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COVID-19

Russia turns to China to make Sputnik shots to meet demand

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Russia is turning to multiple Chinese firms to manufacture the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in an effort to speed up production as demand soars for its shot. Russia has announced three deals totaling 260 million doses with Chinese vaccine companies in recent weeks. It’s a decision that could mean quicker access to a shot for countries in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa that have ordered Russia’s vaccine, as the U.S. and the European Union focus mainly on domestic vaccination needs. Earlier criticism about Russia’s vaccine have been largely ...

UN program inks Moderna deal on 500M doses, starting in Q4

GENEVA (AP) — U.S. biotech company Moderna will provide up to 500 million doses for the U.N.-backed program to ship coronavirus vaccines to needy people in low- and middle-income countries, but shipments won’t begin until the fourth quarter, the company and program leaders said ...

Restrictions easing in US and Europe amid disaster in India

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Air travel in the U.S. hit its highest mark since COVID-19 took hold more than 13 months ago, while European Union officials are proposing to ease restrictions on visitors to the continent as the vaccine sends new cases and deaths tumbling in more affluent countries. The improving picture in many places contrasts with the worsening disaster in India. In the U.S., the average number of new cases per day fell below 50,000 for the first time since October. And nearly 1.67 million people were screened at U.S. airport checkpoints on Sunday, according to the ...

Attention travelers! EU proposes reopening external borders

BRUSSELS (AP) — In an announcement sure to be welcomed by travelers worldwide, EU officials on Monday proposed easing restrictions on visiting the 27-nation bloc as vaccination campaigns across the continent gather speed. Travel to the European Union is currently extremely limited except for a handful of countries with low infection rates. But with the summer tourist season looming, the bloc’s European Commission hopes the new recommendations will dramatically expand that list. The Commission hopes the move will soon allow travelers reunite with their friends and relatives living ...

Tokyo Games need 500 nurses; nurses say needs are elsewhere

TOKYO (AP) — Some nurses in Japan are incensed at a request from Tokyo Olympic organizers to have 500 of them dispatched to help out with the games. They say they’re already near the breaking point dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Olympic officials have said they will need 10,000 medical workers to staff the games, and the request for more nurses comes amid a new spike in the virus with Tokyo and Osaka under a state of emergency. “Beyond feeling anger, I was stunned at the insensitivity,” Mikito Ikeda, a nurse in Nagoya in central Japan, told the Associated Press. “It ...

Free COVID testing site changes venues in Centre County

BELLEFONTE — A free COVID-19 testing site will soon open in Bellefonte. According to a news release from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, beginning Tuesday and continuing through Saturday, May 29, a clinic will be held at the Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority Interpretive Center, located at 253 Transfer Road in Bellefonte. The announcement came from the DOH on Saturday. The clinic had been at the Patton Township Municipal Building from March 30 through this past Saturday. “The continuation of the free, no appointment needed COVID-19 testing site allows those ...