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 India prepares for 'world's biggest vaccination drive'
Indian airlines started delivering batches of COVID-19 vaccines
across the country on Tuesday, getting ready for the launch of a
campaign to offer shots to 1.3 billion people in what officials call
the world's biggest vaccination drive.
Authorities hope to inoculate 300 million high-risk people over the
next six to eight months. Vaccinations are scheduled to begin on
Saturday.
First to get the vaccine will be 30 million health and other
front-line workers, followed by about 270 million people aged over
50 or deemed high-risk.
Another Chinese city goes into lockdown
Authorities in China introduced new COVID-19 curbs in areas
surrounding Beijing on Tuesday, putting 4.9 million residents under
lockdown as new infections raised worries about a second wave in a
nation that has mostly contained the disease.
The number of new cases in mainland China reported on Tuesday almost
halved from a day earlier and remains a small fraction of what it
was at the height of the outbreak in early 2020. However, local
authorities are implementing strict curbs whenever new cases emerge
to prevent the kind of economic paralysis seen a year ago.
The city of Langfang in Hebei on Tuesday said its 4.9 million
residents will be put under home quarantine for seven days and be
subject to mass COVID-19 testing.
9 million Americans now vaccinated
Nearly 9 million Americans had been given their first vaccination
dose as of Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention said, as states scrambled to step up inoculations.
The 8,987,322 people who have been jabbed with the first of two
shots, according to the CDC, represent less than one-third of the 25
million total doses distributed to states by the U.S. government.
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Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Monday sought permission from
the Trump administration to directly purchase 100,000 doses of the
vaccine manufactured by Pfizer and partner BioNTech, which was
cleared by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use.
Israel expects to start vaccinating children by March
Israel may include children over the age of 12 in groups receiving
COVID-19 vaccines within the next two months if research shows this
is safe, a top health official said on Tuesday.
Vaccinating at a world-record pace, Israel says it aims to have
administered one or both shots to 5 million of its 9 million
citizens, and reopen the economy, by mid-March.
Elderly Israelis and adults with medical conditions or jobs in
critical high-risk sectors have been given priority. But with
Israeli officials anticipating more regular vaccine shipments, the
eligibility categories have been expanded.
Gorillas diagnosed with COVID-19
As many as eight gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park are
presumed to have contracted COVID-19 from a human handler after one
of the animals tested positive, marking the first known transmission
of the virus to apes, zoo officials said on Monday.
Three among the band of critically endangered western lowland
gorillas at the sprawling wildlife park have shown symptoms of the
respiratory virus, such as coughing, though none appears severely
ill, and all are expected to fully recover, the zoo said.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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