Biden delivers national address about Covid-19

President Biden will be signing the Covid-19 relief bill at 1:30 p.m. ET today, according to an updated schedule from the White House. A White House press briefing will take place at 2 p.m. ET.

The bill arrived at the White House last night, a White House official says, and Biden decided he wanted to sign it as soon as possible. Biden was originally expected to sign the bill on Friday afternoon.

The President will later deliver remarks at 8 p.m. ET to commemorate the milestone of one year since Covid-19 shut down much of the US.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a tweet that a "signing event" for the Covid-19 relief bill will also take place tomorrow.

White House chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted that congressional leadership will be at the White House Friday for the signing celebration.

More on the bill: The House of Representatives voted yesterday to approve the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan, paving the way for Biden to sign his top legislative priority into law and deliver aid to most American households amid the pandemic.

Key features of the plan include up to $1,400-per-person stimulus payments that will send money to about 90% of households, a $300 federal boost to weekly jobless benefits and $350 billion in state and local aid, as well as billions of dollars for K-12 schools to help students return to the classroom, to assist small businesses hard-hit by the pandemic and for vaccine research, development and distribution.

CNN's Clare Foran, Katie Lobosco and Tami Luhby contributed reporting to this post.

One year after Covid-19 was deemed a pandemic, the United Nations top leader says there is some light at end of tunnel but urges vaccinations must go for all people.

"One full year into the COVID-19 pandemic, our world has faced a tsunami of suffering. So many lives have been lost. Economies have been upended and societies left reeling. The most vulnerable have suffered the most. Those left behind are being left even further behind," Secretary-General António Guterres said in his statement.

Guterres went on to say that he is “deeply concerned” some low income countries have not received one dose of the vaccine.

“Only together can we end this pandemic and recover. Only together can we revive our economies. And then, together, we can all get back to the things we love,” he said.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced Thursday that the state will have no restrictions on events and no longer require face masks in state buildings.

"As long as I'm governor, I will protect the freedoms of Oklahomans," he said. 

Stitt said he still encourages residents to wear face masks. 

Coronavirus deaths in the United Kingdom topped 125,000 Thursday, with the government recording 181 new deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

It becomes the fifth country to reach that number of Covid-19 deaths, and the smallest of the group, according to Johns Hopkins University data. 

The UK has one of the highest death rates per capita in the world, with 188.33 per 100,000 residents, JHU data shows.

On Jan. 26, the UK became the fifth country in the world to reach 100,000 deaths following the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico, according to JHU data.

Here is a look at how the UK's figures compare to other countries:

Jordan's health ministry reported 8,300 new cases of coronavirus Thursday, which is the highest number since the pandemic began. It also reported 63 new deaths.

Most of the new cases were reported in the capital, Amman.

On Wednesday, Jordan announced new restrictions that will go into effect starting Saturday until March 31. They include suspension of Friday prayers at mosques and Sunday mass at churches. Nightclubs, bars, indoor swimming pools, gyms, sports clubs and parks will be closed until the end of March.

As we mark the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization calling the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic – and ahead of President Joe Biden’s first prime-time address tonight – here is a look at the current state of the Covid-19 pandemic through the latest trends and metrics of Covid data, as well as comparisons to the peak of the pandemic.

There have been over 29 million total cases, per data from JHU, this is about 9% of the total US Population.

The US is averaging 56,240 new cases per day over the past seven days. This is the lowest that metric has been since mid-October.

The US is averaging 1,437 deaths per day over the past seven days. This the lowest that metric has been since Nov. 19.

The US is currently under 43,000 hospitalizations from Covid, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.

The US positivity rate is currently 4.2%, per data from HHS. It dropped under 5% at the end of February.

The European Commission approved the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine on Thursday, the fourth licensed vaccine to be authorized in the European Union.

The approval follows the European Medicines Agency (EMA) – the EU’s medicines regulator – authorization for the single dose vaccine “after a thorough evaluation” of Johnson & Johnson’s data found it met the criteria for efficacy, safety and quality. 

Its approval offers a boost for the EU’s vaccination rollout that has been criticized as going at a slow pace, hit by supply problems and delays.

The statement added the Commission has approved the contract with the conditional market authorization that J&J deliver 200 million of their single dose Covid-19 vaccines to the EU starting in the second quarter of 2021.

The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported at least 5,170 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of cases in Iraq to 745,462.

The health ministry also reported 26 Covid-19 related deaths, bringing the total number of reported deaths in Iraq to 13,671 since the pandemic began.

There are currently 57,626 Covid-19 patients hospitalized across the county, among them 426 cases are in the Intensive Care Unit.

On Monday, the Iraqi health ministry extended a series of restrictive measures announced last month for two more weeks "in light of the increasing number of infections among citizens," to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The measures include a full curfew on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between March 9 through March 22.

Restaurants and cafes will be closed for dining but will allow pick-up services. All entertainment venues will be closed for two more weeks, including indoor parks, cinemas, sports halls, and swimming pools.

Many of the people who got a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine in an early clinical trial developed neutralizing antibodies against the virus by about day eight, and by day 57, all of the volunteers had, according to a study published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The US Food and Drug Administration authorized the Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine in February. This is one of the first peer-reviewed studies to show how the single dose of the J&J vaccine worked in humans – and it worked well.

The company released data throughout the trial process. In January, J&J also published interim results of a larger part of the vaccine trial in the New England Journal of Medicine. That study showed the vaccine was safe and generated an immune response. 

For this part of the early stage trial, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston recruited 25 adult volunteers who were randomized into five different groups. One group got a single shot, another got two. In those two groups, scientists tried two different vaccine doses. Another group got a placebo. 

Scientists checked the volunteers’ antibody levels throughout the trial. For the purpose of this study, they reported the total results after 71 days. The company will follow up with these volunteers for two years. 

For the volunteers who got the vaccine, researchers saw that about 90% of those who got the vaccine developed antibodies against the coronavirus by day eight. By day 57, all of the volunteers who got the vaccine had developed neutralizing antibodies, a T-cell response and a cellular immune response after just a single dose. The response was even stronger at day 71.

A note on the study: The study had its limitations. It’s small and the elderly were not included, so it can’t necessarily be generalized to other age groups. Researchers say they will follow up with these volunteers to see exactly how long this protection may last. 

J&J is currently working on several other Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials, including to determine whether a second dose works better. It is also studying how its vaccine works in children and will study how it works in pregnant women.