A version of this story appeared in the April 20 edition of CNN’s Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction newsletter. Sign up here to receive the need-to-know headlines every weekday.

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The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines don’t appear to pose any serious risks during pregnancy, an early analysis of real-world data from the United States shows.

Around half of all US adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while a quarter of the population has been fully inoculated. While that’s an impressive number, it’s not enough to achieve herd immunity and suppress the virus.

The White House has ramped up its role in distributing and administering coronavirus vaccines and administration officials said they estimate that 90% of Americans now live within five miles of a vaccination site as a result of the expanded federal channels.

But Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said the country remains in a “complicated stage.”

While the number of people getting inoculated is rising, infections and hospitalizations are simultaneously spiking, Walensky said.

“Cases among younger people who have not yet been vaccinated are also increasing,” she told a White House briefing yesterday.

Experts say there are several reasons behind the rise in Covid-19 numbers, including coronavirus variants – such as the more contagious B.1.1.7 strain that has helped fuel another surge in Michigan. Pandemic fatigue and more Americans moving around have also likely contributed to the rise.

The worrying surge in cases isn’t unique to the US. The World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday that the global number of new infections has been rising for eight weeks. More than 5.2 million cases were reported last week – the highest weekly figure so far. The number of deaths has also increased for the fifth straight week, surpassing 3 million over the weekend.

“It took nine months to reach 1 million deaths, four months to reach 2 million and three months to reach 3 million deaths,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Big numbers can make us numb, but each one of these deaths is a tragedy for families, communities and nations.”

YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED.

Q. Are blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca shot more common in women?

A: “In the next few days very likely, the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) will be coming out with updating their guidelines of what people who are vaccinated can do and even some who are not vaccinated,” Fauci told CNN.

Vincent Hill, chief of the CDC’s Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch, said the risk of transmission from touching a surface, while small, is elevated indoors. Outdoors, the sun and other factors can destroy viruses, Hill said in a telephone briefing. The virus dies “rapidly” on porous surfaces but can persist longer on hard, indoor surfaces.

Research also suggested that surface transmission was more likely in the first 24 hours after a person is infected, and that households where one person had Covid-19 did have lower transmission rates when surfaces were cleaned and disinfected.

So while keeping surfaces clean is not a waste of time, it’s not the only way or even the most important way to reduce risks, the CDC said. The agency has updated its guidance for disinfecting surfaces in community settings and Hill added that cleaning should be focused on high-contact areas such as doorknobs and light switches.

Send your questions here. Are you a health care worker fighting Covid-19? Message us on WhatsApp about the challenges you’re facing: +1 347-322-0415.

WHAT’S IMPORTANT TODAY

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ON OUR RADAR

The Georgia Aquarium said it tested its Asian small-clawed otters after they showed symptoms.

TODAY’S TOP TIP

As more people get Covid-19 vaccines, you may be wondering whether hearing live music in person again is safe.

The risk of transmission increases when people are near crowds or indoors and when those places are poorly ventilated, the CDC has said. If you decide to attend a concert, here’s what you should know.

TODAY’S PODCAST

“On every level, this is unprecedented. The packaging of 1,170 doses, the dry ice, the ultra-cold storage, the mixing with the diluent, the three different vaccine regimens with different days apart.” – Claire Hannan, Association of Immunization Managers

“About 30-40% of the people with long Covid report improvement in their symptoms after vaccines, so that gives us some hope in trying to understand what we can do to help them, but also what is potentially causing the disease,” – Akiko Iwasaki, immunologist at Yale University.