The Latest: Australian state reports daily virus case record

Australia’s Victoria state on Friday reported a record of 1,838 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths

Virus Outbreak Britain (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia’s Victoria state on Friday reported a record of 1,838 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths.

The daily tally of confirmed cases is the highest in a 24-hour period of any Australian state or territory.

It was the ninth consecutive day Australia’s second-most populous state has reported more than 1,000 cases, with active infections soaring to 16,823.

The deaths brought Victoria's toll from an outbreak of the delta variant that began in early August to 75.

Infections are declining in New South Wales state. Australia’s most populous state reported 646 new confirmed cases and 11 deaths on Friday.

___

MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

— UK eases travel restrictions further by slashing ‘red list’

— U.S. President Biden, a convert to vaccine mandates, champions compliance

— Massachusetts hospitals prepare to fire hundreds of unvaccinated workers

— Pfizer’s request to OK shots for kids a relief for parents

___

— See all of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

___

HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

NICOSIA, Cyprus — The president of Cyprus has received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and urged people who haven’t yet received a first shot to do so.

President Nicos Anastasides also said Friday that those who are eligible for booster shots should take advantage.

“We owe it to those closest to us and to our community overall. It’s a matter of social responsibility,” the 75-year-old Anastasiades said.

As of the end of September, 78.1% of the Mediterranean island nation's adult population had been fully vaccinated and 81% had received a first dose.

Cyprus has administered booster shots to more than 17,000 people age 75 and over, and plans to start giving them to residents 70 and over next week.

___

ROME — Discos in Italy will soon reopen their dance floors after remaining one of the last public places still off-limits under the country's regulations to combat COVID-19.

The Italian government on Thursday approved the opening of discos and ballrooms starting Oct. 11 on condition that indoor venues fill only to 50% capacity and outdoor venues to 75%.

Experts advising the government on anti-pandemic strategies had for months warned that the close mingling of unmasked dancers and the shouting over the din of blasting music were ripe conditions for spreading the coronavirus. But transmission rates lately have been on a downward trajectory in Italy.

The government also approved boosting to 100% capacity the number of patrons permitted in cinemas, theaters, museums and concert halls. The higher occupancy applies to venues where guests must wear protective masks and show a “Green Pass’’ attesting to having had at least one vaccine dose or a negative recent COVID-19 test.

As of Thursday, 72.5% of Italy’s population was fully vaccinated.

___

LAGOS, Nigeria — Africa’s top public health official has issued a strong reminder about the danger of the continent not having enough doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director John Nkengasong said Thursday that getting the vaccination rate in Africa up quickly is “a way to ensure the collective security of everybody.”

The continent of 1.3 billion people has only been able to administer 156 million doses of vaccines out of the 200 million it has so far received, . Its full vaccination rate has dragged up to 4.57%.

Nkengasong said although some African countries are making “very good progress,” the continent’s overall vaccination rate is still “very slow” and “it is time to really translate pledges and those promises into actions so that we can save many more lives in Africa.”

He said that while Moderna announcing it intends to build a vaccine-manufacturing plant in Africa was “very much welcomed,” it “doesn’t necessarily solve the problem of today” which is “to get these vaccines in the arms of people as quickly as possible.”

Nkengasong said 35 countries are still experiencing a “severe” third wave of infections but Africa had a 20% average decrease in new cases over the past four weeks.

___

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A Colorado woman has been denied a kidney transplant because she won’t be vaccinated against COVID-19 due to her religious views.

Leilani Lutali faces the possibility of dying without a new kidney. However, the born-again Christian objects to the role that stem cells have played in the development of vaccines.

The UCHealth hospital group says transplant recipients need to be vaccinated because they are at significant risk of contracting COVID-19 as well as of being hospitalized.

The American Hospital Association says many transplant centers require vaccinations. It says organ recipients are vulnerable to COVID-19 because of the drugs they must take to suppress their immune systems.

___

HARTFORD, Conn. - Connecticut officials said 671 state employees remained noncompliant with Gov. Ned Lamont’s vaccination and testing mandate as of Thursday, and some of those workers could be placed on unpaid leave as soon as Friday.

The Democrat said the number of executive branch workers who’ve proven they’re vaccinated for COVID-19 or have submitted a weekly test has been increasing every day.

“But at some point you’ve got to hold people accountable if they’re not responding, and we’ll start doing that tomorrow,” said Lamont.

Figures released by his office show the 671 noncompliant employees comprise 2.2% of the roughly 32,000 people who work for executive branch agencies and are affected by the mandate.

Those placed on unpaid leave will have their jobs held for them for 45 days, Lamont said. If workers don’t agree to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing, he said it will be considered “sort of a voluntary termination.”

___

ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Il. — President Joe Biden is championing the fight against COVID-19, requiring workplace vaccination requirements to force the roughly 67 million unvaccinated American adults to roll up their sleeves.

Biden is delivering that message in Illinois, where he’s visiting a suburban Chicago construction site run by a company that’s imposing a new vaccinate-or-test requirement.

In the coming weeks, more than 100 million Americans will be subject to vaccine requirements ordered by Biden. The majority of the nation is already vaccinated and industry leaders mostly agree with the mandates for the safety of workers and the economy.

