Italy’s vaccination campaign is gathering speed. The country is considering the possibility of letting citizens receive second shots while on holiday.
Europe’s third-largest economy has accelerated its vaccination campaign, with more than 500,000 shots given per day. This means most second doses are scheduled for August, when most Italians are on holiday.
While regional and national authorities debate the logistics of such a step, allowing shots away from home would boost the country’s battered tourism industry.
COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective even after the first dose, according to a large-scale study by the Italian National Institute of Health.
Infections, hospitalizations and deaths all declined significantly about 14 days after the first shot. After 35 days, infections were 80 percent lower than among those who had not received a dose, while hospitalizations were 90 percent lower and deaths 95 percent lower.
More than 7 million Italians who had received at least one vaccine dose between Dec. 27 last year and April 4 were surveyed. Two-thirds were given the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, while 29 percent received AstraZeneca PLC’s shot.
A health travel pass in the EU could be available from about June 20, French Secretary of State for European Affairs Clement Beaune said in an interview yesterday on Europe 1 radio.
The pass would show either proof of vaccination against COVID-19, immunity due to past infection or the result of a negative polymerase chain reaction test.
France would implement its own health pass from June 9 for major gatherings of more than 1,000, Beaune said.
In the UK, which is allowing leisure travel to resume from today, the spread of the Indian variant could threaten the final phase of lockdown easing set for June 21, British Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock said.
Meanwhile, a cyclone is set to hit the western coast of India, prompting authorities already grappling with a deadly second virus wave to begin evacuating citizens.
Cyclone Tauktae is expected to make landfall on Tuesday morning in the southern districts of Gujarat, with wind speeds touching 175km per hour, the India Meteorological Department said.
Authorities in Mumbai have already moved hundreds of COVID-19 patients to other facilities.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
RSS