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MORE ABOUT PANDEMIC:
– Vaccine equality: In the cutthroat race for safe doses
– In a U-turn, Boris Johnson is quarantined after exposure to COVID-19
– Tunisia imposes compulsory vaccination for military cases
– Vietnam locks down the southern region as the surge increases
– Nightclubs thrilled, but doubts cloud England’s “Freedom Day”
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– For more AP coverage, please visit https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
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HERE STILL HAPPEN:
PARIS – The European Union’s vaccination campaign catches up with the US.
European officials boasted figures from Our World in Data showing that 55.6% of EU citizens received at least one dose, compared to 55.4% in the US.
Our World in Data says the US still has a higher percentage of fully vaccinated people. In the US it is 48% compared to 42% in the EU. The UK and some other countries move faster than either.
The EU was initially more cautious with vaccines and started more slowly than the US
EU Market Commissioner Thierry Breton noted that half of the vaccines produced in the block were exported to more than 100 countries in total. But extreme global inequalities in vaccines remain. Only a small fraction of vaccines reach the poorest populations in Africa and elsewhere.
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ROM – New cases of confirmed COVID-19 infections are rising daily in Italy.
Health experts say nationwide celebrations by Italian fans after European football matches are an important factor, say health experts.
Thousands of fans jammed the streets of Rome on July 12 to cheer for an open bus tour of the Italian national team that won Euro 2020 by defeating England the night before.
The number of newly confirmed cases in the Lazio region, of which Rome is more, in the past three days. The region had the highest daily number of new cases on Saturday.
A pediatrician, who advises the Italian government on health measures against pandemics, told the daily La Repubblica in an interview on Sunday that “the gatherings and the crush have fostered the virus circulation”.
Dr. Franco Locatelli said the median age of infected people in Italy is now 28 years.
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LONDON – UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will self-isolate for 10 days after contact with a confirmed coronavirus case.
His office’s announcement on Sunday reversed an earlier statement that, unlike most people, he would not be quarantined. Johnson met with Health Secretary Sajid Javid on Friday, who later tested positive for COVID-19. Contact persons from positive cases usually have to self-isolate for 10 days.
Johnson’s office initially said the prime minister would instead run a daily coronavirus test as part of a pilot project. The same applies to CFO Rishi Sunak, who was also contacted. However, Johnson’s office later said after an outcry that both men were self-isolating and “will not participate in the test pilot.”
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LONDON – Thousands of young people across England plan to dance the night away at Freedom Day parties as soon as Monday comes.
The country’s nightclubs are reopening for the first time in 17 months as almost all coronavirus rules are to be scrapped. Sparkling wine and full dance floors are expected. But no masks or evidence of a COVID-19 vaccine, negative test, or recent recovery from the disease.
Shops and ravers cheer. However, many others are deeply concerned about the UK government’s decision to continue social distancing at a time when virus cases are on another rapid surge.
Many health professionals fear the government is overconfident about introducing vaccines.
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BARGNY, Senegal – Health officials warn COVID-19 cases rise in Senegal as millions across the West African nation prepare for the Tabaski holiday.
New confirmed cases have soared from dozens a day to a record 738 on Friday in just a few weeks. And the Ministry of Health says they nearly doubled to 1,366 overnight on Saturday.
President Macky Sall and his cabinet restrict public gatherings and travel, and urge the public to continue to wear masks and disinfect their hands frequently.
Celebrated in Senegal on July 21st, Tabaski sees thousands of people gathering for large family gatherings to celebrate. Many health officials are concerned. People crowd in marketplaces and gather at auctions to buy sheep before the holidays.
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KESRA, Tunisia – Tunisian authorities have dispatched military personnel to vaccinate remote populations as coronavirus infections rise and hospitals struggle to cope.
The North African country is facing its worst coronavirus virus in the pandemic. The infections forced some regions back into lockdown and prompted donations of vaccines or medical aid from China, France, the United Arab Emirates and other countries.
The Tunisian government has decided to use the armed forces in the regions with the worst infection rates and in areas with particularly low vaccination rates to vaccinate people.
Tunisia currently has one of the highest daily per capita infection rates in the world and has reported Africa’s highest pandemic death toll per capita.
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PARIS – Global health experts believe the distribution of vaccines will be uneven between rich and poor countries.
But nobody thought it would come to that. Less than 1% of the world’s poorest citizens have received a dose.
And experts say it could be 2023 before vaccines are widely available. This is fueling more infections and variants that could keep the pandemic longer.
The African Union Commissioner for Vaccine Procurement compared the inequality of distribution to a famine in which “the richest snatch the baker”.
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HONOLULU – Proponents in Hawaii say the pandemic has underscored the importance of collecting and reporting race data.
Honolulu Councilor Esther Kia?
Kiaʻ? Ina worked at the federal level in the 1990s to separate the Hawaiian Native American data from the Asian data. This was sparked by concerns that native Hawaiian students were considered over-represented in colleges when they were considered Asian.
But all of the other Pacific Islanders have stayed in one category since then.
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HANOI, Vietnam – The Vietnamese government has locked the entire southern region for two weeks from midnight.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases have passed the 3,000 mark for the third day in a row. The lockdown contract covers the Mekong Delta and the metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City. More than 35 million people live in the country’s financial and economic center. That is almost a third of the population of Vietnam.
Officials say they need to act as the number of infections has reached nearly 50,000 since the outbreak recurred in late April after no cases were recorded for several months. Ho Chi Minh City is the epicenter of the surge.
