The Latest: Greece to open tourism industry on May 15

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In this Saturday, May 23, 2020 file photo, a man sprays water at umbrellas outside a tavern at Plaka district, in Athens, as the restaurant prepares for reopening. Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday April 21, 2021, the country's tourism industry will open on May 15 when a ban on travel between different regions in the country will be lifted, adding that restaurants and cafes will also be allowed to reopen outdoor areas starting on May 3. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis, File)

ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s prime minister says the country’s tourism industry will open on May 15 when a ban on travel between different regions in the country will be lifted.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made the announcement in a televised address Wednesday, adding that restaurants and cafes will be allowed to reopen in outdoor areas starting on May 3. Restrictions, many of which have been in effect since early November, will remain in place over the Orthodox Easter on May 2.

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Despite the lockdown measures, Greece has struggled to contain a flare-up in cases that started in late January. Its mortality rate remains above the European Union average.

The total confirmed death toll in Greece reached 9,713 on Wednesday.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Biden pushes tax credit, vaccines for all over age 16

— Greece to reopen tourism services on May 15

— FDA inspection found problems at factory making J&J vaccine

— Tokyo Olympics delay decision on local fans from Japan

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Follow all 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:

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey recorded another daily record of COVID-19 deaths at 362 in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.

The country reported 61,967 new confirmed cases. The coronavirus confirmed death toll stands at 36,975, with at least 4.4 million cases.

The country has been placed under a partial lockdown since April 13, which involves an extended evening curfew on weekdays, a return to online education and a ban on unnecessary intercity travel. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the government will impose stricter measures if the infection and death rates fail to decline.

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Officials have blamed the faster-spreading variants for the rising number of cases and deaths.

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TUCSON, Ariz. — A plan to establish a large federally supported mass vaccination in metro Tucson is being shelved and Pima County is instead asking for mobile vaccination sites.

State and federal officials didn’t reach consensus on details of an agreement authorizing and running the proposed mass vaccination site, officials said Tuesday.

The county is pivoting to ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency for mobile sites capable of providing about 300 shots daily to reach populations that could use help getting vaccinated, said County Administrator Chuck Huckleberry.

“It’s an inconvenience for a variety of reasons because they don’t have the technology, they don’t have the time, because they don’t have the wherewithal, mobility issues, language barriers,” said Dr. Francisco Garcia, the county’s medical officer. “We need to decrease those barriers.”

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CAIRO — Egypt’s health minister says a southern province has seen a “slight but continuous” spike in confirmed cases of coronavirus, amid calls to impose restrictions to contain the spread.

Authorities have reported 400-450 cases per week amid a third wave of the pandemic in Sohag province. That compares to an average of 600 cases weekly at the peak of the first wave last summer, Health Minister Hala Zayed said in a statement.

Zayed’s report came as the head of the doctors’ union in Sohag, Dr. Mahmoud Fahmy, called for authorities to impose a curfew across the province to stem the spread.

Fahmy said this week that hospitals designed to treat COVID-19 patients in Sohag were full, and there was a shortage of ventilators.

Egypt has reported more than 218,000 confirmed cases and 12,820 confirmed deaths.

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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden met the goal of administering 200 million coronavirus doses in his first 100 days in office. More than 50% of adults are at least partly vaccinated and about 28 million vaccine doses are being delivered each week.

“We’re entering a new phase of our vaccination efforts,” Biden said in a White House speech on Wednesday, noting the first months of the rollout were aimed at older people and essential workers. “Now our objective is to reach everyone, everyone over the age of 16 in America.”

Biden added: “Vaccines can save your own life, but they can also save your grandmother’s life, your co-worker’s life, the grocery store clerk or the delivery person helping you and your neighbors get through the crisis. That’s why you should get vaccinated.”

Also, the White House announced its trying to overcome diminishing demand for COVID-19 shots by offering businesses a tax incentive to give employees paid leave to get vaccinated.

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NEW YORK — U.S. regulators say a Baltimore factory contracted to make Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine was dirty, didn’t follow proper manufacturing procedures and had poorly trained staff. The problems resulted in contamination of a batch of material that was going to be put in the shots.

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday released a 13-page report detailing findings from its recent inspection of the now-idle Emergent Biosciences factory. J&J and Emergent say they’re working to fix the problems.

The nearly 8 million doses of J&J vaccine that have been used in the U.S. came from European sources.

Agency inspectors said a batch of the bulk drug substance for J&J’s single-shot vaccine was contaminated with material used to make COVID-19 vaccines for another Emergent client, AstraZeneca. That batch, reportedly enough to make about 15 million J&J vaccine doses, had to be thrown out.

Nothing made at the factory for J&J has been distributed yet. The Baltimore factory halted production late last week at the request of the FDA. The agency hasn’t given emergency approval to the factory, which is needed before any vaccine material made there can be distributed.

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PARIS — A government official says France is about to impose new entry restrictions on travelers from India to fight a contagious coronavirus variant spreading in that country.

The restrictions come in addition to those previously announced regarding four other countries, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Brazil, which will be implemented starting from Saturday.

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal confirmed that France will lift its ban on domestic travel as planned on May 3. But it will maintain its nighttime curfew, now in place from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. The official says nonessential shops, closed since the partial lockdown of the country in early April, won’t reopen before mid-May.

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LISBON, Portugal — Portugal will start administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine a day after European regulators gave it the go-ahead following a blood clot concern

Portuguese Health Minister Marta Temido says the shot will speed up the goal of vaccinating those over 60 years old. But she added national authorities will study findings by European regulators to determine if any restrictions should be placed on its use for younger people.

The European Union’s drug regulatory agency said Tuesday that it found a “possible link” between Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine and extremely rare blood clots and that a warning should be added to the label.

