The Latest: Britain lockdown restrictions easing next week

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In this Monday, March 29, 2021 file photo, a group of women exercise in a park in London, following the easing of England's coronavirus lockdown to allow greater freedom outdoors. Thanks to an efficient vaccine roll out program and high uptake rates, Britain is finally saying goodbye to months of tough lockdown restrictions. From Monday May 17, 2021, all restaurants and bars can fully reopen, as can hotels, cinemas, theatres and museums, and for the first time since March 2020, Britons can hug friends and family and meet up inside other people’s houses. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

LONDON — Britain is saying goodbye to months of tough lockdown restrictions, thanks to an effective vaccine rollout program.

Starting Monday, all restaurants, bars and museums can largely reopen, and people can socialize indoors. It’s the biggest step yet to reopen the country following a sharp drop in new infections and deaths.

Many credit Britain’s universal public health system for getting hundreds of thousands vaccinated every day. Experts say that infrastructure was key, helped by the government’s early start in securing vaccine doses and its decision to delay the second dose.

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Almost 38 million people, approximately 68% of the adult population, have received their first dose. Almost 19 million have had both doses. Experts say the National Health Service can target the population and easily identify those most at risk because almost everyone is registered with a local general practitioner.

Deaths in Britain have come down to single digits in recent days. In January, there were up to 1,477 deaths a day amid a second wave driven by a more infectious variant first found in Kent, in southeastern England.

New cases have plummeted to an average of 2,000 a day, compared with nearly 70,000 a day during the winter.

However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed concerned this week about a resurgence because of variants of the virus, including one from India. Britain has totaled nearly 128,000 confirmed deaths, the highest toll in Europe.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— UK jubilant as lockdown restrictions to be lifted next week

— CDC: Fully vaccinated people can largely ditch masks indoors

— Misinformation surges amid India’s COVID-19 calamity

— Beset by virus, Gaza’s hospitals now struggle with wounded

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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:

WARSAW, Poland — Restaurants, bars and pubs in Poland plan to open their doors to dine-in customers for the first time in seven months on Saturday.

That means many business owners will open to customers at midnight between Friday and Saturday, expecting many people will rush to enjoy a night on the town.

Pandemic restrictions limited restaurants, cafes and other establishments to offering only take-away food and drinks since last fall. Not all of them have financially survived.

More restaurants in Warsaw are creating outdoor seating while ensuring that physical distancing can be maintained between tables.

Vaccinations are finally picking up in Poland as the numbers of new infections and hospitalizations have decreased in recent weeks.

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MOBILE, Ala. — A Carnival cruise ship was arriving in Mobile, Alabama, on Friday so crew members can get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Carnival Sensation will dock at the Mobile Cruise Terminal, where staff members from USA Health will go on board to provide first doses for 110 crew members, the city announced. The ship will return in three weeks for second doses.

U.S. ports are closed to cruise lines because of the global pandemic, but Mayor Sandy Stimpson says such vaccinations are a major step toward getting the industry back in business.

Carnival says crew members have received vaccines at other ports, including Miami and Port Canaveral in Florida and Galveston, Texas.

Sensation will be based in Mobile, offering trips to the western Caribbean, once cruises resume. But it’s unclear when that will happen.

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TOKYO — Japan is further expanding a coronavirus state of emergency to three additional areas ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

The state of emergency is currently in Tokyo and five other prefectures. The additions include Japan’s northern island state of Hokkaido, where the Olympic marathon will be held, as well as Hiroshima and Okayama in western Japan.

Bars, karaoke parlors and most entertainment facilities are required to close. Business owners who comply will be compensated; those who don’t could face fines.

The expansion of the state of emergency is a major shift from the government’s initial plan that relied on less stringent measures. Japan has been struggling to slow coronavirus infections ahead of the postponed Olympics, which are scheduled to start July 23.

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BERLIN — Germany’s coronavirus infection rate has dropped to its lowest level in nearly two months.

Meanwhile, the health minister says the country had the most successful day yet of its vaccination campaign this week. Still, he called for caution as authorities move toward allowing a more normal life. He urged officials to hold off on fully reopening restaurants and called for Germans to carefully choose vacation destinations.

