The Latest: Conference features Fauci, Francis and Aerosmith

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In this April 13, 2021 file photo, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a press briefing at the White House, in Washington. Fauci is participating along with soprano Renee Fleming, the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna and the lead guitarist of Aerosmith among others in a unique three-day Vatican conference starting Thursday, May 6, 2021, on COVID-19, other global health threats and how science, solidarity and spirituality can address them. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, file)

ROME — The Vatican is opening a three-day health conference featuring a star-studded lineup. It includes Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is leading the U.S. coronavirus response, soprano Renee Fleming, the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna and the lead guitarist of Aerosmith.

The conference is addressing COVID-19 and other global health threats, and how science, solidarity and spirituality can address them. Fauci says the key to overcoming current vaccine hesitancy is pairing the right medical message with the right messenger.

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“You have someone who’s a deeply religious person who will listen to their clergy. That’s different than me with a suit going into an area telling people to do something,” he said.

Organizers say the conference, which runs Thursday through Saturday, has taken on more relevance amid a growing appreciation of the need for global access to health care, advances in vaccine technology and greater understanding of mental health during the pandemic.

Pope Francis sent a special message of prayer to India amid its coronavirus surge. Francis says he is thinking especially of all those who have lost loved ones, and praying for “perseverance, strength and peace” for hospital workers, ambulance drivers and others tending to the sick.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— EU proposes joint approach to develop COVID-19 treatment drugs

— India hits another grim record, adding 400,000 new cases

— Support grows for intellectual property waiver on virus vaccines; snags remain

— Vatican health conference features Dr. Fauci, Pope Francis — and Aerosmith

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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:

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MOSCOW — Russian authorities have given regulatory approval to a single-dose version of the country’s Sputnik V vaccine.

Named Sputnik Light, the new version is identical to the first dose of the two-dose Sputnik V and has yet to complete the advanced testing needed to ensure its safety and effectiveness.

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko says authorizing the shot will help speed possible herd immunity against the virus. Official records show Russia started human trials of Sputnik Light in January, and the studies are still ongoing. Sputnik Light is the fourth domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine approved in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, “It’s nice to know that this range of tools (against COVID-19) is expanding.”

Russia is lagging behind a number of nations in terms of its vaccination rates. According to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, 13.4 million people in Russia, or just 9% of Russia’s population of 146 million, had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. About 9.4 million, 6% of the population, have been fully vaccinated.

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NEW DEHLI — Infections in India hit another grim daily record of more than 400,000 cases on Thursday.

The demand for medical oxygen has increased sevenfold and the government denied reports it was slow in distributing life-saving supplies from abroad.

The number of new confirmed cases breached 400,000 for the second time since the devastating surge began last month. The 412,262 new cases pushed India’s official tally to more than 21 million.

The Health Ministry also reported 3,980 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the confirmed total to 230,168. Health experts believe both figures are an undercount.

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NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus has unveiled a phased rollback of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions over the next month, including a shortened curfew and a reopening of all schools next week.

The country will enforce proof of vaccination, virus testing or convalescence from the disease in areas where people gather, including restaurants and churches.

A strict, two-week lockdown has curbed the record-high number of infections. Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou says the rollback will begin May 10 and “lift the spirits of the public after months of sacrifices.”

He says the aim is to keep some restrictions in place until at least the end of June when it’s hoped 60-65% of the population will be vaccinated.

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BRUSSELS — The EU’s executive arm has proposed EU nations join forces to develop and deploy COVID-19 treatments across the 27-nation bloc.

The European Commission says vaccines will not eradicate coronavirus “overnight” and efficient drugs will still be required to treat patients in hospitals or at home, including those with long-haul symptoms after COVID-19.

The Commission wants to set up a portfolio of 10 potential COVID-19 treatments with the aim of authorizing three new drugs by October to treat COVID-19. The executive branch says two more treatments could get approved by the end of the year.

The Commission says it will invest 90 million euros ($108 million) in studies and clinical trials and an extra 40 million euros ($48 million) to support manufacturing and access for COVID-19 drugs and treatments.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this week that a quarter of all EU residents had received a first dose of coronavirus vaccine. She says the bloc has secured enough doses to vaccinate 70% of all adults in the EU by the end of July.

