VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis says he is happy to greet the believers on St. Peter’s Square for his traditional Sunday afternoon blessing after weeks of lock-in measures.
Later this month, Italy will gradually begin to lift some anti-pandemic restrictions, which could, for example, allow for outdoor meals at cafes and restaurants in areas of the country where the COVID-19 outbreak shows signs of improvement.
A few hundred people, including nuns and families, standing at a safe distance on the expansive square, appeared to see the pope speaking from a window of the Apostolic Palace. “Thank God we can meet on this square again,” Francis said. “I have to say I miss the square.”
In recent weeks, Francis has been standing at a lectern in the palace to deliver his remarks on Sunday afternoon via TV, radio and the internet.
“Thank God and thank you for your presence,” Francis told those who turned up despite clouds threatening a downpour in Rome.
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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
The worldwide death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed an incredible 3 million
– AP PHOTOS: Photographers reflect on some shots of pandemic
– The fashion industry develops as viruses force reconsideration
Clammers keep digging through the pandemic, but find fewer shellfish
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Follow all AP pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus- vaccination
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THIS HAPPENS DIFFERENTLY:
JERUSALEM – Israel has lifted a public mask mandate and fully reopened its education system in the latest easing of coronavirus restrictions following its mass vaccination.
All grades in elementary and high school returned to classrooms on Sunday, and health officials ended a year-long requirement to wear a mask in public space. Masks are still needed indoors and in large gatherings.
Israel quickly vaccinated a majority of its population against the coronavirus in a world-leading vaccination campaign. It lifted most of the coronavirus restrictions and announced last week that it would reopen the country to vaccinated foreign tourists from May.
Israel’s coronavirus tsar, Nachman Ash, told Israeli public radio on Sunday that removing the mask requirement in the open air and re-initiating classroom studies was a ‘calculated risk’.
Since the start of the pandemic last year, according to the Ministry of Health, Israel has recorded more than 836,000 cases of the coronavirus and at least 6,331 deaths. More than 53% of its 9.3 million citizens received two shots of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
During the months since Israel launched its vaccination campaign in December, severe cases and deaths have plummeted, allowing the economy to reopen.
The vaccination campaign in the West Bank and Gaza occupied by Israel was slow to get off the ground, and Israel was criticized for no longer sharing its supplies.
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ISLAMA BATH – Pakistan reported its highest one-day death toll due to COVID-19, bringing the country’s total deaths in the pandemic to nearly 162,430.
Federal authorities said Sunday that 149 new deaths had been confirmed within 24 hours. They have also confirmed more than 6,000 new coronavirus cases since the previous day, bringing the total confirmed cases from Pakistan to more than 756,285.
Authorities in Pakistan on Saturday decided to vaccinate people aged 50 to 59 next week.
Pakistan relied largely on donated or imported Chinese vaccines, which were offered only to health workers and the elderly. But these groups did not respond in overwhelming numbers to the vaccination campaign, which prompted officials to offer the vaccines to a younger group.
Pakistan, with a population of 220 million, hopes to receive 15 million COVID-19 vaccine doses by next month through the UN-backed COVAX program.
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HUTCHINSON, Minn. Prosecutors have charged a Minnesota man with assault and allege he assaulted an employee of a home improvement store and a police officer after the store worker told him to wear a mask.
The Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported that the incident began Wednesday afternoon when a cashier at a Menards in Hutchinson, 61-year-old Luke Oeltjenbruns, said he could not check out according to a criminal charge unless he wore a mask dress. Oeltjenbruns tried to leave with his merchandise and asked the cashier to grab his car.
The complaint alleges that Oeltjenbruns hit the cashier with a piece of wood. Police later found Oeltjenbruns sitting in his pickup truck in another store’s parking lot.
After a slow chase, officers surrounded his truck with their group cars, but he refused to get out. Officer Steven Sickmann stands on the truck’s dashboard and reaches out the window. According to the complaint, Oeltjenbruns closed the window on the officer’s arm, trapped him and drove off and crashed into a group of cars.
According to the complaint, Sickmann tried to use a rescue hammer to break the window, but Oeltjenbruns took it from him and hit him on the head with it.
Oeltjenbruns was eventually arrested. The complaint states that the officer’s injuries include a head wound.
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TORONTO – New pandemic restrictions imposed by Canada’s most populous province immediately fell into opposition. Police departments on Saturday insisted they would not use new forces to randomly stop motorists, and health experts complain that the rules focus on outdoor activities rather than more dangerous indoor environments.
The government of Ontario, Doug Ford, announced on Friday that they are giving police power to require someone who is not home to explain why they are away and provide their address. Tickets can be written.
But at least a dozen troops throughout Ontario, including the capital of Toronto, said there would be no random stops of people or cars.
‘We’re all going through a horrible year of COVID-19 and all that together. The (department) will NOT stop vehicles at random during the pandemic or thereafter, ”tweeted Halton police chief Steve Tanner.
The new rules restrict outdoor gatherings to those in the same household and near playgrounds and golf courses. The decisions have drawn widespread criticism in a province that is already closed. Restaurants and gyms are closed, as is classroom instruction. Most non-important workers work from home.
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ALBUQUERQUE, NM – The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a case that will determine who is eligible to receive more than $ 530 million in federal funding for virus relief set aside for tribes more than a year ago.
More than a dozen Native American tribes have sued the U.S. Treasury Department to keep the money out of the hands of Alaska Native corporations that provide services to Alaska natives but not a government-to-government relationship with the United States has not.
The question raised on Monday for oral arguments is whether the corporations are tribes for purposes of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which defines ‘tribes’ under a 1975 law intended to govern their ability to govern themselves. , to strengthen.
The case has practical consequences. Native Americans have been excessively ill and killed by the pandemic – despite extreme precautions that include curfews, roadblocks, universal testing and business closures – and have had historical financial resources. About $ 530 million of the $ 8 billion set aside for tribes has not been distributed.
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HARARE, Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe has begun releasing some 3,000 prisoners under a presidential amnesty aimed at easing congestion to reduce the threat of COVID-19 in the country’s overcrowded prisons.
About 400 prisoners were released on Saturday from Chikurubi Prison and other prisons in the capital, Harare, with more from other prisons nationwide.
The prisons in Zimbabwe have a capacity of 17,000 inmates, but they are sitting about 22,000 ahead of the amnesty declared by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Those who were to be released were convicted of violent crimes.
The amnesty will go a long way in reducing the cost and threat of the virus spreading to prisons, said Alvord Gapare, the commander of prisons in Harare. He said prisons in the capital recorded 173 confirmed infections and one death.
According to the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zimbabwe recorded 37,534 cases of COVID-19, including 1551 deaths by 17 April.
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RICHMOND, Va. The first cases of the so-called Brazil COVID-19 variant have been identified in two samples from Virginia residents, state health officials said Friday.
In a news release, the Virginia Department of Health said one case with the P.1 variant was identified in an adult resident of the Northwest region with a history of domestic travel during the exposure period. The second case was identified in an adult resident of the Eastern region with no travel history, the department said.
According to the department, no case has a record of COVID-19 vaccination before the onset of the disease.