The Latest: Pakistan gets 2.5M doses of Moderna from U.S.

A local resident receives the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center Wednesday, June 30, 2021, in the Sumida ward of Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

An exile Tibetan nurse puts on her protective suit as she prepares to assist at a COVID-19 vaccination center in Dharmsala, India, Thursday, July 1, 2021. The vaccination was organised by the Himachal Pradesh government for the foreign national residing in the state. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

A Tokyo 2020 Olympic staff member rests at a food court at Main Press Center (MPC) for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Tokyo Big Site Friday, July 2, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A medical worker wearing protective gear wears plastic gloves in the sweltering heat at a coronavirus testing site in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

In this file photo dated Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, three vials of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine are pictured in a new coronavirus vaccination center at the 'Velodrom' (velodrome-stadium) in Berlin, Germany. The World Health Organization said that any COVID-19 vaccines it has authorized for emergency use should be recognized by countries as they open up their borders, in a move that could challenge Western countries to broaden their acceptance of two Chinese vaccines which the U.N. health agency has licensed, but most European and North American countries have not. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

Syringes with the Moderna vaccine against COVID-19 disease for Tokyo Metropolitan Government employees at a newly opened vaccination center at the government building, Thursday, July 1, 2021, in Tokyo. This is part of the government efforts to ramp up vaccinations before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games begin. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Security guards check ID cards and temperatures of workers as they enter a convention center housing the main media center of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo on Friday, July 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Mannequins that were used to be placed on tables to ensure social distancing to help curb the spread the coronavirus, are pictured in a restaurant in Istanbul, Thursday, July 1, 2021. Turkey's government on Thursday eased restrictions in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and have reopened theaters, cinemas and other entertainment centers. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Workers take a break during a busy day at Rorotan Cemetery, which is reserved for those who died of COVID-19, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, July 1, 2021. Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced new community restrictions and the mobilization of the National Police and other resources as the world's fourth-most populous country has seen a rapid surge in COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

A laboratory technician stands at a fully automatic PCR machine in the Bioscientia laboratory for the examination of Corona smears in Ingelheim, Germany, Friday, July 2, 2021. Thousands of samples of the Corona virus can be examined here every day. The delta mutation, which is regarded as particularly infectious, has now reached a dominant proportion among new Corona infections in Germany. (Boris Roessler/dpa via AP)

In this Monday, March 22, 2021 file photo medical staff prepares an AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine during preparations at the vaccine center in Ebersberg near Munich, Germany. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)

Jens Spahn (CDU), Germany's Federal Minister of Health, comments at a press conference on the consequences of the STIKO recommendation to administer an mRNA vaccine after a first vaccination with Astrazeneca in Berlin, Germany, Friday, July 2, 2021. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

People wait in line to recieve a coronavirus vaccine at a vaccination center in the VDNKh (The Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy) in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 2, 2021. Russian health authorities on Thursday launched booster coronavirus vaccinations for those who had been immunized more than six months ago, as the country faces a surge in new infections and deaths. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

An elderly man sits waiting in line to get a coronavirus vaccine at a vaccination center at VDNKh (The Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy) in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 2, 2021. Russian health authorities on Thursday launched booster coronavirus vaccinations for those who had been immunized more than six months ago, as the country faces a surge in new infections and deaths. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

A couple wait in line to receive a coronavirus vaccine at a vaccination center with the sign of a QR code at VDNKh (The Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy) in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 2, 2021. Russian health authorities on Thursday launched booster coronavirus vaccinations for those who had been immunized more than six months ago, as the country faces a surge in new infections and deaths. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan received 2.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine from the United States on Friday, easing pressure on Islamabad in overcoming the shortage of COVID-19 vaccines.

According to a U.S. embassy statement, the vaccines were delivered to the Pakistani people in partnership with the COVAX global vaccine initiative, UNICEF, and the government of Pakistan.

It says this donation was part of the 80 million doses the United States was sharing with the world, “delivering on our pledge to facilitate equitable global access to safe and effective vaccines, which are essential to ending the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The latest development comes days after hundreds of Pakistani expatriate workers rallied in Islamabad, demanding they should be quickly vaccinated with the Moderna, Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines so they can travel abroad.