Biden also planned to meet with the CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby, whose company successfully implemented a vaccine mandate, with no option for workers to be tested. Less than 1% have failed to comply and risk termination.

___

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A federal appeals court ruled in favor of some athletes at Western Michigan University who sued to play sports without getting a COVID-19 vaccination because of their religion.

The court declined to stop a decision by a federal judge in Kalamazoo who said the WMU vaccine requirement likely violates the athletes’ constitutional right to follow their religion.

WMU athletes who sought vaccine exemptions still can be required to wear a mask at practice or be regularly tested, under the injunction signed by U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney.

The 16 athletes sought a vaccine exemption on religious grounds but were ignored or denied, the appeals court said.

“We do not doubt (WMU’s) good faith, nor do we fail to appreciate the burdens COVID-19 has placed on this nation’s universities. ... But having announced a system under which student-athletes can seek individualized exemptions, the university must explain why it chose not to grant any to plaintiffs. And it did not fairly do so here,” the court said in a 3-0 opinion.

___

NEW YORK — The U.S. is gearing up for the flu season on top of the continuing COVID-19 crisis.

Health officials urged Americans to get vaccinated against both the flu and coronavirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a yearly flu vaccination for just about everyone, starting with 6-month-old babies.

Flu cases dropped to historically low levels globally over the pandemic, as restrictions designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus helped block other respiratory viruses. But with schools and businesses reopened, there’s no way to predict how bad a flu season the country might expect this winter.

“We certainly don’t want a ‘twindemic,’ both COVID and influenza,” said Dr. William Schaffner of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

If people still need a COVID-19 vaccination — either first shots or a booster dose — they can get it at the same visit as a flu shot.

___

BERLIN — German officials say the nation has vaccinated about 3.5 million more people against the coronavirus than previously counted.

That means almost 80% of adults in Germany are fully vaccinated and about 84% have received at least one shot, according to the disease control center.

Health Minister Jens Spahn says the discrepancy between the numbers was “due to the fact that some vaccinations may not have been reported.” He added that worker vaccinations at big companies and shots given by mobile vaccination teams in nursing centers may not have been completely reported.

___

MADRID — Spanish authorities say the key 14-day infection rate of coronavirus cases per 100,000 people has dropped below 50 for the first time since July 2020.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says in a tweet it’s “a crucial milestone” in the fight against the pandemic. The Health Ministry on Thursday reported 48 officially recorded cases per 100,000 inhabitants over two weeks.

Officials say a large part is due to the national vaccination rollout, which has fully inoculated 77% of Spaniards. Pressure on hospitals has fallen considerably to 2,000 people admitted to hospitals and 551 in ICUs.

The Health Ministry reported 1,807 new cases from the previous day, taking the total to 4.9 million. There were 23 reported deaths, bringing the confirmed total to 86,701.

___

GENEVA — The U.N. secretary-general says a lack of equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccines between wealthy and poor countries “is not only a question of being immoral, it is also a question of being stupid.”

Antonio Guterres called vaccine inequality the “best ally” of the COVID-19 pandemic. He decried hoarding of vaccines by rich countries, as well as vaccine nationalism and vaccine diplomacy – by which some producer nations try to use their doses as leverage.

Guterres told a World Health Organization news conference Thursday that if the virus continues to spread “like wildfire in the Global South,” there’s a risk that new variants could emerge and potentially resist current vaccines doled out widely around world.

___

GENEVA — A top World Health Organization official says legal issues holding up a review of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 are “about to be sorted out,” a step that could relaunch a process toward an emergency use authorization for the product.

Dr. Mariangela Simao, a WHO assistant director-general, says other hurdles remain for the Russian application for an WHO emergency use listing – including a lack of full information and inspections of manufacturing sites.

“But I’m happy to say that the process is about to be restarted,” says Simao, who heads WHO’s division on access to medicines and health products, referring to the review.

She noted the review months ago was “put on hold due to the lack of some legal procedures” but didn’t provide a timetable for when Sputnik V might be considered for the emergency use listing.

Approval could pave the way for its inclusion into the COVAX program, which is shipping vaccines to scores of countries around the world.

___

NEW YORK — Pfizer is asking the U.S. government to allow use of its COVID-19 vaccine in children ages 5 to 11.

If regulators agree, shots could begin within a matter of weeks. Pfizer already had announced that a lower dose of its vaccine worked and appeared safe in a study of the youngsters.

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech on Thursday officially filed its application with the Food and Drug Administration. FDA’s advisers are scheduled to debate the evidence on Oct. 26. Until now, the vaccine was available only to those as young as 12, and many parents and pediatricians are clamoring for protection for younger kids.

Keeping children in school can be a challenge with the coronavirus still raging in poorly vaccinated communities.

___

SEOUL, South Korea — The World Health Organization has started shipping COVID-19 medical supplies into North Korea, a possible sign that the North is easing one of the world’s strictest pandemic border closures to receive outside help.

WHO says it has started the shipment of essential COVID-19 medical supplies through the Chinese port of Dalian for strategic stockpiling and further dispatch to North Korea.

WHO representative told AP the items included emergency health kits and medicine. The country still claims to have a perfect record of fighting the virus and has reported no coronavirus cases. It recently turned down some Sinovac vaccines offered via the U.N.-backed program. It had severely restricted cross-border traffic and trade for the past two years despite the strain on its crippled economy.