Serbia welcomes AstraZeneca vaccine cargo

BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbia has acquired a primary cargo of 150,000 AstraZeneca vaccines, including to the three different vaccines already in use.

The Balkan nation of seven million has administered greater than 1 million doses thus far, which is among the many prime leads to Europe. Most Serb residents have acquired Chinese language Sinopharm vaccines, adopted by Pfizer-BioNTech and Russia’s Sputnik V.

President Aleksandar Vucic on Sunday was on the airport to welcome the AstraZeneca cargo from India. He mentioned greater than 750,000 folks have acquired the primary shot and expressed hope that vaccinations will proceed at present tempo.

Well being authorities, in the meantime, threatened toughen anti-virus measures following a spike in each day new circumstances and hospitalizations.

Epidemiologists say that’s on account of nightclubs and cafes flouting virus restrictions and since Serbia’s ski resorts labored at full capability all winter.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Britain hastens vaccination plan; all adults to get 1st jab by July 31

— What’s secure after a COVID-19 vaccination? Don’t take the masks off but, scientists say

— Governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gavin Newsom of California are embroiled in political woes from the pandemic

— Airways plan to ask passengers for contact-tracing particulars

— With no crowds throughout a coronavirus lockdown, the Louvre in Paris is utilizing the down time to refurbish

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Observe all of AP’s pandemic protection 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:

LONDON — The British authorities says it goals to provide each grownup within the nation a primary dose of coronavirus vaccine by July 31, a month sooner than its earlier goal.

The aim is for everybody over 50 or with an underlying well being situation to get a shot by April 15, reasonably than the earlier goal of Might 1.

The makers of the 2 vaccines Britain is utilizing, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, have each skilled provide issues in Europe. However U.Okay. Well being Secretary Matt Hancock mentioned Sunday that “we now assume that we now have the provides” to hurry up the vaccination marketing campaign.

Greater than 17.2 million folks have been given the primary of two doses of vaccine for the reason that U.Okay. inoculation marketing campaign started on Dec. 8.

The information comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets with senior ministers Sunday to finalize a “street map” out of that nationwide lockdown that is because of be introduced on Monday.

Britain has had greater than 120,000 coronavirus deaths, the very best toll in Europe.

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AUSTIN, Texas — The variety of deaths in Texas on account of coronavirus elevated by greater than 200 on Saturday whereas the variety of folks hospitalized with the virus declined, in accordance with the Texas Division of State Well being Providers.

There have been an extra 227 COVID-19 deaths, greater than 4,900 new circumstances and seven,535 hospitalizations, a decline of 222 folks hospitalized, the division reported.

Texas has had greater than 2.5 million coronavirus circumstances for the reason that pandemic started, and greater than 42,000 deaths on account of COVID-19, the third highest loss of life rely in america, in accordance with Johns Hopkins College.

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LOS ANGELES — A skateboarding world champion is amongst 5 folks prosecutors in Southern California have charged with organizing events that had been doable superspreader occasions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Los Angeles Occasions studies Nyjah Huston, a four-time world skateboarding champion, and Edward Essa, the proprietor of a house within the Fairfax District, held a celebration final month with no less than 40 those who was shut down by police after receiving a grievance.

Huston and Essa had been each charged with making a nuisance, a misdemeanor.

Neither might be reached for remark.

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JERUSALEM — Israel has unveiled a plan to permit individuals who have been vaccinated in opposition to the coronavirus to attend cultural occasions, fly overseas and go to well being golf equipment and eating places.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu introduced the plan at a information convention on Saturday night time, saying those that have been vaccinated will be capable to obtain the “inexperienced badge” within the coming days.

“The inexperienced badge is progressively opening up the nation,” Netanyahu mentioned.

Israel has performed the world’s speediest vaccine marketing campaign over the previous month and a half, inoculating almost half of its 9.Three million folks. However with the coronavirus nonetheless spreading quickly among the many unvaccinated, the nation solely not too long ago started rising from a two-month lockdown.

On Sunday, retail shops, buying malls, gyms, some center faculty grades and different public companies for restricted crowd sizes are set to begin again up.

