The Latest: Iran reports highest daily death toll of 2021
The Latest: Iran reports highest daily death toll of 2021
Palestinian laborers who work in Israeli settlements line up to receive second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in the Barkan industrial area near of the West Bank town of Nablus, Sunday, April 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
People wearing masks stand in a queue for a train at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai, India, Sunday, April 11, 2021. India is reporting a surge in infections, which according to experts is due in part to growing disregard for social distancing and mask-wearing in public spaces. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Gao Fu, director of the China Centers for Disease Control, speaks at the National Vaccines and Health conference in Chengdu in southwest China’s Sichuan province Saturday, April 10, 2021. In a rare admission of the weakness of Chinese coronavirus vaccines, Gao the country’s top disease control official says their effectiveness is low and the government is considering mixing them to give them a boost. (Chinatopix Via AP)
People queue to receive a shot of the Astrazeneca vaccine, during a COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Pamplona, northern Spain, Sunday, April 11, 2021. The Navarra regional government called for around 3,000 residents of the city to be vaccinated against COVID-19 this weekend. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
A policeman frisks people in a night club during a police operation against illegal and clandestine gatherings that authorities believe are partly responsible for fuelling the spread of COVID-19, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, early Sunday, April 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
The group Men in Black protest in the streets of Copenhagen on Saturday, April 10, 2021. Men in Black were protesting about Denmark’s COVID-19 restrictions. (Martin Sylvest/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
The first shipment of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine arrives at Baghdad airport, Iraq, Sunday, April 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2020, file photo, health care workers transport a COVID-19 patient from an intensive care unit at a hospital in Kyjov to a hospital in Brno, Czech Republic. Lofty hopes that the crisis would encourage a new and tighter bloc to face a common challenge have given way to the reality of division: The pandemic has set member nation against member nation, and many capitals against the EU itself, as symbolized by the disjointed, virtual meetings leaders now hold. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)
FILE - In this March 24, 2021, file photo, a man gets his dose of the Sinovac vaccine at a COVID-19 vaccination point for seniors in Duque de Caxias, Brazil. April is shaping up to be Brazil’s darkest month yet in the pandemic. Hospitals are struggling to absorb a crush of patients, deaths are on track to hit record highs and there are few signs of a reprieve from problems besetting the country’s vaccination program. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 19, 2021, file photo, people wait in line at a 24-hour, walk-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic hosted by the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. More Black Americans say they are open to taking the coronavirus vaccine amid campaigns to overcome a shared historical distrust of science and government. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
Palestinian laborers who work in Israeli settlements line up to receive second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in the Barkan industrial area near of the West Bank town of Nablus, Sunday, April 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinian laborers who work in Israeli settlements line up to receive second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in the Barkan industrial area near of the West Bank town of Nablus, Sunday, April 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
People wearing masks stand in a queue for a train at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai, India, Sunday, April 11, 2021. India is reporting a surge in infections, which according to experts is due in part to growing disregard for social distancing and mask-wearing in public spaces. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
People wearing masks stand in a queue for a train at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai, India, Sunday, April 11, 2021. India is reporting a surge in infections, which according to experts is due in part to growing disregard for social distancing and mask-wearing in public spaces. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Gao Fu, director of the China Centers for Disease Control, speaks at the National Vaccines and Health conference in Chengdu in southwest China’s Sichuan province Saturday, April 10, 2021. In a rare admission of the weakness of Chinese coronavirus vaccines, Gao the country’s top disease control official says their effectiveness is low and the government is considering mixing them to give them a boost. (Chinatopix Via AP)
Gao Fu, director of the China Centers for Disease Control, speaks at the National Vaccines and Health conference in Chengdu in southwest China’s Sichuan province Saturday, April 10, 2021. In a rare admission of the weakness of Chinese coronavirus vaccines, Gao the country’s top disease control official says their effectiveness is low and the government is considering mixing them to give them a boost. (Chinatopix Via AP)
