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Almost 49 million Americans were fully vaccinated against Covid-19, as several states prepare to offer shots to all adults in the coming weeks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the United States had administered a total of 136.7 million doses since the deployment began in December, with 89.6 million Americans receiving at least one dose.
Germany has designated France, Slovakia and the Czech Republic as “high incidence areasStarting Sunday and will require visitors to test negative for coronavirus to enter. The decision to move France to the high-risk category has raised concerns on both sides of the border.
100 million more children have not learned basic reading skills following the disruption caused by the coronavirus in 2020, reversing two decades of progress and triggering a “learning loss” whose recovery could take 10 years, according to Unesco estimates. Schools around the world closed for an average of 25 weeks last year.
French President Emmanuel Macron has been criticized by political opponents Friday on his refusal to take responsibility for the recent surge in Covid-19 infections which threatens to overwhelm intensive care units in hospitals in Paris and the north. The government finally locked down nearly a third of the country a week ago.
Cruise operator Cunard will limit its summer tours of the UK coastline to UK residents vaccinated, the company announced. Cunard said on Friday that only people who had waited a week after receiving their second dose of an approved Covid-19 vaccine would be allowed aboard the Queen Elizabeth liner.
The Serum Institute of India has blamed a fire at its plant in delayed commercial shipments vaccines against the AstraZeneca coronavirus a few weeks before New Delhi imposed a de facto ban on dose exports to expand its vaccination campaign. SII Managing Director Adar Poonawalla warned that “a fire in one of our buildings has caused obstacles to… expansion”.
A vaccine factory in the Netherlands at center of a spat between London and Brussels has been given the green light from the European Medicines Agency to start supplying Oxford / AstraZeneca jabs to the EU. The EMA said on Friday that the Leiden plant – managed by subcontractor Halix – had been approved for production and export.
British engineers Smiths raised its half-yearly dividend after a pandemic-induced increase in demand for semiconductor testing cushioned a decline in industrial sales. The FTSE 100 group raised its dividend to 11.7 pence, from 11 pence a year ago, after exceeding expectations on overall operating profit, which slipped 6% to £ 166million.
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