Netanyahu mentioned the federal government couldn’t maintain unvaccinated residents from locations like medical clinics, pharmacies and supermarkets. However he mentioned different companies can be allowed solely for individuals who have acquired two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Israel’s fundamental worldwide airport, as an example, stays closed to just about all air visitors due to considerations of overseas variants of the virus getting into the nation.

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PODGORICA, Montenegro — Tiny Montenegro has launched vaccinations in opposition to the coronavirus with doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines that had been donated by neighboring Serbia.

Well being authorities mentioned the primary individual to obtain a shot on Saturday was a 66-year-old resident of a care dwelling within the coastal city of Risan. Two docs working on the identical nursing dwelling got here subsequent.

A nation of some 620,000 folks, Montenegro has reported greater than 70,000 confirmed COVID-19 circumstances and 939 identified deaths.

Montenegrin authorities say they plan to accumulate provides of China’s Sinopharm vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

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MEXICO CITY — The official main Mexico’s response to the pandemic says he has examined constructive for the coronavirus.

Assistant Well being Secretary Hugo López-Gatell tweeted Saturday that he had mild COVID-19 signs on Friday night time and an antigen check got here out constructive. He was awaiting the outcomes of a PCR check, which takes longer to course of and is mostly extra correct..

“I’ll be working from dwelling,” López-Gatell mentioned, including that he was concerned in Mexico’s vaccination program.

Some 200,000 doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine arrived in Mexico from Hong Kong on Saturday. A complete of 10 million Sinovac vaccines are anticipated.

Mexico has accredited a number of different coronavirus vaccines and has administered 1.5 million pictures thus far.

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HONOLULU — The Hawaii Division of Well being says it has briefly prolonged the window incoming vacationers need to get a pre-arrival coronavirus check that comes again unfavorable.

The state says vacationers can now take the assessments as much as 96 hours earlier than their scheduled flights as an alternative of 72 hours due to winter storms which have ravaged the continental U.S.

The assessments nonetheless need to be performed by a state-approved supplier. Hawaii Information Now studies the extension will probably be in impact by way of Sunday.

Alternatively, guests can quarantine for 10 days after arriving in Hawaii.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska public well being officers say 3,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine will arrive later than anticipated due to a winter storm that has ravaged the continental U.S.

The state’s immunization program supervisor, Matt Bobo, mentioned some vaccine appointments could also be postponed till subsequent week. The doses had been supposed to succeed in 21 totally different suppliers.

State officers say they’ve been speaking with officers on the White Home and the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management concerning the delay.

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PHOENIX — Enrollment at U.S. neighborhood schools dropped 10% from fall 2019 to fall 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

That’s in accordance with The Nationwide Scholar Clearinghouse, which says neighborhood schools had been hit the toughest amongst all varieties of schools by way of enrollment drops.

4-year universities within the U.S. fared higher than many had anticipated, seeing solely slight enrollment decreases.

There are myriad causes for the neighborhood faculty downturn. Fewer freshmen are enrolling and a few are delaying faculty till campuses totally reopen. However the pandemic has additionally taken a heavy toll on older grownup college students. Many misplaced jobs or don’t have any time for their very own education as they supervise their kids’s on-line courses.

Extra Individuals usually flip to neighborhood faculty schooling amid financial downturns, looking for to study new job abilities or change careers. However schooling consultants say the pandemic appears to have upended regular developments.

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PHOENIX — Arizona’s Maricopa County plans to shut two of its six regional COVID-19 vaccination websites in coming weeks as public well being officers put elevated emphasis on smaller websites and occasions to provide extra pictures.

The county’s website in north Phoenix, operated by Honor Well being, will final function on Feb. 28. and the location run by Dignity Well being in Chandler will shut in early March.

Officers say present appointments will probably be honored at each places. Arizona on Saturday reported 2,047 extra confirmed COVID-19 circumstances and 59 deaths, rising the state’s pandemic totals to 806,163 circumstances and 15,480 deaths.