People queue to receive a shot of the Astrazeneca vaccine, during a COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Pamplona, northern Spain, Sunday, April 11, 2021. The Navarra regional government called for around 3,000 residents of the city to be vaccinated against COVID-19 this weekend. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
People queue to receive a shot of the Astrazeneca vaccine, during a COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Pamplona, northern Spain, Sunday, April 11, 2021. The Navarra regional government called for around 3,000 residents of the city to be vaccinated against COVID-19 this weekend. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
A policeman frisks people in a night club during a police operation against illegal and clandestine gatherings that authorities believe are partly responsible for fuelling the spread of COVID-19, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, early Sunday, April 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
A policeman frisks people in a night club during a police operation against illegal and clandestine gatherings that authorities believe are partly responsible for fuelling the spread of COVID-19, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, early Sunday, April 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
The group Men in Black protest in the streets of Copenhagen on Saturday, April 10, 2021. Men in Black were protesting about Denmark’s COVID-19 restrictions. (Martin Sylvest/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
The group Men in Black protest in the streets of Copenhagen on Saturday, April 10, 2021. Men in Black were protesting about Denmark’s COVID-19 restrictions. (Martin Sylvest/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
The first shipment of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine arrives at Baghdad airport, Iraq, Sunday, April 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
The first shipment of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine arrives at Baghdad airport, Iraq, Sunday, April 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2020, file photo, health care workers transport a COVID-19 patient from an intensive care unit at a hospital in Kyjov to a hospital in Brno, Czech Republic. Lofty hopes that the crisis would encourage a new and tighter bloc to face a common challenge have given way to the reality of division: The pandemic has set member nation against member nation, and many capitals against the EU itself, as symbolized by the disjointed, virtual meetings leaders now hold. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2020, file photo, health care workers transport a COVID-19 patient from an intensive care unit at a hospital in Kyjov to a hospital in Brno, Czech Republic. Lofty hopes that the crisis would encourage a new and tighter bloc to face a common challenge have given way to the reality of division: The pandemic has set member nation against member nation, and many capitals against the EU itself, as symbolized by the disjointed, virtual meetings leaders now hold. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)
FILE - In this March 24, 2021, file photo, a man gets his dose of the Sinovac vaccine at a COVID-19 vaccination point for seniors in Duque de Caxias, Brazil. April is shaping up to be Brazil’s darkest month yet in the pandemic. Hospitals are struggling to absorb a crush of patients, deaths are on track to hit record highs and there are few signs of a reprieve from problems besetting the country’s vaccination program. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo, File)
FILE - In this March 24, 2021, file photo, a man gets his dose of the Sinovac vaccine at a COVID-19 vaccination point for seniors in Duque de Caxias, Brazil. April is shaping up to be Brazil’s darkest month yet in the pandemic. Hospitals are struggling to absorb a crush of patients, deaths are on track to hit record highs and there are few signs of a reprieve from problems besetting the country’s vaccination program. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 19, 2021, file photo, people wait in line at a 24-hour, walk-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic hosted by the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. More Black Americans say they are open to taking the coronavirus vaccine amid campaigns to overcome a shared historical distrust of science and government. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 19, 2021, file photo, people wait in line at a 24-hour, walk-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic hosted by the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. More Black Americans say they are open to taking the coronavirus vaccine amid campaigns to overcome a shared historical distrust of science and government. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran on Sunday reported its highest single-day death toll from COVID-19 this year, bringing the country’s total deaths in the pandemic to nearly 64,500, state TV reported.
The report said 258 new deaths were recorded in 24 hours. Iran’s deadliest day of the pandemic was in mid-November, when more than 480 deaths were tallied.
Sunday’s news report said health care officials also confirmed 21,063 new coronavirus cases since the day before, bringing Iran’s total confirmed cases to more than 2,070,000.
“We are expecting a heavy rise in hospitalizations in the next week,” Health Minister Saeed Namaki warned. He blamed the increase in cases on shopping, family gatherings and travel ahead of and during the Iranian New Year in late March.
On Saturday, Iran began a 10-day lockdown in the capital, Tehran, and other major cities amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections. Iran’s vaccination campaign has been slow, with some 200,000 doses administered in the country of 84 million people, according to the World Health Organization.
