The Latest: Cruise line plans Florida sailings, vaccine rule

Gym teacher Becky Ward, center, watches as fifth graders throw frisbees at the Milton Elementary School, Tuesday, May 18, 2021, in Rye, N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that students no longer have to wear masks while outdoors on school grounds. But students and staff will still have to wear masks for the rest of the school year. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

Healthcare workers prepare doses of the Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19 as seniors and those considered high risk for contagion are eligible at a vaccination center set up in the parking lot of the Armed Forces Social Prevision Institute (IPSFA) in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, June 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A man is administered the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine in Bratislava, Slovakia, Monday June 7, 2021. (Jakub Kotian/TASR via AP)

A woman wearing a face mask with the words "Gaokao, must win" as students take part on the first day of China's national college entrance examinations, known as the gaokao, in Beijing, Monday, June 7, 2021WLD. More than 10 million high school students throughout China will take the two days annual college entrance exams which start on Monday to Tuesday, according to the state media report. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Students wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus review textbooks outside a school before their China's national college entrance examinations, known as the gaokao, in Beijing, Monday, June 7, 2021. More than 10 million high school students throughout China will take the two days annual college entrance exams which start on Monday to Tuesday, according to the state media report. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A health worker displays a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at a shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, June 7, 2021. Health authorities in Thailand on Monday began their much-anticipated mass rollout of locally produced AstraZeneca vaccine, but it appeared that supplies were falling short of demand from patients who had scheduled vaccinations for this week. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Health workers administer a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to women at Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, June 7, 2021. Health authorities in Thailand on Monday began their much-anticipated mass rollout of locally produced AstraZeneca vaccine, but it appeared that supplies were falling short of demand from patients who had scheduled vaccinations for this week. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A man wearing a face mask to protect against the spread of the coronavirus walks by posters to promote the Tokyo Olympic Games in Tokyo Monday, June 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

People wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus wait at a bus stop in Mumbai, India, Monday, June 7, 2021. Businesses in two of India's largest cities, New Delhi and Mumbai, are reopening as part of a phased easing of lockdown measures in several states now that the number of new coronavirus infections in the country is on a steady decline. (AP Photo/ Rafiq Maqbool)

European Parliament members take pictures before the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, Monday June 7, 2021. The European Parliament holds its first session in Strasbourg since the beginning of the pandemic.(Frederick Florin, Pool via AP)

Commuters use Delhi Metro, which serves the Indian capital and adjoining areas, as it resumed operations at 50% capacity in New Delhi, India, Monday, June 7, 2021. Businesses in two of India’s largest cities are reopening as part of a phased easing of lockdown measures in several states now that the number of new coronavirus infections in the country is on a steady decline. (AP Photo/Ishant Chauhan)

Traffic is seen on the road in Mumbai, India, Monday, June 7, 2021. Businesses in two of India's largest cities, New Delhi and Mumbai, are reopening as part of a phased easing of lockdown measures in several states now that the number of new coronavirus infections in the country is on a steady decline. (AP Photo/ Rafiq Maqbool)

People sit and wait after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to be sure of no side effects at Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, June 7, 2021. Health authorities in Thailand on Monday began their much-anticipated mass rollout of locally produced AstraZeneca vaccine, but it appeared that supplies were falling short of demand from patients who had scheduled vaccinations for this week. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A health worker administers a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to a man at Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, June 7, 2021. Health authorities in Thailand on Monday began their much-anticipated mass rollout of locally produced AstraZeneca vaccine, but it appeared that supplies were falling short of demand from patients who had scheduled vaccinations for this week. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

People wait for the the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination at Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, June 7, 2021. Health authorities in Thailand on Monday began their much-anticipated mass rollout of locally produced AstraZeneca vaccine, but it appeared that supplies were falling short of demand from patients who had scheduled vaccinations for this week. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A man peers from a home in the Casco Viejo neighborhood of Panama City, Monday, June 7, 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The capital has placed restrictions on people's movements in some parts of the city starting Monday due to an increase in cases. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)

Tourists arrive at Barcelona airport, Spain, Monday, June 7, 2021. Spain is trying to ramp up its tourism industry by welcoming from Monday vaccinated visitors from most countries, as well as all Europeans who prove that they are not infected with the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A masked policeman gestures as students wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus line up to enter a school for the first day of China's national college entrance examinations, known as the gaokao, in Beijing, Monday, June 7, 2021. More than 10 million high school students throughout China will take the two days annual college entrance exams which started on Monday, according to the state media report. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Former British prime minister Tony Blair arrives at BBC Broadcasting House in central London for his appearance on the BBC1 current affairs programme, The Andrew Marr Show, Sunday June 6, 2021. (Victoria Jones/PA via AP)

