LONDON – Britain says it has hit its target of giving at least one dose of vaccine to everyone over 50 and others in groups at highest risk from the coronavirus by mid-April. The government says everyone in those groups has been offered a job, and about 95% of eligible people have received a shot. More than 32 million people, over 60% of adults, have had the first shot, and almost 15% of people in the U.K. have had both doses. On Tuesday, the vaccination drive was expanded to people aged 45-49, the start of the second phase of the inoculation campaign.
Britain has had Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak, with more than 127,000 confirmed deaths. But rapid vaccination and a nationwide lockdown have sharply decreased infections and deaths.
Lockdown restrictions are now being lifted, with nonessential shops, hairdressers, gyms, and pub and restaurant patios reopening in England on Monday.
Health authorities are also concerned about new variants that are more resistant to the vaccines. They call for everyone living in two boroughs in south London to get tested after 44 cases of a strain first identified in South Africa were confirmed there.
– India reels from explosive virus surge, affecting world vaccine supply
– Emptied by the pandemic, Canary Islands hotel offers shelter to migrants in need
– Follow A.P.’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke says 104,824 people were vaccinated in one day as Denmark Monday tested its system ahead of a June rollout where 400,000 will be vaccinated per day. “The result is now being evaluated, so we are ready for continued effective rollout,” Heunicke wrote on Twitter Tuesday.
Stephanie Lose, head of the Danish Regions, an interest organization for Denmark’s five regions running health care across the country of nearly 6 million, noted some local problems to be solved, including access, parking, logistics, and some minor I.T. issues. In addition, queues occurred in several places because many showed up too early.
Denmark inoculated people in 68 vaccine centers. The number of jabs was lowered again on Tuesday.
GENEVA – The U.N. health agency calls on countries to suspend the sale of live animals captured from the wild in food markets as an emergency measure, saying wild animals are a leading source of emerging infectious diseases like the coronavirus.
The World Health Organization issued new guidance on Tuesday saying that animals – particularly wild animals – “are the source of more than 70 percent of all emerging infectious diseases in humans, many of which are caused by novel viruses.”
The coronavirus’s origins more than a year ago have been the source of intense speculation. Much of it centered around the likelihood that bats carried it and passed it to humans through an intermediary species sold as food or medicine in traditional Chinese wet markets. The pandemic first appeared in the city of Wuhan, China.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi appealed for people to adhere to social distancing rules after Islamabad reported one of its highest single-day COVID-19 fatalities in recent months.
Alvi also said on Twitter he had recovered from his case of COVID-19 but was still feeling weak.
He urged people to continue adhering to social distancing rules after authorities said most people were still not wearing face masks in public places. Alvi’s appeal Tuesday came hours after Pakistan reported 118 deaths from the virus in the past 24 hours, the highest in recent months. Pakistan has relied mainly on donated or imported Chinese vaccines, only offered to health workers and older people. One pharmaceutical company has imported 50,000 doses of the Russian vaccine available in big cities.
UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations chief says the COVID-19 pandemic led to “a spike” in gender-based violence last year. Pakistan hopes to receive 15 million COVID-19 vaccine doses through the UN-backed COVAX program by next month when authorities plan to register all citizens for vaccination. And Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a report circulated Monday that combatants continued to use sexual violence “as a cruel tactic of war, terror, torture and political repression” in several countries.
The report focuses on 18 countries where the U.N. obtained verified information.
It lists 52 parties “credibly suspected” of responsibility “for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence” in conflicts on the agenda of the U.N. Security Council. Most of those on the U.N. blacklist are “non-state actors” — opposition, rebel, or terrorist groups linked to the Islamic State or al-Qaida extremist groups. National military and police forces on the list, including Myanmar’s military and border guard, are barred from participating in U.N. peace operations until they adopt time-bound commitments to cease violations.