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ROME — Pope Francis is resuming his weekly general audiences with the general public after a six-month pause due to the pandemic.

The Vatican says Francis’ May 12 audience would be held in the San Damaso courtyard of the Apostolic Palace. The office of the Papal Household says health care measures would be followed.

Francis last held a public general audience in late October. Since then, Francis continued the Wednesday morning appointment, livestreaming it from his private library with just a handful of translators present.

Francis’ return to public audiences comes as Italy’s COVID-19 caseload has slowed to around 10,000 cases a day, and its vaccination campaign has accelerated.

Also Friday, the office of Italy’s virus czar says a mass vaccination campaign will target the Aeolian Islands north of Sicily and Isola Capraia off the Tuscan coast.

The Italian government has announced Italy “is ready to welcome back the world” in time for the peak summer tourist season.

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BRUSSELS — European Union leaders say in the wake of the U.S. backing patent waivers for COVID-19 vaccine technology, the 27-nation bloc immediately will start discussing whether they should join such a move.

The leaders’ first opportunity to mold a common view will come as soon as a two-day summit in Porto, Portugal, that starts Friday. EU member nations have long insisted they were in the vanguard of helping the rest of the world obtain vaccines. They’ve been wary of how the United States effectively banned such exports.

The EU on Thursday welcomed President Joe Biden’s position, but it didn’t immediately echo it.

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PRAGUE — The Czech Republic will allow citizens from its neighboring and some other European Union countries who were vaccinated to travel freely on its territory, starting in mid-May.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis says such a deal also for the Czechs has been negotiated with Austria, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary. Other countries, such are Croatia and Bulgaria should follow.

The only condition will be that people travel at least two weeks after they received the second shot of a coronavirus vaccine.

The announcement Thursday comes as EU nations are talking about introducing COVID-19 certificates aimed at facilitating travel across the region this summer.

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STOCKHOLM -- Sweden has passed the threshold of one million coronavirus cases or 10 percent of its population.

“In Sweden, we have among the highest number of cases among 100,000 inhabitants in Europe,” said Karin Tegmark Wisell of the Swedish Public Health Agency. “What we can say is that it does not increase in any case.”

Sweden had opted for keeping large sections of society open. The number of people admitted to intensive care units is decreasing, she says.

The country has reported 14,158 confirmed deaths. More than 33% of the population has had at least one vaccine.

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LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Vaccine developers Pfizer and BioNTech are donating doses to inoculate athletes and officials preparing for the Tokyo Olympics.

Delivery of doses is set to begin this month to give Olympic delegations time to be fully vaccinated with a second shot before arriving in Tokyo. The games are scheduled to open on July 23.

It’s the second major vaccination deal for the International Olympic Committee. An agreement was announced in March between the IOC and Olympic officials in China to buy and distribute Chinese vaccines ahead of the Tokyo Games and next year’s Beijing Winter Games.

Meanwhile in Japan, an online petition calling for the Tokyo Olympics to be canceled has gained tens of thousands of signatures in a few days. Tokyo, Osaka and several other areas are under a state of emergency with rising coronavirus infections. The headline in English of the petition reads: “Cancel the Tokyo Olympics to protect our lives.”

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PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron is joining the Biden administration in saying that he backs the sharing of the valuable technology behind COVID-19 vaccines. But Macro is also insisting that the immediate priority for wealthier countries should be first donating more doses to poorer countries.

Speaking on a visit Thursday to a vaccine center, the French leader said he “completely” supports opening up intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines. Macron said that “evidently, we must turn this vaccine in a global public good.”

But he also argued that even if patents are waived, pharmaceutical companies in places like Africa aren’t currently equipped to make COVID-19 vaccines and that donations of doses should be prioritized instead.

Macron claimed that the European Union is leading the way in vaccine donations and called for the United States and Britain to share more, too.

He said that “Europe is the most generous continent with the rest of the world,” having exported 45 million doses, and expressed hope that “the British, the Americans and others will follow.”