Students wear face masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, June 7, 2021. Pakistani authorities reopened educational institutes following a steady decrease in deaths and infections from the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Signage in Marathi on a mannequin draped with a sari reads, "please don't touch" as a shopkeeper offers prayers before an image of Hindu deity Ganesh as he starts his day in Mumbai, India, Monday, June 7, 2021. . Businesses in two of India's largest cities, New Delhi and Mumbai, are reopening as part of a phased easing of lockdown measures in several states now that the number of new coronavirus infections in the country is on a steady decline. (AP Photo/ Rafiq Maqbool)

MIAMI—Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has announced plans to set sail from two Florida ports while requiring guests be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, despite state legislation banning businesses from asking proof.

The company says it is in talks with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ staff and attorneys “to ensure that we can offer the safest cruise experience for our passengers.”

On Monday, Norwegian announced sailings from New York, Los Angeles, Port Canaveral and Miami.

Carnival Cruise Line, also based in Miami, announced sailings from the Port of Galveston, Texas, with vaccinated guests and was working with Florida officials for a ship to leave from PortMiami.

Royal Caribbean International said Friday that eight of its ships will resume U.S. voyages in July and August with trips leaving Florida, Texas and Washington state ports.

Its passengers are “strongly recommended” to get vaccinated, adding that unvaccinated passengers must be tested for the virus and follow other measures.

Disney Cruise Line said last week that the CDC approved a request to conduct a two-night simulation cruise later this month departing from Port Canaveral.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

— US jails emptied in the pandemic. Should they stay that way?

— India cautiously starts to open up as virus cases decline, but families are dealing with the devastation

— Spain opens borders to tourists, cruise ships

— China trade surges as demand rebounds in US, other markets where pandemic is waning

— Polio: When vaccines and re-emergence were just as daunting

— AP PHOTOS: The return of live music to London inspires artists

— 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:

NEW YORK—New York will lift more COVID-19 rules once 70% of adults have at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, a target that Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he hopes his state could reach in days.

Nearly 69% of New York adults have received at least one vaccination dose, according to the latest federal data. A smaller percentage of New York state’s 20 million residents have received at least one dose: 56%, or 11 million residents.

Once New York hits the 70% target, unvaccinated people will still have to wear masks and stay 6 feet (about 1.8 meters) from others on subways and buses, large-scale event venues, schools, nursing homes and hospitals. The state will lift any remaining health screening, contact tracing and cleaning and disinfection rules elsewhere.

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PHILADELPHIA—Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney announced Monday that the city will be giving away cash prizes as part of a multiweek lottery to entice residents to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

The sweepstakes will include three drawings with chances to win up to $50,000 and is a partnership between the city, the Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania and the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium. Each of the drawings will award 12 prizes, with half being reserved for people in a designated under-vaccinated ZIP code.

Several states including Ohio, New York, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon and Maryland are running financial incentive lotteries to increase the number of people seeking out vaccines. Researchers at UPenn say the lotteries have shown success in motivating people to get vaccinated in many of those states, but the Philadelphia partners say they wanted to design a program to target the neighborhoods with the lowest vaccine rates.

“Incentives in general are raising a lot of interest around the country and in Philadelphia,” said acting Philadelphia Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole, saying she was open to discussing other possible incentives. “They seem to be powerful not as a sole way to get people vaccinated, but as a way to get some people vaccinated.”

The first drawing on June 21 includes six $1,000 prizes, four $5,000 prizes and two $50,000 prizes. People living in the 19126 ZIP code in north Philadelphia including parts of the East and West Oak Lane neighborhoods will be awarded half the prizes in those categories.

City health department officials have said that ZIP code is one of the 20 least vaccinated in the city, and was chosen at random. Department records showed about 721,000 people, more than half of the city’s eligible residents, had been fully vaccinated as of Monday. Another almost 200,000 residents had received their first dose of the vaccine, meaning more than two-thirds of the city’s eligible residents had received at least one dose.

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GENEVA — The emergencies chief of the United Nations health agency says COVID-19 vaccination coverage of over 80% percent is needed to significantly lower the chance that an imported coronavirus case could generate new cases or spawn a wider outbreak.

Dr. Michael Ryan of the World Health Organization said that ultimately, “high levels of vaccination coverage are the way out of this pandemic.”

His comments in Geneva to reporters on Monday come as rich nations with access to vaccines are facing pressure from WHO and many global health advocates to share more doses with developing countries that are gravely lacking in access to them.

