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Here's a belated COVID-19 summary for Tuesday.
Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on March 2
The US say they may finish their vaccination program two months earlier than planned, at the end of May.
Also in the US, the state of Texas are removing requirements to wear masks, along with limits on things like how many people restaurants can serve indoors. Other news stories have stated the rules were poorly enforced to begin with and often ignored. The governor has announced this as a result of pressure from within his party. Major businesses and health professionals are saying this is a shit idea. Some people are saying this change is an effort to change the channel and take attention off the recent fiasco with the recent blackouts in the state. Daily infection rates are still relatively high and Texas has the third highest death toll in the US.
In Canada, more provinces are looking at following British Columbia's lead and delaying the second dose of vaccine by up to four months. In Canada the federal advisory committee make recommendations but it is up to each province as to what they actually do.
Health officials in Brazil are asking for a country-wide lockdown due to a shortage of ICU beds. Brazil is currently going through another wave of crisis in the pandemic.
China plan to vaccinate 40 per cent of their population by the end of July.
Iraq have received their first shipment of Sinopharm vaccine donated by China.
The Saudis have announced that Muslims who want to make the pilgrimage to Mecca will have to prove they have been vaccinated. The announcement did not state whether pilgrims from outside Saudi Arabia will be allowed in this year.
Austria and Denmark have said they intend to stop relying on the EU for future COVID-19 vaccines and will work with Israel to produce a new generation vaccine.
Serbia is in rough shape and health professionals are asking the government for a strict lockdown.
Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on March 2
The US say they may finish their vaccination program two months earlier than planned, at the end of May.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday said the country was on track to have enough vaccines for every adult in the country by the end of May, two months earlier than anticipated.
Also in the US, the state of Texas are removing requirements to wear masks, along with limits on things like how many people restaurants can serve indoors. Other news stories have stated the rules were poorly enforced to begin with and often ignored. The governor has announced this as a result of pressure from within his party. Major businesses and health professionals are saying this is a shit idea. Some people are saying this change is an effort to change the channel and take attention off the recent fiasco with the recent blackouts in the state. Daily infection rates are still relatively high and Texas has the third highest death toll in the US.
In the Americas, Texas Gov. Greg Abbot said the state is lifting its mask mandate, making it the largest U.S. state to end an order intended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that has killed more than 42,000 Texans.
The Republican governor has faced sharp criticism from his party over the mandate — which was imposed eight months ago — and other COVID-19 restrictions. The mandate was only ever lightly enforced, even during the worst outbreaks of the pandemic.
Texas will also do away with limits on the number of diners that businesses can serve indoors, said Abbott, who made the announcement at a restaurant in Lubbock. He said the new rules would take effect March 10.
In Canada, more provinces are looking at following British Columbia's lead and delaying the second dose of vaccine by up to four months. In Canada the federal advisory committee make recommendations but it is up to each province as to what they actually do.
British Columbia's provincial health officer, meanwhile, said the decision to delay second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by four months is based on scientific evidence as well as real-world data.
Health officials in Brazil are asking for a country-wide lockdown due to a shortage of ICU beds. Brazil is currently going through another wave of crisis in the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Brazilian health officials are urging nationwide lockdowns and curfews because hospitals are running short of intensive-care unit beds as COVID-19 claims more than 1,000 lives each day in the country.
"The return of the pandemic in several states is making their private and their public assistance networks collapse and has brought imminent risk of spreading it to all regions of Brazil," Brazil's National Council of Health Secretaries said Monday, noting that the nation is experiencing its worst moment since the pandemic began.
China plan to vaccinate 40 per cent of their population by the end of July.
In the Asia-Pacific region, China aims to vaccinate 40 per cent of its population by the end of July, a senior health adviser said, requiring a significant increase in shots even as it ramps up vaccine exports.
Iraq have received their first shipment of Sinopharm vaccine donated by China.
In the Middle East, Iraq received its first 50,000 doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine donated by China.
The Saudis have announced that Muslims who want to make the pilgrimage to Mecca will have to prove they have been vaccinated. The announcement did not state whether pilgrims from outside Saudi Arabia will be allowed in this year.
The Saudi Ministry of Health has announced that Muslims who want to perform the annual hajj pilgrimage this year will need to prove that they've been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The government says it will consider coronavirus vaccination as "the main condition for participation" in the pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims who are able are obliged to make once in their lives.
The statement did not specify whether the hajj, which traditionally draws some two million Muslims from across the world, would again exclude pilgrims from outside the kingdom to prevent contagion.
Austria and Denmark have said they intend to stop relying on the EU for future COVID-19 vaccines and will work with Israel to produce a new generation vaccine.
Austria's leader says his country and Denmark intend to stop relying solely on the European Union for coronavirus vaccines and will work with Israel to produce second-generation vaccines.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz plans to visit Israel with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Thursday and confer with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on vaccine research and production co-operation.
Serbia is in rough shape and health professionals are asking the government for a strict lockdown.
Serbia's epidemiologists have called for the government to introduce a state of emergency and a strict lockdown to halt a surge in coronavirus infections in the Balkan country.
The numbers of daily new cases have been rising sharply in the nation of seven million despite a mass inoculation campaign that has reached one million people already.
Chief epidemiologist Predrag Kon on Tuesday told the state RTS television that "we must ban contacts or we will break, and then realize what it means when the health system collapses."