得克萨斯州奥斯汀——得克萨斯州死于癌症的人数冠状病毒根据德克萨斯州健康服务部门的数据,周六增加了200多人,同时因病毒住院的人数有所下降。
该部门报告称,新冠肺炎新增死亡227人,新增病例4900多例,住院7535人,住院人数减少222人。
根据约翰·霍普金斯大学的数据,自大流行开始以来,得克萨斯州已有250多万例冠状病毒病例,超过42,000人死于新冠肺炎,是美国第三高的死亡人数。
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病毒爆发:
——教皇方济各和意大利总统纪念新的一年一度的医生、护士和其他人士纪念日健康护理人员
——纽约州州长安德鲁·科莫和加利福尼亚州州长加文·纽瑟姆卷入了这场流行病带来的政治灾难
——扑粉睡美人鼻子:病毒缓解卢浮宫作品
—航空公司计划向乘客询问联系追踪细节
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追踪美联社在https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic,、https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine和https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak的所有大流行报道
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以下是正在发生的其他事情:
洛杉矶——一名滑板世界冠军是南加州五名检察官中的一员,他们被指控组织聚会,这些聚会可能是新冠肺炎大流行期间的超级宣传活动。
《洛杉矶时报》报道称,四次世界滑板冠军尼贾·休斯顿和费尔法克斯区一户人家的主人爱德华·艾萨上个月举行了一场至少有40人参加的派对,警方在接到投诉后将其关闭。
休斯顿和Essa都被指控制造麻烦,一种轻罪。
记者无法联系到两人置评。
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俄克拉荷马城——根据俄克拉荷马州卫生部的一份报告,超过681,000名俄克拉荷马人现在已经接受了冠状病毒疫苗,包括超过204,000名接受了两种所需剂量的人。
根据联邦疾病控制中心和该州的数据,该州周六在全国排名第12位,14.3%的人口至少接种了一剂疫苗健康卫生部计划在周末安排疫苗接种诊所,以取代那些因冬季风暴而取消的诊所。
根据卫生部的数据,自大流行开始以来,新冠肺炎病毒导致的疾病已导致418,318例病毒病例和4,155例死亡,自周五以来增加了973例病例和23例死亡。
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耶路撒冷——以色列周六公布了一项计划,允许接种了冠状病毒疫苗的人参加文化活动,飞往国外,去健康俱乐部和餐馆。
本雅明·内塔尼亚胡总理在周六晚上的新闻发布会上宣布了这项计划,他说那些已经接种疫苗的人将能够在未来几天下载“绿色徽章”。
“绿色徽章正在逐渐开放这个国家,”内塔尼亚胡说。
在过去的一个半月里,以色列进行了世界上最快的疫苗接种运动,为其930万人口中的近一半接种了疫苗。但由于冠状病毒仍在未接种疫苗的人群中迅速传播,该国直到最近才开始摆脱为期两个月的封锁。
周日,零售店、商场、健身房、一些中学年级和其他面向有限人群的公共服务将开始恢复。
内塔尼亚胡说,政府不能让未接种疫苗的居民远离诊所、药店和超市等场所。但他表示,其他服务将只允许接受两剂新冠肺炎疫苗的人使用。
例如,以色列的主要国际机场仍然对几乎所有的空中交通关闭,因为担心病毒的外国变种进入该国。
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黑山波德戈里察——小小的黑山共和国用邻国塞尔维亚捐赠的俄罗斯人造卫星五号疫苗接种了冠状病毒。
卫生当局表示,周六第一个接受注射的人是沿海城镇Risan一家养老院的66岁居民。接下来是两个在同一个养老院工作的医生。
作为一个约有62万人口的国家,黑山报告了超过7万例新冠肺炎确诊病例和939例已知死亡病例。
黑山当局表示,他们计划购买中国国药疫苗和辉瑞-生物技术公司疫苗。
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墨西哥城——领导墨西哥应对大流行的官员说,他已经检测出冠状病毒呈阳性。
助理卫生部长雨果·洛佩斯·盖特尔周六在推特上说,他周五晚上有轻度新冠肺炎症状,抗原检测呈阳性。他在等待聚合酶链反应测试的结果,这需要更长的时间来处理,而且通常更准确..
