The Latest: Biden: US intel officials probe COVID-19 origin
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is asking U.S. intelligence agencies to “redouble” efforts to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He says there is insufficient evidence to conclude “whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident.”
Biden directed U.S. national laboratories to assist with the investigation and called on China to cooperate with international probes into the origins of the pandemic. He held out the possibility that a firm conclusion may never be known, given the Chinese government’s refusal to fully cooperate with international investigations.
The U.S. leads the world with 33.1 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 591,000 confirmed deaths.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— European Union seeks fines in AstraZeneca court case
— Ex-Johnson aide lambasts UK government over COVID failures
— Vaccine inequality in India sends many falling through gaps
— Countries eager to reopen to travel as pandemic recedes
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Follow more of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
ISTANBUL — Turkey will step up its COVID-19 vaccination program next month, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.
“We aim to ensure normalization throughout our country by conducting an intensive vaccination campaign in June,” Erdogan said in a conference call with U.S. business leaders.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca says people over 50 can be vaccinated on June 1, adding that 5 million doses will arrive next week. It’s part of several deals for 270 million doses to vaccinate Turkey’s 84 million population.
Some 28.4 million first and second doses of vaccine have been administered so far, the health ministry says. It announced 8,738 new coronavirus cases in the previous 24 hours and 166 COVID-19-related deaths.
Daily cases hit more than 63,000 in mid-April after restrictions were relaxed. A three-week lockdown was introduced, ending on May 17. However, restrictions such as evening and weekend curfews remain in place.
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NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus health authorities say people under 50 years should opt for either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines following the death of a 39-year-old woman who reportedly suffered a brain hemorrhage a few weeks after receiving an AstraZeneca shot.
Cyprus’ Health Ministry says it has a adopted a recommendation by a majority among a panel of scientific experts advising the government on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic to administer the Pfizer and Morderna vaccines to people 50 years old and under.
However, the body recommended unanimously those already given a first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine and didn’t suffer serious side effects such as blood clots must receive their follow-up shot.
Some 50.4% of the population has received at least one vaccine shot while 23.7% have completed their vaccination regimen.
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BERLIN — The German government is setting up a fund of 2.5 billion euros ($3.1 billion) to support theaters, cinemas, concert organizers and other cultural facilities as they prepare to reopen after months of closures.
Germany is gradually easing restrictions with the decrease of coronavirus infections.
The special fund approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday will offer “economic viability aid” to organizers of events that must be held with reduced spectators because of the pandemic.
The fund adds to a series of aid packages put together by the government during the pandemic to help several sectors of the economy.
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LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s former chief aide has lashed out at the government he once served, saying people died “in horrific circumstances” during the coronavirus pandemic because of its failed response.
In televised testimony on Wednesday, Dominic Cummings claimed the government was slow and chaotic in its initial response to COVID-19. He also accused Johnson of failing to learn from early mistakes by resisting a second lockdown in the fall as virus cases soared.
Cummings gave seven hours of testimony to Parliament’s science and health committees, who are investigating Britain’s pandemic response. He alleged a series of bad decisions and false assumptions within government in early 2020, saying Johnson initially regarded the virus as “just a scare story.”
The prime minister defended the government’s response, saying “to deal with a pandemic on this scale has been appallingly difficult.” Johnson eventually imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 23. He was hospitalized in intensive care with the coronavirus in April 2020.
Cummings, who helped take Britain out of the European Union, was appointed a top adviser when Johnson became prime minister in 2019. A self-styled political disruptor who wanted to shake up government, he often expressed contempt for the civil service, politicians and the media.
The U.K. has recorded the highest COVID-19 death toll in Europe, with nearly 128,000 confirmed deaths.
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GENEVA — Restaurants in Switzerland will be allowed to open indoor areas next week following a six-month closure as coronavirus cases decline.
The Swiss government says rules on office working will be relaxed, with working from home recommended rather than required for businesses that conduct weekly tests. Since mid-January, companies have been required to tell staff to work from home where possible.
Restaurants have been allowed to serve customers outdoors since mid-April. Countries across Europe are relaxing restrictions at varying speeds as the latest wave of coronavirus infections subsides and vaccination campaigns gather pace.
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NEW DELHI — The disparities of the coronavirus pandemic were already stark in India, where access to health care is as stratified and unequal as other parts of its society.
Now, the divide along the lines of wealth and technology are further widening that chasm, and many people are falling through the gaps as vaccines remain inaccessible to millions.
This worries health experts who say such inequality could slow India’s fight against the virus that has been killing more than 4,000 people a day. The disparity is expected to worsen as the virus takes hold in India’s vast countryside, where the health care system is weak and the extent of the damage is hard to gauge.
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BRUSSELS — The European Union took on vaccine producer AstraZeneca in a Brussels court on Wednesday and accused it of diverting promised doses to other nations when it had promised them for urgent delivery among the 27 member states.
The bloc accused the Anglo-Swedish company of pushing EU deliveries back so it could give them to Britain, among other nations. EU lawyer Rafael Jafferali asked the court to impose a fine of 10 million euros ($12.2 million) per infraction.
