CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova became the first European country to receive COVID-19 vaccines from the global COVAX scheme, Moldova President Maia Sandu said on Friday. She said on Twitter the first batch of 14,400 doses arrived in Moldova last night. (Reporting by Kyiv bureau; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Citing the state’s success in containing COVID-19, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Thursday he’ll roll back capacity restrictions on restaurants and other businesses in a couple of weeks while keeping in place an 11 p.m. curfew and doubling down on such safety protocols as mask-wearing, social distancing and frequent cleaning.
“This is not Texas, this is not Mississippi,” Lamont said during a virtual news briefing. “This is Connecticut. We are maintaining the masks. . We have a much lower rate of infection than those maskless states, and we’re going to keep going with what works.”
As of March 19, restaurants will be allowed to operate at 100% capacity, though they still will have to limit seating to eight people per table and observe the curfew. Bars that only serve alcohol will be required to stay closed “a little bit longer,” the governor said.
NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM – Kazakhstan has recorded 44 daily cases of pneumonia flagged as pneumonia with COVID-19-related signs, Kazinform cites coronavirus2020.kz.
By Leonardo Benassatto and Ueslei Marcelino YAUARETÊ, Brazil (Reuters) - An army helicopter flew to two isolated indigenous villages in Brazil s Amazon jungle this week with a welcome cargo - coronavirus vaccines. The Hupda communities lined up to get their shots. Traditional medicine prescribed by a shaman is highly respected here, but there was no resistance to receiving the vaccine by China s Sinovac Biotech. We are grateful for the vaccination, so we will not catch the disease, said Hupda chieftain Jorge Pires in the village of Santo Antanasio, near the Colombian border and a 25-minute helicopter flight from the nearest military outpost. Following criticism by indigenous leaders that echoed internationally last year that their vulnerable communities were being decimated by COVID-19, Brazil s Health and Defense ministries have mounted a vaccination campaign reaching remote reservations and villages. So far 265,244 indigenous people have had a first dose, and 124,063 the second dose