“我将在家工作,”洛佩斯-盖茨尔说,并补充说他参与了墨西哥的疫苗接种计划。
外交部长马塞洛·埃布拉德在推特上说,周六,大约20万剂中国科兴生物制品有限公司的疫苗从香港抵达墨西哥。预计共有1000万种科兴生物疫苗。
墨西哥已经批准了其他几种冠状病毒疫苗,到目前为止已经注射了150万针。
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火奴鲁鲁——夏威夷卫生部表示,已经暂时延长了入境旅客必须接受入境前冠状病毒检测的时间,该检测结果为阴性。
该州表示,由于冬季风暴肆虐美国大陆,旅客现在可以在预定航班前96小时进行测试,而不是72小时。
测试仍然必须由国家批准的供应商进行。
夏威夷新闻现在报道,延长将有效到周日。
或者,游客可以在到达夏威夷后隔离10天。
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阿拉斯加安克雷奇——阿拉斯加公共卫生官员说,由于一场肆虐美国大陆的冬季风暴,3000剂冠状病毒疫苗将比预期晚到达
该州的免疫项目经理马特·波波说,一些疫苗的预约可能会推迟到下周。
剂量应该达到21个不同的供应商。
另一名州疫苗官员说,延迟发生在一个有点偶然的时间——一个月的一部分,该州已经预计到较小的疫苗装运。
州官员表示,他们一直在与白宫和美国疾病控制中心的官员就这一延迟进行沟通。
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拉斯维加斯——在冠状病毒大流行之前,依赖游客的内华达州有一个臭名昭著的吸引力:它是美国唯一一个可以合法支付性费用的地方。如今,即使在这个以罪恶闻名的州,做生意也是禁忌。
合法妓院已经关闭近一年,让性工作者提供不太赚钱的选择,如在线约会或非性护送服务。
虽然合法妓院的生意似乎与社交距离不相容,但性工作者和妓院老板表示,应该允许他们像其他密切接触的行业一样,采取保护措施重新开业,包括按摩疗法和牙科服务。
一个就冠状病毒限制提出建议的州特别工作组没有回应妓院老板寻求重新开业的请求。
州长史蒂夫·西索拉克最近表示,妓院以及其他成人娱乐场所,如夜总会和脱衣舞俱乐部,将至少在5月1日之前保持关闭。之后,州政府可能会让各县决定是否允许这些企业开业,只要新冠肺炎的感染没有激增。
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菲尼克斯——由于冠状病毒大流行,美国社区大学的入学率从2019年秋季到2020年秋季下降了0%。
这是根据国家学生信息中心的说法,该机构表示,就入学率下降而言,社区大学在所有类型的大学中受到的打击最大。
美国四年制大学的表现比许多人预期的要好,入学人数仅略有下降。
社区大学衰退的原因有很多。新生入学人数减少,一些人推迟大学入学,直到校园完全重新开放。
但是这种流行病也给年长的成年学生带来了沉重的打击。许多人失业或没有时间自学,因为他们监督孩子的在线课程。
在经济低迷时期,更多的美国人通常转向社区大学教育,寻求学习新的工作技能或转行。但教育专家表示,这场流行病似乎颠覆了通常的趋势。
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凤凰城——亚利桑那州的马里科帕县计划在未来几周关闭六个地区COVID-19疫苗接种点中的两个,因为公共卫生官员越来越重视较小的接种点和活动,以提供更多的疫苗。
该县位于北凤凰城的网站由荣誉健康运营,将于2月28日持续运营。钱德勒尊严健康网站将于三月初关闭。
官员们表示,目前的任命将在这两个地方得到尊重。亚利桑那州周六报告了2047例新增确诊COVID-19病例和59例死亡,使该州的大流行病例总数达到806163例,死亡15480例。
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伦敦——英国政府宣布解除禁闭的一小步——允许养老院的居民让一个朋友或家庭成员在室内探望他们。
居民和他们的访客可以牵手,但不能拥抱。变更于3月8日生效。几个月来,养老院的居民只能在户外或通过屏幕看到他们爱的人。
英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊表示,他将于周一宣布解除封锁的“路线图”。政府强调,重新开放将是缓慢和谨慎的,商店重新开放或户外社交不太可能在4月前进行,尽管儿童将从3月8日起返回学校。
