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 U.S. nears 500,000 deaths
The United States faces a dark milestone this week despite a recent
decline in COVID-19 cases as it prepares to mark half a million
deaths, with President Joe Biden planning to memorialize the lives
lost.
"It's nothing like we've ever been through in the last 102 years
since the 1918 influenza pandemic. ... It really is a terrible
situation that we've been through - and that we're still going
through," Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House COVID-19 medical adviser,
told CNN's "State of the Union" program.
The president along with first lady Jill Biden, Vice President
Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will observe a moment
of silence on Monday and there will be a candle-lighting ceremony at
sundown.
Merkel proposes 3-stage plan to lift curbs
German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants a staggered plan to lift
pandemic-linked restrictions that is linked to increased testing,
she told a meeting of her Christian Democrats leadership committee
according to two participants.
Merkel wants to reopen parts of society in three stages, starting
with expanding the number of personal contacts, followed by schools
and vocational schools, and then sports groups, restaurants and
culture.
She told the meeting it was important that steps to lift
restrictions did not lead to renewed setbacks by causing virus
variants to spread further.
Johnson to plot path out of lockdown
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will plot a path out of
lockdown on Monday in an effort to gradually reopen the battered
economy, aided by one of the fastest vaccine rollouts in the world.
With more than 120,000 fatalities, Britain has suffered the world's
fifth-highest official death toll from the pandemic and its biggest
economic crash in more than 300 years.
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 But a fast start to the vaccine
rollout plus a near-two month tough national
lockdown means Johnson can now set out a phased
easing of the restrictions, prioritising a
return to schools and social mixing outdoors.
Australia begins mass vaccination
Australia on Monday began its mass vaccine
programme with frontline healthcare staff and
senior citizens getting the first doses as the
country looked set to report no local cases for
the third straight day. A group
of 20 that included Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday received
the first shots of the vaccine while the broader rollout started
Monday morning with authorities expected to administer more than
60,000 doses by the end of the week.
"Today is a real milestone in our collective response to tackle
COVID-19 and bring things as rapidly under control as we can," said
Acting Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd.
Strike threat by South Korean doctors
Doctors in South Korea have threatened a protest strike against
legislation to strip them of licences following criminal
convictions, sparking fears about possible disruption of a
vaccination effort set to begin this week.
Healthcare workers are scheduled to receive the first batch of
AstraZeneca's vaccine from Friday, as South Korea looks to protect
10 million high-risk people by July, on its way to reaching herd
immunity by November.
But over the weekend, the Korean Medical Association, the largest
grouping of doctors, said it would go on strike if parliament passed
a bill to revoke the licences of doctors getting jail terms.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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