Last month Portugal restricted the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to only people over 60 after it was linked to similar cases of rare blood clots.

Portugal has received 31,200 doses from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and more deliveries are expected.

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TOKYO — Japanese residents with tickets to the Tokyo Olympics may not know until weeks before the games open if they’ll be allowed to attend.

Fans from abroad have already been barred. Organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto says a decision on venue capacity may not be made until June. She had previously promised that decision for this month.

Hashimoto says “we are still studying the timing.” Hashimoto spoke after she and CEO Toshiro Muto took part in an online briefing with the IOC executive board in Switzerland.

The opening ceremony to the Tokyo Olympics is scheduled for July 23.

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GENEVA — Switzerland expects coronavirus vaccinations for all adults will be completed by the end of July at the current rate of supplies from manufacturers.

Health minister Alain Berset noted a recent easing of lockdown measures -- including opening restaurants and bars for outdoor service -- began Monday. However, the country shouldn’t expect any other restrictions lifted until at least May 26. The seven-day average confirmed case counts is currently at about 2,000.

Berset warned of upticks in case counts in other countries that had intensive vaccination campaigns.

Switzerland has rolled out vaccines from Pfizerand Moderna. Swiss regulators have approved the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, although it hasn’t been deployed yet in the country.

Some 2.1 million people have received shots of the COVID-19 vaccine in Switzerland and nearly 770,000 have received the full two-dose regimen.

Overall, Switzerland has recorded more than 640,000 confirmed cases and 9,900 confirmed deaths.

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BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s national vaccination committee chief says Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be distributed to vaccination centers by next week.

Last week, Romania received a batch of 60,000 J&J vaccine shots but paused distribution as it waited for safety confirmation from the European Medicines Agency following a small number of rare blood clots.

“Most likely they will be used in drive-through centers, mobile centers and can be allocated to family doctors. The vaccination process will be much easier because it will be a single dose,” says Valeriu Gheorghita, the vaccination leader.

The announcement came the same day Romania launched its first mobile vaccination center in Ilfov County near the capital Bucharest, where appointments will not be needed. Authorities aim to roll out mobile centers across the country.

So far, Romania has administered more than 4.3 million vaccine doses to its population of more than 19 million.

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BERLIN — German lawmakers have approved a proposal by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to mandate uniform restrictions in areas where the coronavirus is spreading too quickly.

The legislation to apply an “emergency brake” consistently in areas with high infection rates is intended to end the patchwork of measures that has often characterized the pandemic response across highly decentralized Germany’s 16 states.

The lower house of parliament voted 342-250 for the plan on Wednesday, with 64 abstentions. The upper house, where state governments are represented, is due to consider the legislation Thursday.

It features plans to impose a 10 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew, limit personal contacts, close leisure and sports facilities and shut or restrict access to many stores.

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TOKYO — Japan’s government is preparing to announce a third state of emergency in Tokyo and the western metropolitan area around Osaka following requests from local leaders who say current measures are failing to curb a rapid rise in coronavirus infections.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and key ministers met late Wednesday to discuss details before deciding on a state of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka and neighboring Kyoto and Hyogo expected later this week.

Osaka, the worst-hit area in the latest surge beginning in March, reported 1,242 new cases Wednesday, a new high for the prefecture. It exceeded Tokyo’s 843 infections.

Nationwide, Japan has recorded more than 540,000 confirmed cases and more than 9,700 confirmed deaths.

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IDLIB, Syria — Syria’s last rebel-held enclave has received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines, with a refrigerated truck offloading over 50,000 United Nations-secured shots in the overcrowded province.

The delivery Wednesday came hours before a bigger shipment was expected to arrive in the capital Damascus for inoculations in government-controlled areas.

The first batch of vaccines come as the war-torn country experiences a new surge in infections, overwhelming hospitals already reeling from conflict and deteriorating health care services.

The AstraZeneca vaccines were delivered to Idlib province through a border crossing with Turkey, the northwestern territory’s only gateway to the outside world.

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BEIJING — A Chinese health official says around 200 million people, or 14.29% of the population, have been vaccinated for COVID-19 so far.

The emphasis has been on front-line workers, university students and people living in border areas. China is ramping up vaccination efforts after a slow start, prompted in part by the near elimination of domestic transmission.

Just two local cases were reported on Wednesday, both in the city of Ruili, which borders on Myanmar. China has approved five domestically produced vaccines and exported millions of doses, although some scientists believe they provide less protection that those by Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca.

The Chinese vaccines have an efficacy range of 50.7% to 79.3%, based on company data, lower than their international peers but still effective.

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ISLAMABAD — Pakistani authorities on Wednesday reported 148 deaths from COVID-19, one of the country’s highest daily death tolls in recent months.

Pakistan is currently in the middle of a third wave of coronavirus infections amid widespread violations of social distancing rules. The government says the current wave is more dangerous compared to previous ones.

The government has imposed a partial lockdown in high-risk areas to contain the spread of the virus and vaccinating health workers and older people against COVID-19. Authorities so far have largely relied on donated or imported vaccines from China.

Pakistan hopes to receive 15 million vaccine doses by next month through the U.N.-backed COVAX program.

Pakistan has reported a total of 772,381 confirmed cases and 16,600 deaths in the pandemic.

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PRAGUE — The Czech Republic is rolling out the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines after examination by the European regulator.

The European Medicines Agency announced on Tuesday that it found a possible link between the shots and extremely rare blood clots. At the same time, experts at the agency reiterated that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the risks.

The Czech Health Ministry says the first 14,400 dozes will be sent to general practitioners across the country. Another 24,000 J&J vaccines are expected to be delivered next week.

By Tuesday, health authorities have inoculated almost 2.6 million people out of a population of 10.7 million with at least one shot of either Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccines.

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