约翰逊的保守党政府被指控在春季第一次封锁后过快地重新开放该国。英国约有12万人死于冠状病毒,是欧洲最高的死亡人数。
新措施适用于英国。在英国的其他地方,养老院的探访规则各不相同,苏格兰居民从3月8日起可以有两名访客。
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赫尔辛基——由于新冠肺炎病例激增以及丹麦边境附近的德国北部城镇弗伦斯堡病毒变异体增多,丹麦暂时关闭了与德国的一些边境口岸,并加强了对其他口岸的检查。
丹麦司法部周五晚间表示,在距离丹麦边境仅7公里(4英里)的弗伦斯堡,检测到越来越多的感染和病毒突变。
丹麦司法部表示,警方官员将显著加强丹麦-德国边境的边境管制。德国地方当局周六在弗伦斯堡的网页上表示,该镇的冠状病毒发病率为每10万人中有193人。
在过去的几天里,在弗伦斯堡这个拥有约9万居民的小镇上发现了数十例变异冠状病毒,其中大部分是在英国首次发现的变异体。
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联合国——英国向联合国安理会分发了一份决议草案,要求所有交战方立即实施“持续的人道主义暂停”,使冲突地区的人民能够接种新冠肺炎疫苗。
拟议的决议重申了安理会去年7月1日的要求,即在从叙利亚和也门到中非共和国、马里和苏丹以及索马里的重大冲突中“全面和立即停止敌对行动”,这是联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯2020年3月23日首次发出的应对冠状病毒大流行的呼吁。
美联社(Associated Press)上周五获得的这份草案“强调了团结、公平和效力的必要性,并邀请发达经济体向中低收入国家和其他有需要的国家捐赠疫苗剂量,包括通过世界卫生组织为世界上最贫困人口购买和提供冠状病毒疫苗的雄心勃勃的项目“COVAX基金”。
英国的草案强调,“公平获得负担得起的新冠肺炎疫苗,证明是安全和有效的,是结束大流行的关键。”
它将认识到“针对新冠肺炎的广泛免疫接种作为全球公共健康产品在预防、控制和阻止传播方面的作用,以结束这一流行病。”
英国外交大臣多明尼克·拉布(Dominic Raab)周三呼吁由15个成员国组成的安理会(Security Council)通过一项决议,呼吁冲突地区实现局部停火,以允许运送新冠肺炎疫苗,该草案是对这一呼吁的后续。
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墨西哥城——墨西哥表示,周六将收到第一批中国冠状病毒疫苗,周一将收到第一批俄罗斯人造卫星V型疫苗。这两批货物预计将包含约20万剂。
卫生官员表示,首批中国和俄罗斯疫苗将用于墨西哥城或其郊区的低收入社区。
墨西哥目前正在使用辉瑞和阿斯利康疫苗,并已应用了近160万剂疫苗。
该国现在将面临处理四种不同疫苗的后勤挑战,所有这些疫苗都需要两剂。另外,史泼尼克第一次发射和第二次不同,不能互换。
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洛杉矶——南加州大学预计今年秋天重新开放校园,加入该州主要公立大学的行列,计划恢复被COVID-19缩减的校园生活。
南加州大学校长卡罗尔·福尔特周五发布了一封在线信,表示她“谨慎乐观”,因为病毒病例正在减少,疫苗接种正在增加。南加州大学和全国其他大学去年3月被迫转向在线学习。
加州大学和加州州立大学系统也表示,如果条件允许,他们计划在今年秋天重新开放校园。
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阿根廷布宜诺斯艾利斯——周五,一名政府官员称,阿根廷总统阿尔贝托·费尔南德斯要求卫生部长辞职,此前一名著名的当地记者称,在要求卫生部长接种冠状病毒疫苗后,他优先接受了疫苗接种。
总统“指示他的幕僚长要求卫生部长辞职”,负责政府新冠肺炎战略的吉内斯·冈萨雷斯·加西亚说,这位官员没有被授权发布信息,并在匿名的情况下接受了美联社的采访。他没有说谁将取代冈萨雷斯·加西亚成为卫生部长。
丑闻爆发时,记者奥拉西奥·韦尔比特斯基(Horacio Verbitsky)说,他打电话给部长要求接种疫苗,冈萨雷斯·加西亚(Gonzalez Garcia)传唤他到卫生部,他在那里接受了周四注射的斯普特尼克V型疫苗。
“我决定接种疫苗。我开始寻找在哪里做这件事。我给我的老朋友吉内斯·冈萨雷斯·加西亚打了电话,在他担任部长之前我就认识他了,”韦尔比茨基告诉当地一家电台。"我去了部里,接种员团队就在那里."