The national disease control center says the number of weekly new cases per 100,000 inhabitants stood at 96.5 — the first time since March 20 it has been lower than 100.

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The World Bank said it has signed an agreement with Sri Lanka to provide $80.5 million to help the island nation’s vaccination drive against COVID-19.

The funding comes as Sri Lanka is facing a severe shortage of vaccines because of the current crisis in neighboring India, which had earlier promised to give the vaccines to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka began it’s vaccination drive on Jan. 29 and in the first round, 925,242 people were vaccinated using Oxford-AstraZeneca shots.

At present, Sri Lanka’s health ministry has about 350,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca and as a result, there is a shortage of 600,000 doses in order to complete administering second doses.

Sri Lanka is currently using 600,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine and 15,000 of Sputnik V to give a first dose to others.

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ROME — Italy has relaxed its COVID-19 quarantine requirement for visitors from the European Union, Israel and Britain in a bid to jump-start its pandemic-devastated tourism industry heading into the peak season.

Health Minister Roberto Speranza signed an ordinance Friday allowing the quarantine-free visits with proof of a negative virus test starting Sunday.

Italy had imposed the five-day quarantine on EU travelers to deter visitors over the Easter holiday and to discourage Italians from taking advantage of a loophole that had made it easier to travel abroad than from Rome to Milan.

Speranza also announced expanded airport testing services for quarantine-free flights coming into Italy from Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates. Currently airports in Rome and Milan provide the rapid test services for some flights from the U.S.; the new ordinance expands the service to airports in Venice and Naples.

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NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus’ health minister says nightclubs are scheduled to reopen June 10 as the tourism-reliant country aims to lure vacationers and reinvigorate the beleaguered economy.

Constantinos Ioannou said Friday that a strict, two-week lockdown coupled with the country’s hastened vaccination pace has produced a noticeable drop in the COVID-19 infection rate as well as a decrease in the number of hospitalized patients.

Ioannou said the positive results have allowed the government to further loosen up remaining restrictions including shortening a nighttime curfew from six to five hours.

A vaccination certificate, a negative test taken in the previous 72 hours or proof of convalescence from COVID-19 are still required to enter indoor areas where people gather in numbers including shopping malls, theaters and cinemas.

The loosening of restrictions comes into effect May 17.

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ISLAMABAD — Authorities in Pakistan have reported 48 single-day deaths and about 2,500 new cases, one of the lowest levels of fatalities and infections from COVID-19 in the past two months.

It indicated Pakistan might have witnessed a peak, but experts say it was too early to tell.

Pakistan is currently in the middle of the another surge of coronavirus infections which authorities say is more dangerous as compared to the previous ones.

The National Command and Control Center, which oversees Pakistan’s response to COVID-19, has however urged people to continue adhering to social distancing rules.

The latest development comes days about 10 days after Pakistan imposed a two-week long nationwide lockdown ahead of Eil al-Fitr that was celebrated Thursday amid the pandemic. Pakistan has reported 19,384 deaths and 873,220 coronavirus cases since last year.

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NEW DELHI — India’s prime minister has warned people to take extra precautions as the country’s devastating coronavirus outbreak is spreading fast to rural areas where nearly two-thirds of the country’s nearly 1.4 billion people live.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people living in rural areas, village councils and state governments to come together to meet the challenge. Modi said the army, navy and the air force have joined the fight against the pandemic in the country.

“We have lost a lot of near ones. I am feeling the pain people are suffering,” Modi said in Friday a speech at a farmers’ convention.

Meanwhile, India’s Health Ministry on Friday reported reported 343,144 new cases in the past 24 hours, a slight decline from the day before. Another 4,000 people died in the past 24 hours, raising total fatalities to 262,317 since the pandemic began. All of the figures are almost certainly a vast undercount, experts say.

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BERLIN — Germany’s foreign minister says his compatriots can expect to go ahead with summer vacation travel this year, but there won’t be a repeat of last year’s concerted effort to bring holidaymakers home if coronavirus infections spike in some countries.

