000 Tread+ machines and roughly 1,050 Tread products in the U.S.The CPSC said it has received 18 reports about the touchscreen loosening and six reports of the touchscreen detaching and falling from the Tread. The group had previously warned about Peloton’s Tread+ product last month, after one child died in an incident involving the machine. There were also dozens of other reported injuries.The regulatory agency said Peloton’s treadmills are designed differently than its peers, with “an unusual belt design that uses individual rigid rubberized slats or treads that are interlocked and ride on a rail.” That’s instead of a thinner, continuous belt. There is also a large gap between the floor and the belt of the Tread+, leaving room for things to wiggle their way under.The commission in April simultaneously released a graphic video, captured by a home security camera, of a young boy being pulled under one of the Tread+ machines and struggling to free himself.But Peloton pushed back on the recommended recall at the time, telling customers there was no reason to stop using its treadmills, so long as children and pets were kept out of the area while in use. The company had also recommended a key be used to lock the equipment after each workout.Peloton said Wednesday it will work with the CPSC to set new industry safety standards for treadmills.”This recall is the right step — though dangerously delayed,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat representing Connecticut and chair of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security. “Peloton unacceptably put consumers at risk, obstructed the CPSC’s investigation and its consumer warnings.”It’s unclear how much damage Peloton has done to its reputation. The company is known for its at-home cycling classes that have exploded in popularity during the Covid pandemic. It didn’t sell a treadmill until 2018.The product was first called the Tread but is now known as the Tread+ because Peloton was preparing to begin selling a less expensive version in the United States later this year. The original model costs $4,300.The smaller, cheaper version is already on sale in the U.K. and it doesn’t include the same rigid slats as the Tread+.A spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment about Peloton’s plans for the upcoming launch.While Peloton doesn’t break out sales of its treadmills, research firm Cowen had previously estimated that the Tread+ would represent about 2.2% of unit sales in 2021. That’s out of about 1.63 million stationary bikes and treadmills combined, it said.Peloton reported in 2020 revenue of $1.8 billion. That’s up from $915 million a year earlier. Peloton is set to report earnings after the market close on Thursday.”We acknowledge that this recall will likely result in significant near-term one time financial costs and operational disruption, with potential reputational damage,” Truist Securities analyst Youssef Squali said in a note to clients. “Stepping back and looking at the broader picture, however, we believe that the secular growth trends in the home fitness industry remain intact.”The company’s stock is down about 45% year to date. It has a market cap of $24.3 billion.Here’s the link the full statement from Peloton and the CPSC. More