费尔南德斯政府因阿根廷疫苗接种行动缓慢而受到严厉批评。The Latest: Texas reports 227 more confirmed COVID-19 deaths
There were an additional 227 COVID-19 deaths, more than 4,900 new cases and 7,535 hospitalizations, a decline of 222 people hospitalized, the department reported.
Texas has had more than 2.5 million coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, and more than 42,000 deaths due to COVID-19, the third highest death count in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— Pope Francis and Italy’s president mark new annual day to honor doctors, nurses and other health care workers
— Governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gavin Newsom of California are embroiled in political woes from the pandemic
— Powdering sleeping beauty’s nose: Virus eases Louvre works
— Airlines plan to ask passengers for contact-tracing details
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Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
LOS ANGELES -- A skateboarding world champion is among five people prosecutors in Southern California have charged with organizing parties that were possible superspreader events amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Los Angeles Times reports Nyjah Huston, a four-time world skateboarding champion, and Edward Essa, the owner of a home in the Fairfax District, held a party last month with at least 40 people that was shut down by police after receiving a complaint.
Huston and Essa were both charged with creating a nuisance, a misdemeanor.
Neither could be reached for comment.
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OKLAHOMA CITY -- More than 681,000 Oklahomans have now received the coronavirus vaccine, including more than 204,000 who have received both required doses, according to an Oklahoma State Department of Health report.
The state ranked 12th in the nation on Saturday with 14.3% of the population having received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control, and the state health department has scheduled vaccination clinics during the weekend to replace those canceled because of a winter storm.
There have been a reported 418,318 total virus cases and 4,155 deaths due to COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, since the pandemic began, increases of 973 cases and 23 deaths since Friday, according to the health department.
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JERUSALEM -- Israel unveiled a plan on Saturday to allow people who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus to attend cultural events, fly abroad and go to health clubs and restaurants.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the plan at a news conference on Saturday night, saying those who have been vaccinated will be able to download the “green badge” in the coming days.
“The green badge is gradually opening up the country,” Netanyahu said.
Israel has conducted the world’s speediest vaccine campaign over the past month and a half, inoculating nearly half of its 9.3 million people. But with the coronavirus still spreading rapidly among the unvaccinated, the country only recently began emerging from a two-month lockdown.
On Sunday, retail stores, shopping malls, gyms, some middle school grades and other public services for limited crowd sizes are set to start back up.
Netanyahu said the government could not keep unvaccinated residents from places like medical clinics, pharmacies and supermarkets. But he said other services would be allowed only for those who have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Israel’s main international airport, for instance, remains closed to nearly all air traffic because of concerns of foreign variants of the virus entering the country.
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PODGORICA, Montenegro — Tiny Montenegro has launched vaccinations against the coronavirus with doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines that were donated by neighboring Serbia.
Health authorities said the first person to receive a shot on Saturday was a 66-year-old resident of a care home in the coastal town of Risan. Two doctors working at the same nursing home came next.
A nation of some 620,000 people, Montenegro has reported more than 70,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 939 known deaths.