Pakistan has mostly relied on Chinese vaccines, but some Middle Eastern countries want travelers to produce a certificate to show they’ve received specific vaccines.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC

— India confirms 400K dead, half in past 2 months from coronavirus

— No lockdown plans in Russia as virus deaths hit new record

— Experts question if WHO should lead investigation into pandemic origins

— Australia further curbs new arrivals due to risks of variant

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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:

BANGKOK — Health authorities in Bangkok reported 6,087 confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday, setting a record for the second straight day.

Around 90% of total cases and 95% of the deaths have been recorded during a third wave of the coronavirus that began in April. There were 992 deaths in June this year, more than 15 times Thailand’s total for all of 2020.

The government’s Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration says there’s been a nationwide increase during the past two weeks in the number of patients in ICUs and on ventilators. There are 2,002 people in ICUs, including 566 on ventilators.

Center deputy spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangsan says 39% of the cases reported Friday were found in Bangkok, 25% in neighboring provinces and 36% in the other 71 provinces.

Sixty-one related deaths were reported Friday, bringing the total number of cases to 270,921 and 2,141 confirmed deaths.

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ROME — For the first day in nine months, the northern Italian region hardest hit in pandemic has registered no COVID-19 deaths.

“Today zero deaths for COVID in Lombardy, hasn’t happened since Oct. 6,” tweeted Lombardy Vice Gov. Letizia Moratti on Friday.

It was in Lombardy where the first Italian case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in February 2020. As of July 1, the region had tallied 33,782 confirmed deaths, far more than any other region. Lombardy’s hospitals, once overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients in ICU beds, on Thursday admitted only one new patient to an intensive care ward.

However, Italian health officials are warning the delta variant has been steadily gaining traction in the country since May. They are expressing concern that people will relax safe-distancing and other practices to combat the pandemic while vacationing this summer.

Some 35% of people older than 12 in Italy are fully vaccinated, and the country is aiming to raise that to 80% by summer’s end.

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NEW DELHI — India has confirmed 400,000 deaths from COVID-19, half of them in the past two months, as the virulent delta variant infected hundreds of thousands daily.

The grim figure announced Friday is believed to be a fraction of the true total. It is second only to the United States and Brazil.

The Health Ministry says 853 people died in the past 24 hours, raising total confirmed deaths to 400,312 since the start of the pandemic. The first known COVID-19 death in India happened on March 12, 2020, in southern Karnataka state.

India, a country of nearly 1.4 billion people, has confirmed more than 30.4 million infections. There have been 46,617 new cases detected in the past 24 hours. That total also is believed to be an undercount.

New cases are on the decline after exceeding 400,000 a day in May. But authorities are preparing for another possible wave of infection around September and are trying to ramp up vaccination.

Less than 5% of India’s people are fully immunized. Over 340 million doses have been administered since mid-January, according to the ministry.

About 2 billion doses could be available by December with India’s two main suppliers, Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech, ramping up production and five other vaccines potentially available in the coming months.

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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has reported 826 new cases of the coronavirus, its biggest daily jump in about six months, as fears grow about another huge wave of the virus in the greater capital area.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Friday that 633 of the cases came from the Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the country’s 51 million people, where officials pushed back an easing of social distancing measures as infections soared over the past week.

Dozens of infections were each reported in other major cities and regions, including Busan, Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province.

Some health experts say government officials sent the wrong message to the public by announcing plans to allow for larger gatherings and longer indoor dining hours at restaurants starting this month to ease the pandemic’s impact on the economy.

The experts say a premature easing of social distancing could have disastrous consequences when the country has administered first doses of vaccines to just 30% of its population and most younger adults remain unvaccinated.

South Korea has reported 158,549 cases and 2,024 confirmed deaths.

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentine officials say they will study the possibility of combining two different COVID-19 vaccines due to the delayed arrival of Russia's Sputnik V for many who already received a first dose.

Buenos Aires city Health Minister Fernán Quirós tells Radio Mitre that officials would choose a random sample of potential volunteers to receive a second dose of vaccines made by AstraZeneca or China’s Sinopharm, or wait for a second shot of Sputnik likely starting in mid-August.

Several other countries have tried mixing vaccines due to distribution delays or safety concerns.

Some 70,000 people in Buenos Aires got an initial shot of Sputnik V three months ago and are still waiting a second dose. The number is about 300,000 nationwide.

The country has seen a renewed wave of infections at the start of the Southern Hemisphere winter.

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