The Latest: Israel expands eligibility for booster vacines

Israel is expanding its coronavirus booster shot program to people over the age of 50

Yemen Virus Outbreak Houthi Denial (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

JERUSALEM — Israel is expanding its coronavirus booster shot program to people over the age of 50.

Israel was one of the world’s leaders in vaccinating its population early this year. But in recent weeks, it has seen a surge in cases involving the more transmissible delta variant, even among individuals who were thought to be fully vaccinated.

Israel last month began offering a booster shot to people over the age of 60, becoming the first country in the world that uses a Western vaccine to do so. The campaign was expanded on Friday to people over 50 and front-line health care workers.

Health officials in the United States and Europe have not yet recommended booster shots.

World Health Organization officials have urged nations to refrain from administering extra shots, saying it is more important to inoculate the unvaccinated in poorer countries.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

— Olympics now ended, Japan races to vaccinate as virus surges

— In Yemen’s north, Houthis face virus with outright denial

— US authorizes extra COVID-19 vaccine for people with weak immune systems

— American states that had grip on outbreaks seeing crush of new cases

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— Find more AP 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:

LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria's diplomatic mission in London says it is shutting down for 10 days after two of its officials tested positive for COVID-19.

One of the infected diplomats was diagnosed while visiting the U.K.'s Home Office on Thursday, the Nigerian High Commission said in a statement. That prompted a mass testing of staffers, which led to the detection of the second case, the statement said.

“In line with COVID-19 regulation and the need to adhere to the rules and regulation of the host country, the mission will close down for the next 10 days, in order to observe the mandatory isolation of those who were in contact with the affected officials,” it said.

A commission spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether the infected officials or their close contacts have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

The U.K. Department of Health and Social Care announced earlier this week that starting Monday, people who have been fully vaccinated will no longer be legally required to self-isolate if they come in contact with a positive case.

The Nigeria High Commission resumed operations in April as the U.K. started lifting its national lockdown restrictions. It said it had a backlog of 18,000 passport applications, some from as far back as December 2019.

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BEIJING, China-- China has vaccinated 777 million people, or 55% of its population, as of Thursday, a health official says.

National Health Commission spokesperson Mi Feng gave the information during a press briefing on Friday.

The country is in the middle of battling its widest outbreak since the December 2019 one in the city of Wuhan, where scientists believe the coronavirus pandemic started.

Chinese officials say the latest outbreak, driven by the more transmissible delta variant. can be traced to an international airport in the coastal city of Nanjing and the first cases were found in fully vaccinated individuals.

Provinces are locking down cities and conducting multiple rounds of mass testing on millions of people in an attempt to stop the transmission of the virus.

China has seven vaccines in use, using multiple technologies, though the most common vaccines are the domestically developed Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines. However, it’s unknown how effective Chinese vaccines are against the delta variant.

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MADRID — COVID-19 cases in Spain have fallen to their lowest level in a month as the country faces a weekend spent largely indoors due to a heatwave.

The Health Ministry says Spain's 14-day incidence rate fell to 483 cases per 100,000 people, while 61.6% of the population has been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Spanish health authorities have faced criticism for suggesting that unvaccinated care home workers should be reassigned to non-contact roles to prevent infections among residents. Care home representatives called the proposal unworkable.

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CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s capital Canberra will remain locked down until there are no more COVID-19 infections in the city, a government leader said on Friday.

The Australian Capital Territory which comprises Canberra and two villages, locked down for a week after a man tested positive on Thursday.

The tally of infections rose to six on Friday, with more than 1,800 people identified as close contacts of the original case since he became infectious, officials said.

Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the lockdown would last until all new cases had been in isolation throughout their entire infectious period.

“We would want to see no additional community transmission, we want to go back to zero,” Barr said.

The recent infections are the first cases of community transmission in the city of 460,000 since July 10 last year.

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SYDNEY - The government of Australia’s most populous state on Friday reported a daily record 390 new locally-acquired COVID-19 infections and warned that the high infection rate would continue for days.

Two people had died overnight, bringing the death toll in New South Wales from an outbreak of the delta variant first detected in Sydney in mid June to 38.

