Covid News: Cambodia’s Reopening Is Propelled by Vaccinations – The New York Times

“I rejoice at and fully support the news of reopening the country to vaccinated tourists without quarantine,” said Chhay Sivlin, the president of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents.

“This is a big step towards reopening the entire country,” said Mr. Hun Sen, an authoritarian leader who came to power in 1984.

Under the new rules, travelers arriving from abroad can skip quarantine if they are fully vaccinated, test negative for the virus before departure and test negative again on arrival.

Like many of its neighbors, Cambodia reported relatively few virus cases in 2020 but faced a deadly surge this year.

If troops persist in declining, they will not be permitted “continued service” unless granted an approved exemption from the vaccine, she wrote.

The policy defies a Pentagon directive issued in August that makes vaccination mandatory for all troops, including the National Guard, by deadlines set by each service branch.

The memo created a testy stand off between Oklahoma officials and the Pentagon, which insists that all National Guard members must follow the same vaccine procedures as active duty troops.

In Oklahoma, 89 percent of airmen in the Guard have been vaccinated, while only 40 percent of Army guardsmen have had shots; the deadline for members of the Army National Guard is coming next month.

Army and Air Force that addresses National Guard requirements,” said Candis Olmstead, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Guard, in an email.

Proof of a negative test will no longer be sufficient for unvaccinated people to enter cinemas, theaters, museums and gymnasiums, he said.

Greece opened eligibility for booster shots last week for all those over 18 who had their last shot at least five and a half months ago.

About 61 percent of Greeks are fully vaccinated, below the average rate in the European Union of 65.4 percent, according to the vaccine tracker of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Austria, for instance, will impose full lockdowns in two states — Salzburg and Upper Austria — next week, after having imposed broad restrictions on the activities of unvaccinated people.

On Thursday, lawmakers in Germany’s Parliament approved a bill whose measures include a rule that only people who are vaccinated against the virus, have recovered from an infection or test negative can ride public transit or attend work in person.

France and Italy have allowed people to enter indoor areas such as cafes, museums and gyms with a health pass that shows the holder has been vaccinated, has recovered from Covid-19 or has tested negative for the virus.

The Czech Republic, which is experiencing some of its highest caseloads since the pandemic began, will bar people without a vaccination pass or proof of a previous Covid infection from restaurants, bars and hair salons as of Monday.

And lawmakers in the Netherlands, which is reporting record case numbers and sharply rising positive tests, recently restored mask mandates in some public indoor places and instituted a three-week partial lockdown that includes earlier closing hours for restaurants, bars and shops.

The administration of Gov.

Cox of Utah asked all health care providers to provide boosters to “any adult in the state of Utah who would like to receive a booster” beginning on Friday, in accordance with the same federal guidelines that Massachusetts was using.

speaks Latin, I can’t figure out who’s eligible, who’s not eligible,” said Mr. Lamont at a news conference on Thursday, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And so we want the message to go out that you can go ahead and get your booster shots,” she said at a news conference.

On Thursday, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said the administration would “wait for the process to proceed” at the federal level.

Currently, federal regulators say people who received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, meet timing rules, and are 65 or older, or adults who are considered to be at special risk because of their medical conditions, jobs or living environments are eligible for boosters.

A growing body of global research has shown that the vaccines available in the United States have remained highly protective against the disease’s worst outcomes over time, even during the summer surge of the highly transmissible Delta variant.

A scientist who has pored over public accounts of early Covid-19 cases in China reported on Thursday that an influential World Health Organization inquiry had likely gotten the early chronology of the pandemic wrong.

The report, published on Thursday in the prestigious journal Science, will revive, though certainly not settle, the debate over whether the pandemic started with a spillover from wildlife sold at the market, a leak from a Wuhan virology lab or some other way.

Dr.

“In this city of 11 million people, half of the early cases are linked to a place that’s the size of a soccer field,” Dr.

They suggested that the virus probably infected a “patient zero” sometime before the vendor’s case and then reached critical mass to spread widely at the market.

Canada’s distribution of Covid vaccines was hampered by delays and bottlenecks in the spring, but vaccination rates there have since climbed dramatically.