Montenegrin authorities say they plan to acquire supplies of China’s Sinopharm vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
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MEXICO CITY — The official leading Mexico’s response to the pandemic says he has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell tweeted Saturday that he had light COVID-19 symptoms on Friday night and an antigen test came out positive. He was awaiting the results of a PCR test, which takes longer to process and is generally more accurate..
“I’ll be working from home,’’ López-Gatell said, adding that he was involved in Mexico’s vaccination program.
Some 200,000 doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine arrived in Mexico from Hong Kong on Saturday, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Twitter. A total of 10 million Sinovac vaccines are expected.
Mexico has approved several other coronavirus vaccines and has administered 1.5 million shots so far.
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HONOLULU -- The Hawaii Department of Health says it has temporarily extended the window incoming travelers have to get a pre-arrival coronavirus test that comes back negative.
The state says travelers can now take the tests up to 96 hours before their scheduled flights instead of 72 hours because of winter storms that have ravaged the continental U.S.
The tests still have to be conducted by a state-approved provider.
Hawaii News Now reports the extension will be in effect through Sunday.
Alternatively, visitors can quarantine for 10 days after arriving in Hawaii.
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Alaska public health officials say 3,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine will arrive later than expected because of a winter storm that has ravaged the continental U.S.
The state’s immunization program manager, Matt Bobo, said some vaccine appointments may be postponed until next week.
The doses were supposed to reach 21 different providers.
Another state vaccine official says the delay occurred at a somewhat fortuitous time — a part of the month for which the state had already anticipated a smaller vaccine shipment.
State officials say they have been communicating with officials at the White House and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control about the delay.
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LAS VEGAS -- Before the coronavirus pandemic, tourist-dependent Nevada had a notorious attraction: It was the only place in America where someone could legally pay for sex. These days, even in the state known for sin, the business is taboo.
Legal brothels have been shuttered for nearly a year, leaving sex workers to offer less-lucrative alternatives like online dates or nonsexual escort services.
While the business of legal bordellos may seem incompatible with social distancing, sex workers and brothel owners say they should be allowed to reopen with protective measures like other close-contact industries, including massage therapy and dental services.
A state task force that makes recommendations on coronavirus restrictions hasn’t responded to pleas from brothel owners seeking a way to reopen.
Gov. Steve Sisolak recently said brothels, along with other adult entertainment like nightclubs and strip clubs, would stay closed at least through May 1. After that, the state may let counties decide whether to allow those businesses to open, as long as COVID-19 infections aren’t surging.
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PHOENIX -- Enrollment at U.S. community colleges dropped 0% from fall 2019 to fall 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s according to The National Student Clearinghouse, which says community colleges were hit the hardest among all types of colleges in terms of enrollment drops.
Four-year universities in the U.S. fared better than many had expected, seeing only slight enrollment decreases.
There are myriad reasons for the community college downturn. Fewer freshmen are enrolling and some are delaying college until campuses fully reopen.
But the pandemic has also taken a heavy toll on older adult students. Many lost jobs or have no time for their own schooling as they supervise their children’s online classes.
More Americans typically turn to community college education amid economic downturns, seeking to learn new job skills or change careers. But education experts say the pandemic seems to have upended usual trends.
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PHOENIX — Arizona's Maricopa County plans to close two of its six regional COVID-19 vaccination sites in coming weeks as public health officials put increased emphasis on smaller sites and events to give more shots.
The county’s site in north Phoenix, operated by Honor Health, will last operate on Feb. 28. and the site run by Dignity Health in Chandler will close in early March.
Officials say current appointments will be honored at both locations. Arizona on Saturday reported 2,047 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases and 59 deaths, increasing the state’s pandemic totals to 806,163 cases and 15,480 deaths.
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LONDON - The British government has announced a small step out of lockdown -- allowing nursing home residents to have a single friend or family member visit them indoors.
Residents and their visitors will be able to hold hands, but not hug. The change takes effect March 8. For months, nursing home residents have only been able to see loved ones outdoors or through screens.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he will announce a “road map” out of lockdown on Monday. The government has stressed that reopening will be slow and cautious, with store reopenings or outdoor socializing unlikely before April, though children will go back to school from March 8.
