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Wed. 11:03 a.m.: Latest world virus headlines â Hospitals struggle to keep up in COVID-19 hotspot California
Jan 6, 2021
A healthcare worker, left, is administered a shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine at a mass vaccination center today in Veghel, Netherlands. Nearly two weeks after most other European Union nations, the Netherlands today began its COVID-19 vaccination program, with care home staff and front-line workers in hospitals first in line for the shot. (Piroschka van de Wouw/Pool via AP)
Here are summaries of the latest coronavirus pandemic Associated Press stories worldwide, including:
⢠European Union gives quick OK to Moderna vaccine;
⢠Georgia confirms state’s first case of coronavirus variant;
WASHINGTON Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says the government will begin allowing more drugstores to start giving shots to speed coronavirus vaccinations.
Pharmacies from 19 chains had been on standby until vaccine supplies increased. Azar says allowing them to help with vaccinations would ease pressure on hospitals that have been the main vaccine providers.
Pharmacies would need to follow state plans for who gets in line first, and governors would decide how to divide supplies between the drugstores and other vaccination sites.
Azar says if health workers aren’t lining up fast enough, it’s OK to mix in other priority groups, and urged governors to make that clear.
The Latest: Swiss to shut restaurants, bars through February startribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from startribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
GENEVA Swiss authorities plan to shut restaurants, bars, sports facilities and cultural institutions through the end of February.
The order is expected to take effect on Saturday. It lifts the exemptions for some of the 26 regions with a “favorable evolution” against the coronavirus making the restrictive measures effective nationwide. Ski resorts plan to remain open.
The country of about 8.5 million people tallied more than 4,808 cases in the last 24 hours a rate of 522 cases per 100,000 people.
Overall, there’s been more than 470,000 confirmed cases and 7,434 deaths in connection with COVID-19.
THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
The European Union has given approval to the Moderna vaccine. The decision gives the 27-nation bloc a second vaccine to use against the coronavirus. Germany’s health minister is defending the slow start of the country’s vaccine campaign, saying he understands the desire for a faster rollout. The Dutch kick off virus vaccination program, the la
The Latest: Australia moves up vaccination start to February Shoppers wear masks as they walk around a shopping precinct in Sydney, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021. Masks have been made mandatory in shopping centers, on public transport, in entertainment venues such as a cinema, and fines will come into effect on Monday as the state government responds to the COVID-19 outbreak on Sydney s northern beaches, which is suspected to have also caused new cases in neighboring Victoria state. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) | Photo: AP By The Associated Press Created: January 06, 2021 12:26 AM
CANBERRA, Australia - Australia is advancing the start of its coronavirus vaccination program to mid-February, with plans to inoculate 15% of the population by late March.