The Australian Open, which is played early each year in Melbourne, attracted about 820,000 spectators over two weeks the last time it was held at full capacity, in 2020.

Last year, attendance was capped at 30,000 fans a day for the first five days before spectators were barred as Melbourne dealt with another outbreak.

It is unclear whether unvaccinated tennis players or players who do not reveal their vaccination status — including the world No.

Spectators will also be able to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which has a capacity of 100,000, to watch the Boxing Day cricket test match between Australia and England on Dec.

“Whether it’s 100,000 people at the M.C.G.

Other restrictions in Victoria are also being lifted.

And with India’s export restrictions on syringes in place through the end of this year, experts say the world could experience a shortfall of two billion to four billion needles through the end of next year.

Although India is a small player in overall global exports, it is a major producer of the type of syringe that is being used globally for coronavirus vaccinations.

The situation became so acute last month that the World Health Organization and PAHO asked India to allow Mr. Nath’s company, Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices, one of the world’s largest syringe makers, to ship the orders it had agreed to before the restrictions were announced.

In India, more than half of the 1.4 billion-strong population has received at least one shot of a Covid vaccine, but only 28 percent of people are fully vaccinated, according to a New York Times database.

Unlike vaccine doses, syringes are bulky and are typically transported by sea.

Almost entirely along party lines, Republican Florida lawmakers passed four bills on Wednesday to curtail mask and vaccine mandates, the culmination of a three-day special legislative session that Gov.

Mr. DeSantis said the session was urgently needed to combat federal government overreach.

Early this year, Mr. DeSantis crisscrossed Florida to promote Covid vaccines, visiting retiree communities and hospitals, and celebrating people who had gotten their shots.

Novavax struggled to ramp up its manufacturing and to demonstrate the purity of its vaccines to regulators, and it said in August that Washington would not pay for further production until it had resolved regulators’ concerns.

The vaccine involves two doses, given at least 21 days apart, the company said.

Novavax’s chief executive, Stanley C.

The approval of a fifth vaccine could bolster inoculation drives on the continent at a time when it is experiencing the world’s biggest Covid outbreaks.

The Philippines had already approved eight other vaccines for emergency use, according to Dr.

An earlier version of this item misidentified the person who said that because of unequal vaccine distribution throughout the world, the Philippines needed to approve as many vaccines as it could.

The large volume of travelers expected comes as inoculation rates across the United States have risen, allowing many families to gather safely for the first time since 2019, when T.S.A.

“I recommend that travelers pay attention to the guidance that the T.S.A.

While the travel volume this year is not expected to reach 2019 levels, the agency said it could be higher in the time leading up to Thanksgiving.

The increase comes as airlines deal with an uptick in cases of unruly passengers.

They were all tested for the coronavirus with deep nasal swabs.

Since the coronavirus emerged, millions of swabs have been stuck into millions of noses to test for a pernicious virus that has killed millions across the planet.

The company operates more than 9,900 stores in the United States, according to its website.

“We remain focused on the competitive advantage provided by our presence in thousands of communities across the country, which complements our rapidly expanding digital presence,” said Karen S.

Some will offer primary care services, and others will offer broader health care services than standard pharmacies, such as treatment for diabetes.

Boosters are recommended six months after the second shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.

The new recommendations say that everyone 50 and older — most of whom have other risk factors — as well as those 18 and older living in long-term care facilities “should” get a booster.

After a brief respite, coronavirus infections are inching up again, particularly in parts of the country where cooler weather is hustling people indoors.

The C.D.C.’s decision lands just as Americans are preparing to spend the holidays with family and friends.

He concealed that he had been staying in a hotel in Vietnam where some people with coronavirus infections were also staying, the court said.

The court statement and a report by the official Xinhua news agency said that Mr. Cao had symptoms consistent with the coronavirus, but did not say whether he had tested positive for the disease.

Because Mr. Cao concealed information about his Covid exposure and apparent symptoms, the court said, 459 people who came in direct or indirect contact with him were also quarantined at a cost to the government of about $100,000.

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