He added that, “in the short term, this is what will allow us to vaccinate.”

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BELGRADE, Serbia — Hundreds of people lined up to get vaccinated at a shopping mall in Serbia’s capital on Thursday hoping to get shopping coupons along with their shots.

Serbian authorities want to give incentives to help boost the vaccination pace in the country, which slowed down in recent weeks amid widespread anti-vaccination and conspiracy theories.

The government has also promised a payment of around 25 euros to everyone who gets vaccinated by the end of May.

Long lines formed at Belgrade’s Usce shopping mall as authorities said only the first 100 people would receive the coupons. Vaccines are set to continue at the shopping mall on Friday and Saturday.

A popular Serbian folk singer who was previously known as a vocal vaccine opponent also received a jab. Jelena Karleusa has told local media she wanted to show solidarity with Serbia’s health workers.

About 2 million people in Serbia so far have been vaccinated, primarily with doses of the Sinopharm vaccine developed in China, followed by the Pfizer-BioNTech, Russia’s Sputnik V or the AstraZeneca vaccines.

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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean officials say they are paying close attention to the Biden administration’s call for a temporary suspension of intellectual property rights for coronavirus vaccines, but sidestepped questions on whether Seoul endorses the idea.

Baek Yeong-ha, who heads a Health Ministry task force handling vaccine strategies, said during a briefing Thursday that it was too early to comment on whether more of the country’s vaccine supplies could be produced domestically. She didn’t provide a specific answer when asked whether her government plans to extend its support to international calls for pausing intellectual property rights for vaccines to deal with global shortages.

“The discussions are just beginning, and we are monitoring how things are going,” she said.

South Korea, which has wrestled with a slow vaccine rollout, hopes to secure 190 million doses of vaccines this year through bilateral deals with pharmaceutical companies and the WHO-backed COVAX program. It has so far received 4.56 million doses, including AstraZeneca shots produced by local company SK Bioscience.

Around 3.55 million people so far have received their first doses as of Thursday, which is less than 7% of the country’s 51 million population. Just 0.6% of the population, or 298,000 people, have got their second injections.

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BRUSSELS — European Union President Ursula von der Leyen says the 27-nation bloc is ready to talk about the U.S. proposal to share the technology behind COVID-19 vaccines to help speed the end of the pandemic.

Without firmly committing to the U.S. proposal, von der Leyen said “we are ready to discuss how the U.S. proposal for waiver on intellectual property protection for COVID vaccines could help.”

In a video address, she said that “In the short run, however, we call upon all vaccine producing countries to allow exports and to avoid measures.”

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KATHMANDU, Nepal — Thousands of passengers have rushed to leave Nepal ahead of a halt to all international flights because of spiking COVID-19 cases.

Nepali citizens leaving to report back for jobs in foreign countries or visit family members and a few foreign tourists lined up at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport before flights cease at midnight Thursday. Domestic flights in Nepal have been halted since Monday. The government says only rescue and medical emergency flights will be allowed.

Nepal’s main cities and towns, including the capital, Kathmandu, have been in lockdown since last month as the number of coronavirus cases and deaths continues to rise. Nepal recorded its highest daily infections with 8,659 on Wednesday and 58 deaths, which is also the highest.

Raju Rajbanshi, who was married five days ago, said he was rushing back to his job in a cleaning company before the flights halt.

"Ï am just lucky to be able to get on a flight today before all flights stop or I could have lost my job,” Rajbanshi said. “I am also glad I am getting out of Nepal where the situation is getting terrible every day.”

Nepal has recorded a total of 359,610 cases, including 3,475 deaths.

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JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia is prohibiting travel during the popular homecoming period to celebrate Eid al-Fitr.

COVID-19 cases have been decreasing in the world’s most populous Muslim country, but the government imposed the ban after seeing a significant rise in the mortality rate last year after the Eid holiday marking the end of Ramadan.

The ban started Thursday and will last 12 days, exempting only civil servants, police and military officers, and those who need to travel for work.

Indonesia has confirmed more than 1.6 million cases and 46,000 deaths from COVID-19, the largest totals in Southeast Asia.

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