Coronavirus live news: US agencies call for pause of Johnson & Johnson jabs amid blood clot concerns

Six clot cases detected among Johnson & Johnson jab recipients in US; India will move quickly to use vaccines already approved elsewhere

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12.35pm BST

Scotland will ease some lockdown restrictions for domestic travel and outdoor meetings earlier than expected, the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said on Tuesday.

She said people would be permitted to travel anywhere within Scotland to see family and friends for outdoor meetings from 16 April, 10 days earlier than planned, and those meetings could from then take place with six people from up to six households rather than four from two households.

We are now extremely confident that those parts of the country currently in Level 4 will move to Level 3 on 26 April, that’s now less that two weeks away.

That means, amongst other things, that on that day shops will fully reopen, pubs, cafes and restaurants will also be able to fully open outdoors on 26 April and will be able to open indoors on that date, but on a restricted basis.

12.21pm BST

US federal health agencies on Tuesday will call for an immediate pause in use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine after six US recipients developed a rare disorder involving blood clots within two weeks of getting the jab, the New York Times reported, citing officials briefed on the decision.

The paper reports:

The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control will stop using the vaccine at federal sites and urge states to do so as well while they examine the safety issues.

All six recipients were women between the ages of 18 and 48. One woman died and a second woman in Nebraska has been hospitalized in critical condition, officials briefed on the cases said.

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