GENEVA — French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are among those rallying around efforts to strengthen the World Health Organization and the fight against pandemics as the U.N. agency opened its annual assembly with a draft resolution in the works that acknowledges missteps in the response to COVID-19.
The European Union and Vanuatu are behind the resolution that would create a working group on strengthening WHO’s readiness and response to health emergencies.
“We have to have institutions that are up to the task, that meet our ambitions,” Macron said by video during the mostly virtual meeting. WHO, he said, must be “robust” and “flexible” in times of emergency and crisis. “And it must be completely transparent to make sure that people trust the organization.”
Merkel threw her backing behind the idea of a “global health threat council” and said leaders should provide WHO with “lasting financial and personal support.”
The resolution would set up a six-person working group to report to the assembly next year. The text acknowledges “serious shortcomings” in the world’s ability to prepare, prevent, detect and respond to health emergencies.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— India passes another grim milestone: 300,000 lost to the virus
— Stories of the virus from a poor U.S. city that has been hit hard
— Japan opens mass vaccination centers in Olympics runup
— First steps to reopening for Berlin’s clubs
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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:
LONDON – British health officials expressed optimism Sunday that the coronavirus restrictions remaining in England can be lifted in June after an official study found that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines offer effective protection against the variant first identified in India.
Authorities in Britain have expressed concern in recent weeks that increasing cases of the Indian variant could jeopardize the U.K.’s so-far successful plan to reopen its economy. More than 2,880 cases of the Indian variant have been recorded in England, figures show.
The government has said the variant appears to be more transmissible, but there was still uncertainty about how concerning this was.
Jenny Harries, chief executive of the U.K. Health Security Agency, said officials in England are on track to proceed with the final stage of unlocking the country from June 21 if the public remains cautious.
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PARIS — The French foreign minister says it’s possible that France will introduce stricter coronavirus restrictions for British visitors when tourism reopens this summer, to prevent the spread of a worrying virus variant first detected in India and causing concern in Britain.
The minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, suggested that Britain could be put in a health category of its own, somewhere in between the strictest measures that France is imposing on visitors from India and 15 other countries, and more relaxed requirements being readied for visitors from elsewhere.
Speaking Sunday, Le Drian said “health measures that are a bit stronger” could be applied for British tourists.
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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s federal authorities on Sunday reported a decrease in COVID-19 deaths and new cases and decided to reopen tourist resorts from Monday but only for those who have either tested negative or got vaccinated.
As per the earlier decision of federal body, schools and higher education institution to open by Monday as well except for the southern Sindh province which opted to keep them closed for another two weeks.
Federal authorities reported 74 deaths due to COVID-19 and just over 3000 new cases of the virus in a single day.
The national body countering the spread of the virus urged people continue to adhere to the precautionary measures of mask wearing and maintaining physical distance at public places and during travel in public transport. They also stressed that people should get vaccinated.
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BRASILIA, Brazil – Brazil’s health minister said the government is concerned about the coronavirus variant first identified in India after the first cases of it were confirmed in the South American country.
Marcelo Queiroga denied, however, that there was community transmission of the variant, which was first identified in Brazil in the northeastern state of Maranhão, where 100 people are being monitored. A case was also confirmed Saturday in Ceará state.
According to Queiroga, 600,000 rapid tests will be sent to Maranhão to monitor the variant’s possible spread and he said health barriers would be implemented at airports, highways and roads in Maranhao to contain its movement. All passengers passing through airports or borders in the northeastern state will have to take the rapid test.
Brazil suspended flights from India last week following the recommendation of the National Health Surveillance Agency.
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WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – The Navajo Nation has reported 12 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and two additional deaths.
Tribal health officials said the latest figures released Saturday evening pushed the total number of cases since the pandemic began more than a year ago to 30,767 on the vast reservation that covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
The known death toll now is at 1,299.
On Saturday, there were two new coronavirus cases on the reservation but no reported deaths.
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said more than half of the reservation’s adult population has been vaccinated.
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BOSTON — The number of people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Massachusetts is approaching 50%, state officials said.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health said late Saturday that more than 3.4 million people in the state are fully vaccinated. Massachusetts has about 7 million residents.
The New England states have paced the nation in vaccinating residents against the virus, which has killed more than 580,000 Americans.
Massachusetts has the second highest percentage of fully vaccinated residents in the U.S. after Connecticut, and Maine is number three, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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