Last week, COVAX, an international collaboration to distribute vaccines equitably around the world, delivered its first shipment to Iran, 700,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— Ecuador, Peru head to polls under strict virus measures
— COVID-19 produces division in the European Union
— Thailand hits new daily record with nearly 1,000 virus cases
— Follow 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:
BEIJING — In a rare admission of the weakness of Chinese coronavirus vaccines, the country’s top disease control official says their effectiveness is low and the government is considering mixing them to get a boost.
Chinese vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates,” said the director of the China Centers for Disease Control, Gao Fu, at a conference Saturday in the southwestern city of Chengdu.
Beijing has distributed hundreds of millions of doses abroad while trying to promote doubt about the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine made using the previously experimental messenger RNA, or mRNA, process.
“It’s now under formal consideration whether we should use different vaccines from different technical lines for the immunization process,” Gao said.
Officials at a news conference Sunday didn’t respond directly to questions about Gao’s comment or possible changes in official plans. But another CDC official said developers are working on mRNA-based vaccines.
Experts say mixing vaccines, or sequential immunization, might boost effectiveness. Researchers in Britain are studying a possible combination of Pfizer-BioNTech and the traditional AstraZeneca vaccine.
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PARIS — France’s health minister said Sunday that residents over age 55 will be granted access to COVID-19 vaccinations starting Monday, which is earlier than had been anticipated.
Health Minister Olivier Veran said citizens in the over-55 age bracket will be eligible for for the AstraZeneca vaccine or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine that is expected to arrive in France a week ahead of schedule.
Veran told the newspaper Le Journal de Dimanche that “many family caregivers are between 55 and 60, while others are in couples with older partners...They were worried about having to wait another month. Now, they can protect themselves.”
The shortened timeline comes as France is trying to increase the pace of its vaccination program, which has been criticized as sluggish, and to gain ground on the spread of the more contagious virus variant first identified in Britain.
At the same time, French officials have defended a policy of reserving the AstraZeneca vaccine for people over 55 with serious health problems. Unusual blot clots have been found in a small number of younger recipients of that vaccine.
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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea says it will resume administrating AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine to all eligible people between the ages of 30 and 60.
Last week, South Korea suspended the use of AstraZeneca vaccines for people under 60 while awaiting the outcome of the European Medicine Agency’s review.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Sunday it will restart the use of AstraZeneca vaccine beginning Monday, citing studies showing that the vaccine’s benefits outweighs the risk of side effects.
An agency statement said people under 30 will be excluded, as U.K. authorities have recommended they take alternative vaccines.
It says it’s found three cases of blood clots from vaccinated people in South Korea — but none belong to the type of side effects determined by European authorities.
Those who would get AstraZeneca vaccines from Monday include medical workers and people in long-term care facilities, those at special schools and welfare centers for disabled people and homeless people.
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BEIJING — China has reported 10 new confirmed coronavirus cases and no deaths.
All the new infections were believed have been acquired abroad, the National Health Commission announced Sunday.
China’s death toll stood at 4,636 out of 90,410 confirmed cases.
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ISLAMABAD— Pakistan has reported it’s highest single-day death toll from COVID-19.
The National Command and Control Center announced Sunday that 114 deaths from coronavirus had been confirmed, as well as more than 5,000 new cases.
A weekend ban on inter-city transport has been extended until mid-April, as part of measures to control a surge in virus infections and deaths. The ban will not apply on freight, ambulance services and supplies of medical equipment.
Pakistan, with a population of 220 million people, has vaccinated more than a million people using the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine since February.
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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan health authorities have imposed tough restrictions ahead of this week’s New Year festival in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Health officials on Sunday banned musical shows and many other traditional games, including the tug-of-war, for the April 14 holiday.
They’ve also ordered other gatherings not to exceed 100 people, and asked that gatherings for rituals be limited to immediate family members and close relatives.
The country’s New Year festival typically involves large-scale events, games, competitions and musical shows.