The previous highest infection tally was 356 reported on Tuesday.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said at least 60 of the new cases had been infectious in the community before they were isolated.

“I anticipate, given the large number of cases we’ve had in the last few days, that unfortunately this trend will continue for at least the next few days,” Berejiklian said.

Sydney has been in lockdown since June 26 and the government had hoped that the spread would be halted by Aug. 28.

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LAS VEGAS -- A coronavirus pandemic mask mandate in Nevada has drawn a federal lawsuit from attorneys seeking class-action status for claims that the constitutional rights of thousands of parents and children at Las Vegas-area schools are being violated.

The complaint filed Thursday against Gov. Steve Sisolak, state Attorney General Aaron Ford and the Clark County School District invokes rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It seeks an immediate court order to invalidate a directive the governor enacted last week requiring K-12 students and school employees in the Las Vegas and Reno areas to wear masks on buses and inside school buildings, regardless of vaccination status.

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ATLANTA — Fights over masks in schools continue to tear at Georgia communities even as hospital leaders again warned of shrinking bed space amid rising COVID-19 cases.

More than 100 protesters gathered Thursday at the Cobb County school board headquarters in Marietta. Most of them were trying to push Georgia’s second largest school district, with 110,000 students to mandate masks.

The district, which has a sharp division on its school board, has stuck to its mask-optional policy, like the majority of other Georgia school districts, even as infections led the district to send the fifth grade home at one of its elementary schools earlier this week.

Djenaba Pershay, who lives in Mableton, said she chose to send her daughter back to school in person this year because the Cobb County district required masks. It dropped that requirement shortly afterward.

But there were counter-protesters Thursday holding signs saying “My body, my choice.” In Monroe County, between Atlanta and Macon, school board members voted 6-0 on Wednesday to roll back a mask mandate that had been in place for only 24 hours.

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JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi has broken its single-day records of COVID-19 hospitalizations, intensive-care use and new coronavirus cases.

The state Health Department said Thursday that 1,490 people were hospitalized Wednesday and 388 were in intensive care because of COVID-19. It also said 4,412 new cases were confirmed.

The state’s previous record for hospitalization was 1,444 on Jan. 4 and for intensive care was 360 on Jan. 12 — before COVID-19 vaccinations were widely available.

The new cases reported Thursday were a 26% increase over the 3,488 cases the department reported in the state Tuesday. The numbers reported Wednesday also exceeded 3,000.

The state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, said based on trends, the new virus cases reported Thursday are likely to cause about 93 more deaths, more than 300 new admissions to already-strained hospitals.

“Let us be very clear that the vast majority of cases and hospitalizations and deaths are unvaccinated,” Dobbs said.

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SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco will require proof of full vaccination against coronavirus for indoor activities, including restaurants, bars and gyms.

Mayor London Breed made the announcement Thursday, saying it is needed to protect the health of workers, customers and the city overall. The move is more stringent than the requirement announced by New York City’s mayor last week. San Francisco will require proof of full vaccination for all customers and staff, while New York is requiring proof of at least one shot for indoor activities.

It will take effect next Friday, but businesses will have two months to verify employees’ vaccination status “to preserve jobs while giving time for compliance.” It doesn’t apply to people ineligible for vaccines, including kids under 12.

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina says it has begun to produce and distribute the Russian-developed Sputnik V vaccine.

Chief Cabinet Minister Santiago Cafeiro says more than 1 million doses of the vaccine will be produced by the local Laboratorios Richmond, calling it “a reason for pride.”

Argentina was the first country to authorize Sputnik V in December 2020 and the first to enter full production, although Mexico produced a pilot lot of the vaccine last month.

More than 6 million Argentines, most over 60, have received at least the first dose of Sputnik V. The government recently said those who had received a first shot of Sputnik V could use a different vaccine, from AstraZeneca or Moderna, as the second dose.

The large majority of the shots initially produced in Argentina will be of the first dose.

The government says 26.4 million of Argentina’s nearly 45 million people have received a first dose of a vaccine, although only 10 million have received both.