Johnson’s Conservative government has been accused of reopening the country too quickly after the first lockdown in the spring. Britain has had about 120,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest toll in Europe.
The new measures apply in England. In other parts of the U.K., nursing home visiting rules vary, with Scottish residents able to have two visitors from March 8.
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HELSINKI — Denmark has temporarily closed some border crossing points with Germany and stepped up checks at others due to a spike in COVID-19 cases and a rise in virus variants in the the northern German town of Flensburg, just off the Danish border.
The Danish justice ministry said late Friday that an increasing number of infections and virus mutations have been detected in Flensburg, just some seven kilometers (4 miles) from the border with Denmark.
The Danish justice ministry said officials police will significantly intensify border controls at the Danish-German border. Local authorities in Germany said Saturday on Flensburg’s webpage that the town’s coronavirus incidence rate was running at 193 per 100,000 people.
Dozens of cases of mutated coronavirus, mostly the variant first detected in Britain, have been detected in Flensburg, a town with some 90,000 inhabitants, in the past days.
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UNITED NATIONS — Britain has circulated a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council demanding that all warring parties immediately institute a “sustained humanitarian pause” to enable people in conflict areas to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The proposed resolution reiterates the council’s demand last July 1 for “a general and immediate cessation of hostilities” in major conflicts from Syria and Yemen to Central African Republic, Mali and Sudan and Somalia, an appeal first made by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on March 23, 2020, to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
The draft, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, “emphasizes the need for solidarity, equity, and efficacy and invites donation of vaccine doses from developed economies to low- and middle-income countries and other countries in need, including through the COVAX Facility,” an ambitious World Health Organization project to buy and deliver coronavirus vaccines for the world’s poorest people.
The British draft stresses that “equitable access to affordable COVID-19 vaccines, certified as safe and efficacious, is essential to end the pandemic.”
It would recognize “the role of extensive immunization against COVID-19 as a global public good for health in preventing, containing, and stopping transmission, in order to bring the pandemic to an end.”
The draft follows up on British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab’s appeal to the 15-member Security Council on Wednesday to adopt a resolution calling for local cease-fires in conflict zones to allow the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.
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MEXICO CITY — Mexico says it will get its first shipment of the Chinese Coronavac vaccine Saturday and by Monday will receive its first lot of the Russian Sputnik V shot. Both shipments are expected to consist of about 200,000 doses.
Health officials say the first shipments of the Chinese and Russian vaccines will be used in low-income neighborhoods of Mexico City or its suburbs.
Mexico is currently using the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines and has applied almost 1.6 million doses of those.
The country will now be faced with the logistical challenge of handling four different vaccines, all of which require two doses. In addition, the Sputnik first shot is different from the second and is not interchangeable.
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LOS ANGELES -- The University of Southern California expects to reopen campuses this fall, joining the state’s major public universities in planning to resume on-campus life curtailed by COVID-19.
USC President Carol Folt issued an online letter Friday that said she is “cautiously optimistic” because virus cases are down and vaccinations are ramping up. USC and other universities nationwide were forced to switch to online learning last March.
Both the University of California and California State University systems also have said they plan to reopen their campuses this fall if conditions permit.
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — President Alberto Fernández asked Argentina’s health minister to resign after a well-known local journalist said he had been given a coronavirus vaccination preferentially after requesting one from the minister, a government official said Friday.
The president “instructed his chief of staff to request the resignation of health minister” Ginés González García, who is in charge of the government’s COVID-19 strategy, said the official, who was not authorized to release the information and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. He did not say who would replace González García as health minister.
The scandal erupted when journalist Horacio Verbitsky, whose stories and columns on a website and on the radio are seen as pro-government, said he called the minister to request a vaccinination and González García summoned him to the Health Ministry where he received a Sputnik V vaccine shot Thursday.
“I decided to get vaccinated. I started to find out where to do it. I called my old friend Ginés González García, whom I have known long before he was a minister,” Verbitsky told a local radio station. “I went to the ministry and the team of vaccinators was there.”
Fernández’s government has been harshly criticized for Argentina’s slow vaccination operation.