Germany is beginning to take steps toward a more normal life as its vaccination campaign advances and the latest wave of infections abates. On Friday, the nationwide infection rate dropped below 100 weekly new cases per 100,000 residents for the first time since March 20.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told the Funke newspaper group in comments published Friday he believes “that we will be living in ‘more normal’ conditions in the summer, and that includes summer vacations.”

He added that “of course the aim is to make travel possible, but the pandemic sets the limits.” He pointed to the situation in India and South America.

Maas said there won’t be a re-run of the repatriation flights arranged by his ministry in the first phase of the pandemic if something does go wrong somewhere. He said that “if the pandemic situation were to worsen in certain countries, that can’t surprise anyone any more today, in 2021, in contrast with last year.”

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TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan reported 29 new domestically transmitted cases of COVID-19 Friday. Of the cases reported, seven cases were of an unknown source. The rest of the cases were linked to clusters discovered earlier in the week.

Health officials are setting up four rapid testing locations in Taipei for those who want to get tested, Taiwan’s Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said at a daily press briefing.

The latest outbreak comes after pilots with the island’s China Airlines tested positive for COVID-19. Health officials said Wednesday that many of the cases reported so far had the exact same viral strain as as the infected cases in the pilots cluster.

The island raised its emergency preparedness earlier this week, banning large indoor and outdoor gatherings. Taiwan had virtually eradicated domestic transmission of the coronavirus through strict mask wearing, case tracing, travel restrictions and quarantine measures.

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SINGAPORE — Singapore has further tightened social-distancing restrictions, banning dining in at restaurants and limiting public gatherings to two people as it seeks to control a growing number of untraceable coronavirus infections in the city.

From Sunday until June 13, gatherings and household visitors will be limited to two people, and restaurants and eateries can only provide delivery or takeout services. Companies will have to make working from home the default for employees who are able to do so.

“A pattern of local unlinked community cases has emerged and is persisting,” Singapore’s Ministry of Health said in a statement Friday.

“This is worrying as it suggests that there may be unknown cases in the community with possible ongoing community transmission and that our earlier and ongoing measures to break the chains of transmissions may be insufficient.”

Unlinked coronavirus infections have risen to 15 in the last week, more than double the week before.

The number of new cases have also risen to 71 in the last week, from 48 the week before.

The tightening of restrictions in Singapore comes as it is slated to launch a long-delayed air travel bubble with Hong Kong on May 26, which would allow tourists from both cities to visit without having to quarantine. It is not clear if the air travel bubble will still go ahead as planned.

Singapore has reported a total of 61,453 cases since the pandemic started, with 31 deaths.

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BEIJING — Authorities have ordered mass virus testing for residents in two cities in the central province of Anhui, where the first new cases of local transmission in days have been detected.

It was not immediately clear how many people will be tested but the number is likely to be in tens or hundreds of thousands in the provincial capital Hefei alone.

Quick, inexpensive testing kits have made testing in China exceptionally convenient, with results generally available on the spot within minutes.

China says it has all-but eliminated domestic transmission of the virus.

The new cases reported bring China’s total number of cases to 90,815 with 4,636 deaths since the virus was detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

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MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine president has eased a coronavirus lockdown in the bustling capital and adjacent provinces to fight economic recession and hunger but still barred public gatherings this month, when many Roman Catholic summer religious festivals are held.

After an alarming surge in infections that started in March started to ease, President Rodrigo Duterte announced in televised remarks Thursday night that Metropolitan Manila and four nearby provinces, a region of more than 25 million people, would be placed under a so-called “general community quarantine,” which allows essential businesses and tourist destinations to expand operations, in the last half of the month. But he said religious fiestas in Asia’s largest Roman Catholic nation would remain prohibited.

“Forgo to congregate, to crowd and to hold,” Duterte said, warning village officials he would hold them responsible if quarantine restrictions were breached. “You go out, you just go hunting for the virus to enter your body and pass it on and that is a problem.”

Confirmed COVID-19 infections started to spike in March to some of the worst levels in Asia, surging beyond 10,000 daily and prompting Duterte to impose a lockdown in the capital and nearby regions in April. The Philippines has reported more than 1,120,000 infections with 18,821 deaths, the second highest totals in Southeast Asia.

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