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COVID-19 latest: U.S. cases fall, EU looks to reopen, India cases on the rise

Anjalee Khemlani breaks down the latest developments on COVID-19 cases around the world.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Well, even as we see some new travel restrictions related to coronavirus, the European Union is proposing loosening things, at least for people who are vaccinated. Our Anjalee Khemlani covers everything healthcare for us. She's with us now. So what would these new regulations look like?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Thanks, Julie. Well, it looks like that the European Union is contemplating the idea of allowing anyone who has proof of either vaccination and that is two weeks after receiving their last dose, or the idea that someone could recover from COVID or test negative, all contributing to allowing travelers and tourists back into the European countries for tourist activities by as early as June. We've seen these reports from France as well as Spain, talking about that June reopening.

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And what that would exactly entail is unclear. The idea of vaccine passports has been tossed around for the last several months as the topic of conversation and whether or not countries can enforce something like that or whether or not something as simple as the CDC card could be used. But we've also seen reports about those being sold online in blanks.

And so that-- there have already been comments about too much fraud being involved. So it's unclear exactly how they will use these vaccination-- what sort of vaccination proof will be used. But of course, that comes as news that we know is about restrictions for India. We've seen many countries taking on stricter rules about travel to and from the country, the US itself shutting down travel starting tomorrow.

JULIE HYMAN: And as we talk about all of that and the travel and the headlines from around the globe, there are some intriguing more analysis than headlines coming out today about the question of herd immunity and whether we're going to get there. And "The New York Times" publishing a story today saying, maybe we're never going to get there.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: That's right. And that's something we've sort of seen experts slowly creep towards. If you recall, Dr. Anthony Fauci has not answered some questions about what that number is. There was, you know, that hearing a few weeks ago in front of Congress, where objective metrics were not laid out. And this sort of hints of the idea that watching the numbers, we've seen how we got those record numbers of almost 4 million doses in a single day. But those numbers are slowly going down when it comes to vaccinations.

And that's causing some concern because it means that the record sort of vaccination efforts that have been put in place are going to be waning. We've already seen some sites closed down, some switch to walk-ins instead of appointment only. And so with that decrease in demand, we are-- what-- the experts are wondering what that means in terms of being able to reach that theoretical number of herd immunity. Of course, that has been a range of 70% to 90% of the population being vaccinated.

And if we are already only at 50% of the adult population only receiving at least one dose, the question remains how quickly can we get more people. And experts have been weighing different reasons why anti-vaccine and vaccine hesitancy-- access has also been another issue. And so, with all these myriad and diverse reasons, the solution remains sort of elusive right now. And the federal government has to work on how to get more of these doses in arms.

JULIE HYMAN: Yes, most definitely. And I'm sure we'll continue to talk about that immunity question as well. Anjalee, thank you. Appreciate it.