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LONDON – The British authorities has introduced a small step out of lockdown — permitting nursing dwelling residents to have a single buddy or member of the family go to them indoors.

Residents and their guests will be capable to maintain fingers, however not hug. The change takes impact March 8. For months, nursing dwelling residents have solely been capable of see family members outdoor or by way of screens.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he’ll announce a “street map” out of lockdown on Monday. The federal government has harassed that reopening will probably be gradual and cautious, with retailer reopenings or out of doors socializing unlikely earlier than April, although kids will return to highschool from March 8.

Johnson’s Conservative authorities has been accused of reopening the nation too rapidly after the primary lockdown within the spring. Britain has had about 120,000 coronavirus deaths, the very best toll in Europe.

The brand new measures apply in England. In different elements of the U.Okay., nursing dwelling visiting guidelines fluctuate, with Scottish residents capable of have two guests from March 8.

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PORTLAND, Oregon — Regardless of historic winter climate throughout the nation inflicting cargo delays and forcing mass vaccination websites to reschedule appointments, Oregon well being officers say the state’s vaccination timeline remains to be on schedule.

Whereas greater than 10,000 vaccine appointments had been canceled final week, starting Monday folks 70 and older will probably be eligible to obtain doses of vaccine and other people 65 and older will probably be eligible March 1.

Throughout the previous week, Oregon averaged greater than 14,000 vaccinations per day. As of Thursday, 12% of the state’s inhabitants has been vaccinated with first doses and 5% of residents have been totally vaccinated.

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HELSINKI — Denmark has briefly closed some border crossing factors with Germany and stepped up checks at others on account of a spike in COVID-19 circumstances and an increase in virus variants within the the northern German city of Flensburg, simply off the Danish border.

The Danish justice ministry mentioned late Friday that an rising variety of infections and virus mutations have been detected in Flensburg, just a few seven kilometers (Four miles) from the border with Denmark.

The Danish justice ministry mentioned officers police will considerably intensify border controls on the Danish-German border. Native authorities in Germany mentioned Saturday on Flensburg’s webpage that the city’s coronavirus incidence price was operating at 193 per 100,000 folks.

Dozens of circumstances of mutated coronavirus, largely the variant first detected in Britain, have been detected in Flensburg, a city with some 90,000 inhabitants, prior to now days.

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UNITED NATIONS — Britain has circulated a draft decision to the U.N. Safety Council demanding that every one fighters instantly institute a “sustained humanitarian pause” to allow folks in battle areas to be vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19.

The proposed decision reiterates the council’s demand final July 1 for “a common and fast cessation of hostilities” in main conflicts from Syria and Yemen to Central African Republic, Mali and Sudan and Somalia, an attraction first made by U.N. Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres on March 23, 2020, to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

The draft, obtained Friday by The Related Press, “emphasizes the necessity for solidarity, fairness, and efficacy and invitations donation of vaccine doses from developed economies to low- and middle-income nations and different nations in want, together with by way of the COVAX Facility,” an bold World Well being Group challenge to purchase and ship coronavirus vaccines for the world’s poorest folks.

The British draft stresses that “equitable entry to reasonably priced COVID-19 vaccines, licensed as secure and efficacious, is important to finish the pandemic.”

It might acknowledge “the position of intensive immunization in opposition to COVID-19 as a world public good for well being in stopping, containing, and stopping transmission, as a way to deliver the pandemic to an finish.”

The draft follows up on British International Secretary Dominic Raab’s attraction to the 15-member Safety Council on Wednesday to undertake a decision calling for native cease-fires in battle zones to permit the supply of COVID-19 vaccines.

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LOS ANGELES — The College of Southern California expects to reopen campuses this fall, becoming a member of the state’s main public universities in planning to renew on-campus life curtailed by COVID-19.

USC President Carol Folt issued a web-based letter Friday that mentioned she is “cautiously optimistic” as a result of virus circumstances are down and vaccinations are ramping up. USC and different universities nationwide had been compelled to modify to on-line studying final March.

Each the College of California and California State College techniques even have mentioned they plan to reopen their campuses this fall if circumstances allow.