Britain has been looking at a recent uptick in cases attributed largely to an increase in cases linked to the so-called delta variant, which originally appeared in India -- a former British colony.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, noted that the delta variant is spreading in more than 60 countries, and is more transmissible than the alpha variant - which first emerged in Britain.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Gov. Henry McMaster brought an end to South Carolina’s pandemic-related state of emergency on Monday, saying the coronavirus situation in the state had improved to the point that it was no longer needed.

“It is no longer necessary for us to have a state of emergency,” McMaster said during a news conference. “We need to proceed on the course that we have set out, and be careful.”

The Republican governor has issued 30 separate emergency declarations throughout the pandemic, creating a mechanism though which he could issue executive orders allowing him to set temporary policies aimed at reining in the spread of COVID-19.

McMaster never used his powers to implement a comprehensive statewide mask rule, instead calling on South Carolinians to show personal responsibility in practicing social distancing and other public health guidelines. He did order, and has since rescinded, several specific statewide orders that required masks in state government buildings and restaurants.

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GENEVA — The head of the World Health Organization is urging leaders of wealthy, developed G7 countries to help the U.N.-backed COVID-19 vaccination program boost access to doses in the developing world.

With G7 leaders set to meet in Cornwall, England later this week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus again called on rich countries Monday to do more to battle inequality in accessing coronavirus vaccines.

Tedros recently announced a target of vaccinating at least 10% of the population in every country by the end of September and 30% by year-end. Tedros says to meet these targets, the U.N. needs hundreds of millions of vaccine doses in June and July and an additional 250 million doses by September.

“These seven nations have the power to meet these targets,” Tedros said, looking ahead to the summit of leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. "I’m calling on the G7 not just to commit to sharing those, but to commit to sharing them in June and July.”

He also warned countries facing outbreaks of new variants like the so-called delta variant -- which first appeared in India -- about lifting COVID-19 restrictions too quickly, saying it “could be disastrous for those who are not vaccinated.”

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PORTLAND, Maine — Health authorities in Maine, one of the most vaccinated states in the nation, on Monday reported the fewest number of new COVID-19 cases since last fall.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 30 new cases of the virus. It was the lowest daily total since October. Maine trails only Vermont and Massachusetts in its percentage of the population that has been fully vaccinated against coronavirus. About 54% of the state has been fully vaccinated.

Monday’s figures came as the state continues a steady downward trend in new cases that began weeks ago. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases has fallen over the past two weeks, going from about 180 new cases per day on May 22 to about 70 new cases per day on June 5.

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AMSTERDAM — Moderna Inc. has filed a request with the European Medicines Agency for its COVID-19 vaccine to be granted authorization for use in adolescents.

In a statement on Monday, Moderna said it had filed data for a conditional marketing approval in the 27-nation EU bloc to expand its coronavirus vaccine to children, beyond the green light it received in January for use in adults 18 and over.

If authorized, it would be the second COVID-19 vaccine for children to be cleared in the EU. Moderna has also filed for authorization to use its vaccine under emergency use regulations in the U.S. and Canada.

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovakia has become the second European Union country to administer the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine.

Slovakia has 200,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine available and approved its use on May 26. But so far, only about 5,000 people have registered to receive the two-shot vaccine in the nation of 5.4 million.

Hungary was the first EU nation to use Sputnik V, which has not been authorized by the European Medicines Agency.

A secret deal for Slovakia to purchase 2 million Sputnik V shots orchestrated by then-Prime Minister Igor Matovic triggered a political crisis in March that resulted in the Slovak government’s collapse.

Slovakia has been administering the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca jabs, and will also use Johnson & Johnson. All of those vaccines have been authorized by EMA.

Sputnik V is administered to people 18 to 60 and is available in eight vaccination centers.

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BEIJING — Residents of the southern Chinese city of Guanzhou will not be able to leave unless they can show that it is absolutely necessary to do so, following an outbreak of COVID-19 that has sickened dozens of people in recent days.

Anyone who is given permission to leave must show a negative test for the virus taken in the previous 48 hours, according to rules issued by the city government that take effect Monday. The same rule applies to anyone seeking to leave the surrounding province of Guangdong.

The city also is restricting indoor dining, conducting mass testing and banning residents in high-risk neighborhoods from leaving their homes. At least two districts in the city of 18 million people have been closed off entirely.

The variant causing the Guangzhou outbreak — the delta variant first identified in India — is reportedly more infectious because those who have it are slower to display symptoms while carrying more virus particles.

Guangzhou has reported no deaths from the outbreak, but the city reported another four locally transmitted cases in the 24 hours before Monday morning, bringing its recent total to more than 100 since May 21.

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