AstraZeneca’s contract signed with the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, on behalf of member states foresaw an initial 300 million doses for distribution among all 27 countries, with an option for another 100 million.
The doses were expected to be delivered throughout 2021. But only 30 million were sent during the first quarter.
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PARIS — France will impose a mandatory quarantine on visitors from Britain to prevent the spread of a virus variant first detected in India.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said the new measure will be similar to limits imposed in Germany on people traveling from the U.K.
“France is going to take similar measures and so put in place obligatory isolation for people coming from the United Kingdom,” he said.
He didn’t say when the quarantine will be introduced. He said more information would be released shortly.
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BRUSSELS — Belgium has suspended the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for people under age 41 following the death of a person who had received the shot.
The government is asking for urgent advice from the European Medicines Agency before it will consider lifting the suspension.
It said a woman was vaccinated through her foreign employer outside the Belgian system and had died in Belgium last week after developing “serious thrombosis and reduced blood platelets.”
The government says the impact on the national vaccination drive would be very limited. Belgium was using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for elderly with reduced mobility and the homeless since it only takes one shot to be protected. Those shots will be continued.
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LISBON, Portugal — Portuguese authorities say they are speeding up their COVID-19 vaccination drive nationwide after prompting an outcry by saying inoculations would be accelerated only in the Lisbon region.
The Lisbon and Tagus Valley region has recently seen an infection uptick, and on Tuesday it accounted for almost half of Portugal’s new daily cases, with 175.
The region extends more than 140 kilometers (87 miles) north from the capital and more than 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the east, with a population of around 3.6 million people.
Two weeks ago, a Lisbon soccer team won the national title, sending tens of thousands of fans into the streets to celebrate, many of them without masks.
The Health Ministry announced Tuesday evening that Lisbon region residents in their 40s could start getting vaccine shots starting June 6 and people in their 30s starting June 20.
Three hours later, amid protests from other cities about regional discrimination, the government said the stepped up rollout would cover the whole country.
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ROME — Whistleblower protection groups urged the World Health Organization on Wednesday to launch an independent review into the case of an Italian researcher who reported being pressured to falsify data in a now-spiked WHO report into Italy’s coronavirus response.
The groups and some 30 other public health and anti-corruption organizations sent an open letter to the president of the World Health Assembly. The assembly, WHO’s highest decision-making body, is made up of all WHO member states and is meeting this week.
In the letter, the signatories called for the U.N. agency to commit to reforming its whistleblowing protection policy. They said the Italian researcher, Dr. Francesco Zambon, had suffered retaliatory treatment for having reported the incident within WHO’s internal ethics system.
Zambon resigned in March, saying he had been isolated and marginalized after he complained internally, and then publicly, about the scandal.
Zambon has said he was pressured by a then-assistant director general, Dr. Ranieri Guerra, to falsify data about Italy’s preparedness going into the pandemic in a report he and other researchers were writing to help other countries prepare as COVID-19 swept across the globe last year.
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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan is offering shots to its entire adult population in hopes of boosting COVID-19 vaccination rates, with only 5% of the population inoculated so far.
Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar announced on Twitter that the registration of those ages 19 and above will begin from Thursday. So far, the vaccination was open to those 30 years and above.
Pakistan has reported a steady decline in infections and fatalities from COVID-19 in recent days, but the vaccination response has been sluggish.
The only shots given are three Chinese-made vaccines.
Pakistan has registered 908,576 confirmed cases and 20,465 deaths since last year.
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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean officials say they plan to allow people to drop their masks from July if they have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, as they mull incentives to promote inoculation.
Health Minister Kwon Deok-choel said Wednesday the plan is contingent on the government succeeding in its goal of administering first doses to 13 million people by the end of June. Officials say people will continue to be required to wear mask indoors or at outdoor gatherings where it’s difficult to maintain distance.
Other incentives include providing vaccine-takers with discounts at public parks and museums and allowing them to participate in larger private gatherings. The country is currently clamping down on social gatherings of five or more people.
South Korea has wrestled with a slower vaccine rollout than many other developed economies.
Around 3.9 million people so far have received their first doses since the country launched its mass immunization program in late February, which represents less than 8% of the country’s 51 million population.
Health officials have lamented what they describe as excessive public fear of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been linked to rare blood-clotting side effects.
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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka has received 500,000 doses of Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine donated by China as the Indian Ocean island nation faces severe shortage of vaccines amid a recent rise in infections.
The vaccine stock that arrived early Wednesday is the second donation from China, following a shipment of 600,000 doses in March.
Sri Lanka is facing a shortage of vaccine after the producer in neighboring India failed to provide the promised Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine stocks. The government on Tuesday agreed to buy 14 million doses of Sinopharm from China.
The current vaccination program is focused on Sri Lanka’s Western province, which includes the capital of Colombo and its suburbs. It is where the majority of the country’s coronavirus cases have been.
Sri Lank has reported 167,172 coronavirus cases and 1,243 confirmed deaths from COVID-19.
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